Fundraising for your gap year
It's part of the challengeGap Year fundraising is seen as part of the challenge of embarking on a purposeful year out.
Each year tens of thousands manage to meet their target. It takes time, energy, determination and planning. When you reach your target you will experience a great sense of achievement and personal satisfaction.
Subsequently you will be able to draw on your fundraising efforts to demonstrate certain skills. For example, research, written and verbal communication, negotiating, persuasion as well as dogged determination. Here is a video and ten tips to help you get started.
Listen to Nick Ross, from our member organisation Art History Abroad, talk about how to raise finance for your gap year.
1. Start planning early. Try to give yourself at least six months but really the earlier the better. Work out how much money you need to raise. Make a plan: set yourself targets to raise a certain amount each month. Break the total amount down into specific chunks so that you can ask for a specific amount to cover an item such as your air fare, insurance, clothing, part of your gap year placement etc.
2. Get a job*. Remember you are seeking work for a purpose – to fund your unique gap year. This should make it easier for you to take on most jobs, provided it pays. The more experienced you are the more likely you are to keep finding work and if you are offered training then grab that as well.
* However, think through why you really want a gap year. Will the job you get, meet your objectives beyond the money you raise? Maybe spending less money travelling to volunteer on a European organic farm for several months or volunteering in the UK at a residential home is a better option for you.
3. Hold an Event. Plan an event around something you enjoy or hobbies. People are much more used to supporting people’s fundraising efforts and it’s much easier now too. There is of course, some ‘giving’ fatigue so you need to get personal, be entirely authentic and go the extra mile to help people feel yours is a worthwhile cause.
4. Local Organisations Approach your local Rotary Club, Lions Club and Women’s Institute etc. Seek support from your school and organisations you have worked for. In each case offer to give them a talk now on what you plan to do and to a second talk on what you achieved and learned on your return.
5. Grant Giving Bodies Make contact with grant giving bodies in the local area. Research and write to grant making trusts and charities. The charitable objects or aims of these trusts vary so look at every possible angle that applies to you. Your home town, young people, sport, conservation, education, child care, ethnicity, family income, educational achievement and your destination country. These are all examples of where these trusts can apply their funds.
6. Your gap year provider Some Year Out Group members have their own charitable trusts that they can draw on to help individual participants fund their placements. How the money from these funds is allocated varies from organisation.
It is a good idea to ask your chosen provider if it has such a fund and if whether you might be eligible. Check to see if they have particular links to other grant giving bodies or even a grant you can access through your school.
Consider how far you can stretch your funds. An organised program will give you a focus for development and help you achieve something that is meaningful to you and others. However remember that once you are in a country and have completed your program, it is going to be relative cheap to stay and explore that country some more. This may be preferrable than to travel on to another country or to come home and go on a short haul beach holiday. Ask your provider for tips about onward travel in that country, internship or even getting a job.
7. Family and Friends. Mobilise your family and friends. Get them involved in your fundraising activities. Ask them to put you in touch with potential sponsors.
8. Create “Brand Me” Make sure all your contacts on any social network sites know about and are kept up to date on your gap year plans. Prepare a leaflet about yourself and your plans that can be sent out with your letters to potential sponsors.
Consider creating your own website. Provide information on the project, what you hope to achieve for others and for yourself.
The more you know about the project the better you will be able explain how your involvement will make a difference. Don’t exaggerate; tell the truth as you know it. When seeking publicity, concentrate on local press and radio and try to find an interesting angle.
9. Variety Use a variety of methods to help you get your message across and to make contact with potential sponsors. Make sure all your written material is well drafted, i.e. good syntax, spelling and punctuation, and addressed to a specific, relevant person. Follow up letters and e-mails with a telephone call. Arrange a meeting if at all possible. The are other websites that offer great fundraising advice too.
10. Finally, make the most of any birthday presents requests from family to help you make money in the future and to help with your travel ambitions. For instance, ask if they could gift you a TEFL course so you can teach overseas. A sailing/skiing/hospitality/expedition leader training programme could set you up for many years work during holidays or even as a career. Things like this are an investment in your future, every much as university degree or traineeship. Give it some serious thought.
Fundraising support from our approved providers
Keep in Touch
Keep in touch with your supporters, sponsors and donors during the preparation phase, while you are on your gap year and when you return. Offer to provide them with a report or to give a talk on your experiences when you are back home. Write a personal thank you to everybody who helped you. It may be that you will need their help again and if not you then someone else from your school or college may be looking for help next year. If a sponsor feels appreciated then there is a greater likelihood of their offering support again.
Final Thoughts
Remember you are not alone in this. Most people who take a gap year have to raise all or part of the money. Experience suggests that those that have had to fund themselves are more committed to their projects and as a result reap greater benefits from the experience. As mentioned at the start, each year thousands of people taking a gap successfully raise thousands of pounds to fund their gap year plans. The rewards of fundraising are worth all the hard work and it doesn’t have to stop when you leave on your gap experience as you can continue to fundraise via online tools such as Justgiving Crowdfunding.
