TAKE A STEP!!!

"Nothing will work unless you do" - Maya Angelou

In light of my previous post, I would like to give some tips on how individuals or groups of people can raise money to support the projects that they have in mind in order to help their communities. I do not expect people to trust strangers with their money, so knocking from door to door, asking for donations will result in little or no funds. Organising activities which would involve donors’ participation would generate more trust. Here are a few tips on how to get started. Enjoy!

Project(s)  

I will advise to start with one project and then build on the success of that. Projects can vary from buying books for your school library, organising a fun day out for the less privileged kids in your area, to organising a grand immunisation scheme awareness for illnesses like Polio, Lassa Fever etc.

Finance

Make sure you know how much money the project requires before you start. You might even get discounts from suppliers who know you are working towards a worthy cause. Be very efficient and realistic with your plans. You gain trust when people can see that you are truly on top of things. Disappointing people is not the way to go!

Venue

This does not have to be massive and expensive. A school hall, school field, church building etc. should do. Get permission before using any space though so as to avoid conflict.

Publicity

 Get artistic students or friends to help with making colourful and attractive posters to publicise the events.

Use volunteers for your fund-raising activities (the aim is to raise money right?). You might have to sell your ideas in order to get volunteers, donors and customers. Be persuasive! Let them know that they are giving their time and money to a worthy cause. Do not force anyone to participate. Service has to come from the heart and should be voluntary. Make sure the build-up to each event is electric!

Events:

1)   Talent Competitions:  Most people have seen singing competitions like Nigerian Idol, UK’s X-factor etc. on the TV. There are also dancing competitions worldwide.  These types of competitions can be organised on smaller scales – have people come to watch for a small fee say N50. Make it fun and let no one feel exempted! For example, if you are organising it for your school, encourage the not so good singers to join as well. You could also organise joint events with friends in neighbouring schools. The more the merrier!

2)   Bake sales: This involves the selling of ‘HOME’ baked deserts/snacks like cakes and cookies. Recipes for baked food are in abundance on Google so no excuse! Make sure to publicise this well in advance as you need customers to buy the products.

3)   Football Tournaments: Boys would love this! This could be within a school or between several schools. In churches, you could have the older men play against the youth. Have fun with it and get each team to raise some cash in order to be allowed to participate!

4)   Book sales: How about getting all your friends together and selling all the books and novels that are no longer in use and are just gathering dust in your houses?

5)   Sports: I know that some universities organise marathons (athletics) and winners are given prizes. People interested in being involved in such competitions can be levied and as such be encouraged to raise money by getting their friends and colleagues to sponsor their race.

You have to be extremely committed to get this going and make it a culture. NYSC Corpers especially have access to the different schools that they get posted to as teachers and to different communities through the Community Development Programmes. I hope this inspires you to have fun while working towards contributing to the communities you live in and as you can see, you do not need loads of money to get started. The points listed above are very few, so please feel free to add more ideas in the comments section! Please share success stories with me and I will gladly place them on the blog. God bless! :)


@payme_my2cents




Image from King's College