Find out how you can help, Register Now.

Fundraising Tips

1. Identify potential private contributors and MAKE A LIST
   • Family
   • Friends
   • Your Employer
   
   
2. Send an email to everyone you identified in step 1:
   • Tell them about the project:
     • You will observe, firsthand, the social, environmental, and economic impacts of natural disaster
     • You will be volunteering in communities which were severely impacted by disaster
     • You are contributing directly to the economic recovery of those communities
     • You are delivering a Message of Hope to survivors
     • You will be helping conduct research that will speed economic recovery in future disasters
   • Request that they support you in three ways:
   1. By donating cash to you to help cover your expenses
   2. By donating their frequent flyer miles toward your airline ticket
   3. By forwarding your request for support to their contacts
   • Offer to bring them something from the community
   • Let them know that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you
   • Make sure that your contact information is on the email
   • Finally, ask them to reply to your email with a message of support for the victims and survivors, which you will print out and deliver on your trip


3. Identify people on campus that can help you find funding and MAKE A LIST
   • Your Advisor
   • Your Department
   • Office of Financial Aid, which can help you find
     • Travel Grants
     • Departmental Scholarships
     • State and Federal Student Loan Programs
     • Short-Term Emergency Loan
   • Your School's International Exchange Program
   
   
4. Go to everyone you listed in step 3, in person
   • Explain everything you wrote in your letter to friends and family from step 2
   • If you are in a time crunch, express the urgency
   • Ask them to help you identify sources of funding for this project

Other Ideas

• Do a fundraiser
  • Get your campus group together and do a fundraiser
  • Subsidize or fund the people who want to go from fundraiser profits
  • One of the mission's organizers, Darcie Vaughan, owns CafeCosa.com and will help groups interested in putting a fundraiser together quickly
• Request sponsorship for your trip from local Rotary or other club.
  • Seek out local clubs of professionals
  • Explain the purpose of the mission
  • Offer to give presentation of your experience upon return