A fantastic congratulations to the team of 13 at Deakin University on exceeding their fundraising goal of AUS$5000 for Linda Farm, Zambia. We are so impressed with how they came together and made it happen! Our team in Livingstone were thrilled to get started with the Linda Farm projects with the raised funds and were fortunate enough to meet and spend time with this group when they volunteer with African Impact from 17 June to 7 July.
So, you must be asking……..How did they raise over $6000 AUD in 30 days??? Well this is what Elena Adams told us…
“Once I knew the team was on board to fundraise for The Happy Africa Foundation we made a plan. Most of us didn’t know anyone from the group, so coming together to fundraise was a great way to get to know each other before travelling to Zambia.
We knew we were limited with time, so we needed to come up with creative fundraising ideas. I have fundraised for a previous volunteering project and know that crowdfunding websites can be an easy and effective platform. We got to work making a promotional video, setting up a Facebook page and making a chuffed fundraising page. In the early days we promoted heavily on social media, inviting friends, family and colleagues to ‘like’ our page and to stay tuned for what was to come.
We then posted on the Facebook page frequently, each post with different information; some general Zambian statistics and information about the Linda Farm projects. We reached out to several hundred businesses and companies for support – many said no but some said yes. We received enough vouchers and products to make up three raffle prize packs, as well as a deal with an airline for a free return flight anywhere in Australia. We promoted these prizes with great success.
A few students got together and held fundraising sausage sizzles at our universities which raised close to $1000. A couple of us reached out to local newspapers and did several interviews to attract some more attention to our fundraising campaign. Our ‘Chuffed’ page ran for 30 days, so when the end date was approaching we increased the amount of posts on our Facebook page and started a countdown. We managed to do all of this while also writing essays, studying for exams, applying for graduate jobs and attending clinical placements.
It has been a busy month but we are so pleased we raised beyond our $5000 goal for The Happy Africa Foundation. The money we’ve raised will go towards sustainable projects that will make a huge difference to many vulnerable people. We look forward to visiting Linda Farm and meeting the Happy Africa Foundation team in Livingstone!”
To learn more about Linda Farm click here.