Countdown to visit... Sponsorship opportunities?
So this morning I took the big step of telling my clients that I was leaving for VoroVoro at the end of the month for 2 months!
It’s pretty scary to take time off work when you are self employed, but sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.
Funding is always a reality in life … whether it’s personal to fund a trip to VoroVoro, or part of the bigger picture in raising funds needed to realise all of the plans and goals for the island.
Of course it was always the aim that projects would be funded by tribe membership, and I have no doubt that the excellent PR that Ben has recently achieved will drive numbers up.
But is fund generation ‘limited’ to membership?
I work in corporate communications and think that there are a lot of brands out there with excellent Corporate Social Responsibility policies who could add value, experience and importantly funding, to help Island development, without selling out to mass branding or compromising the aim, vision and integrity of this amazing project.
For example a water provider could assist with sanitation, and a drinks company could offer water solutions (such as water tanks etc), and an IT / Comm’s firm could assist with getting the island linked up with quality internet access, thus opening up communication, allowing more people from around the world to see the reality of the island, which in turn would drive membership.
When I go over at the end of the month, whether I’m voted as chief or not, I would like to understand if there are opportunities to drive additional funding both for VoroVoro and the Dream Foundation.
There’s still one and a half years yet to run, and maybe it’s good to think about future funding and strategy to ‘future proof’ projects as well as ensuring that exisiting projects are sucessfully implemented.
I’d be very interested to hear the opinions of other tribe members on this subject.
Elaine :)
Comments
This has to be music the the ears of those that have struggled to get the funding up till now
Go girl. If I could vote you’d have mine!
Well done taking the plunge and going out there for two months. You will love it! The Dream Foundation is meeting again this weekend and it would be great to hear your ideas. Please could you drop us a line at dreamfoundationtrustees@tribewanted.com
I am sure that Ben would be interested to discuss this with you also.
Elaine – absolutely no qualms about taking other people’s money to help build the dream. Vodafone and Ecotricity have funded the development on the island, and companies including Madventurer have contributed generously to the Dream Foundation, in particular to finance the electrification of Mali District School. So all help is welcome – and if you can bring in more money from any source, go for it!
congrats! you’ll have a blast, elaine.
as for corporate sponsorship, it is definitely a fine line, but i think the feeling with TW is that if you’re passionate about it, make it happen. ben and the staff only have so many hours in the day. and it’s an enormous job.
if you have in-roads with companies, post a forum thread, see what people think, and then go for it. i have made efforts to getting donations from companies that make biodegradable shampoos and soaps and cleaning products (specifically dr. bronners, which was too small to donate, and method, which has a limited budget for projects in its fiscal year and also isn’t donating overseas just yet)...but it’s good thinking!
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