The IHW Foundation wants to raise the profile of fundraising activities in IH schools - whether to benefit the Foundation or any other good cause.
We know that most IH schools are already involved in fundraising and we wanted to share some ideas for others to put into practice too.
Here are two case studies which give ideas that any school can copy.
Case Study 1: Sponsored Spell
1 The fundraising activity/event, and the beneficiary
Sponsored Spell
The beneficiary depends on the cause we’re supporting. Last year after war in Ukraine broke out we donated to 4000€++ to Portuguese Red Cross, World Central Kitchen (via the IH World fundraising campaign) and David Nott Foundation. In the past we’ve donated to local firefighters (after forest fires in Portugal), to a local centre that helps to integrate adults with learning difficulties etc
2 How did you plan and set up the activity/event? Who was involved, and how much effort was it?
Very easy to set up, can involve the whole school from VYLs to C2.
Step 1 get staff on board and teachers decide on vocab to be “tested” (each level has a different vocab list to match what they’ve been learning, higher levels more words);
Step 2 inform parents and students and try to explain the concept of sponsoring (the trickiest aspect of the whole activity) & publicise around school and on social media;
Step 3 groups are given their vocab list to learn plus a sponsorship form;
Step 4 on an agreed date the students do a “spelling” test, teacher corrects and staples the corrected test to the sponsorship form;
Step 5 students take home corrected test & form and collect the money. Have a deadline to hand in money (but of course accept donations after the deadline). (It’s all quite old school & easy to organise).
3 How did you promote the activity/event? Local press / social media / word of mouth/ influencers / etc
Depending on the cause, we publicise on social media and in the local press (& sometimes IHWorld blog). With Ukraine we were a bit wary about mentioning the actual amount we raised as we felt a bit cautious about virtue signalling, so we emphasised the “using English to raise funds” aspect more than actual amounts.
4 What were the results ? This could be donations/money raised/ engagement etc
See above – when you explain to students that if every student only brings a € then we’re already raising quite a lot of money then the idea catches on and with YLs the extended family gets involved.
5 Was this a single event, or part of a larger commitment (i.e. one of something which is regularly done.)? Or, after having succeeded, will you repeat again?
One event that we have done sporadically for about the last 20 years – either for local charities to mark certain milestones in the school /IHWO network – 20 year anniversary etc or to raise funds following natural disasters / events (Sri Lanka tsunami/ Portuguese forest fires/ Ukraine war).
6 Reflecting on how it went, what was particularly good, or could things have been improved? What would be your advice to anybody else planning a similar charitable event?
The amount of money raised vs time/ effort put in to the organisation of the activity is far higher than other fund-raising activities we’ve done (eg Sponsored walks, bake sales etc); the fact it is connected to language learning makes it very popular with students and parents/families; the fact that the whole school takes part and we accept any donation large or small. It works very well for a community school.
The only difficulty is explaining the concept of sponsoring! But as long as students are bringing in € we don’t worry about the actual mechanics of the sponsoring.
Case Study 2: Bracelets and Peace
1 The fundraising activity/event, and the beneficiary
Bracelets and Peace is a project which started in March 2022 in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Anna Duchenko and Anne Robinson had met in November 2019, when Anne took part in a Cambridge Day at Vinnytsia Primary School 25, where Anna is Vice Principal.
Inspired by a traditional Ukrainian bracelet bought on that trip, Anna and Anne decided to launch a project so that students from the primary school could teach students around the world to make different bracelets. We also hoped that students in other countries and schools would share their tutorials for making bracelets.
As the project developed, and schools got involved, in some cases, it was decided that bracelets could be made and sold (usually for 2 euros) to help local refugees in different countries.
Then, in August 2022, Vinnytsia Primary School 25 told us that their basement was being transformed into a bunker by the city authorities. With a shelter, students would be allowed to return to school for classes. However, no money was available for the
contents needed for the basement. So, Bracelets and Peace embarked on a considerable sized project – to equip the school basement.
2 How did you plan and set up the activity/event? Who was involved, and how much effort was it?
The project started very spontaneously, with more educators joining the project: Elsa Canario in Portugal and Anna Karanikola in Greece. We asked an illustrator to design a logo for Bracelets and Peace and created a website, a Facebook, YouTube, Instragram
profiles.
3 How did you promote the activity/event? Local press / social media / word of mouth/ influencers / etc
We are very active on Facebook, which is where most people discover the project and get in touch.
We also have the Bracelets and Peace website, where we have our bracelet tutorials, helping stories and bracelet moments; stories where bracelets have brought people together or made a difference.
www.braceletsandpeace.com
https://www.facebook.com/braceletsandpeace/
https://instagram.com/braceletsandpeace
4 What were the results ? This could be donations/money raised/ engagement etc
We have managed to help refugee families in Portugal and Spain to help them on their arrival.
We have equipped the basement at Vinnytsia Primary School 25 and 600 students have returned to face to face lessons.
We have been a little light of inspiration to many Ukrainian teachers and students, who really appreciate our support.
And thousands of bracelets have been made and worn!
5 Was this a single event, or part of a larger commitment (i.e. one of something which is regularly done.)? Or, after having succeeded, will you repeat again?
The project is definitely ongoing and develops as is needed! More and more teachers are getting in touch. We have schools in Portugal who are starting projects with their students.
Our next aim is to provide a Priority Pack, a kit made up of 6 different items to help other schools in Vinnytsia (there are 37 more). Most of them either do not have a shelter or if they have a basement, it is not suitable to use as a shelter right now. Some have work ongoing to convert them. We have fundraisers at different events. Anne Robinson has just returned from a conference in Porto, where she updated the teachers on our progress and sold bracelets and raised 370 euros.
We also work very closely with Sunderland for Ukraine, who have raised money through concerts and raffles to help the school. They will be continuing to help us with the Priority Packs.
6 Reflecting on how it went, what was particularly good, or could things have been improved? What would be your advice to anybody else planning a similar charitable event?
We have ‘grown’ and moved on without a plan, responding to needs. Mostly, things have gone well. Teachers and students have responded, as have shops and cafeterias, who have sold bracelets for us. Sometimes, events have been disappointing in terms of people’s responses, but that has definitely not been the case for most occasions.