Monday, March 15, 2010

Fun? in Fundraising? I don't think so.

First I want to say a HUGE GIGANTIC THANK YOU to Aisha for donating to my Mission Trip! You have NO IDEA how much it means to me and it came at just the perfect time.

This fund raising thing is tough. Actually I really hate it. I hate it because I hate asking for help. I hate it because I feel like I have no control over the situation. I hate it because I worry what people think of me when I tell them about the trip and expose my religion and beliefs to them. I hate it because it is a lot of work. It is worse than applying for jobs. I write these hand written letters to everyone I can think of and they go in to a black hole and I never hear anything back.

When I do get a donation, you should see me. I squeel and do a little happy dance and praise God because I am literally shocked everytime it happens.

The first donation I got was from complete strangers. I had entered a contest to win $50 to do something good on the Disturbed Christians blog. The guy who writes for it commented back and asked me to email him about my trip. They sent me $100! Talk about a great start.

The only people that feel super-obligated when it comes to this stuff are family members. My family came through in a big way. My uncle donated $300 to the trip and my mom donated $600!

Then came the donation from Aisha and over the weekend an old co-worker of mine made a donation!

So I continue writing letters to friends and co-workers and praying and thinking of other ways to raise funds, but it still scares the crap out of me because I have no idea how I am going to raise the other $1700. It is part of the whole process though. Working hard and trusting God to provide. Now I just have to work on erasing that little twinge of doubt that He will leave me hanging.

Editor's Note: I hope to get back to a more regular blogging schedule but work has been crazy and my free time is sucked to the bone. Bear with me...I promise to have some good stuff on here soon!

2 comments:

Alyssa said...

Wish I could help. I'm really happy for you that you've made so much progress. Keep up the good work!

Laura said...

Hi, I am fundraising right now for The Ride to OCnquer Cancer which is a 200 km bike ride over two days. I started a facebook page to let people know what i am doing and I am creating events. For example, the kick start event is a karaoke night. I worked with the bar and I will sell tickets for $10 which will include a free drink. All proceeds from ticket sales go to me :) I am also going to be having a garage sale and asked friends and family to donate things I could sell to raise money. Sometimes you have to be really creative. You need $3000 approx. Well a bar can hold comfortably 350 usually (depending on size could be less or more) and a lot of bars here offer fundraising packages. The way they see it, you get someone in for one drink and they stay and pay for more :) $10 times 300 people is $3000 and your trip is funded. Good luck! And if you need more ideas, ask me. I dream of being a professional fundraiser as I love planning events to raise money :)