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Make it Happen: Your Guide to Fundraising

About the author: Courtney Grady is an EF Study Abroad Tours Project Manager and travel expert. After living in Spain for a semester during college, Courtney knew she had to return. She spent her summer fundraising and looking for creative ways to save money and was able to make Seville her home for another year post college!

Courtney is excited to share some of her creative tips to help make study abroad a reality for every traveler.

Write your “passion pitch” A passion pitch is a creative and passionate statement that will spark interest in your listener. Practice so that you’re ready to share your excitement, and send a short handwritten note or email to friends and family you won’t be able to talk to in person. Be creative and add your touch of spice. Here are some of the questions you should address:

What program are you going on and when will you be going? Why do you want to study abroad? Why do you want to travel to (destination)? How do you expect to grow yourself from this international opportunity? How will it relate to your area of study or future career path? How is their donation an investment in your future? Finally, state your fundraising goal and explain how their donation will help.

Use EF’s personal donation page EF’s personal donation page, TripFunder, is a crowd-funding tool that you have access to after enrolling in your program. 100% of the money that’s donated goes directly into your EF traveler account! Share your fundraising link with family, friends, professors, and community members. You can even go into local organizations to ask for donations. Post the link on Facebook and Twitter with a short excerpt of your passion pitch. Instead of gifts, ask for and allow the entire community to feel involved in your international opportunity!

Thank your supporters If you receive a donation from someone, write a personalized thank you note. Don’t stop there! Make it even more personal by writing a handwritten letter, which shows appreciation and thoughtfulness more than a simple email. In this letter, ask them to share your fundraising goal with their family, friends and coworkers, and see if their company has a donation-matching policy.

Apply for a scholarship: EF Study Abroad awards over $20,000 worth of scholarships to travelers. Remember your passion pitch and tell us why you chose to travel and what impact it will have on you. For more information, visit efstudyabroad.com/scholarship . In addition, research other local and international scholarships and increase your chances by applying to multiple opportunities.

Use financial aid: Many students that travel for credit are able to apply the financial aid they’ve secured through their college or university to part or all of the program cost. Once eligibility is determined through the traveler’s college or university, EF Study Abroad can work with the traveler to make sure the funds are applied.

Looking for more ideas? Check out our Help Center for more ideas on how to finance your program.

Find more “How To’s” and resources  here .

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We develop custom, scalable short-term study abroad programs that help our institutional partners maximize travel and skill-building opportunities for students of all backgrounds.

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Fundraising ideas

We make it easy for travelers to raise money for their trip by providing an online fundraising page that they can share with others. Secure online contributions from friends, family, and community members are applied directly to a traveler’s tour balance. Travelers can find this page by logging in to their account, navigating to their payments page, and selecting the “fundraising” card.

There are many other way to fundraise for your tour. Groups can find inspiration and tips for group fundraising on our blog .

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OAKESDALE, Wash. – When a historic flour mill was listed for sale last fall, it brought up questions about the future of Oakesdale’s annual festival, which celebrates the landmark. At Old Mill Days on Saturday, organizers announced a fundraising effort to acquire and preserve the building. “It’s not just important to the community, I think it’s important to the whole United States,” said Mayor Dennis Palmer. The J.C. Barron Mill, built in 1890, is the last surviving mill of its kind in the Palouse region. There were once as many as 19 flour mills in Whitman County. The mill joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Towering four stories over the center of town, the wooden structure evokes curiosity from visitors. Aside from occasional tours by the owner, its doors have been shut since 1960. Always in the background, the mill remains an important symbol for Oakesdale, a town of about 400 people. Old Mill Days started as a craft fair in the 1980s. Jake Dingman, superintendent of the Oakesdale school district, reorganized the event 10 years ago to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the McCoy Valley Museum and the 125th anniversary of Oakesdale. It has grown into a twoday event that includes activities for everyone: a pancake breakfast, a parade through downtown, games in the park for kids, live music, dancing and night swimming at the community pool. A car show, featuring the Vipers Car Club from Spokane, occupied on Saturday the lawn under the mill, which still has a for sale sign. Mary Jane Butters, an organic farmer in Moscow, Idaho, is selling the 13,400-square-foot mill for $217,000. Community members, with the help of the Innovia Foundation, are working with Butters and have started a fund to try to buy the mill. The fundraising effort is part of the Oakesdale Community Endowment Fund, which supports school activities, revitalization projects and historic preservation. A booth next to the town hall on Saturday took donations and suggestion forms for how to repurpose the mill. The fund has raised over $100,000 so far, said Aaron McMurray, chief strategy officer for Innovia. The vision is not only to restore the mill, but use it to support economic development in the area. A regional advisory committee will oversee revenue-generating strategies. Ideas for this are to turn it into a multipurpose visitor center, a museum, a cafe, retail or event space. Palmer, who is a member of the committee, remembers hauling wheat into the mill as a high school student in the 1950s. He wants to see the original equipment restored and open the building again for tours. “It would be a shame to see it torn down for the price of lumber,” said Gail Parsons, president of the Oakesdale Historical Society. Whatever happens to the mill, Dingman said Old Mill Days will continue. “The old mill is part of our history and identity,” he said. James Hanlon can be reached at (509) 459-5467 or by email at [email protected].

“ It would be a shame to see it torn down for the price of lumber.” Gail Parsons President of the Oakesdale Historical Society

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s foundation can’t raise money after California AG finds charity is ‘delinquent’

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s charity foundation has been declared delinquent and ordered to stop raising or spending money, Page Six can reveal.

The royal duo have let the official registration fees for their charity, Archewell, lapse since at least the beginning of May, according to an official letter from California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta.

The document states that Archewell has been listed as “delinquent” with the registry of charities and fundraisers for failing to submit its annual report and its registration fees.

The note adds, “An organization that is listed as delinquent is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds.

“The organization may also be subject to penalties and its registration may be suspended or revoked by the Registry.”

Archewell now has to submit records to show why its payment is late, and pay late fees.

Initially sources told us Monday that the foundation has filed for an extension. Later we were told that a check sent with the filing to the AG’s office appeared not to have been received and a new one has been issued meaning the foundation should be back on track when it is processed.

The couple set up their foundation after moving to the US in March 2020 after quitting their senior royal roles.

The group includes the couple’s nonprofit charitable foundation, as well as for-profit business divisions focusing on media production, Archewell Audio and Archewell Productions.

The news of the late filing comes as Harry was snubbed by his father, King Charles , and brother, Prince William, on a trip to London before starting a semi-royal tour of Nigeria with his wife.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were greeted by excited crowds during their three-day visit to the West African country that Markle called her “motherland” after a DNA test found that she is 43 percent Nigerian.

She also showed off a cross necklace previously owned by her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, gifted to her by her husband.

A royal source told Page Six, “It’s certainly been a very royal week for Harry and Meghan!”

Despite any issues with Archwell, the couple announced an expansion of the partnership between the GEANCO Foundation in Abuja and their own foundation.

After spending time with the nonprofit that administers the David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship for Girls, Harry, 39, and Markle, 42, announced that Archewell’s existing initiative dedicated to serving girls and young women in Nigeria with menstrual health products and educational services will now include mental health resources and training for young men and women. 

The announcement coincides with an inaugural Mental Health Summit organized over two days for nearly 200 students in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex opened the summit by speaking to the young people gathered there. 

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Sweden joins ‘Nato lake’ on Moscow’s doorstep

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Richard Milne in Oslo and Max Seddon in Riga

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Sweden finally joined Nato on Thursday, meaning the western defence alliance has nearly ringed the entire Baltic Sea, a significant oil trading route for Russia and home to one of its fleets.

“The Baltic Sea becomes a Nato lake,” said Krišjānis Kariņš, Latvia’s foreign minister and a self-declared candidate to head Nato.

As it formally becomes the 32nd member of the US-led alliance during a ceremony in Washington, Sweden brings with it the mid-Baltic island of Gotland — dubbed a “giant aircraft carrier” — which makes the defence of the three small Baltic states easier.

Sweden and Finland joining Nato was all but unthinkable three years ago. But when Russian tanks started rolling towards Kyiv in February 2022, the two Nordic countries woke up to what Moscow could do to its neighbours who were not members of the military alliance. Finland’s accession was completed last year, while Stockholm’s bid was held up by Turkey and Hungary.

Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said his country joining Nato would “substantially increase the bang for buck in defence and deterrence in northern Europe”.

“For many years, we have been split up. Now, we need to think in more unified terms,” Bildt added.

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, has announced plans to reorganise Russia’s military and beef up forces in the region to “neutralise threats” he said arose from Sweden and Finland’s Nato membership.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that “all the long decades of good neighbourliness have gone to dust” because the US military “has the right to do whatever they want in Sweden — visit any site and create any of their own”.

Russia’s response would include “additional systems that will be appropriate to the threats that could appear on the territory of Finland and Sweden”, he said.

Russia’s interests in the Baltic Sea are both economic and military.

St Petersburg, which has substantial oil refineries, ships its exports via the Gulf of Finland through the Baltic Sea. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania, is home to Russia’s Baltic fleet and nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles. Russia has threatened to change the region’s “non-nuclear” status in the past but has not said whether the weapons carry nuclear warheads.

In case of a conflict, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania up until now would have relied almost exclusively on securing reinforcements and supplies via the Suwałki Gap, a narrow and vulnerable 100km strip separating the Baltics from Poland. By joining Nato, Sweden provides new possibilities via the sea, as Gotland is less than 200km from the Latvian coast.

“It reduces the vulnerability of the Baltics through only the Suwałki Gap. The entire security of the region is made stronger because it makes the eastern Baltic less vulnerable,” said Kariņš.

Linas Linkevičius, Lithuania’s former foreign minister who is now its ambassador in Stockholm, said his country had been striving for Sweden to join Nato “for longer than Sweden had”.

He added: “With the opening of the Baltic Sea as a Nato sea, the Suwałki Gap becomes less vulnerable. Maybe the Russians should become more worried. Kaliningrad will not survive if they dare to challenge Nato.”

Sweden’s and Finland’s accessions also enable Nato to look at northern Europe as one big region , without a gaping hole in the map. “From Narva [in Estonia] to Nuuk [in Greenland] east-west, and Kirkenes [in Norway] to Kraków [in Poland] north-south,” as Bildt defined.

The Baltic states may be the biggest immediate beneficiaries from Sweden joining, with Stockholm set to send a battalion to join the multinational presence in Latvia. But the deepest changes over time are likely in the Nordic region itself.

Cooperation between the four main countries — Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland — has long been close but is now set to become more intense.

A taster was provided last year when the four Nordic air forces announced their intention to operate their fleet of about 230 fighter jets as one seamless operation, making it larger than the RAF in the UK or Germany’s air force. Already, Norwegian F-35 and Swedish Gripen fighter jets have practised landing on Finnish roads.

“Nato consists of a few great powers and lots of medium or small powers. There’s quite a potential for the Nordics,” said Anna Wieslander, director for northern Europe at the Atlantic Council think-tank. “The airspace over the Scandinavian peninsula is important and always has been if you look at world war two or the cold war. If you control the airspace over the Nordics, you really have an advantage.”

She added that there was potential for deeper co-operation among land and naval forces.

Sweden, which does not have a direct border with Russia, is likely to play a different role for Nato military planners than the frontline states. Officials say it would be a logistics hub in case of a conflict as well as a route for reinforcement of Finland or the Baltic states.

But it also brings special capabilities. It has long experience with submarines and sub-sea capabilities, increasingly crucial in a Baltic Sea that has suffered several unexplained incidents of sabotage in recent years from the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines to the cutting of gas and data links between Finland and Estonia by a Chinese ship’s anchor.

Both Bildt and Wieslander have underscored that the Baltic Sea is open to all, including Russia, and that just because it is now ringed by Nato states does not reduce the risk of a conflict.

The problem with the expression “Nato lake”, Wieslander said, “is that it should not give a false illusion that it won’t be an area of potential tension or high risk”.

“Russia is still there, but it will be more squeezed.”

The map in this story has been amended to indicate that Germany is a Nato member.

Letter in response to this article :

How jets proved Sweden’s Nato bargaining chip  /  From Jakob Blom­qv­ist, Reserve Officer Cadet, Swedish Armed Forces, Boden, Sweden

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