Here at STC Expeditions, we’re enthusiastic advocates for the benefits of travel. When young people leave familiar surroundings and are winkled out of their comfort zones, it can change their lives. That’s why we’re determined to make it possible for as many students as possible to experience the challenge and joy of travel.
Of course, we’re well aware that the financial outlay can be daunting. One thing we always encourage when we start talking to a school about a future expedition is a sizeable financial contribution from the students. It’s up to each school where they set the contribution bar – some might say 50% each comes from parents and students; others might weight it more heavily towards the students. Whichever way it stacks up, one thing’s for certain: students gain more from fundraising than just money.
Potential gains
It’s hackneyed (but true) to say that travel broadens the mind. We’d go further by saying that what comes before travel also broadens the mind. When students sign up to raise funds for their expedition, it’s quite a commitment. They have a timeframe and a financial target, both of which can be challenging. To succeed, they need to develop personal and practical skills fast. These are skills that will stand them in good stead later in life. So let’s take a quick whizz through what can be gained…
Personal growth
Say you have to raise £3,000 in 18 months. All of your friends are doing the same. You really want to go on the trip, but raising money is scary – you might fail, your friends might do better than you, maybe you just can’t do it. Or maybe you can. Going through the process can result in a lot of personal successes. It can build:
- Confidence: students have to be willing to put themselves out there, ask for favours, explain what they’re doing and represent their case.
- Resilience: not every event, idea or approach will be successful, so they have to dust themselves off and try again.
- Determination: the time frame for expedition fundraising is long. Students have to keep their eyes on the ultimate goal and ignore the temptation to give up.
- Self-reliance and self-belief: the responsibility to raise the money is theirs. Even with a support system in friends, family and STC Expeditions, they have to do the hard work.
- Willingness to take risks: some ideas will work, others won’t. They never know when they’re going to strike gold.
- Creativity and imagination: there are plenty of tried and tested ways to raise money, and there are plenty that haven’t been attempted yet. This is an exercise in (cliché alert) Thinking Outside The Box.
Getting practical
Being in charge of their fundraising project may well be the biggest responsibility a young person has yet experienced. In many ways, it’s like running a business and calls for:
- Long-term thinking: your child or student might be a stay-up-all-night-and-swat-for-the-test type, but that’s hard to pull off when it comes to fundraising. Thinking beyond next week, next month and even next year is essential.
- Time management: this may be the first time many students have had to plan far ahead, calculate how long preparation takes and stick to their own schedule.
- Independent thinking: while there will inevitably be competition among friends and the wider group, students have to come up with their own plan and stick to it, without being swayed or disheartened by the success (or otherwise) of others.
- Planning: whether funds are raised through events (like bake sales or bingo nights), services (such as cleaning cars or mowing lawns) or sponsored activities (such as swimming, running or giving up screentime), they need to be meticulously planned. The not-quite-successes can be as valuable as the successes, in terms of experience if not money.
- Financial acuity: students will need to balance their books, understand costs, evaluate profit margins and keep track of their ultimate target. All of those are life skills worth having.
Person to person
While each student will keep an individual tally of the funds they’ve raised, it’s not a completely solo effort. Getting other people on side is critical and will need:
Negotiation: raising funds isn’t just about asking straight-out for money. Students might need people’s time, advice or expertise – using influence and being persuasive is key to success.
Teamwork: in every team-based fundraising venture, collaborative working is key. Students will have to identify their own strengths and play to them, knowing when to step up and when to step back.
Management and motivation: running an event may give students their first taste of leadership. It will quickly become apparent that there are ways to successfully manage and motivate a team.
It is about the money, but it also isn’t
When they eventually reach their fundraising goal, students are unlikely to immediately reflect on or even be aware of every individual skill they’ve developed in getting there. Over the years, we’ve observed that the immediate benefits students get from funding or part-funding their once-in-a-lifetime expedition are two-fold. They rightly feel an immense sense of achievement at a hard job well done, and they are quite justifiably proud of themselves. Those are both positive emotions to be buoyed up by as they start their trip.
Over time, and particularly when they come to write personal statements for university applications, students will start to appreciate what they learned. Raising a big wodge of cash to fund a horizon-expanding adventure at a young age – that’s quite something.
For every trip booked with STC Expeditions, we hold a fundraising seminar to help students get started. If you’d like to talk more about our approach to fundraising, get in touch for a chat.