ECU Education has been involved in three major fundraising events for Chess in Schools: Stockholm (2019), Oslo (2019) and Pretoria (2022).
The Pretoria fundraising event was held at the Swedish Embassy in cooperation with the South African Chess Charity Entrust Foundation, The Uppsala Chess+ Academy, Star for Life, SASUF, ECU and FIDE.
Fundraising is an essential part of the process of creating a successful chess project. Here is a list of some of the best practices in the fundraising process.
10 pieces of advice on how to make a successful fundraising event
- Prepare your organization so it becomes interesting to invest in. (You must make a professional impression)
- Prepare professional information material about your organization and professional invitation material
- Make the event together with another reliable organization that has good connections (like a law firm or maybe a charity). They can then invite their connections to come
- Decide what type of companies, funds, and key persons you want to invite.
- Make your presentations, and not the least book interesting speakers and make your offer in line with the interest of your target group.
- What is the best place, day and time for an event? (A nice and maybe spectacular venue), should it be on a Wednesday or Thursday? (Fridays are normally not good, Mondays and Tuesdays to early in the week) Should it be at 17.00 (After work, to get some drinks and finger food, before going home)
- Call the companies you want to invite to ensure you have the correct mailing address and that you send the invitation to the right person. Send out your invitation 3- 4 weeks before the event. Write a date when they should answer if they come or not (One week before. When the date has expired, you call them.)
- When the people arrive at the event – let the people register so you ensure that you have the correct contact information.
- Make good pictures, videos, and interviews from the event. This can be sent out to the participants, but also to those companies that could not come and potential sponsors in the future.
- The event is only half of the work. The day after a thank you mail should go out to the participants, and as soon as possible you should start to call them and book meetings, present a cooperation and close a deal.
We would also like to draw your attention to the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union which has funded several international chess projects. We provide some guidance on applying for Erasmus+ funding. Find everything about Erasmus+ Programme here