I mentioned a while back that I had been donated £100 by the Roger King Fund to go towards the cost of this trip. It has been very gratefully received, so firstly - thank you again to the Roger King Fund! But secondly, this post is a little bit about grants, should anybody be reading this who is thinking about fundraising for an international trip, along with some more information about the funds I have written to specifically. Scout leaders who are reading, if you know a Scout or an Explorer who is planning to fundraise for a trip and you think they might benefit from reading about this, then point them in the direction of this blog!
The Roger King Fund was set up in memory of the late Roger King in 2003; Roger was a keen Scouter all his life, and took an especial interest in International activities. The money in the fund is for any young person in Scouting who is making an international trip, and can be applied for simply by filling in an application form and emailing it to the ACC(I) for Berkshire Scouts (find out more info on Berkshire Scout's website here)
Funds such as the RK Fund exist up and down the country, with the sole purpose of helping young people have amazing life experiences which they might not otherwise get to have. If you are a Scout and are unsure about what is available in your area, then try to find the details for your ACC (I), which stands for Assistant County Commissioner (International), who should be able to help you. If you aren't a scout, then there are other options too. Sometimes local councils and governments will have funding available for some things, and there are people such as the Rotary Club who are quite often interested in funding youth projects and activities.
If you want to apply to one of these funds, it's quite often a good idea to get in touch with them first and check what they would like from you. Usually it's just an online form or a letter, but if you've already spoken to them then they will remember you when your form/letter arrives, which can help you when the committees in charge of deciding who gets what funding have to make up their minds. The other thing to do is make sure you have filled in the form correctly, and - for goodness' sake! - asked about anything you don't understand. It looks a lot less silly to call someone up to ask about something than to get it wrong because you didn't want to ring them up and look silly!
In Berkshire, I have applied to the Roger King Fund, and also to the Jack Hine Fund and to the Geoff Hill Fund. Both funds are designed with the same purpose in mind as the Roger King Fund, though I am getting to the upper age limit where I can apply for money from these funds - the Geoff Hill and Roger King funds both have 25 as their age limit, while I do not believe there is a specific age limit set on the Jack Hine Fund but they give priority to the younger end of the age range of Scouting. The Geoff Hill Fund has a very short form to fill in, which I have done and am now awaiting a response from! So I'll let you know how I get on. I hope that someone out there finds this useful; if you did then perhaps drop me a comment and let me know you're out there :)
No comments:
Post a Comment