Asking for money is not a skill that comes easily. In high school instead of selling a hundred dollars worth of chocolate like I was supposed to I often paid the school and gave the chocolate to my friends so I would not “bother” anyone. Therefore, the task of raising two thousand dollars for the Fellows Fund has been extremely daunting. Due to the movement building purpose of fundraising, not to mention the amount of money, I knew this was not something on which I could just use my babysitting money. I would have to reach out to family and friends and in doing so figure out how to ask for donations without feeling guilty.
To get started a few weeks ago I wrote letters to family and friends asking them for support and inviting them to a dessert buffet and GCY info session. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who responded to my letters. It has been especially exciting to talk to middle and high schoolers who are interested in taking a Global Citizen Year in a few years.
The dessert buffet and info session was a great way for me to share with people what I will be doing this next year. In addition, a neighbor who does research as an epidemiologist in Senegal agreed to share his experience there. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn more about the country and made me even more excited for the year to come!
So while I am still not at the point where asking for donations is easy this experience has made me have more faith in other people. I have come to the realization that people are actually interested in what I am doing and want to be involved in the GCY movement!
