Fundraising questions...

[Wheelie]

Hi, my wife and I are planning on riding two vintage Vespas from cape to cape, dividing the trip into 3-4 week legs split over several years, shipping the ride in and out at the beginning and end of each leg to carry out repairs, etc.

Both of us have a special liking for Amnesty International, amongst other organisations, and would like to make a differnece. However, our funds are also limited, meaning that our goal will take forever as we have to return home to make money for the next leg, take care of other commitments, etc. Sponsorship that would cover some or all of our costs would translate into more travel being taken in a shorter ammount of time, more money raised to the organisation, more exposure to sponsors, etc.

Would it be possible, or proper, to use fundraising both as a means to make a differnece and as a means of financing parts or all of the trip? The trip would still be non-profit and would in all likelyness involve us still having to cover large costs. The idea would for instance be promising sponsors that a specific percentage of the innitial sponsored ammount go directly (i.e. 75%) to the organisation pluss all funds left over after all costs are covered. Some sponsors might want to provide sponsorship in terms of the products/services they provide, reducing the overall costs of the project and increasing the overhead that goes to the organisation. One would necessarily value monetary support differently than mere product/service support in terms of magnitude of exposure, etc.

One idea is to have sponsors commit themselves to a specific ammount of money for every kilometer travelled per leg, and/or a equivalent calculated value of provided products/services after the products sticker price for instance has been devalued by for instance 50%.

This post may seem opportunistic. However, I need to stress that this is by no means a representation of us. Both my wife and I have spendt several as doogooders for numerous organisations (Save the children, amnesty international, and a national organisation against drug abuse).

Although acquiering sponsors for the trip alone is possible (more difficult), we thought that it might be an idea to knock two birds with one stone. We would greatly appreciate any comments on this post.

I have worked 3 years for a fundraising corporation, raising millions for numerous organisations. However, the costs of fundraising is often huge, often as much as 50% (though no one ever tells you). The costs go to cover advertising,marketing, salaries to professional brokers, etc. In this project, there are no such costs to be paid. Although the costs of the trip itself are significant, the trip itself may serve some purpose of value to both sponsors and the organisation which receives the money. Please comment