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Fundraising Pack

Welcome to your digital Project Trust Fundraising Pack to help you get started on your fundraising journey.

Fundraising to support your volunteering placement is an important part of your Project Trust experience and an opportunity to learn and develop skills for life.

We are here to support you every step of the way to help you achieve your target. Over the past 50 years we have successfully supported over 8,000 Volunteers. In the following pages, you will find advice, ideas and how-to guides for key parts of the fundraising process. Read through everything here and refer to it throughout your fundraising journey; it contains all the tools and information you will need to hit your target.

Bookmark this page! It is not accessible through the rest of our website or search engines – this information is for your benefit.

Fundraising Basics

Key facts relating to your fundraising as part of the Project Trust journey.

Getting Started

Simple steps to set yourself up for your fundraising efforts – create a plan and start shouting about your exploits!

Ways to Raise

Stuck for ideas? Look through our suggestions to kick-start your event planning.

Sending in Money

How and when to send in your raised funds to us: guidelines and deadlines.

Charity Trusts

Charitable Trusts have the potential to provide a huge amount of your funds.

Information for guardians

Share this page with your guardians and help them to help you!

Your systems of support

We are here to help you at every turn. Staff members are dedicated to assisting you with this part of your journey, as well as events and programmes in place to support you in your endeavours.

Here are the main ways you can contact us for advice and support. You can also message to request a call back if you prefer speaking directly or book a 1-to-1 meeting with Tom (see to the right).

Fundraising Team (Coll Office)

Tom (Volunteer Support)

  • +44 (0) 7483 111 291

Sheila (Finance Director)

Tom is available every week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for 30-minute meetings. Use these to ask questions, discuss ideas, or chat about Project Trust! It’s your time – so use it whenever you like.

Book a Fundraising Chat with Tom

We coordinate WhatsApp groups for each cohort while you are fundraising. These are good places to workshop ideas informally and ask each other for advice. Please ask Tom to be added, and make sure he knows which number you wish to use.

Many Returned Volunteers are keen to give back to the Project Trust community. We pair Volunteers with Mentors based largely on geographical location (both placement country, and within the UK). Please tell us if you would like a mentor, and we will find you a suitable match! We put you in touch, but leave arranging chats up to your preference with your Mentor. Some pairs chat every few weeks, others every few months.

Online Teams meetings discuss all things Fundraising! Guardians are always welcome. Each meeting is focused on a different theme, followed by general questions and discussions.

Our next meeting will be in January.

Running an Event

on Thursday 23rd November 2023, at 6pm
with Tom, Peter & the VaSE team

Register for this event!

A description of the next event will come here.

The last meeting was Running a Fundraising Event with Tom & the VaSE team on November 23rd.

Please see slides from our most recent meet-ups below, and feel free to book a 1-1 with Tom to discuss anything you have questions concerning.

We email a fundraising newsletter every Season full of updates, ideas, and sharing each other’s successes – the most recent is available here:

Fundraising Resources and FAQs

We have collected the resources from around this pack into the list below, for quick access:

The absolute deadline to send all funds is two weeks before your flights from the UK.

By the time we book flights, we expect you to have fundraised 30% of your target (for 12 months, this is Spring; for 8 months, this is Autumn).

We recommend aiming to complete fundraising by your Training course, but the minimum at this point is 60% of your target for 12-month Projects (July before departure), and 90% for 8-month Projects (December). This gives us time to ensure everything you send is processed and gives you downtime before departure to ensure you have everything prepared.

The funds that you raise go directly to Project Trust and support the work we do, ensuring young people continue to have the opportunity. We outline the average costs to our operations below.

We will always ensure that the funds we receive contribute towards our charitable mission. Laws on how charities can use donations mean we cannot give back your donations apart from in exceptional circumstances.

There are a few reasons why we ask you to fundraise for your placement. It means you can take ownership of year whilst also building and developing skills for the future. It also means that this opportunity can be open to all young people, regardless of background.

Our volunteers have said that fundraising developed their skills in:

  • Confidence
  • Hard Work
  • Social Skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Perseverance
  • Organization
  • Resilience
  • Communication
  • Independence
  • Financial Maturity

Unfortunately, Project Trust cannot allocate Gift Aid towards individuals – as explained in Sending in Money. This is because the Inland Revenue states that it should only be used towards a charity’s general aims and purposes.

Please still accept Gift Aid as we use it to keep the following year’s total lower (so you are benefitting from previous Volunteers’ Gift Aid!).

Unfortunately, your fundraising will be non-refundable, as it has been raised for Project Trust as an organization – this is explained in Sending in Money. If you choose to postpone your volunteering to a later date, then we can set aside the money for you.

“Hello, Tom here. I personally raised about 50% of my fundraising total just from writing a letter outlining my year, and then editing the address for each individual Trust. One letter, over 100 Trusts contacted. Much less stressful than organising several extra events! One Trust sponsored me £1,000 despite saying my project wasn’t their usual focus, purely because my letter and leaflet impressed them.

“I am always available to proofread letters, so please, send them in! Stamps are expensive and old-fashioned, but for 100 stamps you might raise most of your target.”

There’s no one-size-fits-all, but we emphasise strategy so that you can schedule breaks (for holidays, exams, etc.). Weekly events can quickly become exhausting. We recommend one larger event every 3–4 months, and smaller events more frequently between these. See Getting Started and Ways to Raise for more.

This varies from country to country, but the most you will have to spend on a visa is £250 – we will cover any excess. Most countries cost considerably less, or even free – this is a maximum!

As for vaccines, this depends on where you are and where you’re going. Try asking your GP first, as some parts of the UK will offer free jabs on the NHS. Please contact the International Programme team for more information (international@projecttrust.org.uk), such as how to find out which vaccines are required for your Project country.

Pies and Statistics

Fundraising Target Cost Breakdown

Sheila has collated the breakdown of how we use the funds you raise during fundraising. This is both for your information, and for you to share with sponsors – many Volunteers add a pie chart like the one provided to their fundraising leaflets.

5%Selection & Pre-flight costs
7%Training (4-day residential)
5%Debriefing (2-day residential)
27%UK-based support
13%International support
17%Insurance (inc. self-insured)
13%Living allowance
13%Return flights
These costs are averaged across all of our country programmes.

Fundraising advice from previous Volunteers.

Since 1967, over 8000 young people have volunteered with Project Trust in more than 67 countries.

We asked our volunteers departing this summer what advice they would give to volunteers at the beginning of their fundraising placement. Here are some of their responses:


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