Guidelines for Fundraising Expenditure for Selected International Travellers

You are encouraged to fundraise for the expenses of your international trip. A list of fundraising ideas is enclosed. Previous international travellers have raised money by writing to local companies and charities, organising jumble sales, tabletop sales, raffles, coffee mornings etc. A sample letter can be downloaded here.

You should also write to your District and Division Commissioners to ask for a grant towards the cost of your trip. Your County International Adviser will write to the County Commissioner to ask for a County grant for you which will then be forwarded on to you.

Any fundraising undertaken for this venture must be recorded and you must keep accurate records of your income and expenditure. Your Division International Adviser will want to see your records regularly. A copy of your finalised accounts should be sent to your County International Adviser as soon as possible on your return from your trip. Any excess fundraising must be returned to your County and Division for use by future international travellers. An example record sheet for recording the money that you have raised and your expenditure can be downloaded here.

You should send letters of thanks for any monies or gifts received please. It is also a nice gesture to send a postcard whilst you are away.

Legitimate expenses for which you can fundraise for include:

• All event fees required from Midlands Region, County and/or CHQ
• Travelling expenses to and from point of departure
• Expenses for pre-event get together
• Special t-shirts and/or sweatshirts designed for the event
• International knecker
• Films and developing of photographs
• Any travel injections, first aid packs or medication
• Home hospitality gifts
• Swaps
• Postcards and stamps to sponsors
• Currency handing charges
• Passport and visa costs
• Postage for letters to charities and companies

You may need other items such as a rucksack, tent, sleeping bag, extra uniform items and waterproofs. Before you purchase any of these items from your fundraising money, please check with either your Division International Adviser or Division Commissioner as they may know of items that you can borrow instead. Alternatively, the Division may choose to buy one of these items for you rather than give you a grant.

Please note that if you do purchase these items from your fundraising money, they will belong to your Division after your trip. If you wish to opt to buy these items for yourself, you should not use your fundraising money to buy them. Items such as walking boots, which are very personal, should be bought or given to you as a present for you to keep.

Every County will have different expenditure guidelines and grant policies. You may find that at your group get together that other group members from different Counties may be able to use their fundraising differently and/or receive higher County grants. Please remember that Staffordshire have a very active approach to international events and we send our members on every opportunity that we can, whereas other Counties may send fewer people and therefore be able to give bigger grants.

If you have any questions about fundraising, please contact your Division International Adviser and/or your District/Division Commissioners.

A-Z of Fundraising Ideas for International Trips

• A Appeals to local businesses, auction of promises, antiques fair/valuation, abseil, aromatherapy evening, aerobics, animal show
• B Bring and buy, bingo, bursaries, bake and taste, bridge party, beetle drive, board games evening, bazaar, brown bread bags (put in your brown coins), BBQ, book sale, bonfire party, Burns night supper, barn dance, balloon race, bulb planting, bag packing at a supermarket, bungy jump
• C Charities, collections, car boot sales, car wash, coffee mornings, cards, cheese and wine party, cakes, cycle ride, carnival, celidh, cream teas, chocolate event, canal walk, clothes sale
• D Duck races, dance, disco, dog walking/show, darts competition, donkey derby
• E Entertainment show, egg and spoon race, Easter egg hunt
• F Friends of Guiding, fete, fashion show, flower arranging, firework party, fun run, fancy dress party, football match
• G Grants, garage sale, gardening, garden open days, golf tournament, grass cutting, games night, Gang Show
• H Hook a duck, hunger lunch, hike, hockey match
• I Inner Wheel, international evening, ice cream tasting/selling
• J Jobs done for cash, jumble sale, jewellery party, joke book, jail break, jigsaw marathon, jar (guess the number of sweets)
• K Karaoke, keep fit evening, knockout competition, krypton factor challenge
• L Lions Club, lucky straws, line dancing, lawn games, litter collection
• M Marathon run, make over party, murder mystery party, musical evening, music concert
• N Newspaper appeal, nearly new sale, non-talent competition, naughty but nice cake eating competition
• O Open gardens/house, Olympics themed evening, old time music hall evening, office fancy dress day
• P Plant sale, parties, pancake evening/race, parachute jump, picnic, pram race, puppet show
• Q Quiz, question of sport evening
• R Recipe collections, raffle, Rotary Club, race night, raft race
• S Sales, sponsored events, supermarket bag packing, silent auction, sports days, spin a bottle, suppers, safari party, scrabble party, smartie tubes to be filled with twenty pence pieces, slimming competition/sponsor, skittles, sunflower growing, sponsored silence, swear box, stay awake event
• T Trefoil Guild, tombola, toy sale, tea dance, tea party, tug of war, teddy bears picnic, treasure hunt, ten pin bowling, talent competition, trolley dash, table top sale
• U Unit help, underwear party
• V Voluntary Youth Council, valentine’s day event, vegetarian party
• W Window cleaning, welly throwing, whist drive, weight of the cake, wine tasting, white elephant stall
• X Xmas card delivery/selling/making
• Y Yo yo competition, yes/no quiz
• Z Zoo quiz