Students attending the CYLC program National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. Secret Service at the White House in Washington, D.C. A student at the CYLC program National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. viewing the Vietnam Veterans memorial The presidential plaque in Washington, D.C.

Fundraising Success Stories

Brendan's Story

I mailed sponsorship packages - which included a letter, my photograph, résumé, background material, preliminary Conference schedule, letters of reference from my head of house and from the Head of International Affairs at my school - to 26 people (or groups). 

I wrote to the Mayor, my members of parliament (federal and provincial), people I'd met through school or community service, the travel agency that handled my GYLC travel arrangements, real estate and insurance agents, local industries, service clubs...  Six people agreed to sponsor me. Later, I got two more sponsors. Also, my grandmother and my aunt and uncle gave me money for the Conference, and our local paper will pay me to write an article. I have raised more than $1000 CAN so far, and my mother's friend has hired me to sand and stain her deck this summer, to help with my GYLC expenses.

All of my sponsors are people who know me, except for the real estate agent, who knows the parents of some students at my school. I learned that it wasn't very useful to send sponsorship packages to people I hadn't met (with that one exception). Also, service clubs and large companies had specific goals and criteria for charitable donations that excluded sponsorship of individuals.

I met my first and biggest contributor several months before I wrote to him about sponsorship. He chaired the committee for a benefit that I helped with. He liked the fact that I sent a thank-you card to the owners of the restaurant that provided snacks for the volunteers. My card was a small thing, but apparently people don't often remember to say thank you. He's planning to include an article about me and the Conference in his company newsletter.

A few weeks ago, I wrote to the managing editor of our local newspaper about my involvement with the Global Young Leaders Conference. I sent him the CYLC press release, the preliminary schedule for the Conference and my résumé. He mentioned me and my fundraising campaign in his weekly column. I got two more sponsors that way:  my Grade 6 teacher and one of my grandmother's friends. 

The managing editor wants me to write an 800-word article about my GYLC experiences after I return in August. He offered to pay me $100 for the article. Also, a reporter from the paper interviewed me last week for an article that was published on June 14. I was hoping they could include the names of my sponsors in the article, but that's not something they do. So I paid to publish a thank-you message in the Announcements section of the paper. I think it's important to thank my sponsors publicly for their support (with their permission). This was my thank-you message:

Brendan Fell gratefully acknowledges the contributions of his sponsors for the 2003 Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington and New York: Greg Anderson (Discus Dental Canada), William Lett Jr. (Lett/Smith Architects), Dean Bridges (Century 21 Peterborough), Ostrander Cruise & Travel, Madeline I. Dunham, Mike Duplessis, Peter Adams MP and Gary Stewart MPP.

I sent a hand-written thank-you card (with my drawing of our school chapel on the front) to each of my sponsors and to the managing editor of the newspaper. I also sent my sponsors a copy of the CYLC press release, the June 14 newspaper article, and my published thank-you message. I'll write to my sponsors again after the Conference, and include photographs from the Conference and a copy of my August newspaper article about my GYLC experiences.

I've learned a lot from my fundraising campaign. I couldn't have done it without your web site guide. Thank you!

Download CYLC's "Guide to Fundraising via the News Media." (Adobe Acrobat Reader required.)