Local fundraising example:
Come wash your car

Organisation	Centro de Educação Profissional Calábria - Instituto Pobres Servos da Divina Providência
Type	Vocational Training Centre
Suitability	Starting organisation
Country	Brazil
Funding needed for	Purchase of adequate resources for the courses given, thus improving the quality of the education.
Period of action	May 2012
In-kind donations raised
Types of donations	Corporate donation, car wash as permanent income generation for the Center
Types of donors	A company producing paints for the industry, cars and houses; customers of the car wash

Summary

The Centro de Educação Profissional Calábria wanted to inform more people in the community about the services and opportunities they offer and to raise funds to improve the quality of their courses.
They had no previous fundraising experience, but decided to approach local companies with a description of several small projects in need of funding. One company decided to get involved and is still a partner.
The second plan was the establishment of a car wash as a permanent source of income for the school. Customers were found among the local businesses that were approached for fundraising purposes.
Both the partnership with the company and the car wash still exist and keep generating income for the Vocational Training Center.

Tips and lessons learned

This was an important experience for the Center, inspiring new initiatives of this type. The institution had no previous experience with the description of small projects to present to potential partners and donors.

Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation

This is a good example of involving the beneficiaries of your organisation in fundraising activities. The beneficiaries benefit by gathering working experience and at the same time contribute to raising funds for the organisation. Another nice aspect of this activity is that the school has chosen to target a specific group - local companies - and that they have established a partnership with one company ensuring long-term support for the organisation.

Details

Objectives

To raise funds in order to strenghten professional skills of youth and adoloscents in a vulnerable situation, in order to promote their labour insertion and their citizenship.

Targeted donors

Local businesses and car owners in their neighbourhood.           

Results

Accounting details

Paint company 1.160
Customers of car wash 161

Description of preparatory work

The first step was to write a proposal to present to the companies.

Description of implementation

Then contact was made with various companies.
After long negotiations a partnership was established with one of the companies, a producer of paints for the industry, cars and houses. During the same period a professional to work in the car wash was selected.