What do you get when you have three moms, two kids and their wheel chairs, one community and allot of great ideas? The VANGO Family Fundraising Group.
Fundraising for your child's needs is a challenge at the best of times. Where do you find the time, the ideas, not to mention the fear of not meeting your goals. How do you know who to ask and where to go? These are daunting questions when you take on the challenge of fundraising on your own. We all have strengths to contribute to this process, but when you pool your resources with other families, the work load decreases and the chances for success increase.
Early in 2010 I was approached by a family who was about to start fundraising for a van, but was aware through her parent support group that others would be doing the same in her community. She did not want to compete for the same dollars and asked what I thought of them joining forces. An excellent idea!
Three families met to discuss this option. The conclusion was that two of the families would be moving forward to fundraiser together and share the sum for their accessible vans. The third family wanted to wait, but would be volunteering to these fundraising efforts to learn as much as she could and support these families.
All three women are creative and crafty, one brings accounting skills and the other organizations skills. It was agreed that as the Funding Coordinator for the IWK Pediatric Rehabilitation Program I would coach them in the fundraising process, documenting their successes and challenges so other groups could learn.
Early meetings focused on process. Who needed how much money and how it would be divided. A trust account was opened and the families penned an agreement on the administration of the funds. Lots of brainstorming took place on the message that these families wanted to generate and who should receive that message.
A name was soon chosen that perfectly fit the spirit and the mission of this group. The VanGo Family Fundraiser. This was a creative group of parents that were using their skills to move forward.
I would like to share with you, in this blog, this journey and the creative and empowering approach taken by the Van Go family Fundraiser.
Watch for the next post that will feature the first fundraiser "Rocks In Our Tires".
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