You may have seen some of our past updates from Bob who is in Sri Lanka at the moment on a long term placement (for the third year in a row!), if not you can check them out here. Bob is coming to the end of his placement and has e-mailed to tell us about […]
VESL Volunteer Blog
Fundraising: Murder Mystery Evening
A Murder Mystery Evening is a great opportunity to get all dressed up, have a lovely meal and be dramatic!! What is a Murder Mystery Evening? You can buy murder mystery sets from department stores or on-line at places like Amazon, they are geared up for a certain number of people (6-8 players, 10-12 players […]
Volunteer Case Study: Olivia & Lara: No Pain, No Gain
Lara and Olivia spent three months volunteering in India in September 2013, they have written a great blog post to help give you an insight into what it is like volunteering in India. When has anything ever been life changing, amazing or outrageously fun with out being challenging, scary and a little bit painful? …Our […]
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: One Day I Will Be Back
“It has been hard work. It has made me cry with laughter, cry with frustration and sometimes just cry. I’ve been, annoyed and scared (the driving!). It has been hilariously funny, unbelievable sad, humbling, very hot, very humid, very sweaty and very wet. The food, mostly fabulous, sometimes dodgy. The toilets, ever a challenge, the […]
Fundraising Idea: Sport-a-thon
Are you a keen sports player? Badminton? Tennis? Football? Netball? Basketball? Organise a fun tournament for people to enter – not only will this help you raise money it will also encourage more people to play the sport you love (and if you’re a member of a club you may be able to recruit some […]
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: First Week in India
This is part two of Pauline’s six week trip to India in September 2013, if you missed part one check it out here! Here Pauline reflects on her first week at her project; meeting her host family, exploring the village and starting in school. End of week one and highlights so far: We are staying […]
Volunteer Case Study: Pauline: Arriving in India
Pauline volunteered with VESL in September last year for six weeks in Kerala, India. Pauline has very kindly written up parts of her diary to share with other people who are interested in volunteering with VESL, or who are already going overseas to India and want to get more of an idea about what it’s […]
Fundraising Idea: Valentines Day
Whether you love it or hate it… Valentines Day is a good opportunity to do some fundraising, check out some of our ideas below: Secret Delivery Arrange a stall in your university, at school or work and people can send a rose, home made cup cake with a heart on or chocolate heart lollipop to […]
Fundraising Idea: Treasure Maps & Lucky Squares
These are a really great, quick and easy way to get your fundraising started or to top up the last few missing pounds at the end! There are lots of different variations of this but the basic principle remains the same. The basic idea is that you have a numbered grid and hidden somewhere in […]
Fundraising: Plan Plan Plan
So we know that planning may seem REALLY BORING, especially when you have course deadlines and jobs to contend with BUT planning is really important when it comes to fundraising. You don’t want it to be two months before you go overseas and then realise that you suddenly have a lot to do!! So make […]
Fundraising: Inspirational Ideas & Quotes!
It is always great to get some advice and ideas from our past volunteers so make sure you check out these mini case studies on how people reached their fundraising targets below! “I did an Open Mic Night and a fancy dress sponsored walk. Both were fantastic and I couldn’t have done without all my […]
How to stay involved and use your skills in the charity sector…
A lot of volunteers ask us how to use the skills they gained overseas when they return to the UK, and a great way to do this is to get involved with local charities and fundraising. Dave Inman, the Publicity & Membership Officer of Edinburgh Rotaract, has written a great guest blog post to help give an insight […]
Fundraising Idea: Smartie Tube Collections
You may remember doing these when you were at school, guides, scouts etc. The idea is very simple! You just need a lot of smartie tubes and some friends to give them out too! What a great excuse to eat a lot of smarties – goodbye new years resolution to give up chocolate!… well if […]
Fundraising: The Top 5 Activities in 2013
To start off the new year we thought we would share with you the top five fundraising activities of 2013 to help inspire you with your fundraising efforts! We know that the idea of fundraising can be very daunting, but hopefully these top five activities will help give you some ideas! 1. Cake Sales – […]
