Trekking for Fun & Funds

Bill  is the founder of the Pitcher Group.  He has eighteen years of fundraising experience.  He has conducted multi-million dollar campaigns in the health care, education, social service, recreation and arts sectors. His initial involvement with Rotary was as a fund raising consultant for Polio Plus.

Bill's talk was a short course on what's what and what has changed in the fundraising business. He explained the 3 main approaches to fund raising:

1.     Charitable Sales - fund raising where value is given back in the form of merchandise or service.

2.     Charitable Request - fund raising where a strong cause or program attracts funds on its own merit such as Polio Plus, and

3.     Sponsorship - fund raising where major sponsors receive product or company visibility in exchange for donations.

Fund Raising through adventure trips has become very popular in Europe where it is bigger than golf tournaments are in North America.  Walks through the Black Forest and the Holy Land are very popular.

Pledged-based fundraising such as Run For The Cure are very popular and very productive here. Charity Trekking is an adventure based extension of this concept. Charity Trek's website,www.charitytreks.ca, describes it thus:

 Charity Treks are simply events, similar to walk-a-thons, that take place in an interesting international destination instead of locally.  Treks are designed to be challenging.  A hiking expedition normally covers approximately one hundred kilometres cross country.  Like a marathon, most participants train in advance to be fit for the Treks.

Participants must typically raise several thousand dollars to cover Trek costs and to support the associated charity.  Usually, twenty to sixty people participate in a single Trek.

The website lists adventure in locales as diverse as China, South Africa, Borneo and Kilimanjaro.  Thank you Bill for stepping in at the last minute.