Expedition Fundraising and Sponsorship Advice
Perhaps the most frequent question with which I am emailed is how to raise funds and get sponsorship for an expedition, adventure or charity challenge.
My first response is always: do you really need a sponsor? Expeditions need not be expensive and trying to get sponsorship can take a lot of time which might be better spent exploring. I’ve been awarded many grants for my trips but never had a significant financial sponsor.
But, if you do need to fundraise then whilst there are no easy answers, there are certainly a few things that you could do to help yourself. The articles and links below may help.
Next Challenge Sponsorship Advice
- Making a Sponsorship Pitch – Advice on how to approach sponsors.
- Five Tips on Fundraising – Notes from a talk I gave at the 2009 Royal Geographical Society Explore conference
- Do you Really Need a Sponsor? – I have done nearly all of my expeditions without financial sponsorship. Why not consider some alternatives?
- Fundraising Ethos and Etiquette – Some suggestions on how to conduct yourself in the sponsorship game.
Expedition & Travel Grant Links
- RGS Database of Grant Giving Organisations – Read through this list before doing anything else. There are a lot of grants out there and this could save you a lot of heartache.
- RGS List of Funding Sources (PDF) - This is an older version of the above. Slightly out of date but in easily downloaded PDF.
- Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Grants – Not all for science and research. Highlights include Radio 4′s Journey of a Lifetime, Land Rover’s Go Beyond Bursary and the Neville Shulman Challenge Award.
- Lord Mayor’s 800th Anniversary Awards Trust – Offer small grants to people under 25. They funded my Mountain Leader training.
- Allan & Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust – £300 grants for students.
- The Gordon Foundation – Small grants for those under 30. I was awarded one for my 21st Century Altai expedition.
- British Mountaineering Council Grants – The BMC helps fund climbing expeditions. They also work with the Mount Everest Foundation (MEF) grants. I’ve had funding and support from these guys on three of my expeditions.
- UCL Expedition & Travel Grants – These may only be for students at University College London (I received three grants whilst studying there and am now on the committee) but most universities have something similar. I wouldn’t be doing this today if it weren’t for my university grants.
Fundraising Advice Articles
- A to Z of Fundraising – Some ideas for raising money from GapYear.com, Lonely Planet, Students On Ice (PDF) and Charity Challenge (PDF). There are plenty such articles on Google.
- 15 Tips towards finding sponsorship for your expedition – by Alastair Humphreys. Check out his Year of Microadventure too if you’re on a budget.
- How to get sponsorship for your cycle tour – by Tom Allen.
- 10 tips to help you get sponsorship for your expedition – from the the Travel Dudes.
- Fundraising to Join an Expedition Handbook (PDF) – Free download from the Royal Geographical Society
General Sponsorship Links
- Blood, Sweat and Charity by Nick Stanhope – This fundraising handbooks was one of my inspirations for starting this website.
- UK Sponsorship Database – Add your expedition to the list.
- Lynne Edwards – Has recently started working to help expeditions and adventurers find sponsorship. Contact her through Twitter.
- ‘SOUTH’ Brochure (PDF) - An excellent sponsorship document produced by Jim Shannon. Something to aspire to in your own productions.
- ‘Inspire’ Brochure (PDF) – A brochure I made myself using free software. There’s a shorter two-page version here and a less glossy info-sheet here.
- The 100 Club – A list of adventures all conducted for under £100 (so you don’t have to bother with sponsors!)
Been through all of those and still like a hand? Email me.