Scottish Fundraising

Four young men get in a car and drive from London to Mongolia. They have already collected donations for a special charity to fight cancer. They travel from one country to another,  giving daily coverage of their progress on two social media websites, and  call on interested readers to donate money.

Can you imagine something like this in Azerbaijan? With that thought I was going to meet with these young people, who arrived late last week in Baku on  their  way to Mongolia.

"We  are  four Scottish graduates from Aberdeen University,  and we are going by car from the UK  to Mongolia. Our route is  through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Black Sea, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and finally to Mongolia. A total of 10,000 miles by car. The entire journey will take six weeks," said one of the four  men, red-haired  Lewis Houston, who noted with satisfaction that  they have already collected £11,500 pounds for CLAN, an Aberdeen charity that supports cancer patients, in their home town of Aberdeen

When asked how they collect donations, another member of the campaign, Jonathan Findlay, said: “Quite simply, we have a link on our special website (www.friengineers.com),  and anyone  who is interested can follow our journey. If  somebody wants to support us,  they can simply  transfer  any amount of their choice straight to the charity we are supporting and fundraising for.”

The task of those engaged in fundraising (literally - the collection of money for charity)  is to help inspire public interest and potential donors who would like to give support to a charity such as CLAN” said a third team member, Fraser Galbraith.

“We do not touch the money, all donations go straight to the charity account. We just encourage people to help cancer patients, and the money will be used by those at the charity who support the patients.

How do you collect money, how do you attract people?

“We have used different methods.  One example was to hold a traditional Scottish dance called a ceilidh, during which we invited everyone to take part dance, share food, and at the same time our guests can make donations to charity.

In addition, we have negotiated corporate sponsors from the private business sector to give a donation and in return they have placed their company logo on our website.”

“An important goal in collecting money  is publicity and public awareness for the CLAN charity. It is essential that the local press in Aberdeen covered the entire process and our journey, said the fourth  participant of the team, Craig Morrison. So, over the past  two weeks since we started the trip over 2,500 people have made a donation to the charity”.

- What is the meaning of this campaign for you?

“For young people in Scotland and the UK as a whole, this is an important part of our social life. Society makes it clear  that we are all one family, and that people should not think only of themselves, but also neighbors, friends and even strangers who need support as a cancer patient,  said Lewis.

We mention this sort of experience on our CV’s, and all this is taken into account when applying for a job and advancing our careers. Although, of course, this activity  is  purely volunteer work,” he said.

- Is it possible to follow the age of those who donate funds?

- In principle, yes,  according to our data, most of the donations are coming from people  between age of 25-30 years.

- Don’t  young people fear go to the other end of the world by car?

- Well, this is a well planned and researched trip. We are not afraid of the challenge. We all drive in turn. Our car is a small car only 1.2 litre, which is one of the rules of the rally. No cars allowed with bigger engines than this, but this is enough.  We have met a friendly crowd, and we especially liked Georgia, good food and wine ( and they laughed.)

From Baku, the Scottish foursome travelled by ferry to Turkmenistan,  and  then onto Mongolia, where they are expected to arrive next month. Their car will be auctioned off and the proceeds given to a local Mongolian charity, or it will be given to a local Mongolian family in need of transport.

It was nice to look at these young people who had a great understanding of the value of social activism  supporting sick people, and combining business with pleasure.

Watching them,  I feel  a deep chasm between the interests of our society and Scottish society. Not because we have few people who ask, and raise money for charity. The issue is about  their attitude towards such events, and the activities of ordinary citizens, who are aware of their personal responsibility, involvement in society and the important role of the citizen.