Why is Fundraising Big Fun?

Dear friends,

The Indiegogo part of campaign With Milena to Africa is finished on Indiegogo. Together we collected 930 USD+ amount on bank accounts. Thanks to all 40 donors from 14 different world-wide countries.Your gratitude and trust obliges me professionally and morally to multiply social, innovation and financial impact as further entrepreneurship projects and youth opportunities are catalyzed throughout my future company.Thanks to people who shared and promoted this idea via their walls, inbox, and word-of-mouth. Thanks to companies and individuals who provided much needed advice and would support in the next phase of the projects. It is important that good news get wider acclaim and especially inspire young people.

My fundraising goal was to collect money for attending OYW conference as a delegate of Serbia, Cambridge Alumna and budding entrepreneur. You can read more about my future company here, but hearing inspirational talks of Bob Geldof, Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington and doing projects with Fortune 500 companies will create a professional halo effect where other people who follow closely via social media will get tools to start their jobs and get additional stream of income.

I started this fundraising with 3 management principles, and here are my key learnings:

1) No man is an island. In order to achieve our goal and complete our project, we need careful planning and the enthusiastic, reliable team. I made a mistake as I was reluctant to ask for help DIRECTLY, which created an environment where some people would ask: ‘‘How is it going?’’ instead ‘‘Can I help you somehow?’’ Also, I would assume that some people will not help as their schedule is tremendously hectic. Good briefing before the campaign launch is important and the campaigns will get momentum.

2) Look for people’s actions, not their words. Who is an accountable professional? Not the one who says that he will do something, but the one who does it. In the end, what counts in our life or career is what we did, not what we promised or wanted. In anything you want to achieve there will be people who wait for you to succeed, but if you commit fully to your goal the chances that you will make it are moderately higher than if you explain yourself to them. And probably you will not consider them as associates in the next phase of the company development, your life, your projects.

3) The perfect moment does not exist. We take a moment and make it perfect. In my country we say: What you can do today, don’t leave for tomorrow. But there are lot of procrastinators who did not deliver.

Every day after we wake up and get up and do something we go through our day like browsing a supermarket. There are many options, life choices we pick up from the shelves, decisions that are now in the garbage bin, the overwhelming amount of unnecessary attention-grabbers that we took from the supermarket shelf and hidden jewels of wisdom or opportunities that we will discover only if we look closely.

I realized that now is the perfect moment to attend the One Young World Summit. Whether it will happen or not, we will know in a week. But trust me, nothing is more liberating than knowing that you did all in your might to accomplish a goal that your community (young professionals, budding entrepreneurs, knowledge-driven companies and institutions) will benefit from.

And I am definitely determined to start a company and to empower young people to create jobs instead of waiting for them. Once there is big goal created, the chunking into the small ones is the next step.

Now there are 2 things we can do together: because we do not want to be the grumpy or confused standbyers, but happy change makers, right? 

 1) There are only EUR 1500 left to collect, i.e. 700 cups of coffee until 17 September via donations and sponsorship to the UK and Serbian bank accounts.

– Serbian account: 160-5100101346687-27 (Banca Intesa)

– The UK account: account number: 19494660 (Lloyds TSB), sort code: 77-05-10, account holder: Tijana Gajic.

2) Inviting 10-20 people to do the same, to donate a cup of coffee will show YOU that YOU can gather people around good cause and lead them to a positive change.

Thank you!

Yours,

Milena