Fundraising

As an independent student since the age of 15, I have been raising funds for individual or organization needs many times. To fund my education, I researched scholarship opportunities and how to meet their criteria. This way, I took part in incredible experiences as an Erasmus Scholar of the European Commission in Croatia and Fulbright Scholar of the U.S. Department of State in Texas. I succeeded in finding sponsorship for attending a global business competition in Miami, Florida. This was the most challenging experience of my life, but the reward was accordingly great. It was an exercise of optimism and perseverance, as I did not lose hope and found the funding last minute. I created a successful crowdfunding campaign to be able to attend the Harvard Conference HPAIR in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During my bachelor's, I was a fundraiser of the Students Association in Accounting and Management Information Systems. Specifically, I raised funds for our projects Practical Accounting Days, Oratory, and Economic Summer College projects.

During my summer internship at the Space Governance Research Group, I implemented the following fundraising strategies:

- Remind the ways that helped me raise funds in the past.

- Select which techniques apply to the new institution/NGO's fundraising.

- Ask for advice from students and professors who are/took part in a similar organization.

- Brainstorming with the team to create an outreach campaign to build our brand.

- Make a list of all the connections that might help in getting funds.

- Research additional external funding sources.

- Use my communication skills to establish networks.

- Present to the potential donors the reasons to fund us.

- Use my diplomacy and negotiation skills to develop and sign partnerships/sponsorship contracts.

- Consistent contact.

- Show progress.

Potential challenge: a strategy that helped me get funding for the NGO projects does not work in getting funding for the internship. For example, because of cultural differences or business rules.

Potential solution: adapt the center funding strategy to the needs of the sponsor.

Alternative: find another potential sponsor with similar characteristics as the NGO donor.