We knew from the offset of our expedition planning that we wanted to host some form of raffle, collating prizes from companies and business that share our ethos and passion for protecting our planet; particularly our marine ecosystems.
So, when the time came to contact these companies, we did not hold back! After emailing 217 companies, business, and organisations we received many replies offering partnerships and donations to go into our raffle and help us raise funds for our research, as well as some donations to the team directly in the field! On top of these direct donations from business, we also received a few donations from friends of the expedition in the form of toiletry sets.
We would first and foremost like to say a massive thank you to everyone who contributed to our raffle in the form of prizes. It certainly could not have gone ahead without your generosity and passion for our cause.
Five days before the raffle, we set up a section of our website for participants to buy tickets and register their details with us and we were blown away by the number of people who interacted with it! We took payments primarily through our GoFundMe page, and the day before the raffle, we reached our overall fundraising target! Once again, we would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who donated and supported our research through the GoFundMe. Without the initial enthusiasm of our donators, we could not have put our plans into motion, let alone embark on the expedition.
Despite reaching our fundraising target, we were aiming to raise £300 from the raffle to met our budget requirements. In the end, we raised £396 from selling 158 tickets, smashing our £300 target out of the water! Our next thank you (yes, another one!) goes out to everyone who bought raffle tickets! This raffle was our final fundraiser before we set off, so beating our target has given us a lot of confidence going into our projects.
Anyway! Onto the fun stuff; prizes!!!
As previously mentioned, all of our prizes were donated by business, and friends of the expedition. The gallery below shows everything we had up for grabs (although some of the larger items were split into two):
At midday on June 3rd, two members of our expedition team, Jennifer and Kerensa, began the process of drawing names for each prize. With 23 prizes up for grabs, it took some time! We used an online spinning wheel that was almost illegible once all 158 names had been added. However, after each prize had been won, we had 14 winners; many of whom won more than one prize. A big shout out has to go to Angela Sibbald and Beatrix Payne, who won three prizes each!
We aim to put all the prizes in the post before we leave for our expedition but if this is not possible, we will contact the winners directly.
Once again, thank you to EVERYONE who has helped us raise money for our research! We are setting off to Skye on June 13th and will be keeping everyone updated through regular blog and other social media posts so keep your eyes peeled for all the excitement.
Thank you again to everyone who has supported us,
We can't wait to get going,
The Seaweed Team
We would like to thank several organisations directly for donating raffle prizes:
The Friendly soap company
Onya
4Ocean
Nairns
Wild Tribe Heroes
Bam Bamboo Clothing
BeeBee
Weleda
The Cornish Seaweed Company
Truthbrush
Vent for Change
And a few more for their direct partnerships with our team:
Tunnocks
A Slice of Green
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