Fundraising
In the spirit of a totally disorganised event, your choice of benefactor for any fundraising you do within Ride for Cambodia, is entirely up to you. Feel free to do your own research, call people working in Cambodia, and then choose an organisaton that reflects your personal beliefs.
Above all else keep this in mind – no matter who you choose to support, just by being in Cambodia, being in remote areas and spending your holiday money there, (rather than in a ski resort or a 5 star hotel on the beach) your participation alone will make a difference. You’ll also come away from your travels in Cambodia as a different person with a new appreciation for your own life. Come along, you’ll see.
Now, if you aren’t sure where to start then just take a look in the forum. Otherwise if you want to support some people who have been really helpful in answering questions for the pilot event, then keep reading…
For the inaugural 2012 ride, we looked for a partner organisation with 3 important features
- The organisation needed to have the capacity to provide us with some support through their local knowledge by:
- helping us find a suitable place to buy the moto’s
- advising or negotiating on the buying and selling so we don’t pay inflated prices, and get a decent sale at the end
- providing advice on the process and legalities for a foreigner to buy a moto in Cambodia
- 100% of their fundraising activity must go directly to helping the people of Cambodia in a meaningful way
- The organisation should not be religiously influenced
After a bit of searching and some false leads, we found Sustainable Cambodia.
Sustainable Cambodia has more than met our partnership needs, and have been helpful, responsive and enthusiastic in all our dealings.
A little from them…
Cambodian village families have been slowly rebuilding their lives after the Khmer Rouge genocide, but Cambodia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Rural areas of Cambodia still face severe poverty, lack of health care, and low levels of education, economic opportunity, and resources. Sustainable Cambodia works to make a difference in the lives of these families.
“We are not an “aid” organization… We are an empowerment organization. We embrace the philosophy “teach a person to fish”, but we also go one step further: Each village uses a “pass-it-on” element of community service, so the village families not only help themselves, but help neighboring villages. The result is sustainability within the villages, and replication of the model as village families volunteer to help surrounding villages. The work is comprehensive: We empower the village families to create a sustainable quality of life, helping them acquire fresh water, irrigation, schools, agriculture, skills and income generation.
We employ ONLY native Cambodians as paid staff. ALL international officers, directors and consultants are volunteers who are unpaid. This allows us to keep our overhead and fundraising expenses under 3%, and funding from the founders pays more than this modest amount. So literally 100% of your funding goes into helping the rural village families. “
Your participation in Ride for Cambodia will make a difference – If you choose to support Sustainable Cambodia then 100% of your contribution will go directly to on-the-ground projects in rural Cambodia.
Sustainable Cambodia have offered to take us out to the villages who are benefitting directly from their work. You don’t need to organise this in advance, just talk to other riders on the forum and go along when they do.
