Summary
We are running our second 4Water International Teacher Training Congress in Prague on 28-30th February 2016. The aim of the weekend is to raise teaching standards across the different schools, strengthen connections, share fundraising ideas and to learn more about water and entrepreneurship. It will also be a much deserved thank you to all of our hardworking and dedicated volunteers who between them have raised over £100,000 for WaterAid.As we donate all our money to WaterAid after running costs, we don't have 4Water money available to fund this. Additionally, as all of our teachers are volunteers, we don't feel it is fair to ask them to pay for their own tickets their.
Subsequently, this page asks for money (£4,000) for 2 things: 1) Plane tickets for teachers and 2) Running costs for the weekend (venues etc)
Following up our last teacher training weekend in 2014, every school grew, most earning double the amount for WaterAid the following year, and a new school was founded. Your contribution towards this cause is definitely an INVESTMENT in ultimately raising more funds for WaterAid.
What's more, we are now in the process of making the 4Water model as easily replicable as possible to enable us to spread worldwide, and we aim to raise £1,000,000 for WaterAid by 2020. Unity between the different 4Water volunteer groups is key to implementing this strategy, making weekends like this one invaluable.
Please read below for a full explanation of the Congress.
Thank you for support
Who We Are
4Water is a UK-based non-profit organisation that relies entirely on volunteer efforts to raise money for the charity WaterAid, by teaching skills classes such as dance and languages. So far, we have spread to 6 countries, donated over £100,000 to WaterAid and won 5 national awards for our efforts including UK's most innovative society and WaterAid’s 2015 President’s Award that was awarded by Prince Charles.
Details about the 4Water International Congress
The 2016 4Water International Congress will take place in Prague on 28-30th February and will bring together all our volunteers from 6 4Water countries. The 3 day Congress will be intense and packed with 8 hours of activities per day including dance workshops, lectures about Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), interactive seminars on business skills and entrepreneurship, team-building activities and reflective teaching skills practice. Business seminars will be centred around analysing and deconstructing different local 4Water business models, comparing them and reconstructing them with agreed action plans for achievable improvements and implementation of innovative ideas shared and developed over the weekend. In addition to this, a key aim of the Congress will be to strengthen our international volunteer network.
We will be bringing internationally-renound Cuban Salsa dancer Nikola Medic (World Champion Rueda de Casino 2010) to the Congress to provide advanced teacher training. Nikola has very kindly agreed to do this pro bono as he supports our cause. We will also be throwing a fundraising event open to the public where Nikola will teach a salsa workshop to raise money for WaterAid. This will be followed by a live band and live shows. The fundraising event will be heavily publicised and all proceeds from the workshop will be donated directly to WaterAid.
How will this Congress help WaterAid?
As 100% of our profits go directly to WaterAid, and the primary objective of 4Water is to use our skills to help those in need by providing them with WASH, the most important question is whether this congress will impact on our fundraising in the long term.
As stated, the purpose of the Congress is to strengthen our international 4Water community, improve frameworks for individual 4Water projects and fundraise money for WaterAid. However, we are also hoping to recruit new regional developers who want to start new 4Water projects in their home cities. Last year one attendee was so inspired that he started Salsa4Water Copenhagen immediately after attending the Congress and raised £1500 for WaterAid in their first year of operating.
Above all, skills and ideas implemented from the last Congress have helped all projects donate more money to WaterAid. In the financial year following our last Congress, 3 groups almost doubled their WaterAid donations, and 4Water had it’s best financial year so far. For example, Dance4Water Prague raised £1290 in 2013, over £3300 in 2014 and over £6300 in 2015!
How you can help us
As most of our volunteers are students, many cannot afford to pay for flights to Prague to attend the Congress. As 4Water donate 100% of profits to WaterAid, we are not able to pay for them.
With 65 confirmed attendees, of which 24 live local to the Congress, we are looking for a sponsorship to cover travel and running costs of the Congress. Local Czech volunteers have kindly offered to house international 4Water volunteers in their homes in order to save on costs and to maximise time spent together as a team. As flights and accommodation prices change on a daily basis, the numbers given for these are approximate based on current prices. Receipts after purchase will be provided with exact amounts if required.
• Flights for 34 attendees £3400
• Workshop venues and live band £250
• Limited edition T-shirts prints for the weekend: £350
Total requested: £4,000
If you are a corporation wanting to fund us £1000 or more, this is how we can benefit you
In exchange for your contribution, we would do the following to ensure it’s a win-win:
1 Publicise your contribution on all of our social media pages: we cumulatively have over 10 pages with an excess of 6000 active members.
2 Advertise your logo on our website’s homepage for 12 months following the sponsorship donation. This can be done permanently if you choose to sponsor us for this event annually.
3 Print a special edition copy of our branded T-shirts with your logo on it for all the teachers to wear on the weekend and to sell to the general public
4 Do a flash-mob salsa choreography wearing these T-shirts in Prague city-centre that will be uploaded to YouTube and shared by all our volunteers with the aim of making it go viral.
So far, 4Water has provided lasting clean water, sanitation and hygiene education to over 7000 people worldwide. We are very proud of this, but this is only the beginning. In addition to your sponsorship enabling us to afford all costs for the Congress and the benefits discussed above, having a sponsor like yourselves would provide us with international recognition and the momentum required for our idea to grow exponentially.
4Water is quite a new model, but as suggested by the successes so far outlined above, it has shown to be an effective one. Not only do we fundraise for a brilliant cause, but we have also created a proactive and friendly international community of young innovators and entrepreneurs who want to use their skills and creativity to help those in need and improve humanity. We are now in the process of making the model as easily replicable as possible to enable us to spread worldwide, and we aim to raise £1,000,000 for WaterAid by 2020.
Below are some YouTube videos made in different 4Water community projects for you to get an idea of some of the work we have done so far.
Thank you for your consideration and warmest regards
Samson Kendall, Krista Toivonen and James Sheehan
Directors of 4Water
Youtube Links:
Salsa4Water Prague: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcNYYSRbXo
Salsa4Water Glasgow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4P7moJxyIo
Salsa4Water Kuwait: https://www.facebook.com/moses.sujan/videos/vb.562010483/10155444280080484/?type=3&theater
Salsa4Water Lyon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWFgs_VSiaQ
4Water
Company Limited by Guarantee: SC493016
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07761949386
Address: 335 Great Western Road, Flat 3/1, Glasgow, G4 9HS
Website: www.weare4water.org
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Salsa4water