Workshop Fundraising for beginners

To emphasize the ‘Academy’ part of the Future For Nature Academy, there is a wish to organize workshops exclusively for FFN Academy Members. In these workshops participants learn practical skills that are useful for a career in nature conservation, but are not necessarily part of the university curriculum.

Fundraising is one of those skills. Every conservationist needs funds to do realize their projects.  Therefore, the Academy was very glad Hanneloes Weeda was able introduce this topic to us during a full day workshop. Hanneloes Weeda is Grants and Funding manager at IUCN NL and she has been fundraising for nature conservation projects for the past 10 years.

In this practical and hands-on workshop we were introduced to the why, how and where of fundraising. In preparation for the workshop, participants were invited to think of a conservation dream they wanted to work on during the workshop. Everyone brought very different ideas from a research project on deep sea corals, organizing an event to raise awareness on nature fragmentation in the Netherlands, to a Youth Biodiversity Conference. Working on our own projects we developed a case for support, a basic proposal, made a first budget and learned how to approach donors and how to raise enthusiasm for our projects.

It was a full but very nice day at the cozy location of Thuis Wageningen. We want to thank Hanneloes again for sharing her knowledge and introducing us to this essential skill in conservation.

By Pauline Buffing