“Treasure Hunt” – funding for youth initiatives

1^st of February was a very important day. It was the deadline for the submission of the YiA application for FRES (Fund Raising European School). As we all know deadlines are always stressful, and this one was also one of those.

As most of you may already know FRES is, among others, a training course where participants are able to learn new techniques to fund raise, to know how to deal with sponsorship letters, learn how to handle Youth in Action applications and other grants and share experiences from their own associations. But that’s not all, apart from that they can also get to know about how voluntary actions can be effective and useful and that with the right knowledge, they can achieve strong aims.

Besides, this event will be somehow special as it’ll be the first joint event organised by AEGEE and BEST. That’s why AEGEE-Academy and TiGro (the Academy of BEST) started to work together already some time ago and even some of their members had a meeting in Brussels.

In that meeting some agreements were made: dates, how to handle the training, managers, fees, contact persons between the two organizations…

Finally, after a long way through different antennae, AEGEE-Zaragoza was selected as host local. A Youth in Action (YiA) application was something new for most of the current board but they were brave enough, and their enthusiasm and hard work helped a lot. But not only that, also the big effort from Mirek, the External Relations of AEGEE-Europe, and the non-stop emailing of the whole AEGEE-Academy Board, Mirka from the CD, included, was absolutely necessary.

Finally 1^st of February everything was ready, and with all the Parts III of the partner associations, AEGEE-Zaragoza handed in the application in the local seat the Spanish Youth Council.

Now it’s time to cross our fingers and wait for a positive answer. Stay tuned and keep the week from 17th to 24th of September free!