…& it’s a wrap! (Our first ever recruitment, at least~)
We look forward to writing a reflections post soon on the experience but with the passing of the new deadline last Friday (you can read about it here), we are officially closing the two Mini-Carevan recruitments that ran from 6 to 27 June 2025.
In this post, we’re sharing:
Let’s go.
The final count – what we managed to raise together
We ran two Mini-Carevan campaigns at the same time, with two main goals.
The first goal was a campaign target.
For each of the campaigns, we spoke to our Co-Drivers and set a total amount of monthly donations that would really help them out and allow them to focus more on supporting their communities, and less on worrying about funds.
For Rohingya Single Mothers Grocery Programme (RSMGP), the campaign target was a total of RM1,000 monthly. They already run on a slightly different monthly donation structure but have been seeing this fund gap in the past months. Filling the gap would ensure consistency of their monthly groceries distribution which includes rice, vegetables, oil, salt, and fruits.
For Refugee Emergency Fund (REF), the campaign target was a total of RM3,000 monthly. This would help fill the gap in expenses for medical and housing emergencies faced by refugees in Malaysia. They also already have a monthly goal campaign alongside ad-hoc campaigns for specific cases, but establishing a baseline of funds would ensure quicker response to all cases.
The second goal was a community target.
The second goal was a community target. Since our Mini-Carevan intention was to journey together as a community of helpers and drivers, we wanted to have a minimum of RM500 total monthly contributions, coming from at least 10 Helpers for a Mini-Carevan to start moving.
After 3 weeks, here is what we managed to raise together as a community:
Mini-Carevan x RSMGP
- Total Monthly donations: RM847/monthly from 4 donors
- One-time donations: RM480 from 2 donors
- Total for this month = RM1327 from 6 donors
🩷 Campaign target of RM1,000 total monthly donations: No
💚 Community target of RM500 monthly donations from 10 helpers: No
Mini-Carevan x REF
- Total Monthly donations: RM901/month from 8 donors
- One-time donations: RM1073 from 4 donors
- Total for this month = RM1974 from 12 donors
🩷 Campaign target of RM3,000 total monthly donations: No
💚 Community target of RM500 monthly donations from 10 helpers: No
Some preliminary interesting insights? (click to read!)
We had a donor and an organisation (so actually many persons under 1 name) both handing us a lump sum, which we understood intended to “finish a goal” one-time instead of monthly; but eventually trusted us to redirect it. We split it 1:3 for RSMGP and REF respectively.
In short, while we raised a good amount of money, we didn’t hit our community target for both Mini-Carevans. As a result, we’ve decided not to create the community groups – and instead focus on understanding better what sustainable giving can look like for more people.
What happens next for our Co-Drivers?
Our co-drivers, RSMGP & REF, continue to do their important work supporting and uplifting their communities – that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to support them! Their commitment continues…and our commitment as Carevan to finding ways to support them continues as well.
100% of the funds already raised will go directly to RSMGP & REF!
That’s a total of RM1327 to support the buying and distribution of essential items to the Rohingya Single Mothers community, and RM1974 to help cover medical and housing emergencies from the refugee community in Malaysia.
Finally, all donors – whether one-time or monthly – will be invited to support each co-driver directly. That could be via setting up a standing order, donating directly or following them on social media/other existing channels. If you’re a donor, we’ll be in touch about this in the coming days!
If you didn’t contribute to the campaign but would like to know about how to support directly too, consider following us on Instagram or join our Whatsapp Community! We’ll share all the info and links there.
What happens next for our helpers/donors?
Firstly – thank you for trusting us and being part of this first-ever, experimental pilot run of Mini-Carevans.
Whether you contributed to a campaign, read our messages/posts, asked us questions, helped us share the word or simply sent us a like, each of these actions made us feel like we were doing it together. That feeling of togetherness is the essence of the community we’re trying to build. You were a part of that. Thank you!
For donors – as mentioned above – we will be in touch shortly about how you can support our co-drivers directly. We sincerely hope you do, but we also would love for you to do it sustainably, within your capacity while keeping connected to the communities where you are making a real difference.
Many of you had conversations with us about what sustainable giving means to you, and we’ve been inspired and humbled to hear all the diverse viewpoints so far. We’re keen to hear and learn more, as we regroup and refresh before the next Mini-Carevan launches.
Yup, this isn’t the end of the Mini-Carevan journey. In all honesty, it’s not even a detour, much less any setback. We made something good happen together! That’s a win.
While it didn’t end up looking exactly like how we imagined it to be, no community effort ever does…if it wants to really, truly be a community effort. We’ll be in touch, we’ll be learning and we’ll be back!
Spreading good together wherever we go,
Carevan
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