Today is world refugee day!
There’s a lot of content, commentaries and events happening this weekend – H is in Jakarta attending one exciting programme…but I’ll let her tell you more next time.
Today was also supposed to be the conclusion of our current Mini-Carevan campaigns & the start of a three-month journey. But we are extending it with some conditions. Let me explain the thinking behind it.
About Mini-Carevans
about Mini-Carevans here
If you haven’t read about our two Mini-Carevan campaigns currently open, you can check them out here:
- Mini-Carevan x Rohingya Single Mothers’ Grocery Programme (RSMGP) with a target of RM1,000 in monthly donations x 3 months
- Mini-Carevan x Refugee Emergency Fund (REF) with a target of RM3,000 in monthly donations x 3 months
Mini-Carevans are a sustainable good model – sustainable for organisations and initiatives serving communities & sustainable for donors to get involved.
In a Mini-Carevan, we have-
- Drivers: organisations and initiatives doing good work and serving the community
- Helpers: individuals committing to monthly monetary contributions to support the work
The way we saw it, Mini-Carevans could help solve a problem for both Drivers, who are able to focus on impact over fundraising with the certainty of monthly donations, and Helpers, who become part of a WhatsApp community receiving direct and regular updates on the change they are making.
While we did get some donations so far (thank you!!), the truth is that the response hasn’t been what we hoped for in this first-ever campaign launch.
So with this one more week extension, here’s our plan.
Understanding why people give
After a few conversations and discussions, we think the most important thing we need to learn if Mini-Carevans are to be successful is this: why would someone commit to a monthly donation?
We hope to understand this better with time and your help! But for these current two campaigns, for it to be meaningful for both Drivers and Helpers and form a proper community, we need a minimum number of people and a minimum total monthly contribution.
As such, we are setting the minimum goal for a Mini-Carevan to start moving as:
RM500 total monthly contributions, coming from at least 10 Helpers
We could still make it happen in the next seven days, and we are hoping it will for both campaigns! But without a significant amount of monthly contributions and Helpers involved, it’ll be hard to create a community – and it’s also a sign for us to focus even more on understanding why people will/won’t give before future campaigns.
What happens if we don’t meet the minimum goal?
This is what happens if we don’t meet the minimum goal for either campaign by our new deadline, 27 June 2025:
- We’ll close the campaign pages from further donations
- We’ll transfer all funds already collected to our Drivers
- We’ll share with all donors that did sign up, on how they can continue to contribute directly if you wish to do so
In short, the Drivers continue doing the work. They will also receive some support based on what we collected so far, and hopefully some donors will also decide to support them directly – a win for everyone!
As for us, we’ll take the time to speak to our current and potential donors to understand them better.
And what if we do meet the minimum goal?
If we do meet the minimum goal by 27 June 2025, then:
- The Mini-Carevan moves! We’ll create a WhatsApp group linking Drivers and Helpers where regular updates and sharing will happen for the next three months.
- The campaign will remain open for the three months to see if we can boost the monthly contribution, with the support of our Helpers.
Either way, the community comes first
Because that’s why we do this anyway – to spread good wherever we may be.
In the meantime, we have a week…and we have some Instagram Lives planned so follow us on Instagram @carevan.sg if you haven’t already.
Thank you for being part of our learning journey and share with us your thoughts on Mini-Carevans, donations or anything at all that comes to mind in the comments below!
And if you like, sign up for either Mini-Carevan here:
- Mini-Carevan x Rohingya Single Mothers’ Grocery Programme (RSMGP) with a target of RM1,000 in monthly donations x 3 months
- Mini-Carevan x Refugee Emergency Fund (REF) with a target of RM3,000 in monthly donations x 3 months
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