Tag Fund raising

Cover Art

This is the only book written about the Mongol Rally. As many of you know, we are participating in this 10,000 mile adventure across Europe and Asia this summer, so naturally we wanted to size up what the forerunners have done in this amazing race. Rising / Falling – Always Hoping offered invaluable insight into the inter-workings of a team undertaking the rally.

The book begins with the author and his friend solving the plethora of problems they encountered in registering their car, finding visas and making their ancient car ready to hit the road. Nevertheless, their team encountered an unnatural amount of problems on their route from the UK to Mongolia.

Throughout the race, their team had several breakdowns with their tiny car. It seemed 90% of the book was taken up with the team dealing with their failing auto. At one point they were left with no options on fixing the car, no parts, and no help in the middle of Kazakhstan where they had finally laid waste. In the end, the team was forced to abandon the race and just hope to find someone to haul their dead car into Mongolia. They succeeded in dragging the dead machine to Ulaan Bataar, only to discover that the finale they were hoping for did not exist. They simply left the wreaked vehicle in the appropriate parking lot, and had a Genghis Khan beer and then shrugged and flew back to the UK.

It was a bit depressing to read this tale of wonder and woe, simply because the author’s team had experienced such hardship on the route that it seemed they were not ever enjoying themselves, and always working overtime to achieve a goal that, in the end, was a let down. Nevertheless, the author proclaims the joys of the road only after completing the rally and returning home.

Mongolians

Having done quite a bit of research on how to find sponsors for our team in the 2010 Mongol Rally, we thought it might be helpful to write about the process for other folks in the rally, or similar adventures.

Step one – analysis. We read as much information as was possible on the Mongol Rally, including the main demographic, audience, marketability, legality, etc. Once we were confident we could easily explain even the most obscure details of the rally, we moved on. We even purchased and read the only book published by a former rally adventurer.

Step two – organize. We created an excel spreadsheet and brainstormed backwards, thinking about the items our team would need on the rally and then compiling a list of companies that might be interested in sponsoring us. Our spreadsheet was broken down into sectors, like ‘camping equipment’ for example, and then companies, like ‘REI’, and then their contact information so we can keep track of our correspondence with each potential sponsor.

Step three — proposal. We created a snazzy sponsorship proposal that compiled information on the rally, our team, our charity and then listed how sponsors could benefit by helping out our team and charity. Then we sent the proposal to the companies in our spreadsheet from step two.

Step four – press. While contacting sponsors, we also created a spreadsheet for potential press and media coverage, and set about contacting local and international media about our team and the event. After the creation of the proposal, we simply morphed the same document into a mini press kit for interested media affiliates.

Step five—website SEO. While all of this was going on, we maintained the website and blog, and did a bit of much-needed SEO, including some link building and revamping the landing page and Mongol Rally page of our site, gearing them towards the rally and securing sponsorships.

Step six – phone calls. While all of these documents and online work can go a long way towards endearing the team to potential sponsors, nothing is as meaningful as a phone call. We followed up all potential sponsor leads with calls, because in the end it is about people helping people, and the human element is the most essential one.

Good luck with your own fund-raising, and have fun!