I am incredibly proud of what GfGD has been able to achieve over the past two years with minimal finances. Through the hard work of many of our University Group Ambassadors, National Committee and other volunteers we have grown and developed a number of low-cost programmes that are engaging students across the UK, Republic of Ireland and beyond.
We have significantly benefited from the generosity and support of some key organisations and institutions. The Geological Society kindly and freely provided a venue and refreshments for our National Conference, allowing us to charge the microscopic price of £5 for students! Universities such as Leeds and Oxford have also supported their own GfGD University Groups through various grants/covering costs. We have also received a grant of £740 from the Geologists’ Association Curry Fund to print and disseminate material from our hazard factsheets project.
As we grow, we would like to expand the opportunities we are able to offer students. We would like to follow the success of our National Conference with further training events, summer schools and workshops. We’d like to provide greater financial support for our University Groups so that they can expand and develop their work. We also think that it is very important that our placements are open to students from all backgrounds and people do not feel unable to apply because of the travel costs. All of these things require us to strengthen our finances.
We have developed three easy ways in which you can now support our work:
1) DONATE: You can donate via the paypal link, on our online page.
2) SHOP: Through easyfundraising.org.uk/gfgd (registration required) you can raise money for GfGD through the normal online shopping that you do! It doesn’t cost you a penny, the donation comes from the shop you buy things from! This is a great way to raise money towards our work. You can even download a simple toolbar which tells you when you’re on a page that is valid for a donation.
3) CALENDARS: We still have some GfGD 2014 Calendars for sale – click on the link and follow the instructions for getting in touch if you’d like to purchase one of these!
A fantastic opportunity we have also been trusted with this year is supporting the development and delivery of a hazards education programme in the Himalayas. This project will work with school children from a range of socio-economic backgrounds (including many from historically-disadvantaged groups), teaching them about stewardship of natural resources and natural hazards (focusing on landslides and earthquakes). This is a project that will also benefit geoscience students across the UK, through the creation of many research placements and the development of low-cost teaching materials. This is a project that we are specifically seeking sponsorship for, and we would love to hear from any organisations that would be interested.
Joel Gill
GfGD Director
