Talking with Jade about Fundraising and Life-Changing Connections

There wasn’t a lot of time to pull everything together, but Jade’s determination—and a little help from friends and family along the way—made it happen.

In January 2018, she found herself in the middle of our presentation that was focused on kindness. During that time, she was introduced to the Builds program and received the invitation to make a difference with us internationally. One month later, she signed up for our March Break Build to the Dominican Republic.

Now, it was time to start fundraising.

She found success early
For that first trip, her parents gave her a list of 30 emails. 

Armed with her fundraising page, some information on the cause, and the support of her parents, Jade sent individual messages to each of them. And to her surprise, she met her goal in just over a week. 

While it seems relatively straightforward, when reflecting on her fundraising success, Jade admits that to see success, there is a bit more to it than asking.

“If you’re just sending out a quick email like, “Hey, please donate.”, it’s not as impactful as you, sending pictures or talking to them face-to-face. Once people understand how passionate you are about it, they are more willing to help out and contribute.”

During her time on the Build, Jade was able to make strong connections and work alongside a family to build them a safe, new home. Together with other volunteers, she played a part in leaving lasting change in the community—and it left her wanting to return.

Go-back motivation
Seeing the difference that a home has on a family first hand made Jade want to return and do it all over again. But the second time fundraising proved to be a little more difficult.

“The first time is a lot easier, and then it progressively gets more and more difficult. Going back to the same people is really hard because they are more resistant.” 

Jade admits that she found herself feeling a little worried about hitting her goal and started pursuing other ways to raise money, including bake sales and raffles. She also expanded the circle of people she would ask for support to include teachers along with friends and their families.

Spoiler alert: Jade reached her goal and returned to the Dominican Republic.

Sharing advice for people getting into fundraising
With two successful fundraising campaigns under her belt, we asked her what encouragement she would share with peers wanting to make a difference but worried about fundraising.

“If I had tips for anybody looking to fundraise for their own Build, I think the biggest thing is being persistent. Because at first, you may not get the result that you want, and it may be harder than you really think… so just try not to be down. The more you radiate a positive energy towards what you are doing, and you talk about it, the more people are willing to listen and contribute.”

When coming up with fundraising ideas, she believes that everything should be on the table and encourages people to not look at the amount raised because every little bit helps. 

But in the end, to Jade, successful fundraising is all about relationships.

Conversations with Melanie

Melanie has been living in the Dominican Republic for a while before joining our team. As a Manager of Operations, she oversees all of the work that is happening across the island of Hispaniola.

We had the chance to ask her a few questions, and although she’s fluent in Spanish, she was kind enough to make sure to respond in English for all us non-fluent folks.

What drew you to working with LiveDifferent in your current role?
I was already living and working for another charity in the Dominican Republic before joining LiveDifferent. I had heard about the wonderful projects that this charity was working on and the fact that their head office is in Hamilton (my hometown) was an added bonus. When the role of Manager of Operations became available, I didn’t hesitate to apply and I am soooooo grateful that I did because I love being a part of the LiveDifferent family.

How do relationships and community play a part in your work?
It is the strong and long relationships that we have with our community leaders that allow us to do the wonderful work that we do. They are the true experts and we are simply here to lend a helping hand. Their insight in their respective communities is invaluable, as they guide us to focus our projects based on their needs and to support those who need it the most. We empower them to lead the way and what’s most important is that we listen to what they have to say. It’s a combined effort from beginning to end and we together take pride in our accomplishments.

In LiveDifferent, we have a very common saying that “life is about people”. What does that expression mean to you when it comes to your involvement with the volunteers and community members in the Dominican Republic?
We focus a lot on bridging connections between community members and volunteers. I can confidently say that in every Build, we accomplish this. By the end of each trip, everyone becomes one big family.

Conversations with Rose

Rose resides in Mexico with her family and has been staff at LiveDifferent for over 10 years now. At the moment, she oversees everything that happens with our Builds and Academy programs while also staying connected with the communities we work in. She’s an engaging and supportive superstar, and all of us know how lucky we are to have her.

We had the chance to ask her some questions about her work in general, and Mexico specifically. And as always, her positivity shines through.

What do you love about the people you’re surrounded by in Mexico?
The people of Mexico have shown me what it means to be generous with whatever I have, and how to welcome others into my ‘family’. I love how they love a good story and a good laugh.

In your words, what do we hope to accomplish in this area of Mexico?
We hope to give a hand up to families that are struggling to pay for the basics. Rent can take a large chunk of the weekly salary of a field worker. They are not eligible for financing to build a decent house, so many live in a cycle of never-ending rent payments, or put that money towards a piece of land but end up living in houses made of plastic and cardboard. We seek to help provide basic shelter to families that have worked hard to buy land so that their health will improve and so that rent money can be put towards other family needs such as education.

What is your favourite part of your job?
I like that there is a lot of variety, but my favourite part would have to be meeting so many different people. Amazing people that have found their way to the San Quintin valley. People that work hard all day long and then come home with a smile on their face and care for their family. Youth that work hard to raise money to come to Baja California so that they can help someone else. Young adults searching for how they can make a difference in the world. Parents that want to give their children the opportunity to travel and experience what life looks like when we stop focusing on ourselves and our things.

When you think volunteers that you meet, what do you hope they take away from the Build experience?
My hope is that after getting to know a Mexican family, that they would see the intrinsic value of each person that they meet. That they would be encouraged that there are others who also have big hearts and care about our world—that they are not alone. And that there would be a ripple effect [as they] return to their home communities inspired to make a difference.

We have a very common saying that “life is about people”. What does that expression mean to you when it comes to your involvement with the volunteers and community members?
LiveDifferent’s saying of “life is about people” matches Mexican culture. Whether it is building a house, partnering with another organization or talking to one of our cooks, I have learned that I need to develop our relationships first before rushing into the business side of things that motivated our conversation. All of my work responsibilities, from administrative tasks to hosting volunteers, come down to putting people first.