WaterAfrica’s Walk4Water has always been an entirely volunteer effort and most of our volunteers have been part of Walk4Water from the beginning! Ask these people why they keep showing up to help and you’ll hear a variety of personal stories, but universally they connect their stories to compassion for rural Zambian villagers who struggle to survive with unsafe Water and inadequate Sanitation & Hygiene resources.
WaterAfrica exists to Raise Awareness, Raise Funds & Transform Lives, and Walk4Water has become our signature event as we pursue these goals. The Walk is a tremendous opportunity to raise awareness and has earned a good reputation in our community as a quality fun, family-friendly event. As event participation has grown we’ve had increased opportunities to communicate the WASH need as we meet with students, community business leaders, city government, neighbors, friends and family.
The Walk is a fundraiser and you might assume that event registrations raise the bulk of the money. Event registrations are important(!!) but the majority of the fundraising total comes from event Sponsorship and extra donations. Corporate Sponsors and In-Kind Donors allow us to fund event expenses so that 100% of the event registrations and donations can be applied to World Vision’s WASH program. Sponsorship money that exceeds event expense is applied to the fundraising total.
Corporate Sponsors lend credibility and help us build momentum as we push toward our fundraising goals and create a platform for raising awareness.
Last year we introduced Family Sponsorship. This represents a trend we noticed as we facilitated the Walk – besides Corporate Sponsorship the bulk of our fundraising comes from people who donate above and beyond event registration. Bringing this into focus with Family Sponsorship allows us to more accurately represent the fundraising aspect of the Walk and (we hope) encourages people to participate in this way.
Six years ago we held our first Walk4Water with 100 participants and we raised $6,000. Last year Walk4Water5 had over 400 participants and we raised $55,000.
- Save the date: April 27, 2013 to Walk with us at Foothills Park in Lake Oswego!
- Be a Corporate Sponsor – Return your commitment form by February 28 (this date has been extended) in order to be included in Walk4Water6 printed advertising
- Be a Family Sponsor!
- Donate
