Individual's overseas trip or world champs campaign

A full plan for one athlete, performer or student going to a world champs or overseas event: personal donations and a Givealittle page, local sponsors, what their club can legally do, and what an individual is not allowed to run.

Typically raises

$5,000

$1,000–15,000 per campaignest.

About $71 per organiser hour

Based on one athlete or performer

Is it right for us?

Money: $2,000–10,000
Work: Weeks, part-time
Helpers: 1–2 people
Lead time: 4+ months
Red tape: Some

Fairly common: familiar ask whenever a local makes a world team

People: The individual plus 2-4 family helpers; the club treasurer for anything run through the club (estimate)
Organiser time: 40-100 hours over 3-9 months (estimate)
Lead time: 6-12 months before departure; grant rounds and club decisions are slow (estimate)
Up-front cost: $100. Printing letters and thank-you cards, T-shirt printing if used; Givealittle is free to set up and takes a fee at payout (see ‘Givealittle page’).
Risk: Low: mostly donations. Risk is a shortfall close to the deposit or flight deadline, so set a plan B (family loan, reduced trip).

Suits: One person (athlete, performer, student)

When: Summer (Dec–Feb), Autumn (Mar–May), Winter (Jun–Aug), Spring (Sep–Nov)

How big a job: Several weeks, part-time, 1–2 people

How it works

The money, as an example sum

Sell at $20 a name on the T-shirt, keep $20, so 255 names on the T-shirt = $5,100, or about $5,000 after about $100 of costs. That’s about the typical result.

Using the figures on this page. Your prices and costs will differ.

Where the money figure comes from

No NZ total benchmark for individuals found. Scouts NZ's World Scout Jamboree guide gives examples: one participant raised $3,000 selling baking through a grandparent's Facebook page; a supporters' T-shirt at $20-30 a name raises $600-900 from 30 people; and trusts are more likely to fund a smaller ask such as $5,000 (Scouts NZ WSJ). Totals are an estimate for a mix of these plus sponsors and a club contribution.

Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.

Step by step

Budget the trip in full (flights, entry, accommodation, uniform, insurance) and set a target with a deadline matching the payment dates.
Write the story once: why this event, what it took to get selected, what you will bring back; use it in every letter and page.
Start with family and friends: personal letters or messages asking for a specific amount (see ‘Family and friends sponsorship’).
Set up a personal Givealittle page and share it with the story and progress updates; say clearly that donations are not tax-deductible.
Approach 10-20 local businesses with a short sponsorship offer (logo on training top, social posts, a talk to staff after the trip), priced and in writing.
Ask your club or school what it can do: a contribution from club funds, acting as umbrella for grant applications, or a club-run raffle or event for its rep travel fund (see ‘Applying through an umbrella organisation’, ‘Club contribution to an individual member's trip’).
Apply to funders that accept individuals or will pay via an umbrella body: service clubs, Masonic trusts, some community trusts and RST scholarships (see ‘Grants and scholarships open to individuals’); ask for part of the cost, not all.
Earn what you can: odd jobs, baking pre-orders, a part-time job; these are the individual's own income, not gambling.
Do not run your own raffle, 50/50 draw or 'win a prize' competition; if you want one, ask the club to run it for a club purpose.
Keep a simple ledger of every dollar and thank every donor and sponsor before and after the trip with photos and results.

Getting the word out

Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.

Ask for help: Members to pass the ask on to people they know.
Ask people to buy: People and businesses to give.
When to start: Ask for helpers first, as soon as the date is set. Start the public ask about 6–8 weeks out, and book newsletter and paper notices before that: small newsletters close early.

Where to put it

Asking people yourselfMost yeses come from someone asking directly. Give every member a short message they can send to family and workmates.
Email lists and group chatsYour members’ email list and the class, team or church group chats. Short, with one date or one link.
School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.

The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.

What you’ll need

Place: Not neededNone needed
Landowner’s permission: Not needed
Council permit: Not needed
Food rules: Not neededNo food sold
Alcohol: Not neededNo alcohol sold
Gambling rules: NeededNot covered by the standard raffle rules. Ask DIA before running it

An individual cannot run a raffle to raise money: class 2 lotteries must be run by a society for authorised purposes, and an individual's class 1 draw must pay all profit out as prizes (DIA). Donations to an individual earn no tax credit.

Make more from it

Personal Givealittle page
often the largest single source from family networks (estimate)
easy to share and shows progress
Club contribution or club-run event for its rep travel fund
a few hundred to a few thousand dollars (estimate)
the club can run raffles and apply for grants an individual cannot
Baking pre-orders
one Jamboree Scout raised $3,000 this way (Scouts NZ WSJ)
grandparents' and parents' networks buy repeatedly

Stack it: on its own, about $5,000. With the add-on above, roughly

$8,000est.

What you can get donated

Family, friends, workplaces of parents, local businesses (in-kind travel gear, fuel vouchers), service clubs (Rotary, Lions), Masonic and community trusts that accept individuals.

Tips

A smaller, specific ask works better with trusts: Scouts NZ suggests asking for around $5,000 and showing you are fundraising the rest (Scouts NZ WSJ).
Funders may prefer to pay the national team or contingent, not the person; tell the team manager so the payment is credited to you (Scouts NZ WSJ).
A part-time job is often the best return per hour; Scouts NZ notes 8 hours a week at a starting wage of $18.80 is about $528 a month (Scouts NZ WSJ).

Watch out for

Running a personal raffle on Facebook: it breaches the Gambling Act and can get the page reported and the money questioned.
Promising donors a tax receipt you cannot give.
Leaving it too late: grant rounds close months before the trip and clubs decide at monthly meetings.

Free tools for this

Checklist for any ideaBefore, on the day and after, built from this idea’s own steps and rules.

Typical rules

No personal raffle: a class 2 lottery (prizes up to $5,000, turnover up to $25,000) 'must only be run by a society' with proceeds to authorised purposes. An individual may run only class 1 gambling (prizes and turnover $500 or less) and then 'all the profit... must be used for the prizes', so it cannot raise money (DIA Classes of Gambling).
Authorised purposes must be charitable or non-commercial and of community benefit; DIA says grants to individuals 'should be avoided because they often constitute personal gain', though travel to 'a genuine amateur sporting tournament' with actual and reasonable costs can qualify (DIA). So a club can run a raffle for a club purpose such as its representative travel fund, decided and paid by the club, not a raffle 'for Sam'.
Donations to an individual or a Givealittle page for an individual do not qualify for the donation tax credit (see ‘Givealittle page’).
Income tax: gifts received by the individual are generally not taxable if 'the giver gets nothing in return' (IRD). Money paid for something in return, e.g. a business paying for its logo on kit or social posts, is sponsorship and may be taxable income; get advice if sponsorship is large (IRD; estimate on treatment).
Selling goods (baking, merchandise) has no legal limit, but it is trading: food rules apply (Food Act fundraising exemption covers groups, not a private individual's ongoing business; check with MPI or council), and regular sales can be taxable income (estimate).
Club money for one member: if the club is a registered charity it must avoid private pecuniary benefit, and grant money usually cannot be passed on to individuals (see ‘Club contribution to an individual member's trip’; Charities Act).

Check the details

Sources

Researched October 2026. All fundraising ideas

* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide