Our Crowdfunding Groups
During these trying times, we are continuing to work towards our goal of finishing our schoolhouse in Nicaragua, despite the many roadblocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, rather than traveling to Nicaragua and building it ourselves, we have shifted our focus to facilitating a remote implementation. At this moment, we are working on recruiting a contractor and field engineer to continue the implementation of our design in manageable phases. Remote implementation will be guided by a construction manual which students are writing, that will detail proper implementation techniques.
While we still aim to travel to the site for later implementation phases or site monitoring, we must make the proper adjustments to begin remote implementation this summer. This is the best decision for the health and safety of the Bluefields community, as well as our own members. Due to this delay in travel we will be unable to send postcards and videos to our donors this summer, but we aim to honor this commitment along with other in-country perks when we travel at a later date.
To our donors, thank you again for your continuous support. Despite these new obstacles, we are more determined than ever to finish this project safely. We thank you for your understanding, and look forward to showing you the completed schoolhouse. Please stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to making you proud.
Best Regards,
The Nicaragua Team
Hi, everyone! We have great news to share: in addition to the money raised through our SPARK campaign, we were just awarded a $15,000 grant to fund the schoolhouse.
The grant will help cushion any budget shortfall in the construction phase. Additionally, it will help fund the 2021 follow-up and evaluation trip that is required by EWB USA to monitor the schoolhouse and ensure its longevity.
We are committed to building the best schoolhouse we can. If we can afford to add anything beneficial to this schoolhouse - whether that be a bathroom or just a chalkboard - we will do so. Not a dollar of funding will be wasted. Thank you again for your donations and let’s keep this momentum going for the last week of our campaign.
Sincerely,
EWB UCLA Nicaragua Team
Hello everybody! We have some very exciting news for you: we are only four days into our public SPARK fundraising campaign and we have already met our initial SPARK campaign goal of $7,500! We are shocked and blown away by your generosity.
Thank you to every donor for your contribution, big or small. We appreciate your generosity more than you know. You brought us to this first milestone and have taken us that much closer to the construction of the schoolhouse and the betterment of San Sebastián
Now, we have some news:
We are increasing our fundraising goal to $20,000, and we’ll tell you why.
Our initial fundraising goal of $7,500 was “safe” - the bare minimum - an amount that we considered realistic and attainable for our first fundraising campaign to put us well on our way towards construction.
This $7,500 amount was an appropriate early goal to build fundraising momentum, but it is not enough to fund the schoolhouse.
You have exceeded our expectations and blown that goal out of the water only four days into our planned 10-day campaign. Because of this amazing success, we are extending our campaign 10 days and increasing our goal to fund every last penny of the schoolhouse!
For your information, here is the complete budget breakdown:
Materials costs*: $23,750
Plane tickets: $2,200
In-Country Contractor: $2,600
In-Country Expenses (Managerial, Travel, Food, Misc.): $1200
Total cost: $29,750
Finances before this fundraiser: $7,540.55
Estimated EWB-USA contribution: ~$2,000
Total amount needed: $20,209.45
*Materials breakdown here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YxVrSTPDHrJ6n_Kty8cZe5ztH33TCLhvD5t_LU45TXo/edit?usp=sharing
Now you know exactly why we’re increasing our goal. We appreciate your donation so far - and we would appreciate it if you can spread the word about our campaign. We’re going to keep this momentum going, and it’s going to take everyone who believes in the mission to raise the remaining $12,500. Let’s get this schoolhouse built!
Thank you,
EWB UCLA Nicaragua Team
EWB UCLA - Nicaragua will thank you for your donation! (Fully Tax Deductible)
You'll get a personal handwritten note from someone in our club. (Fully Tax Deductible)
We'll mail you a postcard from Nicaragua during our trip! (tax deductible donation of $49)
Our team will film a video in Nicaragua for you! (Fully Tax Deductible)
High quality EWB UCLA T-shirt. (tax deductible donation of $235).
Your name or company will be engraved on a plaque in the schoolhouse. (Fully Tax Deductible)
Your name or company will be featured on EWB UCLA's poster in Boelter Hall, on UCLA's campus, as well as the plaque in Nicaragua.(Fully Tax Deductible)
A Nicaraguan-made gift, sourced from the community. Your name will also be featured on the schoolhouse plaque and UCLA EWB's Boelter Hall poster. (tax deductible gift of $1,990).