During our Distance Learning Program, the last year’s DP1 economics teacher, Mr. Rossberg, suggested for us DP1 (currently DP2’s) to do a project to fund the people who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. In the finalization of the brainstorming of this project our economics grade last year, we decided to run a fundraiser in partnership with UNICEF to be able to do an OSC Covid-19 relief fund for the other school children in Sri Lanka who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as well. In order to accomplish this fundraiser while the lockdown was occurring in Sri Lanka, it was decided to run a ‘Livestream on zoom’, which we eventually called the fundraiser the “Zoomathon”.
In order for the start of planning the ‘Zoomathon’, we had to create roles and allocate these roles to each one of the students in the economics class. We had roles like the tech group, the advertising group, the contactors with UNICEF, and the spreadsheet keeper, there were other tasks for everyone in the economics class to-do such as find sponsors and find former students and teachers of OSC for them to share a video of them their experience with Covid-19 and how it affected them.
Roles:
Tech group: The tech group would be the group to design and help create a website with both the head of the tech, Mr. Anto, and Gecko Inc. leader, Anuda, as the website was needed for us to be able to acquire the funds from all the donators and how much money we acquired, also to advertise the different auctions we had in-place for the donators to be able to win, and finally to show the link for the Livestream.
Advertising group: The advertising group was the group who would be in charge of the designing of posters or pictures of the ‘Zoomathon’ that they could upload on Instagram stories, OSC newsletters, and Facebook to raise awareness about the ‘Zoomathon’ occurring on the 9th of June. The image would have the information of; the purpose of the ‘Zoomathon’, date and time, link to the Livestream, donation link, the amount we wish to reach, and who are the organizers.
Contactors: The contacting group would be the people who were the most important group as we needed them to be able to get a partnership with UNICEF at the start and present our idea of the fundraiser for them to be able to bring more awareness and impact to the Livestream fundraiser.
Spreadsheet keeper: This was not a group but an individual role, this individual would have to be able to control all the sponsors the economics class was able to acquire. This person would have a spreadsheet on excel for who the sponsors are and how much they have donated for money or as an auction item for the viewers to auction for after the ‘Zoomathon’.
My contribution to the OSC fundraiser was being part of the advertising group and as well as being able to find former OSC students for them to share their experience. As well as advertising about the ‘Zoomathon’ before the date of the Livestream, I would come to every meeting for the ‘Zoomathon’ preparation as other groups would sometimes need some help in the preparation of the Livestream or for finding more sponsors or former students. Personally, finding the sponsorship for the ‘Zoomathon’ was not successful as I was trying to find sponsors like the Japanese restaurant that is open in One Galle Face, however, because at the time there was a lockdown and the restaurant had just started the business during the covid-19 pandemic, unfortunately, the owner was not able to offer any sponsors for the fundraisers but that was no issue as we were able to acquire 3 sponsors like Shangri-La, Kumar Sangakara, and Auluaulu International. Other than finding the sponsors, I was able to successfully find former students of OSC to send a video of themselves talking about their experience with the Covid-19 pandemic, which I was able to acquire 4 former OSC students like a class of 2014 graduate, a student who left in 2014, 2015 and 2017, they also were all living in different countries so they were able to share different sorts of experience during the pandemic.
Learning Outcomes: (1,2, 4 & 5)
I was able to strengthen the teamwork throughout this project/fundraiser as being part as we were able to go through the planning and processing of this fundraiser with limited issues along the way, as this was only possible because of the determination from people who were willing to participate and make this fundraiser successful made it easier than I thought as it was a big project to plan. The challenge within the planning and processing of the fundraiser was the communication as we were not always able to communicate the issues or suggestions to add because there was a lockdown and we could only meet through the internet, however, because we were able to plan many meetings as a whole group it wasn’t a major issue and at the same time my communication skills improved as I was determined to make the fundraiser successful. I was able to show commitment and perseverance throughout the ‘Zoomathon’ fundraiser planning as I was able to finish all my tasks that were necessary for the success of this fundraiser and willing to contribute or help out in any other task needed, also I would show up to every meeting there was. Finally, this fundraiser was mainly in-order to help those who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic so I was able to contribute in demonstrating an engagement with issues of one of global significance, as the Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge global issue for the past year.