<div class="page old_photo"> <article> <header style="background-image:url(/uploads/534f9028c6749.jpg);"> <div class="box"> <div class="intro"> <h1>Case Study: Turning Copper into Gold!</h1> <p class="byline">Edel Maughan, YouthBank Ireland </p> </div> </div> </header> <div class="main"> <div class="container"> <p class="summary">​Edel explains how young grant makers in Ireland convinced people to “part with their pennies” for YouthBank!</p> <p><img src="/uploads/53a16da621676.jpg" style="width: 267px;"><br><span style="font-family: monospace;">Edel took up post as YouthBank Development Officer in September 2006. She is employed by the Irish Youth Foundation to support and develop the YouthBank network across the Republic of Ireland. Previous to this, Edel worked for Foroige National Youth Organisation as a Project Co-ordinator in Longford. This included co-ordinating the Longford YouthBank (known locally as the Longford Young Investors!). Edel has also been involved in international YouthBank development work and has traveled to Georgia, Krygyzstan, Poland and Azerbaijan delivering training on the YouthBank model.</span><br><span style="font-family: monospace;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">Let's cut to the chase… We all know that YouthBank is a credible, established programme and well worth parting with your pennies for this good cause. However young grant- makers from Ireland are quickly realising that the general public is becoming tired and bored of collection cards and shaking buckets. They now put lots of thought into coming up with new and innovative fundraising ideas. Grant- makers are becoming increasingly skilled at fundraising and we are beginning to see the benefits of the “the wackier the better” approach.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">One such example was the “Copper Mile Challenge”. A competition was set up to see which YouthBank would raise the most copper coins and ultimately lay the coins out on the ground to see which would reach the farthest. The initiative was very successful and Tuam YouthBank in the West of Ireland raised an impressive €3500 which was then matched by the Irish Youth Foundation. Other fundraising initiatives include: Enterprise projects, farmers markets, cake sales, pyjama parties, discos, sponsored 24 hour stay awakes, “Take me Out” dating games, waxathons , book sales, and the list goes on.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">YouthBanks in Ireland have raised an impressive <strong>€43,000</strong>&nbsp;for their grant pots in the last 24 months. All of these funds has been matched by the Irish Youth Foundation and go directly towards funding young people’s projects and good ideas.</span></p> </div> </div> </article> </div><!-- /page-->