MANA Akademy: Support our Epic Afterschool Clubs
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Greetings Community
Mentor Rick here, I want to introduce you to MANA Akademy, our innovative and experiential learning hub dedicated to empowering young people to unlock their true potential.
Through our programs, we mentor young heroes, guiding them to discover their unique gifts, talents, and purpose. We're calling on you to help us expand and sustain this incredible journey by contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
Your donation will go directly into building the future of young people, helping us grow our programs, pay for space to run our clubs, enrich our curriculum, train more mentors and reach more youth in our community and beyond!
What is MANA Akademy?
MANA Akademy is a dynamic, youth-focused initiative designed to guide young people (ages 10-20) on a life-changing mentorship journey and other platforms for expression and creative action.
Based on a gamified heroes journey framework, our programs offer an exciting Life-RPG (role-playing game) approach, mixing creativity, personal growth, and social engagement into real-world quests.
We aim to create a space where young leaders and visionaries can find their feet, each equipped with the tools they need to succeed not only academically but also in life. From creative arts to leadership skills, our curriculum takes inspiration from the ancient platonic Akademeia, and strives to provide a place where the power of mentorship shapes tomorrow’s changemakers.
Our Afterschool pursuits or Club are designed so that every kind of hero can find their calling:
Dungeons & Dragons Adventurers League: Developing strategic thinking, teamwork, and problem-solving in fun and immersive roleplaying adventures utilising TTRPG (Tabletop Role-playing games). The therapeutic aspects of TTRPG's are amazing to watch unfold, as often isolated young people who attend, create and play characters who do, say and act in ways they normally would repress in their daily lives. It is a great platform for creative expression and social cohesion, and I've been very lucky to watch our members come out of their shell and develop new friendships.
How your Donation will contribute to D&D Clubs: Your donations will allow us to increase our D&D groups by hiring additional professional game-masters, these are the people who run TTRPG sessions. It will also equip us with more resources so that we can begin evolving the club into a self-sustaining and peer-led group where young members can learn to GM and run campaigns themselves using our Akademy Resources.
We could easily fill a couple of more groups if we just had the manpower!
Artists Alley: Nurturing creativity, imagination, and artistic skill with our local Manga-ka Glyn.
Each week our Akademy Creators join together for their artistic endeavours. Some come and work quietly on their own projects, and some collaborate with others to complete Weekly Themed 'Season Quests' or Side-Quests for our Akademy Currency "Focus Points".
How your contributions help us:
This is our second most popular Club! But a year on and our resources are dwindling. The more students we have join us, the quicker our Stationary and supplies get used up!
Your support means we'll be able to keep up with demand, refill supplies more often, and provide more resources, specialised stationery and technology, potentially bringing in Digital Art as an additional pathway.
Creative Writers Guild: Fostering storytelling, reflection, and intellectual exploration, our Creative Writers come in all shapes and styles. Poetry, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Worldbuilding and more! Some of our young members have won prizes, competitions and awards for their Creative Writing and we want to nurture those endeavours and achievements.
How your contributions help support our Writers:
We are constantly filling our new Portable Bookshelf with new books, but mostly from donations. We would love to be able to procure some classic collections and provide a vast library of inspiration.
Storyengine: one of the resources we would love to procure for our Creative Writers is the Story Engine system.
We think this would be an amazing tool for our Writers & D&D Clubs. Unfortunately this would be a large chunk out of the limited funding we have got, and at this point has to be low in our priorities. Please help us with this.
Mystic Arts Society: Exploring spirituality, empathy, and mindfulness through tarot, crystals, and esoteric arts. What it really is though is supporting our students by providing a space where they can learn all about self-care, personal wellbeing rituals and how to cope with stress and anxiety.
How your contributions help support this club: being able to hire people in the holistic wellbeing space to run self care workshops or how to use tools like divination to find clarity or creative inspiration would be a real benefit to our Akademy.
Each of these clubs represents a Core Archetype designed to help young people understand their inner strengths and skills in a playful yet deeply meaningful way.
And of course the introduction of our Akademy Round-Table. 8 Seats for 8 Youth Leaders who will not only represent their Clubs but also their fellow peers, having agency and a voice within the Akademy itself.
Why We Need Your Help
While the Arts Hub (2024) had a great success in its pilot phase and 2nd Term, we need your support to grow and thrive as we begin to build the MANA Akademy in Year 2!
We have built this with very little Non-Government funding and support, Our vision is to create a full-time, sustainable accompaniment to school and homeschool/unschooling where we can provide our unique style of mentorship within our core Pathfinder programs fused with our ever evolving Afterschool Clubs.
Your donation will directly help us:
- Primary Funds will be directed towards hiring our Space at the Seawinds Communiy Hub, which takes a fair chunk out of our term Membership funds. This will allow us to hire the 2 Rooms we need on Monday and Tuesday Clubs.
- Fund essential resources and materials for our clubs and programs (art supplies, books, role-playing game tools, etc.).
- Develop new clubs and opportunities for youth to explore additional archetypes like Warriors, Rebels, and Lone-Wolves.
- Create online mentorship platforms that will allow young heroes from around the world to join our programs and connect with mentors.
- Offer scholarships and financial aid to youth from low-income or disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring inclusivity and accessibility.
- Support our passionate volunteer mentors and instructors who are crucial to guiding these young heroes on their journey.
- Eventually be able to add Rites of Passage Camps to our programs.
Join Us!
By donating to MANA Akademy, you’re not just supporting a small grassroots organisation—you’re investing in the next generation of creators, leaders, thinkers, and dreamers. Every contribution helps a young hero take a step closer to their destiny. We deeply appreciate any amount you can give, whether it’s $5 or $500—it all makes a difference!
Please share our campaign with your friends, family, and anyone who believes in the power of mentorship and creative education.
Together, we can build a brighter future for the young heroes of today and tomorrow.
Thank you so much for your time, generosity, and belief in our mission.
With gratitude,
Mentor Rick Boland
MANA Akademy Mentor
Organiser
Rick Boland
Organiser
Cape Schanck, VIC