Help World Scholar's Cup Survive the Pandemic
Donation protected
The World Scholar's Cup (www.scholarscup.org) is in a difficult spot, and it's awkward to ask for help. But we're all about the awkward, so maybe that's okay.
Because of CoVid-19, we've had to postpone all of our events indefinitely. Countries have closed their borders. Schools have gone online and canceled extracurricular activities. In lots of places, people aren't allowed to gather in theaters. And we don't know when things will be normal again.
For the last 13 years, we've had a simple model: we run regional rounds all over the world, and we lose money on almost all of them. That's so we can keep our events as accessible to as many students as possible; for every Dubai there are a dozen South Sudans. Then, a few times a year, from June to November, we hold global events whose higher fees help pay for the regional rounds. They also help us pay for our team (especially those who work with us full-time, but also our gap years past and present) and for recruiting new schools and participants.
After the pandemic struck midway through our regional season (the worst possible time for us, financially) we took all the loans we could, and a lot of our staff offered to forego their salaries—but now we've taken every loan possible, and some of our team members have families to support and can't go unpaid forever. That's why we find ourselves asking for help from the very community we're meant to be serving.
Our goal is to raise the equivalent of 600 global registrations, but even much smaller contributions will help us keep our program running and our team together until we can get back to holding Global Rounds for real. They'll also help make sure that, when the time comes to put our masks in time capsules and hug and high five and forget one another's names again, we're able to afford to host local events in as many places as possible.
We know it's a lot to ask. If you'd like, you can apply any funds you contribute now toward future registration fees, or designate them for someone else in need. We don't want to ask anything from those who don't have enough. Our hope is that somewhere out there are potential benefactors who would support our mission but didn't know we were struggling. So, even if you can't contribute, maybe you could spread the word. We'd be so grateful.
Because of CoVid-19, we've had to postpone all of our events indefinitely. Countries have closed their borders. Schools have gone online and canceled extracurricular activities. In lots of places, people aren't allowed to gather in theaters. And we don't know when things will be normal again.
For the last 13 years, we've had a simple model: we run regional rounds all over the world, and we lose money on almost all of them. That's so we can keep our events as accessible to as many students as possible; for every Dubai there are a dozen South Sudans. Then, a few times a year, from June to November, we hold global events whose higher fees help pay for the regional rounds. They also help us pay for our team (especially those who work with us full-time, but also our gap years past and present) and for recruiting new schools and participants.
After the pandemic struck midway through our regional season (the worst possible time for us, financially) we took all the loans we could, and a lot of our staff offered to forego their salaries—but now we've taken every loan possible, and some of our team members have families to support and can't go unpaid forever. That's why we find ourselves asking for help from the very community we're meant to be serving.
Our goal is to raise the equivalent of 600 global registrations, but even much smaller contributions will help us keep our program running and our team together until we can get back to holding Global Rounds for real. They'll also help make sure that, when the time comes to put our masks in time capsules and hug and high five and forget one another's names again, we're able to afford to host local events in as many places as possible.
We know it's a lot to ask. If you'd like, you can apply any funds you contribute now toward future registration fees, or designate them for someone else in need. We don't want to ask anything from those who don't have enough. Our hope is that somewhere out there are potential benefactors who would support our mission but didn't know we were struggling. So, even if you can't contribute, maybe you could spread the word. We'd be so grateful.
Fundraising team: World Scholar's Cup (7)
Daniel Berdichevsky
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA
Chauncey Lo
Team member
JOSEPH HARR
Team member
Olivia Watson
Team member
Patrick McDonald
Team member
