Swimathon 2021
Swimathon is a crowdfunding campaign, a grant-giving programme, as well as a great community building event. The role of the Ferencváros Community Foundation (FCF) is to select the projects, manage the campaign website and administer the donations, motivate/help the team leaders and the swimmers – whenever swimming is possible, that is; this year ambassadors can choose any kind of man-powered sport. Furthermore, it is our task to organise the final, half-day swimming event, carry out the communication activities, then – having concluded a grant agreement with the grantees – follow and monitor the implementation of the projects and keep the donors up-to-date about their progress.
Due to the pandemic situation, we are unable to organize the swimming jamboree at the end of the campaign, therefore our campaign this year will be Swimathon 2021 – On Solid Ground. Some further information about this year’s edition. This year there will be no campaign closing swim event at the pool, as in previous years. The individual challenges will not be completed on one day, at the final event, but over four weeks of the campaign, cumulatively. During this year’s 4-week campaign, there are 5 different “tracks” and difficulty levels to be completed, which participants can choose for themselves. For each difficulty level, you can choose any sport or form of exercise, as long as it is human powered.
So, you can still choose to swim, but you can also walk, hike, run, scooter, bike, rollerblade, paddle, paddle-walk, anything that you find feasible but also challenging and that is “human-powered” 😊 You may also mix the types of sport activities, meaning that the selected distance can be completed by adding up the meters from different kinds of sport activities performed alternately. The 5 category levels are indicated by the following playful names, Goldfish – 10,000 metres in total; Trout – 20,000 metres in total; Carp – 30,000 metres in total; Catfish – 40,000 metres in total; Sharks – total 50,000 metres (or more)
Never before did we have so many projects with ties to Ferencváros taking part in our Swimathon! This year ambassadors are fundraising for 9 initiatives.
Based on the agreement with the participating organisations, FKA receives the donations on its bank account and transfers them to the organisations from there. FKA retains 9% of the donations raised for organisational and operational costs. FKA will also reach out to corporations based in the district and invite them to choose some of the causes and support them by encouraging their colleagues to join the teams of swimmers.
Special thanks to: the Bucharest Community Foundation for sharing their experience with us; our partners: the main sponsor bp (British Petrol) and the co-organizer Community Foundation Support Programme of the Roots and Wings Foundation.