Hi Everyone,

After having a few fundraising campaigns in mind, and doing some market research, I have had to change some of my ideas in order to completely create value for donations.

My first event will commence in February, and will be called an 'evening of Pamper, Pizzas and Prosecco' of which I will be hosting in conjunction with another 100minds participant. This fundraiser will offer salon-inspired treatments while enjoying a pizza and an optional glass of Prosecco!

I am very excited for this event and I will keep updates coming once I have sorted out final pricing and times.

Pierina x

For my second campaign, I really wanted to focus on value-adding activities. I looked around for new restaurants and small businesses in Dublin who wanted a bit of online marketing to promote themselves in a different way. So, I decided to collaborate with small businesses, offering them free social media promotion and a large target audience in return for a donation to my 100Minds campaign!

I decided to call it #Dine4Childline ! I am so delighted to have teamed up with a new Italian Cafe & Restaurant called Caffe Comino in Christchurch who were very interested in collaborating with my initiative, as not only will it bring value to the ISPCC Childline, but it will bring them new customers and great PR!

So, whats the deal?

Caffe Comino have kindly agreed to offer a delicious, authentic Italian meal for 2 to the value of €50 to each person who donates €25 to my online fundraising profile. Now this is a huge bargain, as their prices and food would be more on the up-market side of things.

Hopefully, some more businesses will get on board in the meantime :)

Pierina x

For this hilarious and entertaining event, I teamed up with two other 100 Minds participants, Conor Higgins and Ashley Doyle. The three of us made a fantastic team as we each had something different to contribute. I was in charge of researching and organising the venue and party bus to bring us into town after, Conor sorted out all the tech side of things such as editing and putting together participants' songs and videos, as well as sorting out some great raffle prizes, and Ashley took charge of the rest of the raffle prizes. We all helped to attract and promote interest in participating in our charity event.

We secured the UCD Clubhouse as our venue for the 20th of February, which provided us with TV's, seating and a great stage for our contestants!

So, for those of you who aren't familiar with Lip Sync Battles, this is how the show went down: We had 3 guys and 3 girls who each chose 3 of their best songs to battle it out to the final. We had contestants performing as Destiny's Child, Cher, Miley Cyrus and even Pavarotti just to name a few- costumes were everything!

Our winner of the night was well deserving of our LIP SYNC BATTLE TROPHY and was won by Meadhbh O'Rourke, who is also another 100 Minds participant! Her hilarious impersonations and performances stole the show and won the hearts of the audience and judges.

We created a Facebook event where we posted all the event details and updates. We used Eventbrite as our ticket-selling platform and charged €14.95 per ticket. Altogether the event made over €1,500 which was incredible!

An amazing night was had by all, and apart from a few technical difficulties that we experienced, Myself, Conor and Ashley had a ball organising it.

What a great experience and for such a good cause!!

Pierina x

As the 100Minds initiative has to come to a close for 2016, I feel so privileged to have been a part of it. As well as having some fun I got the opportunity to put my digital marketing and project management skills to good use and raise over €1000 for ISPCC Childline.

I would really encourage students to take part in this initiative as it gives you the chance to give back while getting the opportunity to learn and develop key skills that will enhance your CV that you may never have tried otherwise. Thanks to Declan and the 100Minds team, all participants were invited to various workshops throughout the year which were extremely useful and helpful for students interested in careers in the ever-growing digital sector, and I made a few great contacts from them!

100Minds really is an amazing way for students to come out of their shell and make a real world impact, as before I had taken part in this initiative I felt that I had never done anything truly significant for charity. Its too easy to settle into college life and just do what you have to do to get by, but this is the chance to make your ideas happen which not only will benefit a very worthy charity but will enhance your chances of getting the job you want after you graduate.

A big thank you to Declan and the 100Minds team for this brilliant experience, to many more years of 100Minds!