AIBU to ask whether Guides trips abroad usually involve fundraising?

[Mumbythesea1]

My daughter has just joined guides. She is autistic but has found that the girls in her guides group are a lot like her which I’m pleased about as she never does clubs usually. We’ve just had details of the next guides trip which is abroad and is a cost of £1400 😬
can I ask if your daughter had been on one of these if they did fundraising to help pay for it?! We don’t have spare money that we can use to pay for this and have said we will help fund it as much as we can.
if your daughter did do fundraising what did they do?

'Fundraising' can mean two distinct things, though. It can be working hard and spending time and energy in providing goods or services that people will want and happily pay for (albeit possibly for a significantly higher price than it's objectively worth); or it can be just holding out your hand and asking for money, making yourself out to look like a charity case when most people wouldn't see that you are.

As with the first reply, I think it's awkward if you're effectively asking people to pay for a child's holiday - unless maybe in very specific cases where it's a child who has suffered a lot of pain or trauma, or is terminally ill.

Does she have any toys, or clothes, that she no longer uses and could sell on eBay? I remember my DD selling Little Tykes stuff for a similar sounding event.
Maybe a sponsored event to try and raise a bit of money, realistically from family and friends? Sponsored silence/book reading/ distance walked/ swimming sort of thing.

Guide and Ranger leader here: fundraising does happen for big trips, mostly as a unit- bag packing, stall at a local show/event, coffee morning ect, sometimes keen girls do individual fundraising (sponsored whatever, cake sale, that sort of thing).
There are also grants your daughter can apply for, some from Guiding, or a local charity or the local council. This year the group is going to a UK based international camp, it’s pricy- but 2 girls are fully funded from grants and fundraising has raised enough to lower the price a bit for everyone.

If you do apply for help, it should be confidential between you and the leader, don’t be afraid to ask. It has always been our aim that no girl misses out because of her parents situation.

Even if she can’t go to this one, there will be other trips and camps.

We fundraised as much as possible - Guide and Scout trips. Loads of bake sales. I mean tens and tens. Baking most weekends. Afternoon tea at a church hall. Making and selling crafts, cards, sweet cones. Chocolate pizzas, gift tags made from old Christmas cards. Another group put on an Auction of promises and a talent show. Collecting people’s old junk for car boots. Fundraising usually done in small groups of parents eg three or four families. Pressure to keep up as all money raised is shared equally. But it’s really good to show kids they can reach goals, my kids were enthusiastic and worked hard. There was still a top up to pay as fundraising didn’t cover it all. I’ve no idea is anyone was subsidised in any way.

I agree with @BeaPerry

She's just joined, and this is likely to be a 'one off' and / or an optional extra. Just say to her that we aren't going to be able to afford that, same as when her school offer a ski trip and so forth. It is an optional extra they are offering that some people will go on and other won't.
Most camps are likely to be local and cost around £50.

As to whether they "usually" involve fundraising - it will depend entirely on the group. One group I know tries to do a trip abroad once every 3 or 4 years, and they do try to fundraise towards it. Another group (in a much more affluent area) go every other year and parents just pay. But another group I know who are also in the same really affluent area don't offer expensive foreign trips at all. They always go to a field in Wales / Lake District / New Forest / etc. and camp.

Scouts and Explorers are going to Switzerland this year. They've made things to sell at Christmas fayre, had a stall at the monthly town market ( chocolate tombola does very well) run a few craft fayres in the local hall ( £5 per stall for vendors), had a carboot sale, made cakes and biscuits and bacon baps to sell at these events, bag packing at local supermarket, donations from local charity groups. Parents still had to fund some of the trip. There should be a hardship fund for those that really struggle, speak to your leaders.

I went to America on a Girl Guide exchange programme back in the 1980’s when i was 14, but that had a selection process & only 2 from our pack went. We did lots of fundraising events which part funded the trip. It was a fantastic opportunity & I’m still in touch with my host family & other girls from the trip. That’s the only abroad trip I recall tho. We did lots of local camps etc.

a local teen is washing our cars monthly and cleaning the inside because he’s trying to get the money together to go on a school trip to Borneo. He’s doing next doors 2 cars too - £120 a month for just two customers and it’s cheaper than a valet! If a kid is entrepreneurial then it’s quite possible even to raise several thousand, I know our car cleaner has lots of customers and a growing business

My daughter did one last summer which was £3400. It was an international which was based around volunteering whilst there in schools and orphanages. We were told we should absolutely use fundraising.

we set up a go fund me account for family who wanted to give her money and she tried doing a sponsored cycle and people could donate there. We also did a coffee morning in the local area and baked for it ourselves but the people who attended were friends of grandparents who contributed generously. We added the amount to the offline fundraising part of the go fund me. She got the most money from writing to the Freemasons. This organisation’s purpose is fundraising and providing their funds to causes like this. We got 3 donations from them - out town group, the neighbouring town group and the county group.

We still had to put a lot of money towards it ourselves. We would normally not have afforded this but we did receive some inheritance and put that towards it.

I can understand people who won’t contribute. It’s their choice and the can scroll past the requests on my social media. My daughter is also autistic and this trip was a massive challenge for her. She was is a ranger and young leader but it was massively out of her comfort zone. We had tears the first few nights when she was able to call me - I got texts the first couple of nights as she said she kept crying when she tried to call - and then she settled in more. It was 2 weeks. An amazing experience she will never forget. She was going to do another next year but actually pulled out after this trip as she decided it was too much and not something she wanted to do again so soon.

It also wasn’t a ‘holiday’ in the usual respect.

Good luck to your daughter.

My pathfinders group did a big trip, and the leaders helped lead fundraising like craft sales, bake sales, car washes etc. Parents also volunteered at those and it was still very very expensive for parents.

I didn’t go because I was only a bit interested and the cost was too high for me to be so neutral on it. We also did lots and lots of local camps

As your DD has just joined, do you think she knows the girls and leaders enough that you’d be comfortable with her going with them on the trip without you?
it does seem a lot for just joining but fundraising is not unusual.
But not all leaders are competent and my daughter was at 4 units in her time in Guiding. Only one of them would I have trusted to be able to look after her.

Usually if one guide gets picked to represent their district at an international jamboree they would do fundraising towards it, but not for a random pack holiday that a whole troop were invited to - in fact the latter is quite unusual as a) it isn’t inclusive and b) the volunteer leaders might not have the cash either!

I went on a trip to the USA with Guides (and a neighbouring scout troop) when I was 16 and I am now a scout leader because of this trip. It was genuinely life changing for me. Our guide unit was based in a really impoverished area and we fundraised a lot for the trip, monthly car washes, quiz nights and all sorts of stuff, our leaders were incredible and strongly believed that no one who wanted to go should be priced out of it.

I would try and find out if this is a regular thing for their group, some groups do a lot of international trips, for others it’s a one off. I ran a county wide international trip a few years ago and haven’t got it in me to repeat it any time soon, as much as I would love to, DDs group do an international trip every three years or so (she’s still in beavers so a long way to go yet!) if it’s a regular thing, maybe think about saving and planning for the next one, it’s sounds like it’s still early days for her in Guides and 11 is young for an overseas trip. We had some 11/12 year olds on our trip to the USA but most of us were 15-17.

A friend currently raising three k for scouts international jamboree in Poland. They are doing bake sales, car washes, etc.

The district or county may have access to funding and grants for girls who can’t afford the trip. I would expect for an event like this for the unit to do some unit-wide fundraising to make it more accessible for the girls. We do events like this every few years and we try to get grants and donations from local businesses, Rotary Club etc as well as fundraising at fairs, holding events, that sort of thing so we can subsidise the trip and keep cost down for parents.

Of course the £1400 may be the post-subsidy fee if the unit or district has already put money in.

I’m probably not the best person to answer this at the moment because I’m feeling quite disillusioned about the whole thing.

My DD is older than yours, but she’s autistic too and Guides has been somewhere she has found her people and really flourished, which is one of the reasons we wanted to support her going.

To be fair, my DD did receive grants towards her trip, and we’re very grateful for that support because without it the cost would have been even harder to manage. However, despite the grants, I still ended up having to pay a significant amount myself, which hasn’t been ideal as a single parent.

We were originally told that a lot of the cost would come from fundraising, grants and other support, and that parents shouldn’t panic. The reality has felt quite different. The girls are expected to fundraise a huge amount themselves, and that’s where a lot of my frustration comes from.

We spent countless weekends at fairs and fundraising events, often leaving home at 8 or 9 in the morning and not getting back until late, only to raise £20 or so. After a while I started questioning whether the time, effort and stress were actually worth it. I work full time, have other children, and simply don’t have endless weekends available for fundraising. In the end, I decided I’d rather put some of the money in myself than spend every spare weekend chasing relatively small amounts.

What I think has been hardest for me is that my DD isn’t going on a sightseeing holiday. She’s going abroad to work and volunteer. I completely understand the value of that experience and the personal development that comes with it, but when you’re paying thousands of pounds and fundraising on top, it can be difficult not to question it at times.

The fundraising side has honestly caused me far more stress than the trip itself. Had I fully understood the financial commitment from the start, I would have asked a lot more questions before signing up.

That said, lots of families do make it work. The girls in our group have done sponsored events, bag packs, raffles, car boot sales and applied for grants. For us, the grants definitely helped, but they didn’t cover everything by any means.

Unfortunately, we couldn't allow DD to sign up for one of these trips. She doesn't have time to spend days at a time doing things like bake sales, like@FaithTrustAndALittlePixieDust the returns on traditional fundraising activities just don't make sense, given other family commitments.

We are in the fortunate position that we could afford to just pay for one of these trips. But for me that is actually a problem. How could my DD have a stall at a fete, raising money to send a rich kid on holiday, standing side-by-side with actual charities? It just doesn't seem right to call it fundraising and align it with genuine good causes.

I would turn this trip down; it’s more than you can afford and I’d want to see if she copes well with local trips first.

My DDs in guides, first abroad trip next year. Payment plans are low and spread out and many fundraisers set up such as bake sales etc to try raise cash to get the price down to a very reasonable price. Not all girls in the unit are going, probably partly due to the cost, same happens in high school here with trips abroad.

I went on an international trip with the girl guides 20 years ago and fund raised £2000 to go through…

Raffles (often at the same time as the cake sale)
Cake sales (at various events)
quiz night
sponsored walk
bring and buy sale (held at the guide hut, charged people to have tables as well as entry I think)
babysitting
pet sitting
general asking for sponsorship for the trip

It was made easier as it was an aid trip to work within a disadvantaged community and I was the only one in my district going. Imagine it will be a lot harder if it’s a whole unit trip and for recreational purposes only. And I had the added benefit of being 13 in a time when people were more likely to pay a 13 year old cash to look after their children.

It entirely depends on the leaders at her unit. They are volunteers who have their own jobs and families to consider, and fundraising takes a lot of time and effort. In my district we will usually organise a couple of things but by the time any proceeds are divided up it probably only saves each girl about £50 each.

I’ve never seen it where donations are just expected. Usually it’s a bake sale, spring fair, bag packing etc. normally guiding groups will do this but it’s applies to the total cost which presumably is judge so still a lot for individuals to pay out

If I’m honest, it feels like I’ve spent £2k so my daughter can have a great line on her UCAS form. I’m sure she’ll learn a lot from it, but when you add up the fundraising expectations, the fact she’s going to be working, and the amount parents are expected to contribute, it does leave me questioning the value.

I'm a Guide leader. As others have said there are 2 sorts of international trip. One where girls are selected to represent girlguiding and open trips run by a unit or district/division.
We have a Guide who was selected this year. They needed £2500 I think. Girls got grants from local district, division and county. Grants for lower income families were higher.
Our Region has a big list of opportunities amd ideas for fundraising. Including helping at various rotary events for a quite chunky 'donation', running themed evenings linked to a badge where badges were sold at a profit and we run a disco for all sections which makes a lot of cash from ticket sales and the tuck shop. Part of the challenge is that girls have to earn their money rather than expecting parents to pay.
If it is a unit trip then less likely to get grants unless family is lower income. Girlguiding has a number of funds that can be used to ensure that girls donr miss out due to family circumstances. There will usually be a line saying 'if family circumstances mean that you would struggle to pay please speak to us in confidence'
Most units however just do shorter holidays and camps in the UK. These are much cheaper and are usually in tents or buildings on a Guide or Scout site or a site run eith similar aims. Typically these will be below £100 for 3 or 4 days but depends on what is being offered as some activities need specialist equipment and qualified instructors which doesnt come cheap.

Is it a proper international camp or a unit specific trip?

Unit trips tend not to be fundraiser for and generally on parents to pay for.

International camps to places like Our Chalet etc tend to be fundraiser for.

Ex guide leader.