Getting funding to travel interstate

As one of the members of the Act Now incubator I attended the Sydney workshop and after meeting a great bunch of people I really wanted to go to the launch in Melbourne. The only problem is that I’m a poor uni student and I live in Perth so airfare costs are always dearer.

One of the girls involved in the incubator, Lauren, suggested I apply for funding. This had never occurred to me so I thought I would give it a go and wrote letters to rotary, the mayor of my local council and federal and state local members of parliament. I also spoke to my YAC co-ordinator who informed me that the council sometimes gives out $100 community grants which I could apply for. I had also spoken to someone from the Office of Children and Youth who informed me that they don’t give out funding for interstate travel.

Two weeks later I hadn’t received any replies, although I did email my YAC co-ordinator, Natasha, to remind her about it. I was beginning to resign myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to Melbourne and I should just focus on uni for the time being.

However I got a call from Natasha saying that she’d spoke to the mayor, they reviewed my case and the work I had done with YAC and decided to cover my airfare costs.

A few days later I also received a letter from the mayor and a letter from my local MP Kim Wilkie who kindly donated a small but worhty contribution towards my travel costs.


I learnt two things from this:

Never ever underestimate the power of a written letter.

Use your contacts, that’s why they exist!

I'll also be sending out thank you letters to give praise where it's due.