An interview with Bobby Cesareo: fundraising for the SiGMA Foundation
In an interview with SiGMA News, Bobby Cesareo shares her journey and insights into the challenges faced in fundraising and the impact their efforts have on various charitable causes.
How did you get into fundraising, and what motivated you to get involved with the SiGMA Foundation?
I have been organising fundraising events for more than 10 years. I started off by joining the events committee at Luxol football club, where my boys played football for many years. Through various contacts I was roped into joining the Malta Motorsports Federation and the Malta Community Chest Fund. I also help the Millennium Chapel, in ST Julians, Malta when possible, by knitting scarves and beanies which I donate for their families in need. However, two years ago I heard that Keith Marshall, Chief Philanthropy Officer of the SiGMA Foundation organises these trips while fundraising for a special cause. So the reason I joined SiGMA Foundation was because I believed in the causes they fund in Ethiopia. In these past two years I have organized two large birthday parties wherein guests were asked to give donations instead of gifts, two bingo events, and a wine tasting event.
Last year I started a trend of organising a Christmas get together for my Camino 3 group and some of the other Camino groups really liked the idea and did the same. About three months ago I was thinking to myself about organizing a GRAND party uniting all the groups of Camino, Toubkal and Colombia in one event rather than everyone having their own little Christmas activity. I mentioned it to Keith and he immediately told me go ahead, love the idea, will be great. My first thought was the venue and I immediately decided on the Golf Club as they organized a golf tournament earlier this year and all proceeds were generously donated to SiGMA.
What aspects of SiGMA Foundation’s mission and goals resonate with you?
I embrace the hard work behind all the fundraising activities and what the Foundation is aiming to achieve, particularly building schools in Ethiopia to give a good education to kids, women and men of all ages to better themselves and move away from poverty. I had the opportunity to go to Ethiopia in January this year with Keith for the opening of the largest school in Jimma-Bonga. The poverty and the state of the housing, shops, streets, no sanitation systems anywhere left a lasting impression on me. But the smiles of the children touched my heart and made me more enthusiastic to do so much more. Hence, the reason for my dedication and commitment and why fundraising is close to my heart.
How do you envision your fundraising efforts contributing to those objectives?
Fund-raising for overseas charities is much harder and needs more convincing as many individuals and companies are more inclined to donate to local charities. But remembering those smiles gives me the energy to keep going. I knock on anyones door and find ways to network with the right people and organisations to assist me in creating successful events, collecting prizes for raffles to collect more money. I encourage people to fundraise wherever possible as I know that ultimately with more money we can build more schools. Another project close to my heart is the Women Empowerment Training Centre also being built in Jimma-Bonga. Hopefully, in two years time this building will accommodate approximately 500 students of which 75% will be women. They will learn basic skills such as, IT, embroidery, hairdressing, sewing and others.
Tell us more about your fundraising events for SiGMA in the past.
I organized two very large Bingo events for SiGMA as they are always very popular activities, the last one was held in August this year. Firstly, I always choose to organise this as an outdoor event which can accommodate up to 200 people seated. For this event I make contacts with different companies to sponsor gifts or vouchers for prizes. This helps so that all the money collected goes directly towards the cause without having to dish out money for a prize. During the event I hold a raffle and manage to get beautiful prizes. This also helps to collect more money. During the last Bingo event I collected 2400 which is going towards the more recent cause called GLOW C Giving Little Ones Wings correction of cleft palate operations for kids in Cartagena in Colombia.
Find out more about the SiGMA Foundation and its initiatives and projects.
