AEGEE-Eskişehir was our Local of the Month of December, and the Turkish antenna is in full swing organising local events, but also international ones. It signed the Convention d’Adhesion in 2001 during Autumn Agora Ankara, organising the Balkans Regional Meeting one year later. Their activities are local projects, thematic events, Summer Universities, Network Meetings and weekly meetings on every Wednesday with a focus on thematic topics, and they also organised Autumn Agora Eskişehir in 2007. That is not all: from the 3rd to the 10th of April they will host the Fund Raising European School (FRES), in cooperation with AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Academy. We spoke with the president of the Antenna Toygar Öter and the Speaker of the Academy Antonis Triantafyllakis to know something more about the event. Remember, the deadline is on the 2nd of March!

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to organise the FRES?

Toygar: To be honest, the former board applied for FRES, but I was on that board too and I wanted to have this event very much.  After our General Assembly, where I became President,  the new team adopted this event easily because there was not a European School event in AEGEE-Eskişehir history. Fundraising is a very attractive topic, every member of AEGEE-Eskişehir wants to do fundraising talks because it contributes to the development of the person and I think it is really entertaining. Most of the locals are facing with money and sponsorship issues. Fortunately, Eskişehir is a student city, most of the company knows us. In short, we trust ourselves in raising funds and we want to share our experiences.  When we found such an opportunity, we did not want to miss it.

Who are going to be the trainers of the event?

Antonis: We are lucky to have a team of trainers with diverse backgrounds and knowledge to offer to the event, ensuring an amazing learning experience for the participants of FRES Eskişehir: Daria Andreieva from BEST, Vladislav Andrijako from Euroavia, Antonis Triantafyllakis from AEGEE-Academy and Réka Salamon from AEGEE-Europe.

Can you give us a sneak peek of the program? What will the sessions be?

Antonis: Participants will enjoy an overall coverage of both institutional and corporate fundraising, including all you need to know about grants such as Erasmus+ and how to apply for them, corporate sponsors, how to approach them and maintain a long-term relationship with them, the psychology of marketing and how to apply it on fundraising, how to manage your funds and pretty much all you need to know in order to successfully carry on a strategic fundraising plan for the projects of your local. The main structure will be the familiar one from all AEGEE-Academy European Schools, with the theory given in the morning sessions in an interactive manner and practice being done in the afternoon based on working groups, fully incorporating the group dynamics into the learning process, as you would expect from an AEGEE-Academy training. Most importantly, we will put the FUN into fundraising!

What do you have in store for participants?

Toygar: We provide to participants seven days lodging in a villa (unfortunately we will have no pool), three meals per day, local transportation, sessions in Anadolu University, which is one of the most active universities in Turkey, city tour, parties, lots of fun and surprises!  And you may not believe but it is just for 75€!

What are your experience and your strategy with fundraising?
Toygar:  As I mentioned before Eskişehir is a small and student city. AEGEE-Eskişehir is a very known organisation in university and in the city. Almost every new board goes to meet with the university administration, mayors of municipalities and governor of Eskişehir. They support us as much as possible. On the other hand, we have lots of events in a year and we search different companies for each event.  For example, we carry out our common meetings every Wednesday and we have a tradition which after every common meeting we go to dinner together. We try to go to different places every week. All of this is making us very known in Eskişehir and making things easier in order to get supports. In my opinion, as AEGEE-Eskişehir we have a long history and traditions. Summing up, we take care of our work as a professional also we know how to live it up! Alumni, experienced members or new ones, we are a huge family!

What is the involvement of the Academy?

Antonis: FRES is a European School, so it is kind of a…child of AEGEE-Academy. Like all European Schools, the structure is fully based on non-formal education methodologies, so it is interactive, tailored to the needs of the learners, held in a participatory, learning by doing manner and, above all, fun! AEGEE-Academy coordinates the project, from design to implementation and evaluation, ensures the quality of the content, the harmonious collaboration between the trainers’ team and the local organisers. AEGEE-Academy also guarantees the positive impact of the event.

How is the cooperation with AEGEE-Eskişehir going?

Antonis: AEGEE-Eskişehir is full of absolutely lovable people who are also reliable organisers, so we are very happy to work with them and eager to meet them in the beautiful city of Eskişehir!

How is cooperation with the Academy going?

Toygar: We want to thank them for electing us to organise this event as AEGEE-Eskişehir. They are supporting us as much as they can.

What is the most amazing thing about your local and your city?

Toygar: Eskişehir is a small city, however, it is the best for students in Turkey. Even though it is a small city, it has two big universities. A city with all the opportunities for a student. If you are studying here, you know that you are very lucky!
Apply now here and here by the 2nd of March

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

AEGEE-Barcelona is one busy antenna! They have meetings every Saturday where they meet, socialize and discuss the future of their antenna. In one of those meetings a while ago, they decided to host Fundraising European School (FRES) and it is that particular event that has made them become the Local of the Month of October. The AEGEEan interviewed Clàudia Nogués, who is the newly elected President, as well as Anna Gumbau, the Vice-President and co-main organiser of FRES.

The AEGEEan: How does it feel to be selected Local of the Month?

AEGEE-Barcelona: First of all, we did not expect to be elected as Local of the Month, so it was a great surprise for the antenna. Moreover, after organizing a good and hard-working FRES (Fundraising European School) it was the way to recognize our effort. In the name of all members of the antenna we want to thank you so much for this honor that The AEGEEan has awarded us with!

How do you keep your members active in your antenna?

We try to do many activities with different topics: ranging from our traditional weekly meetings and different lunch meetings such as barbecues or paellas for the members and friends (it is a strategy to get new members, too!) to excursions to discover Catalonia. Furthermore, we encourage all of them to apply for the hundreds of events happening around Europe, from Agorae until New Year’s Eve, and get steeped in AEGEE spirit.

You have elected a new board in October. What have been the highlight(s) of the past board year?

We are very happy with the activities and events that we have organized during this year, and the goals that we have reached. For example we prepared Agoraphobia, the pre-event for Autumn Agora Zaragoza, with lot of success. Also we have done our usual Travel Summer University, in this case with AEGEE-Valladolid.

In order to put an end to a great year, we wanted to organize a serious and formal event as Fundraising European School. But AEGEE-Barcelona doesn’t focus only on organizing events! We work everyday to maintain our members happy and help them with all they need. Also, we try to be present in different universities and make AEGEE more visible. So now we wish for the new board of AEGEE-Barcelona a bright future during this year and to keep working with our aims.

How was the organization of FRES?

Organising the Fundraising European School was a really big adventure: we had to prepare the budget, the social programme and all the logistic arrangements in a very short period of time, practically during only one month, since the event was right after the summer holidays and most of our corporate and institutional partners were out for vacation. Moreover, it is very demanding to stay full of energy, during almost ten days, for such an exhausting event… But yay, we managed!

Really, initially we organised the FRES because even though AEGEE-Barcelona has organised several events, most of them have been purely fun/leisure, with neither any learning content behind it nor any contribution to the Strategic Plan and the Action Agenda. Therefore it was a great way to step out from our comfort zone and try something new. The result, seeing that participants were having fun and enjoying the event, was really rewarding.

What did you learn from the experience?

On the thematic aspect, we got to learn how a training event is from the inside. Moreover, when we had some spare time, we always sat next to the participants during training sessions and took notes of what the trainers were saying, so we actually learnt some things regarding fundraising! On the purely organisational aspect, we learnt a lot regarding time management, and especially the importance of having a strong team, which is coordinated and has the same vision on the event.

What was the best thing about organizing the event?

Teamwork, without any doubt. When some locals organise such big events and the organisers spend so many hours working together, sometimes in very stressful situations, they always run the risk of fighting with each other, having arguments, facing misunderstandings… This was not the case in AEGEE-Barcelona, instead we always worked as a team, rowed in the same direction, got to know each other’s strengths better, and it made our friendship grow stronger. Moreover, we had many new and motivated members who learnt a lot about event management by taking active steps and we had kind of a knowledge transfer “on the spot” and while the event was taking place. Just because of this, all the effort was worth it.

Would you do it again?

Alright, the event is still too close to consider doing it again! Well, probably not FRES, and probably not even another European School, but since we have really learnt many valuable lessons in event management, we will surely come up with some other thematic event some time soon. The 30th Anniversary of AEGEE, the two upcoming Statutory Events in Spain… These are both some good excuses in order to challenge ourselves once again.

What plans does AEGEE-Barcelona have in the near future?

The new board has started with extra-motivation, with a team ranging from “oldies” to a new generation. Our main goal for this year is to keep doing things as good as the previous board. We want to organize, for example, pre-events for the EPM in Burgos and AgorAsturias. Also, we have started to think about the next Summer University. Furthermore, we are happy to have exchanges with some antennae, a part from the usual visits that we have during the year from other Spanish antennae with their Erasmus in Barcelona; moreover, we are also planning to get engaged again with the Catalan Youth Council. To finish, we would like to create a twin antenna for the next two years!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

Next week from September 27th until October 5th AEGEE-Barcelona will be hosting Fundraising European School for 18 participants – the best way to say goodbye to summer holidays and stay motivated in AEGEE. And hopefully it will still be sunny and warm!

AEGEE-Barcelona is a large antenna of around 80 members and depending with the level of activity and the academic period, there are usually 10 or 15 people present in the meetings. Moreover, in their Summer University they managed to gather new members who are active, motivated and are ready to rock at the Fundraising European School (FRES). The AEGEEan interviewed the organizing team behind FRES who pointed out from the start of the interview that “the strange thing about our antenna is that many of our active members and even current board members have been working or studying abroad, which made planning things and events a bit more difficult, but with several Skype meetings and fluid communication we managed to get things going”.

The AEGEEan: Barcelona is a very touristic destination, but what do you believe is special about the city?

AEGEE-Barcelona: Yes, it is indeed a very touristic destination and this has its “cons” when you organise such a big event. However, we think that what makes it special is the fact that it has such a rich architecture and cultural legacy. It is colorful and has a truly lively atmosphere. But it also has some places which are less known by the average tourist, and we would love our participants to get to know better “the other side” of the city.

The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to host the FRES?

AEGEE-Barcelona: We have applied for the FRES because we have hosted several events lately (pre-events, Summer Universities…), but these were mostly “fun” events with few learning and training content behind. We had a first attempt of making a more “serious” event, since we planned to host one of the Y Vote 2014 conventions last February, but unfortunately we did not get the Youth in Action funds. Now, the possibility of organising the FRES came up by some of our most active members, and we decided to take a step forward and host a training event that would give an added value to our antenna and can be beneficial for the Network as well. Besides, we have some experience with fundraising but we would like to go more into deep and see which strategies and good practices we can adopt, so the members of AEGEE-Barcelona can also benefit from it.

The AEGEEan: What experience does your antenna have in hosting events?

AEGEE-Barcelona: We have organised every year a Summer University, usually in cooperation with other antennae, and our antenna has usually hosted pre-events for the Autumn Agora in Zaragoza 2013, and also the one in Alicante in Spring 2011.

The AEGEEAn: Are you currently organizing other events as well?

AEGEE-Barcelona: Not so far. We finished our Travel Summer University  this summer with AEGEE-Valladolid and now it will be up to the upcoming board to think whether we will organise a pre-event either for the EPM in Burgos or the Agora in Asturias, as well as thinking of further local events or maybe a Local/Regional Training Course.

The AEGEEan:  What plans do you have for FRES?

AEGEE-Barcelona: Well, we will be mainly taking care of the logistics and the social programme, but what we can advance is that we will be lodged in a hostel right in the city center of Barcelona, and that we plan a very diverse social programme. We will of course get to know the city, included a city tour by bike and places that are mainly spotted only by locals. We will also have a ‘spooky’ city tour by night where AEGEEans will get to know one of our most famous -and scary- local legends. Also the food will be good, of course – hopefully you will manage to taste our widely-famous paella!

The AEGEEan: Will you have any funding for the event?

AEGEE-Barcelona: We are keeping our fingers crossed for that, since due to the economic crisis and especially the budgetary cuts it is not easy to receive financial funding, but we are trying our best. Our main sources will come from in-kind fundraising though, which our local is making a big effort for and we are starting to get the fruits.

The AEGEEan: How will you cooperate with the AEGEE-Academy?

AEGEE-Barcelona: We are already cooperating with the Academy – and we are continuously asked for feedback when it comes to trainer’s selection and the trainings. We are mailing each other quite often, so the communication so far has been fluent, and it is very cool that they are involving us in the training aspects as well instead of only leaving us the local organisation’s aspects. It’s been good so far, we had previously a get-to-know meeting with the Training Manager, Lyda Michopoulou, and we have been doing our best to meet the trainers’ needs. I now some of the trainers coming from the Academy and I am totally convinced that they will share a very valuable knowledge with our participants.

The AEGEEan: The event is just here, how is everything going with the organization?

AEGEE-Barcelona: Well, these days left are being especially tough because we are trying our best for this event to be perfect, to fit participants’ and trainers’ needs and, at the same time, providing a rich social program. It is sometimes not easy to organise this kind of events in Barcelona, which is a bit more expensive than the average… Luckily we have a very strong and motivated team of organisers who are giving their best for this event to be successful, they are taking care of every single detail, and we also have some “newbies” who are learning first-hand how such an event is organised. I think for all of us it is (and it is going to be) a very enriching experience, for each one of us individually and for the local, since it has been a long time since AEGEE-Barcelona has not organised an event like FRES.

The AEGEEan: Where are the participants from? You are have members who aren’t AEGEEans, right?

AEGEE-Barcelona: We luckily have a wide variety of nationalities, and especially, as you have pointed, we have many members who are not AEGEEans. The Academy has now opened their trainings to non-AEGEE members so we have participants from plenty of other organisations, ranging from BEST, IAAS or FDE. Some of our trainers are also from outside AEGEE. We are very positive about it, since sometimes it is good to be out from the “AEGEE bubble” and strengthen relations with other organisations.

The AEGEEan: What will the participants do during the program?

AEGEE-Barcelona: Well, the trainings program is still a secret for participants! But the Academy will of course deal with FR basics, with persuasive communication, public speaking and much more. When it comes to social program, it has not been easy to arrange, since the trainings require lots of hours. But I am pretty sure that the participants will enjoy the Horror City Tour at the Gothic Quartier, biking around the city, and discover a bit of Barcelona.

The AEGEEan: Any interesting matters you can reveal to us about the event? 

AEGEE-Barcelona: A light joke: in AEGEE-Barcelona we are getting quite crazy lately regarding the organisation of the event and words that contain the letters “FRES” have been coming quite many times into our minds lately. We even called our Whatsapp group as “OktoberFRESt”…

Moreover, this is very special for us because, in fact, the Academy was founded in Agora Barcelona 1999, so exactly 15 years ago. Could it be any better way to celebrate it than having it in here?

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

Ever since its establishment in 1999, the AEGEE Academy has been working hard to develop and strengthen the human resources of AEGEE and to stimulate the motivation of its members, by providing them with non-formal learning experiences. Last April the new board of the Academy was elected, starting their term on the 1^st of June after their Knowledge Transfer. Next to this, the Academy also signed the Convention d’Adhesion during Spring Agora Patra. The AEGEEan spoke to the board of the Academy to find out more about their achievements and plans for the future.

Currently, the board of the Academy consists of eight members, namely: Speaker/PR Responsible Andra Berila (AEGEE-Bucuresti), Treasurer Patrick Scholz (AEGEE-Aachen), Secretary John Eikosidekas (AEGEE-Patra), HR Manager and External Relations responsible Urša Svetelj (AEGEE-Ljubljana), Database Manager Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia), IT Responsible and Board Assistant Costas Deltouzos (AEGEE-Patra), Alumni Coordinator, Network Communication Assistant and Board Assistant Maartje Natrop (AEGEE-Utrecht) and Mentorship Program Responsible and Board Assistant Lyda Michopoulou (AEGEE-Leuven).

Although only active for a few weeks now, the new board already has great plans upcoming, like the European School of Entrepeneurship (ESE), organised together with Youth unEmployment this September in Gran Canaria, the Fundraising European School (FRES) hosted by AEGEE-Barcelona in October, the Public Relations European School (PRES) hosted by AEGEE-Poznan in November and the Summer University Project School (SUPS) hosted by AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca in December. Besides these great events, plans already have been made for Spring 2015 too. As Andra tells us: “We are planning to organise a Self-Development European School (SES), Training for Trainers (T4T), Human Resources European School (HRES) and European School 2 (ES2).”

However, it’s not only the new board that is new. The Academy itself also got a new status, signing the Convention d’Adhesion at Spring Agora Patra. As Maartje explains: “Since we signed the Convention d’Adhesion, we are no longer a working group. It was a strange place to be in, as we have never really been a working group and therefore couldn’t comply with the requirements. Now we are officially an independent partner organisation of AEGEE, but serving the network remains our main priority. In practice you will not really feel or see the changes, it is just paperwork, but we will keep on rocking as always.”

And rocking is what the Academy has been doing lately. Thanks to the hard work of the former board, the Academy managed to “make the Academy rise from the ashes like a phoenix”, as Antonija Parat said before. “We have had an amazing board term.”, Maartje says, which also shows in the achievements made during the past half year. “We built a new website including an interactive map of trainers and a trainer database, a big online materials database, a new HR booklet, new HR strategy with different levels for trainers (candidate, trainer, senior, alumni), new PR strategy including a new Facebook page and small recruitment movie and we have been rocking a lot of European Schools, Training for Trainers and trainings at the Agora. We did a lot of work behind the scenes as well, like standardizing templates for presentations, Open Calls and creating knowledge transfer manuals for the future boards.”

The database for training materials is a never ending but very thankful job, according to Michele. “Brick by brick we build a house. I am collecting materials of trainers and especially of Academy events and some Network Meetings. At the moment we have the materials, but we have to update them and increase the quality. The best part of my job is that there is no end. My motto is: ‘To collect data is a step for knowledge, but to share is a step for community.’” Another important job is the website, which got updated in January. “The previous website of the Academy had an old fashioned design and its content was rather outdated, so when we launched the new one all of our trainers were excited about it”, Costas says. “The new website’s design is fresh and modern, the content is better structured and easy to find and we have some new features. The main addition that made everyone happy was the trainers’ database. Now it’s easy for everyone to see a list of our trainers and alumni with details about them and where they are located.”
Although the Training for Trainers that took place in April in Budapest already resulted in twenty new trainers, the Academy is always open to new applications. This can be done by applying on the website through a form, or by attending the next Training for Trainers in Spring 2015. Want to find out more about the Academy? Take a look at their website!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen