oikos Alumni completes 2,500km fundraiser bicycle trip across Europe!

Our dear oikos Alumni Benoit Pitsaer took on the challenge of completing the 2,500km long bicycle trip from Vienna to Istanbul in an effort to raise funds for oikos International programs! Ben enjoyed the support of his employer – NSI IT Software who agreed to match up to 2,500EUR of donations raised throught the effort.

Starting from 1 August, the trip took Benoit from Vienna, visiting cities like Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade, Constanta, Burgas and more before reaching the final destination on the Bosphorus strait. In Vienna, Belgrade and Istanbul, Ben met with the local oikos chapters as well as the oikos Alumni, making these stops good opportunities to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.

The first milestone to be reached was the 2,500EUR in funds raised on Monday, 22 August, as Benoit was less than 150km away from Istanbul, which he had reached a few days later, welcomed by the local oikos chapter and thus completing the journey. Just as he reached his destination, Ben wrote:

“I never thought I would be able to make it to this city, this border between Europe and Asia, given the timing. This journey required a lot of humility. To take a break when the body demands it. To stop when it is too hot. To get up early during heat waves. Even earlier to avoid the rains. And above all… to accept that the number of kilometres I am able to ride does not depend on me but on the quality of the road and the weather. Not easy to accept that.

In short, I didn’t know if I could do it. But I wanted to above all.

So what can I say? Thank you, thank you to everyone who supported me. Not only NSI IT Software & Services for stepping out of the box and supporting the organisation I was fundraising for: oikos International to bring more Responsibility and Sustainability into this world.

Thanks also to oikos International for keeping its mission alive and well since 1987. More than 30 years that have changed so many Curricula, that have trained so many Generations in Responsible Management. Many thousands of Students have passed through their programs internally and not only.

Thanks also to their community that I met along the way in Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Turkey.

I don’t quite realise I’ve arrived yet. But this is just the beginning. So here is a spontaneous and informal video on my arrival. What an achievement!”

Over the 2,500km travelled, Benoit passed through many countries. Across the Pannonian Plain through Austra, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia, down the Danube valley in Romania, despite a predominantly flat terrain, it was a difficult journey over the countryside roads – in the summer heat or heavy rain, he kept on going. Coming into Bulgaria, the terrain became even more challenging as the Balkan Mountains stood in his way to Turkey, but in the end Benoit made his way to Istanbul, where we hope he’s having a well deserved rest!

What does this mean?

Benoit’s fundraiser was created in support of our ongoing crowdfunding campaign – “Amplify impact for 1200+ students worldwide”. The funds raised will support oikos programs on leadership development and transforming education, helping us maintain them completely free for students, while providing learnings largely unaddressed by most universities’ curricula. Completing the fundraiser marks an important milestone in our fundraising efforts, but does not mean the end to the campaign. If you wish to support us you can still do so by donating here or helping spread the word!

We would like to thank Benoit for his amazing effort in supporting our organization and the programs we create as well as the awareness he’s brought to many with his trip. We also extend our gratitude to everyone who’d donated to the campaign so far.

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oikos International

posted August 29, 2022

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‘Leaping up’ our students impact

The campaign is live now!

As the year almost draws to an end, we take a look at the big developments in oikos behind us – a shift in governance, a reimagined branding and a new digital infrastructure for the community, along with opening of a handful of new chapters on three continents. As years go, 2021 was quite action-packed, but why stop there? With our plans and ambitions for the next year, we want to take it to the next level! Together with our student community for sustainability in economics and business education, we are heading into a year full of exciting initiatives & mind-opening projects that will shape the future of our organization. Will you be part of our impact?

At the moment, we can happily say that oikos is thriving and we envision 2022 going even further from what we have achieved in 2021. We are blessed with a community never short of people, ideas and motivation to make things happen. However this is sometimes not enough, as the only limiting resource is funding – and this is where YOU can contribute. By supporting our renowned leadership initiatives or innovative work of our student members in transforming economics and business education, you help us keep the programs open and free for students.

For this reason we are launching a new campaign on GlobalGiving on Tuesday, November 30 as a part of their #GivingTuesday. On GivingTuesday GlobalGiving have put aside a pool of $1 million distributed along all of its platform members, meaning that the share each campaign is based on the amount raised in one day. For you, this means that through donating you can multiply your impact and support us beyond the amount you pledge. If you wish to partake in the campaign, mark your calendars and support our campaign on Tuesday, November 30!

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oikos International

posted November 25, 2021

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oikos enters the world of crowdsourcing

We are proud to have officially joined Global Giving as a permanent member of the platform after successfully raising over $6,500 from 40+ donors during their accelerator program in September. Global Giving is a platform that gives visibility and resources to small & mid-sized nonprofits like ours. We were part of the 200+ nonprofit that graduated from the program and this will open up new opportunities for funding from their donor pool and take part in their recurring matching donations campaigns.

The Support a Youth Leadership Journey campaign was our first ever crowdfunding campaign which took place from September 13th to 30th 2021. The goal of the campaign was to raise funds to support and in part cover costs for the shift of our governance structure to co-presidency.

As always, the first time experience can prove challenging, and our fundraising team wasn’t an exception to it. Nonetheless, the months of hard work the team had put into preparations for a crowdsourcing campaign helped us rise up to the challenge and make the best of it. The opportunity to be a part of the Global GIving Accelerator only emerged in the later stages of preparation. Although time-strapped with the campaign launch date, our team received a week of training and one-on-one coaching from the amazing people at Global Giving, which prepared us to embark on this journey!

When the timer started ticking and our campaign went live, we were eagerly awaiting to see the response from the community. This response was incredible – we were overwhelmed by the positive reception and support we received from both from within and beyond the oikos Community. When the first donations started coming in on the very first day, we were given a boost of energy and motivation to make the best of the campaign. As the campaign went on for its 13-day run, we made sure to keep pushing and reaching out, with the help from our community in spreading the word over these intense two weeks. It was moving ahead slow and steady, at times not entirely clear whether we’d reach the Accelerator goal.

Eventually, we managed to get it over the line and meet the requirements both in the number of donors and funds raised to become a permanent member of the Global Giving platform. With two days left after we hit the Accelerator goal, the donations kept on coming, rounding up to 6,617$ raised from 43 donors on the final day. For this we are grateful to everyone who supported us both by donating and spreading the word. Successfully completing the Global Giving Accelerator earned us the permanent spot on the platform, providing us with new opportunities for future crowdfunding projects to drive change towards sustainability!

However, the Support a Youth Leadership Journey does not end here – even though we reached the goal set by the Accelerator, we’re still aiming to reach the final goal of raising 14,250$ for the co-presidency project. If you wish to support us on this leg of the journey, the campaign remains active and you can still donate here. Stay tuned to hear about our participation in Giving Tuesday coming on November 30th with matching donations from Global Giving.

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oikos International

posted November 11, 2021

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