Following the Equator | EF's Educational Travel Blog

Italian olive oil lemon cake

There’s a Spanish proverb that roughly translates into: The stomach rules the mind. That being said, it’s no surprise that students are always more inclined to attend events with free food. Group leaders tell us all the time that one of the easiest ways to encourage students to attend a recruitment meeting or keep them engaged before it’s time to depart is to serve food from the places the group will be traveling to.

If you’re going on a trip to Italy, check out this recipe for Italian olive oil lemon cake. It appeared yesterday on Boston.com and seemed too delicious not to post. Why not serve it at your next meeting?

Recipe from Countess Romana Bicocchi of Numerouno olive oil estate in Tuscany
Butter (for the pan)
Flour (for the pan)
7 eggs, separated and at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup top-quality olive oil
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Confectioners’ sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess.
2. In a bowl using a whisk, beat the egg yolks and gradually beat in the granulated sugar and olive oil.
3. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and lemon rind. Mix well.
4. In an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture until no white patches show.
5. Transfer the batter to the pan. Bake the cake for 40 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed with a fingertip.
6. Let the cake cool. Unlatch the spring and slide the cake onto a flat platter. Sprinkle generously with confectioners’ sugar.

Photo credit: Photo taken by George Boomer, Boston.com

Our 10 Best of 2009

Thank you to everyone for reading, sharing and supporting Following the Equator in 2009. We sure enjoyed posting great stories, facts, tips and profiles about educational travel and the group leaders who make it possible.

We're already planning some exciting new things for 2010. Most of all, though, we want to hear from you. What do you want to read and see on this blog—more interviews with teachers, more amazing travel photos, more fundraising and recruiting ideas, more tidbits about the things to see and do on tour? Let us know at equator@ef.com.

As we look ahead to an exciting year of travel in 2010, we thought we'd take a quick look back at a successful 2009 and our 10 favorite blog posts of the year. Feel free to post your own comments below.

Webinar: 5 best ideas for group fundraising

EF Fundraising Tips & Tricks - Fundraising as a Group

View more presentations from EF Tours.

Fundraising for your educational tour as a group is not only a wonderful way to raise funds, but it also gives the group a chance to bond and work together toward a common goal.

In the fourth of our series of fundraising webinars, we focus on the five best ideas for group fundraising.

If you have your own good group fundraising ideas, please share them in the comments section below. For more fundraising webinars or other fundraising tips, please see EF's fundraising website.

Fundraising webinar: Ideas for individual travelers

EF Fundraising Tips & Tricks - Ideas for Individuals

View more presentations from EF Tours.

The third in our series of fundraising webinars presents several great ideas for individual travelers. These tips are simple suggestions to help easily raise funds for your educational tour.

Do you have other fundraising ideas? Please share them in the comments section below. For more fundraising webinars or other fundraising tips, please see EF's fundraising website.

Webinar: Top 4 fundraisers for a challenging economy

EF Fundraising Tips & Tricks - Ideas for a Challenging Economy

View more presentations from EFTours.

It's no secret that everybody is looking for ways to cope with today's challenging economy. Fundraising, too, can be complicated when we all are re-prioritizing how to spend our money.

However, that doesn't mean that it's impossible to raise funds for your educational tour. In the second installment of our fundraising webinars, we present four ideas for fundraising in a challenging economy.

If you have other fundraising ideas, please post them in the comments section below. And if you're looking for more fundraising webinars or other fundraising tips, please see EF's fundraising website.

Fundraising webinar: Planning and Organizing

EF Fundraising Tips & Tricks - Planning & Organizing

View more presentations from EF Tours.

Are you looking for tips on how to get started fundraising for your educational tour? Wondering how to raise funds in a challenging economy? How about ideas for individual or group fundraising?

We have created a half-dozen brief webinars to address the basic fundraising questions and provide some useful tips to get started and take your fundraising to the next level.

You can see all of of our fundraising webinars on EF's fundraising site. Plus, we will feature a different webinar each week here at Following the Equator. The first webinar (above) focuses on planning and organizing. This is a great introduction to jump-start your fundraising efforts and make educational travel even more affordable.

Double your donations with one small step

Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? But it really is that simple.

If you're raising money for your educational tour, just ask each of your donors if his or her employer has a charity matching program. If so, it usually takes only one simple form to double your donations.

Many corporations have a charitable gifts matching program, where they will match donations dollar for dollar. Check out MatchingGifts.com for a partial list of employers with a charitable-matching program. However, just because a company isn't listed doesn't mean it doesn't have one, so be sure your donors double-check with their human resources departments. This money is already allocated in the company's budget, so it is basically free money for your group!

Earth-friendly fundraising

Lend a helping hand while raising money for your educational tour! Seek out an opportunity to help spruce up your community's public spaces. Some ideas include:

• Clean up a local park, alongside a busy travel route or even after town celebrations.
• Help bring new life to a public outdoor space by planting flowers and trees.
• Prepare the local ball fields, especially if they need a quick turnaround between games.

There are a couple of ways to approach this type of fundraising:

• You can ask a sponsoring organization to pay your group for your time and services and put that money toward your tour.
• You also can seek pledges for hours worked or trash bags collected to supplement your earnings.

Fundraising success story: Alicia Chapman

One hour of prep time + three weeks + nine students = $1,560 profit. Not bad, right?

For Alicia Chapman and her high school students in rural Maine, it's made all the difference.

Alicia, a high school science teacher, has helped make it possible for her students to travel on an EF tour next year with her incredible fundraising success story.

When I asked Alicia (left) why she leads tours with EF and puts the effort into organizing fundraising for her students, she said it's well worth it.

"I get to go because of them (my students), so if I have to spend a little of my time (to help them make it happen), I think it's fair," Alicia said. "Half of my students have never left Maine and may never do it again. I can't wait to travel with them!"

Alicia and her students are traveling to London and Paris next summer with EF. Fortunately, for their fundraising's sake, their rural town in Maine loves having Yankee Candles delivered to its doorsteps. A few years ago, Alicia was the senior class adviser, and the idea of organizing fundraising efforts for 200 students was a daunting one. She came across Yankee Candle Fundraising, and it was a hit!

Calling all fundraising success stories

As spring-break travelers prepare for departure and summer groups organize final details for their EF tours, we're starting to hear some great successes in fundraising around the country.

Now, we want to hear your story! Next week, we will launch a new series within the Fundraising Tip of the Week to highlight fundraising success stories from our EF Group Leaders and travelers.

What fundraisers worked best for you and your group? What did you learn? What tips can you share with groups just starting their fundraising for next year?

Please email us at fundraising@ef.com to share your experiences. We want to hear fundraising stories of all shapes and sizes—from raising a surprising few hundred dollars with minimal planning to paying for your entire tour through an ambitious fundraising agenda.

(Tip of the Week is written by EF Fundraising Specialist Tessa Lorenze and appears at Following the Equator every Tuesday. For more fundraising help on your EF tour, check out EF's fundraising tips or contact an EF Fundraising Specialist at fundraising@ef.com.)

Photo: kaylamarie2191 via Flickr (EF Tours pool)

99 places to promote your fundraising efforts

Our friends over at Firstgiving host a regular webinar series covering many fundraising topics, particularly online. Though the focus is more general, many of the fundraising tips and advice found in these webinars are useful for educational travel groups.

We've posted a lot here about harnessing the Internet to boost your fundraising efforts. Firstgiving's most recent webinar covers a lot more ground: "9 ways to promote your personal fundraising page and 99 places to do it."

Rubber duck races raise money

Although I've never had the pleasure of witnessing a river flowing chock-full of rubber duckies firsthand, I am proud to say that on May 2 there will be two rubber ducks floating down Fall River in Estes Park, Colorado, with my name on them!

In a reverse of roles, this week I was the recipient of a fundraising email campaign to support my friend's school through the annual Estes Park Duck Race. The Estes Park Rotary Club sponsors this race every year to raise funds for various organizations in the city with the incentive of large donated prizes, such as a 52-inch LCD TV.

Consider hosting your very own duck race to raise funds for your group travels. But don't be overwhelmed by the size of Estes Park's event. Think about how you can use an event like this to promote your educational tour.

Could you pair the duck race with a festival or event already happening in your town? Or could you add face painting and concession sales to boost the funds you've raised? Start small in your community, and see where your fundraising leads you.

(Tip of the Week is written by EF Fundraising Specialist Tessa Lorenze and appears at Following the Equator every Tuesday. For more fundraising help on your EF tour, check out EF's fundraising tips or contact an EF Fundraising Specialist at fundraising@ef.com.)

Photo: Kimberly* via Flickr (CC license)