Raise Alumni
Raise is a charitable movement encouraging students to adopt a positive approach towards deliberate, effective giving. Check out our national impact below.
6
years
2,697
students
£466,495
raised
559,738
people protected
How it works
How it Works
Donate
We invite you to make a personally significant donation to charity as a way of celebrating giving. We welcome any amount that is significant to you.
Celebrate
At the end of the donations period, we'll come together as a community to celebrate our collective impact at an event in London. We're also looking into inviting alumni back to their affiliated university chapter's summer party.
Connect
We'll bring the Raise alumni community together through both virtual and in-person events, continuing with our ultimate goal of making charity something that is actively embraced and enjoyed, and a meaningful part of all of our lives.
More Info
First off, we're so glad you had good experiences with Raise that you want to stay involved with the Raise community. We'd love your support, and to stay in touch whether or not you do any of the following.
Facebook group: To foster a two-way dialogue, you're invited to join our Facebook group. This is probably the first place to see what we're up to and how things are going.
Advisory board: We'd love alumni to get involved in steering the direction of Raise or picking up more self-contained projects. To do this, we've set up an advisory board of trusted Raise members who meet on a (semi-) regular basis to discuss what's going on with Raise. Get in touch if this sounds interesting to you!
Helping us grow: Are you able to help us by sponsoring Raise's efforts (whether through in-kind or direct donations), or know someone who can? Do you have some free time to improve how we run our operations, or mentor new chapters? Whatever it is, we'd love to hear from you!
To decide which charities to recommend, we reviewed the research of independent charity evaluators GiveWell, Giving What We Can, and Founders Pledge, as well as explored other literature discussing effective charities.
We've also considered feedback from donors from previous years, as well as considered which charities best fit with our philosophy of positive, deliberate, and effective giving.
We've intentionally tried to support a wide range of cause areas, so that you can find one that you connect with. However, you're also welcome to donate to another charity (see below).
At Raise, we think very carefully about which charities to recommend, particularly given how much money you're donating. However, we recognise that you might want to join us in celebrating through giving to a different charity. This is absolutely fine, but please get in touch with us beforehand so that we are aware.
Our Philosophy
Can you remember the last time you gave to charity? Perhaps you bought something at a bake sale? Or sponsored a friend running a marathon?
These days, opportunities for us to do good through giving are everywhere.
But it's much rarer that we stop and think about giving. Most of these opportunities either hide the act of giving from view - so we don't even notice it's happening - or push us to give only when we're directly asked.
At Raise, we think that's a real missed opportunity.
We believe that when we pause to think about our giving, the experience can be incredibly rewarding.
When we properly consider why we are giving and the impact our money will have - in short, when we give deliberately - we can really appreciate how positive donating to charity can be.
This way, giving becomes more meaningful, enjoyable, sustainable and ultimately more impactful.
How does Raise work?
We invite students and young professionals to join us and celebrate the end of the academic year by making a personally significant donation to charity - an amount that will make you think about what and why you are giving.
It took me a long time to decide to join Raise - I'd never given that much before - but when I finally donated, I saw our incredible impact and it really made donating an amazing positive experience.
Chloe Shieh, Donor
Then, at the end of the academic year, we come together as a community for our Summer Party. It's a time when we can reflect on and celebrate our impact, while enjoying the end of the year with a wonderful group of people.
It was at the Summer Party that I really appreciated just how powerful the idea of giving positively and deliberately can be. Everyone was having a great time, energised by the collective knowledge that together we'd done something incredible.
Elena Caspall, Donor
Our vision
Our hope is that through making a personally significant donation and then coming together to celebrate that, you'll be able to see the huge impact giving effectively can have and come to feel as positive about it as we do.
Ultimately, we want to change the culture around charity. We want charity to be something that is actively embraced and enjoyed, and a meaningful part of all of our lives.
Raise really changed the way I approach giving. It's made me want to make deliberate giving a permanent part of my life even now I've graduated so, after joining Raise, I decided to donate 10% of my income to effective charities every year.
I never really used to think about giving to charity, but I loved joining Raise and I now can't wait to donate again in the future.
Jake Mendel, Donor
So, however you've chosen to give before, why not join Raise this year and see how charity can become a meaningful and positive part of all of our lives.
P.S. Want to get to know us more? Check out testimonies from our community yearbook or watch our founder's TEDx Talk, 'Rethinking Celebration: The Positive Case for Giving', which talks all about our feel-good philosophy!
raisealumni@gmail.com
Raise/MWA Alumni!