In addition to month-to-month donations and interest income, we also raise funds in other ways. At the end of January, the Southwestern Adavantage students’ award trip “Sizzler” took place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt with more than 200 participants. We organized a big charity day and an auction during the trip during which we raised an additional 7,682 euros for the fund.

The fundraising took place in two parts. On the charity day, Southwestern Advantage students and sales managers offered a variety of activities such as teaching guitar, drums and ukulele, and henna drawings in exchange of donations. We collected 642 euros in a couple of hours.

The charitable auction where sales managers and students had exhibited 10 different experiences for bidding took place on the last night of the trip. The most valuable of these was a luxurious weekend in Moscow and a custom made suit by Errier Men. The evening was hosted and offers were made by Southwestern Advantage program participants. We raised 7,040 euros at the auction.

Our goal is to build the largest investment-based charity in Eastern Europe. So far, we have become one of the largest such funds in Estonia in just two years and are constantly growing.

The aim of the foundation is first and foremost to support entrepreneurship education and experience and to become a so-called perpetual motion, that means a fund that lasts forever, as is the Nobel Prize. This means that the fund’s fixed assets are not donated, but only the interest income earned from the assets. In the case of Nobel, the big advantage was a large number of funds that already existed, but in the case of the Southwestern Advantage Foundation, the assets have yet to be built from scratch. This means that we cannot distribute millions immediately, but we are moving firmly towards that. To date, we have fixed assets of more than 40,000 euros and we have been able to support several projects from interest income.

We are actively investing our assets in order to earn the maximum possible income with the aim of supporting the entrepreneurial experience and learning of young people in particular, reducing poverty and making self-development and entrepreneurship training possible for more young people. As Southwestern Advantage has rapidly expanded to many Eastern European countries, we have established independent accounts in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Estonia.

A total of 4,479 euros were raised on the trip to the Estonian account, 2,043€ to the Slovak account, 833€ to the Polish account, 350€ euros to the Latvian account and 100€ to the Lithuanian account.

Sincere thanks to everybody participating!

Southwestern Advantage Foundation’s vision is to be the biggest charitable foundation in Eastern Europe that is built on investment principles and helping young people in obtaining knowledge and developing character so they can fulfil their dreams in life. We help European youth get better entrepreneurship education and offer investment knowledge to those who do not have the opportunity. We are working to reduce and prevent poverty.

We only donate money from the fund’s passive income by directing 50% of the return to charity and 50% back to the fund. That is how your good deed will remain giving forever.