36 Weeks To Go: The Truth about how we’re funding Project Salt Run

Ever wondered how those epic adventure expeditions really get funded? Hannah and Joel pull back the curtain on Project Salt Run's financial journey, revealing the grit, the gambles, and the ramen-fueled determination it takes to chase a world-changing goal. 

Hannah reveals she is NOT a secret millionaire, won't be climbing Everest anytime soon, and is actually is pretty broke.

We’re currently raising money to make this expedition possible. EVERY Pound raised on Crowdfunder gets us closer to being able to reach India. 

Hannah will run 100 marathons in 100 days, covering 4,200 km, to raise £1,000,000 for 1% for the Planet on Givestar.  This journey is a powerful testament to the potential within all of us to make a real difference.

Like the Podcast? Help the project leaving us a review or share with your friends, family and most loathed enemies!

Get in touch at contact@projectsaltrun.com 

Join the Better Business Network 

Visit our Website or betternotstop

In the face of unprecedented environmental challenges, Project Salt Run aims to inspire action through an extraordinary journey of transformation. Hannah Cox, a sustainability advocate with Indian heritage and a first-time runner, will undertake a life-changing challenge across India, following the historic Inland Customs Line. 

This colonial-era boundary enforced a devastating salt tax, causing immense suffering and millions of deaths, but has been largely forgotten from history.
By retracing this route, Hannah seeks to honour its legacy and transform its meaning, inviting others to discover their own version of extraordinary. This journey is not about guarantees of success—Hannah faces the real possibility of failure—but it’s a powerful reminder that taking bold steps, even in uncertainty, can inspire meaningful change.

(You may notice a change in the episode countdown. Due to a miscalculation, the numbering has been corrected to reflect the accurate episode order. Sorry for any confusion!)

Transcript

The Project Salt Run podcast is supported by 1% for the planet.
Our planet gives us everything we believe in giving back.
That's why we work with 1% for the planet to help support businesses and individuals committed to donating 1% of their revenue to environmental causes.
Join the movement and make a difference.
Learn more at 1%fortheplanet.org.
We also use and are supported by GiveStar, the fundraising platform of choice for charity runners.
With just a few clicks, you can create a page supporting up to four different charities, take tap to pay contactless donations, track your progress, and share your stories with friends, all on a simple to use free app. So download GiveStar today to make your fundraising count.
Now without any further delay, you're listening to the Project Salt Run podcast.
[Music]
Welcome to another wonderful episode of Project Salt Run.
That's just probably a little bit too over the top, but...
Yeah, wake up guys.
The podcast has started.
[Laughter]
Oh, but yeah, we really want to talk to you guys today about finances, especially with big projects like this.
Finances are so important, and I mean, they make everything run. They wouldn't happen without them, but it is a touchy subject.
It's one of my favorite sayings is money makes people weird, especially when you get into big groups. And you know, it's just one of those. It doesn't matter who you are, but as humans, we get weird when we see the cash. And we need the cash for, you know, getting all kinds of things done. So basically, we want to give you guys a deep dive into finances and how we're attempting to do this. So Hannah, how are we going to do that?
So we're doing this podcast also because I did a video the other day, and I got quite a lot for private messages about it. So I said the other day, I think it was a couple of weeks ago from when this podcast will go out. And I was saying like the three things I most commonly get asked.
Now, Joel, I don't actually know if you've seen this reel.
So can you have a guess?
Yes, yeah, no, I saw.
You have?
Yeah.
Go on then. Okay, we'll prove it. Well, can you remember?
The top was, oh, now you're really grilling me on it.
Yeah.
Oh, jeez. I look vaguely, you know, when you're doom scrolling, that's not fair, man.
It's a basic question.
Well, one of the main ones was, you know, how are you funding it? Right?
Yeah. Well done. Yeah. So the first one was, are you crazy?
Obvious answer. Yeah.
Obviously.
Yes.
Obviously. And the second one was asking me about if like, how long have I been running? You know, have I done any challenges like this before? But yeah, then the third most common one then when people really get into it is how you're paying for it. Like, how are you making it happen? Because, you know, we've already introduced you to another two members of the team. So you know, there's four of us, there's actually about six, probably eight, I reckon we've kind of, there's a few other people on the sidelines, isn't there, Joel?
Yeah.
And there's quite a few of us involved in the project already. And yeah, we all need to pay.
Things need to be paid for. People don't just do stuff for free and can't just do stuff for free.
So I thought it would be quite good to talk about it, because that's always frustrated me, actually, in the world of adventure travel. You know, that's how we met, Joel. It's like, no one really does talk about the money, do they?
No, the people that you've heard about the most, like, usually they will tend to have had some kind of large backing, you know, that that usually is very much behind the scenes, you never see the hard work, you know, that goes in behind so many different projects. And then that includes the, you know, the money aspect of things. Sometimes they do, people do start off from scratch, you know, with absolutely nothing, and then they build stuff on.
I feel like most of the time they usually tend to have some kind of a budget starting.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, did you do you know, I mean, I don't know if these stats are still the same, but did you know how much it costs just to get to Everest? Just to
Oh, my God. Yeah, it's like, isn't it like, like 300,000 just to like get started and usually ends up about a million or something like that.
Yeah, something like 60, 60 grand for the permit or something. Okay. Like, you're talking like huge figures here.
And in my head, like, have you seen that? Have you seen that like viral photo of just all the people queuing up?
Oh, yeah, on the top of Everest, yeah, the huge line to get to the top.
That's like, I don't get that at all.
Like, I just don't get it.
Like, spending 10s of 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of pounds to do something other people have probably done better. And they're literally lining up to run a train. Yeah. But you know, I don't know at the same time. I'm not a climber. Yeah, but what I think at the same time, though, I think Everest is such a different monster in the sense that you know, it's like, it's an achievement for people, you know, they it's the goal they go. And now there's those people who do that. And then I go is, but is the achievement that you've managed to get a load of money? Like, what's the achievement? Like, do you know what I mean? Like, what, like, physically, it's a really big achievement. But it's like, one of the it's, it's a lot of money to do.
Yeah, I don't know. It's tough. For me personally, I'm kind of like, okay, K2, something like that. That's like crazy.
That's wild. That's like the ultimate climber. Basically, if you're planning to climb Everest, don't invite me into well, because we ain't interested. It's boring. Just give me the money that you would have spent on my place to me. And I'll go on a nice holiday.
That being said, if somebody wants to sponsor me to do Everest, like I will totally sell out and I would absolutely do 100%. If somebody is like fully funding the whole thing, like totally. I mean, who am I to judge? I mean, you're literally listening to a podcast of someone who's wanting to run a course where a hedge used to be in India.
And now we're actually and now we're actually talking about how we're going to raise the money to do that. So let's, but so okay, so when tackling this, what's what's your first protocol?
So the difficulty about a project like this is you don't really know how much it's going to cost.
So I always knew it was going to cost a lot of money because we're going to be out there for such a long time. So it's it's initially, it's the flights. And for you sustainability people have a go as about the flights, we've looked at how much it would cost to go by train. And it's about 15,000 pounds each, which is mad. And we figured that one flight in in 2025 and one flight out in 2026 for the greater good. It's called climate shadow. It's a reason we're fine. Anyway, so there's the flights to get into the country. There's obviously transport on the ground, it's food for all of us accommodation for all of us. Beyond that, you're looking at visas, you're looking at equipment. There's a lot to do. There's a lot to pay for. And this money doesn't come from nowhere, like, but you and I have got a bit of experience in starting off trips with not a lot of money. For those of you that don't know, do I tell the audience a little bit about global convoy and your first kind of big adventure that you did, I guess?
Yeah, so in a nutshell, basically, we I met my now partners in the global convoy through a big team venture to try and drive a 75 pound car around the world, which we did. And it was amazing. And we had a really incredible time. And we were like, yeah, boy, we really need to keep doing this. But obviously, the finances on that end were quite difficult. But we were really lucky that we had a little niche of, you know, we kind of discovered that English cars are the cheapest cars in the world. So we just decided, okay, we'll just buy these banger cars that people don't want anymore. And we'll just drive to these weird, wonderful places. And basically, we just self funded it, what we call it community funding, you know, which basically was just we would come up with a concept for an idea. And we would, you know, put that concept out there and give a general gist of how much we think it was going to cost. And at the time, especially at the beginning, I mean, we were doing it like as dirtbag style as we possibly could. So we were just like, this is us sleeping outside, this is us sleeping in the cars, you know, bumming it like really hardcore. And that picked up with a lot of people. And we just did trip up, trip up, trip, and then it finished with our most recent trip where we drove a school bus across the US and did the entirety of the Pan American from Alaska to Argentina.

And yeah, so the funding improved. Yeah, did you did you did you have sponsors for any of those for the first one that you did the 75 pound car?
Was that just like money you'd saved from your job? And then you went traveling with some money, like you saved and then that whole trip? That was you just spending your savings?
Yeah, pretty much for the most part, pretty much everybody involved. I we definitely had sponsors, but they were mostly not like monetary. We had sponsors who donated to charity for us. We had a company called Mapplin, which some people might know that's gone out of business now, probably thanks to us. They gave us two drones. Yeah, we had we had a couple of car part companies that helped us out for parts and things like that. But yeah, none of it was monetary. It was all like all the fuel, like all the repairs. It was just from your job, basically money you'd saved.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for me personally, it was I just happened to be going on this big backpacking trip. I was expecting to be out gone for a year. So I had done a lot of the seasonal work beforehand and I saved about 10,000, $10,000. And so I was planning on living off of that for a full year.
And then I drove a 75 pound car around the world and got weird. But um, but yeah, and then everybody else that was involved as well, they had all, you know, basically, you know, been working and saved up or because I mean, this trip was about a year in the planning. Yeah, for it. So people were saving up actually, one of the main guys who got me involved in it, Andre, he's a Portuguese guy, he had been when I met him in Amsterdam. And he told me about the trip, he was specifically in Amsterdam saving up money for that trip. So it was all again, community funded. Yeah, I mean, I had the same. So all of my trips I've ever done have been community funded, like just me saving money for my job. The trip I did just before I met you when I went from the UK to Bhutan overland, I spent about a year saving then. So I was working seven days a week, basically, I had had kind of two jobs. So I had a, I used to work at creative agency as a freelancer in that kind of events. And then at the week, and then I also had a shop in Affleck's, it's just if you're from Manchester, you're you're no Affleck's, it's kind of a city centre, kind of market building with loads of different like independent stores in and I had a shop in there with my friend. And so at the weekends, I would work in the shop and then on Sundays, when Affleck's was closed, we would take a stool out to the Manchester markets. So yeah, I basically had maybe like 18 months of just working all the time and saving. And also bearing in mind, then rent was cheaper. So I was able to save a lot more like over my income. And I don't, again, as we all know, don't have any kids. So I you know, so you know, didn't have a walk. So I kind of just, you know, I was able to, well, you know what it's like when you've just got no money and you're basically eating like rice with like curry powder on.
Just ramen every other day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I managed to save up I think around 15,000 pounds for that trip. Which all got spent. But I didn't I kind of was maybe similar. It was probably that's why we get on with the same vibe. I think when I left the UK, I think me and my ex partner would like plan the ferry, we've kind of got all our jabs. We've got the first couple of nights sorted in Amsterdam. And we had our Russian visas sorted because that was like one of the difficult ones we needed to figure out like the trans Iberian part of the trip.
And I feel you on that one, because I had to do that myself. And that was that was how much did you spend to get your Russian visa just out of curiosity?
Oh, God, I don't have no idea now.
Yeah. I have no idea. I was quite lucky because like, my ex was a bit like Dan, like super planner.
Okay. Whereas I will just kind of like, you know, figure it out as I go. Yeah. And he was like, no, we have to get this one before we go. And there was another visa that actually we had to get, which I think it was Chinese visa that you have. It's like you, you know, when you have to get them, like three months before you go into the country, but we weren't going to be in the UK.
Yeah, and they want to know where you're going to stay.
You have to be. Yeah, you have to be in the UK to get it. That you don't have.
Yeah, yeah. So I think we will. I think he was like, Oh, we're going to have to fly back, like go back to the UK to get the visa and kind of go back on the trip. Luckily, we didn't have to, but we ended up having to go to like some, I'm going off on a random tangent now. I remember we had to, we were in like Finland or Latvia or somewhere, and we had to go to like the Chinese ambassador's house or the Chinese embassy. And it was literally like in a residential street, like literally like turning up at like your auntie and uncle's house. And we like waited in the reception, which was just like his lounge. It was mad. But yeah, anyway, we got through. But yeah, that trip again was, as you say, community funding, mine was self funded to this trip.
It can't be those things because of because of what we're trying to do. And I think the main reason for that is because we're trying to raise a million pounds for 1% for the planet.
And there's got to be some, it can't just be a bunch of mates who've all saved up some money to do this trip, because it's also a massive logistical, you know, nightmare. It's work.
It's kind of like a work thing. Whereas my adventures and your adventures in the past, I'd probably say they were just kind of pure fun.
Yeah, yeah. Well, more to see if we can do it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But yeah, so with this, basically, you're saying there's two different aspects to it, right? There's the raising the funds for 1% for the planet and like, I guess, more the do-gooding aspect. And then there's the actual function of, you know, how to do it for the operations, right?
Yeah, so we've, I think I mentioned me and Dan have been working on this pitch deck. And we're basically saying to people, there's like three ways in which you can support us. One, fund the expedition to donate to 1% for the planet. And three, amplify the message of Project Sort One. So should we get into the funding bit first?
Yeah, and then we'll get into Yeah, cool.
So I would say we've done a basic budget haven't we for the trip based on your knowledge, my knowledge, Dan's knowledge, Becca's knowledge of us all doing long multi-day trips, which is great, actually, because we've all got those kind of idea of what that costs, which is always way more than you expect it to be actually on a daily basis. So we've got kind of a ballpark figure, but it's like, it's a six figure budget we're looking at here, which is the biggest budget. I think any of us have ever worked with.
Yeah, definitely. Definitely from a work from a like adventure travel and budget. But the reason for that is because we're looking at a budget for six, seven people to do a thing. And we're very, we were very specific about what we're trying to do on that particular trip. And there is just a non-negotiable of us having to be able to hire a car, get everybody's visas, feed everybody to a decent level every day.
Make sure you don't die along the way. That's the main sure what
Yeah, exactly. Right. And that's why I think, you know, actually, the kind of, at this point, eight months out, the easy thing feels like the running and the training, because I know I can go out and do that. Because I'm not kind of trying to hit a time or speed. The difficult bit now is paying, almost like paying for us to be able to do it long term.
So one of the things Dan is doing is trying to reach out to businesses to help fund the actual expedition part of the trip. And so that they can see the value in giving us money now, on a trip that won't happen unless we raise a certain amount of money. But we're spending money already, because Dan quit his job to work on the project, and is now working two days a week for the Better Business Network and the other three days on Project Sort One. But better not stop. So it might sound a bit confusing, also a bit like dodgy. But like, basically, I run two businesses, one called Better Not Stop, which is a sustainable impact agency, and one called the Better Business Network, which is a membership organization businesses can join to.
Anyway, I'm not this is not not an advert, but I run two businesses.
No, but you get to clarify so that they know what.
Yeah. And they are both and it's both owned by like an umbrella company called Impact Collective, but they kind of want one together, basically. And so better not we're basically funding Dan's position, essentially for Project Sort One, the first few months, hoping that he'll start to be able to get the money in from other businesses, because better not stop. And the Better Business Network have always been businesses that are like, in that kind of growth scale state, they've never really made a huge amount of money as companies.
And I guess it's actually feels a bit stupid, right? Because now we've come out of COVID. I've actually worked out the business models, and they're starting to make money. I've decided to take four months off work to run across India. So I don't know really what that says about me. But you know, but that's another, that's another like thing that you really have to like financially, you have to look forward, or not forward to, but you have to look, you have to prepare for right? Because like you can't, these can't just run on their own, like somebody's gonna have to be running these while while we're out gone.
Yeah. Yeah. So we've got so yeah, there's so many elements to it, which is, how do you run a business that you know, you're going to be walking away from in eight months? How do you make the team feel secure and happy and have a good culture? What are we putting in place so that businesses can still run while I'm while I'm running? Yeah, I won't need to really touch. So how do they become sustainable businesses, I guess. But also with the knowledge that we need to be investing time and resources into Project Sort Run now, before it reaches that tipping point where it starts to look after itself as well. So from the running point of view, that's how we're kind of doing is kind of like the seed money, I guess you would say, is better not stop covering the first few, few that not not even 10,000, I don't think the business could even sustain that. But the first like few thousand pounds in, you know, wages for everybody to work on the project for a couple of months, just to kind of get that beginning bit going. So that's how we're funding it currently. And that is quite stressful as kind of the person navigating that for everybody, because I'm, you know, I'm just constantly thinking about cash flow, business development, you know, are we have we got the best processes and stuff in place now? In place? So yeah, that's, that's, that's a big challenge that we're, we're experiencing at the moment. So for Project Salt Run within itself, what's let's, let's do like a gold, you know, silver bronze type setup, like as far as like the funding wise goes, what what do you what would be your your gold, silver bronze, like benchmarks that you would want to hit?
So I think realistically, it's going to cost about 250,000 pounds for this to work. Okay.
I think that's making sure that everybody who's working on it is paid fairly. It's making sure that we're doing things in the safest possible way. It's ensuring that we've got things like, you know, decent travel, you know, like a van to travel in. The team are able to sleep in hotels, or you know, even like, you know, two star accommodation on the road while we're traveling, able to have a few days off, because we've, we've got enough, a big enough team so that people can, aren't going to be expected to work every single day for like the 100, 100 plus days of the challenge.
Yeah, and the amount, you know, it's just, you're not paying for those 100 days, you're paying for also the eight months of work leading up well, and, you know, some of us, we've been working together since what, November?
Yeah, it's pay, it's people's time to do it. And we're not saying like everyone here is on like, you know, 600 pound day rate job, no one's actually working like that in the team at all. I think everyone's actually working very much under the average, you know, wage you would get for this sort of freelance stuff, because they believe in the mission and they're putting, yeah, everyone's kind of putting their skin in the game as well. But there's just like non-negotiable things that are going to cost a lot of money that we're going to do. And I think realistically, we might, we'll be able to do it for cheaper.
But would we have, would it be more stressful? Yes. Would it be more difficult for everybody on the road to be constantly thinking about this like cash flow situation, if you know, it'd be great to go into it, you know, that in October, knowing we've got enough money to complete the entire expedition till the end. Yeah. I don't know if we'll be there. It's almost like, I think Dan would go into it with do we have enough money to do it for the first month, and then keep going. So the big expenses at the moment are kind of staff wages, and then the bigger expenses are going to start to come in in the next few months when we're talking about visas, flights, things like that.
Okay, so then hard question for you. What will be, what would be the limit? What is it that would make you pull the plug? Or what's the bare minimum that you think you would would be needed to to have a go?
Yeah, okay. Good question.
So I don't think that beyond April, I can afford to keep funding it through my business. It's just, I just financially, there's just the money isn't there to fund it. So if we've made no income from potential funders for the for the expedition, by April, we're going to have to start having some difficult conversations in the team, which is eight weeks away. So I'm kind of feeling fine about that, because I think there's people already interested in the project. But just from a cash flow perspective, if we don't have any cash flow into the project in the next two months, we just can't afford to keep doing it. Well, I said I can't afford to keep funding it through the business.
And we need the amount of time people are spending on the project now for the project to work if we're going out in eight months. So it's chicken and egg. But I think that's, you know, achievable.
No, absolutely. But but I just wanted to clarify it, like, so you've never I mean, you've done a lot of different stuff with funding, you've, you've, you've worked, you know, events, you've done, you know, you've, you've owned two of your own businesses, I know you've had more business before, like, but this kind of funding is different, right? I have you ever done anything to this kind of level before?
No, so I won. So my two businesses, so better not stop is like a B2B business. So it's like professional services, sustainability strategy, B Corp certification, materiality assessments, things like that. So usually, they're very package based projects you're doing for clients, who can see the value of what you're going to provide for them or their ongoing retainer work for clients helping them with their sustainability and their businesses. So the fees and the expectations for that are very clear. With the better business network, it's a subscription based model, essentially. So people are paying an annual or quarterly subscription to join the organization. And they only keep paying it if they still think they're finding value out of it. So again, that's very much around ensuring we're continuing to create value for our members. And that's why they want to stay within the network. It's called like attrition rate retention, making sure it's easier to keep somebody in than to try and keep finding new customers.
In the network, we've got the better business summit, which we do get sponsorship for.
But we're talking about tens of thousands of pounds for the sponsorship for the summit. We're not talking about a quarter of a million pounds, which I think, you know, if we're looking at, if you're imagining it like, you know, those thermometers when people are like trying to do like church roofs and stuff, and it's like the money going up.
It's like that. I mean, that's middle school. Yeah. So it's like, I've not done this type of thing before, but I mean, I've also, you know, I've never run across India before. I've never, you know, there's also things I've never done before. That doesn't mean we can't do them.
Yeah. And I like to think collectively as a team, we have enough experience. I think we'll find out.
Well, yeah, exactly. I mean, you're listening to the podcast, like even this, you know, it's costing money to do, but, you know, we see the value in sharing the story. I think what we are now, so this is episode four, we've got like 36 weeks ago, which feels like nothing when you say it.
But when I also think about how my life has changed in the last two years, I think, actually, I think, you know, we can make some big changes here. It's like we've all come together at the right time, like you said, to build something really cool. Yeah. That was the ethic. What do you think?
Oh, man. Like, well, I don't know. I genuinely, I think so. That's always the thing that has me on the edge of my seat is like finances, because like, especially when we're doing convoys, we always have the battle plan and then we go through it. But the biggest thing with like our trips that we run is we always put in loads of linchpins. So basically, if we don't have this, if we don't have this all squared away, or we don't have this amount of funding, or we don't have this amount of like people involved to make it financially viable, then, you know, we have like a specific date. And if we don't have it on that date, then we usually just like, okay, well, you know, we tried. Granted, I think we've only ever really done that once, where like we were planning something and we just didn't hit the benchmark and we had to pull it. So in almost a decade worth of doing, you know, a decade and 11 different expeditions, like, I think that's pretty good ratio. But it doesn't mean I'm any less scared shitless about it, you know?
Yeah, but I also think when you've, when you failed a lot of things, you kind of get less worried about failing at stuff. Yeah, you know, you get a little more ballsy about it of like, okay, well, let's let's try. I don't know that I guess it's one of the reasons why the linchpins to me are so important whenever we would do these kinds of things, because that gives you that, you know, it's like the, you know, it's the parachute, it's, it's okay, do we, you know, what it's making sure you don't go too far beyond recovery.
And then also forces you to be happy with the sacrifices that you are making, you know, there's a lot of stuff. I mean, there's been a lot of things that like financially, we've kind of lost, you know, because you know, we, we, you know, it just didn't work out. But we were going into that knowing that that was a possibility, you know, and then also we didn't totally and completely financially do myself, which I really hope that's not going to be the case for this.
No, it's just why I said April, right? Because I'm like, you know, April feels like a realistic, like point. But you know, I am, I am constantly like thinking about that. Because for the first few years of the better business network, it was making no money. And we were still investing into infrastructure, staff, people, services, to keep up and retain our members, but it was losing money every single month. And I remember thinking, well, you know, I should stop doing it then. But then I could see the value people were getting out of the network.
And when James came on board two years ago, we can afford to pay him to be a full time community manager. But we did because we knew we I knew I needed to invest in it. So the, you know, in inverted commas, profit from better not stop, was just kind of holding the network into place. And now it's got into this nice position where the network is starting to make money. We've got this app, it's like amazing, there's like hundreds of businesses in it, there's like 1000s of employees, it's starting to, but like that wouldn't have happened overnight. And unlike, unlike a lot of businesses who get, you know, funding, you know, as a female business owner, that's so hard. So I have had to bootstrap the whole time. So all of that is being it's kind of bringing together all of that for Project Salt Run for this for me in my head saying by April, I think that's that's really when if if this hasn't sprouted, maybe not legs, but like ill, what do tadpoles have before legs like little fins?
Little fins? Yeah, that is a good question. I don't even know. Yeah, they're little flappers.
You know, I mean, like the big tail.
You know, it's kind of like, a sprout sapling scene, something nature related, you know, what is the little knobs. And I think we're starting to get that already with the project, you know, I don't know if you know, I'm an influencer now I've got over 500 Instagram followers. Yeah, yeah. And 100 downloads. I know stop showing off. So anyway, there's the answer. There's a lot I feel like we've talked enough about the money part, as in how to fund it, because I want to talk a little bit about how we're trying to raise the money as well.
In this episode, do you think we've got time? What do you think we should go more into this? And should we delve more into this and then talk about one cent for the planet another episode?
What do you think, Joel?
Yeah, I think I think if I would say, let's talk about let's talk about that. And then we can do a brief thing on 1% for the planet.
But I really want to do that interview with Kate. Yes, with Kate the CEO. And I'm hoping that will be the big 1% episode. So, but yeah, let's let's go into that side of it.
So, when we this is how we need to speak positively, when we raise the money that we need to go on this trip, blind optimism, everybody, this is the most important thing that you need. I think I'm confident we're going to raise by April enough to keep going. And then I'm also confident that by the time we leave, we will have enough money for at least the first month. I'd love it to be more than that. But I'm confident we can at least hit those two milestones, which means the trip's going to happen. Yeah.
So the other part of the trip is it's the donations, it's the ongoing commitment for businesses to give money to 1% for the planet. But not only that, it's the amplification of the story of why we're doing the run, and how many people we can get that out to, which are really the key bits. But not only that, it's the amplification of the story of why we're doing the run, and how many people we can get that out to, which are really the key bits. And I guess that's going back to investing in this period. This is the investment piece for us. It's the investing the money, investing the time, investing the resources for the next eight, just under eight months for seeing what we create, hopefully raising a huge amount of money for charity, but also getting more and more people excited and interested in the stories that we're trying to tell.Well, because there's also the massive... Well, to me, I think one of the things that I love the most is the historical aspect of it, and bringing back this line that was basically forgotten, this big piece of colonial history that's basically been forgotten. So I think that brings a lot of opportunities. But with that, what are you hoping is the best way that we'll be able to get that kind of funding?So we're really lucky to be working with GiveStar. So when I was looking at fundraising, and one of the reasons I wanted to fundraise was because while this was always a bit of a personal mission for me to want to traverse the inland customs line, I thought it presented me such a good opportunity now. I work in sustainability and environmental impact too. Like you were saying, kind of shout about what we can all do to make the world a better place.And as an individual, well, it's not really, there's so many of us involved, but from a personal point of view, I was like, this is something I could really dedicate myself to for the next year, year and a half. So 1% for the planet was a complete no brainer for me as the charity of choice, because I've been working with them for years. I love their ethos and the idea around how we need to look after the planet. And also it takes, for me, a little bit of that pressure off that sometimes we feel as individuals, what we need to be doing, and kind of placing that pressure onto the actual organizations that are creating some of the problems that we're experiencing. So obviously, I love 1% for them. I've had a relationship with them for years, but you're just introduced to them, aren't you, Joel? So you came to like, we had like a training call, didn't we, on Friday? So I don't know if you want to talk about that a little bit.Yeah, it was really important for me to get to understand. I honestly didn't realise that they were an American based organisation, which was huge. As soon as I heard two fellow Americans pop up, my ears perked up. I thought that was great. But like, just how global they are, I think was something that was really, really unique. Because it's something that will work so well with exactly what it is that we're trying to do. And yeah, no, it's such a unique concept. It's so cool to, I think I mentioned this to you the other day, we were at our friend's house and they offered us some coffee. I reached in the cupboard and pulled out the bag of coffee and had the 1% on the bag, the logo. And yeah, so to see that it's already something I've never heard about before, but actually is already everywhere and just kind of spreading around, as far as getting big businesses to commit to helping out. Money. Money, money, money.So yeah, I think we're talking about this in that annoying way. People talk about stuff, assuming everybody knows what we're talking about. Like when I talk about the hedge with people, I'm like, what are you not obsessed with this hedge to?So full context, everybody who has not heard of 1% for the planet, essentially, it's a charity that exists, a non-profit organisation that exists essentially, to tell us and to remind businesses that we need to really be thinking about how we're affecting the planet and people with the work that we do. And it's a really, really simple idea. It's simply giving 1% of your revenue. So that's not your profit because who defines what your profit is in business can be kind of interchangeable. It's 1% of your revenue as a business is donated to high impact non-profits. So those can be social or environmental charities. They can be in your country of origin. They can be all around the world. So they vet all their environmental partners. And it's a really simple platform. You sign up to 1% as a business, you pay a licence to use their logo on your products or services or on your website. And then every year, you send them your company accounts and you show that you've given 1% of your revenue. You see, look, even I'm messing up and I know what it is. 1% of your revenue to high impact non-profits. So it's a really, really simple concept. Any business of any industry or sector can sign up to it. And we're trying to raise a million pounds for them.Yeah. And it's important for, well, I think it's just important for any company to be a part of this kind of thing and more. Because they said it the best when we were talking with them was, you know, any company that takes resources from the earth needs to be able to give something back. And I feel like that's the perfect, they've got the perfect setup for doing it.Yeah, exactly. I mean, you've just explained what I just banged on about for five minutes.No, you need the finer points. But yeah, so we are, so kind of what we're trying to do is there are GiveStar page. So 1% for the planet has been set up as a on the charity function on GiveStar. So GiveStar we've used for two reasons. One, you can kind of only fundraise on their platform for charities or non-profits. So 1% for the planet got set up, had to show all these documents and stuff to give to show what they were about and what they were doing. And then GiveStar, I chose also because they were the platform that the Hardest Geezer used when he was doing his run across Africa. So I was like, they did such a good job promoting his trip and getting the word out about what he was doing that I thought it would be the perfect platform for us to put our Project Sort One fundraising on.Yeah. And he was one of those that like he started off, I mean, they had some backing, but not a lot. I don't think it sounded like and then eventually they just kind of picked it up as the trip went, right?Yeah, I think so. So I think he, it sounds, you know, in the diving that I've done on Ross's trip where he ran the length of Africa is it was him and some friends. So it's kind of similar vibes to what we are. Sharing the story in the lead up to Project Africa, as he was calling it at the time. And yeah, I think when they left, they definitely didn't have enough money to do the trip. And say with their fundraising, it wasn't, they were fundraising before they went away, but it was really those last kind of few weeks of doing the trip, the fundraising and the money that they were making really ramped up. So that was interesting. Yeah. Awesome example that gives hope to people starting their own projects like us. Yes.I'm going to cut us off from there because for those listening, I've basically stolen Hannah away. She's at work right now. And I've stolen her from doing a project. So, but yeah, this has been this episode of Project Salt Run. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back next week.Yeah. If you want to get away, if you want to give us some money, get in touch. Please get in touch. We are for amazing for 1% of the planet. So if you're a business owner or working a business, you think could sign up to 1% get in touch. But also if you have got some money that you would like to give us to help us fund this trip, we can send you over all the, all the information on that too. And also how you can get involved. It'll be really great. And it'll all be in our bio for sure.Yes. Excellent. Well, thanks again, everybody for listening. My name is Joel Chevaillier. And I'm Hannah Cox. And this has been Project Salt Run. We'll talk to you next week. Bye. That's our show everybody, thank you so much for listening. We will be putting together a new episode every week until Hannah starts the run. Once again a big shout out and thank you to 1% for the planet and GiveStar for their amazing support, the Better Business Network, and of course Better Not Stop. Please make sure to check out all the links and everything we included in this conversation, as well as if you wanted to get involved in our bio. Make sure you follow along on our social media account, especially on Instagram, to keep up to date at Project Salt Run. The podcast is produced and recorded by myself, and until next time, safe travels.