By 1st Year Editor Felix Mordaunt.
DCU’s largest annual fundraiser, the Quest, is due to take place this week between the 5th and 8th of March. Organised and hosted by the Enterprise Society (ESOC), the Quest is an international charity race between ten teams of three students.
Last year, the Quest raised over €10,500 for Aware Ireland, and this year the Enterprise Society hopes to surpass that figure.
The teams start in DCU, and must travel to and complete mandatory challenges in three mainland European cities, before travelling to the final destination of this year’s Quest: Prague.
The team that reaches the finish line in Prague first will take home a cash prize of €600.
The main attraction of the Quest is not only that those competing have no idea what cities they’re travelling to, but they need to travel without using any of their own money.
Isabella Gordon, the chair of the ESOC, explained how these rules are enforced.
“They [the cities] only get revealed the morning of the Quest… myself and my vice-chair know, and nobody else is able to find out,” Gordon said.
“We make sure that their [the contestants’] Revoluts are empty, that’s the main one, and we ask them to disable their bank accounts. Now, we ask them to keep their bank cards in a sealed envelope until they either forfeit or win the Quest.
“If they ever run into trouble they have immediate access to their personal funds, or as soon as they decide, ‘we can’t finish the Quest’, that they’ll get their money straight away,” she added.
However, the contestants still need money to eat, sleep, and get from one place to another.
They can earn cash through three different ways; optional challenges, sponsorships, and donations. This funding is monitored closely by a team’s Mentor, a sort of admin who follows a team’s progress and makes sure they stay within the rules of the Quest.
As well as the two mandatory challenges a team must complete in each city, there are several optional challenges that give various cash prizes. This year, there are two challenges worth €25, three challenges worth €40, and one challenge worth €70.
The teams are given envelopes with these amounts of cash, and must send video proof to their Mentor that they have completed a challenge before they’re allowed to open them. If a team opens a cash envelope without having completed the corresponding challenge, they’re disqualified from the Quest.
Teams can additionally seek sponsorships from a wide range of sources, such as local businesses, or raffles held in aid of the Quest. The money gained from these sponsorships is used to transport teams between their various destinations. This money is stored in a Revolut pocket, which the Mentor allows the team access to on their request.
Finally, teams have fundraisers where they can take donations. These often take the form of Gofundme pages, where people donate to a team, and by extension, the Quest.
Any funds that a team has leftover after the Quest is finished are donated to Aware Ireland. Because of this, contestants are encouraged to spend only what they have to, in order to raise the most amount of money possible. In relation to this, Isabella Gordon spoke of her own experience when she competed in the Quest.
“When I did Quest in first-year, we had a happy meal for dinner and kept the apple slices for our breakfast the next morning. Spending as little as possible is part of the challenge, and because you don’t have access to your own personal funds, a lot of people will put up ‘send us five euro for a dare’, or that kind of thing, so they can afford that bit extra.”
The Quest, as well as raising thousands for Aware Ireland each year, is also a bonding experience for all those competing with each other.
Gordon said, “There’s such a sense of camaraderie and friendship on the Quest, and I mean everyone’s in the same boat and everyone’s suffering at the same time, but when you bump into another team, there’s a bit of competitiveness there.
Then when we all meet up at the final destination, you can kind of see that everyone’s in the same boat, and there’s a sense of friendship and a shared experience with it.”
Anyone who wishes to see the teams set off can come to DCU this Thursday. Donations can be made through the teams’ official fundraising accounts.
More details can be found on the official Enterprise Society Instagram page.
Image Credit: DCU Clubs & Socs