What is 30 Containers for 30 Years?
To mark our 30th anniversary, we’re inviting our long-standing partners to help fund 30 containers of humanitarian aid to 30 communities worldwide. Each container is packed with high-value, carefully matched goods that open doors to education, livelihood, and safety: each one can have an impact on thousands of lives.
Instead of throwing a party for ourselves to mark this milestone, we chose to use the moment to celebrate the people we serve, and it just makes strategic sense! By securing funds in advance, we can plan shipments more efficiently, ship more cost‑effectively, and reach further than if we raised for each container one‑by‑one. It costs around HK$60,000 to ship one container of aid (worth, on average, HK$540,000). Whether you’d like to raise money to sponsor a container, have our team speak to your organisation about the impact of a shipment, or simply chip in HK$50, we’d love for you to celebrate with us. Read on for more info.
Our campaign is hosted on Raisely, where your community can start teams and do peer‑to‑peer fundraising in a simple, user‑friendly way. Here are some easy ways to get started for
Schools:
- School-wide team: Launch a “[School Name] – 30 for 30” page; invite students, staff, and parents to join with individual targets, linking to service learning or CAS.
- Class/year challenges: Each class, house, or year group starts a sub-team (e.g., “Year 10 for HK$10K”) with friendly competitions or themed days.
- Parent/alumni champions: Engaged parents or alumni create teams to reach their networks.
- Tie in events like sports days, fairs, or casual-wear days, directing donations to your Raisely page.
- Engage families: Feature the campaign in newsletters, host Crossroads briefings for shipment stories, and share estimated impact (See also: What is the estimated impact of a container?)
Companies:
- Company-wide team: Set up a “[Company Name] – 30 for 30” page; invite staff, leadership, and clients to join, integrating with CSR/ESG programmes.
- Department challenges: Business units or teams form sub-teams (e.g., “Sales for HK$20K”) with leaderboards, dress-down days, or competitions.
- Leadership/client champions: Executives or partners launch teams tapping professional networks.
- Link to team offsites, client events, or casual Fridays, using your Raisely page for all gifts.
- Engage networks: Promote via intranet/newsletters, host Crossroads briefings on impact (with naming rights for full containers), share estimated impact (see “What is the estimated impact of a container?”).
- Activate matched giving to double donations.
60 donations of 1,000 HKD can fully sponsor one container – this might be a tangible goal your school community would like to aim for. But whatever your community is able to give, every contribution helps move a container across the line.
See “Do I have to fundraise for an entire container?” for more on setting a fundraising target.
As your community gets involved in “30 Containers for 30 Years”, we’d also like to invest back into your organization’s storytelling. We can offer:
- Social media and (where appropriate) website or newsletter recognition of your organisation’s involvement, celebrating staff/student/member initiative and impact.
- Guided site visits to Crossroads Village to see how shipments are prepared and to explore their impact.
- Longer‑term partnership, such as “adopting” a container or country/project, with follow‑up stories and photos where possible so students/staff can see the longer‑term difference their efforts make.
- For schools: Talks for your school (in-person or online), from age‑appropriate shipment stories to sessions linking global issues, the SDGs and your curriculum or CAS. These can take place during assembly, after school, or whenever makes sense for you.
- For corporates/community organisations: If you sponsor a container, we’d love to have your team on-site to load the container or join us for a photo when the container is packed and ready for shipment.
How many people does a container serve? We’re regularly asked this question, and the honest answer is: too many to calculate. A full container (HK$60,000) can:
- Equip three brand-new computer centres in Benin with 34 computers. 90 youth have since completed internships, 20 received employment, and over 11,700 users access technology monthly for school, research, and work. Read More.
- Help nearly 1,600 children and 2,500 youth/adults in The Gambia through school furniture, textiles, shoes, toys, laptops, bicycles, and household items—easing family pressures so kids stay in school. Read more.
- Provide wheelchairs, beds, bicycles, clothes and toys to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and people with disabilities in Zambia, restoring dignity and independence to families in need. Read more.
- Equip a vocational training centre in the Philippines with tools and equipment, enabling 150 youth to gain skills in carpentry, sewing, and mechanics for sustainable employment. Read more.
- Deliver medical supplies and beds to clinics in Ukraine serving 3,500 patients yearly, including support for elderly and displaced families. Read more.
When a container reaches a local partner, items like computers, school furniture, refrigerators, fabric and bedding become capital that communities use to start income‑generating activities, expand schools and care for vulnerable children. That means each dollar you raise is stretched through in‑kind donations, volunteer labour and partner expertise to change many more lives than it could on its own.
Find more of our shipment stories here.
We welcome donations of any amount. Getting a container out the door requires covering the costs of everything from packaging materials to fumigation. Every dollar counts.
We recommend estimating the size of your target audience and setting fundraising goals accordingly, whether it’s HK$500 or HK$50,000. You can also combine with teams from your organization or community to jointly sponsor a container!
Feel free to reach out to our team with any questions on setting fundraising targets.
This figure is a conservative estimate of the total cost to get the goods in a container from the source to a destination country. Costs per container include but are not limited to:
- Freight and international shipping
- Transporting donated goods to Crossroads’s warehouse
- Documentation and customs clearance
- Routine operations (site rent, utilities, volunteer support)
- And more!
This is an average – costs can fluctuate, for example, depending on a container’s destination. One common factor across shipments, though, is that having funds allocated ahead of time allows us to be much more cost effective. That’s where your support comes in.
Overall, each dollar you donate converts to about $9 worth of goods sent to an overseas community. Read more about how Crossroads multiplies the value of every donation here.
This fundraiser will run through summer 2026. If you’re interested in starting a team or holding a fundraiser with a later deadline, please drop us a line at generalenquiries@crossroads.org.hk !
Yes! Crossroads accepts donations via credit card or direct deposit, see How to Give for details. When filling out the donation form or making a transfer, please specify that you’d like the funds to go towards the 30 Containers for 30 Years campaign.
Crossroads aims to share stories, photos, or updates from shipments so you can see and share the impact with your supporters. See “How can Crossroads give back to you?” or send us a message at generalenquiries@crossroads.org.hk !
Yes! Donations over HK$100 from Hong Kong are tax-deductible regardless of platform.
Donations from outside Hong Kong must be made via the platforms below for tax deductibility:
UK: Tax deductible donations can be made through Crossroads Global Village (UK). Charity number 1153488. Donation information here.
US: Tax deductible donations can be made through Crossroads Global Village (US) Limited. Tax identification number EIN 46-5354749 under Section 501 (c)(3). Donation form here.
Australia: Tax deductible donations in Australia can be given through the Global Development Group. Information here.
Find more details here.
Quick guide to using Raisely
Raisely is the online platform that hosts your fundraising page, processes donations, and tracks your progress toward your goal. Each fundraiser or team gets a unique page link to share, with a live total and recent‑donor list. The platform handles online payments securely and passes funds to Crossroads, minus standard payment processing fees.
Any individual, school group, or company team that supports Crossroads’ mission can start a fundraiser. Simply click “Start a Fundraiser” on the campaign homepage and follow the prompts to create an account and page. Crossroads welcomes student‑led, teacher‑led, staff‑led, and mixed‑group teams under the same campaign umbrella.
After signing up, you can upload a profile photo or team image directly from your device. If you wish, you can edit the page text to explain why you’re fundraising for Crossroads and set your own target (e.g. a share of a container or a full container, see “Do I have to fundraise for an entire container?”). You can adjust your fundraising goal later if you realise you can raise more (or need to lower it).
Once your page is live, you can copy the URL and share it via WhatsApp, email, social media, school newsletters, or internal company channels.Supporters click your link, choose an amount, enter their details, and complete payment online. Your page total updates automatically. Raisely pages are mobile‑friendly, so donors can give quickly from their phones.
A school can create a main “school team” page, then set up class, house, or club pages underneath it. Student fundraisers can link their activities (e.g. runs, fairs, casual wear days) to their pages and invite family and friends to donate online. Teachers or coordinators can help younger students manage pages and communicate with parents.
See “How can I get involved?” for more ideas.
A company can create a branded team page and invite staff to set up their own pages under it. Businesses can choose to sponsor a full container or a portion and encourage staff to collectively reach that target.
Some companies may also offer matched‑giving, where they match donations raised by employees up to a set amount. This is available as a built-in feature on Raisely (How-to)!
See “How can I get involved?” for more ideas.
Donors can use major credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and local methods like Alipay (via Stripe). You’ll see all available options at checkout.
Raisely donations are accepted in 130+ currencies (incl. HKD, USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, CNY), and auto‑converted to HKD.
Please note that donations from outside Hong Kong must be made through other channels for tax deductibility, please see “Are donations tax-deductible?”.
Yes, offline gifts collected at events or via bank transfer can be added manually so your total reflects all your fundraising. Your campaign admin can log these amounts on your page dashboard as “offline donations.”
Donors who need receipts for offline donations can simply send proof of payment to accounts@crossroads.org.hk .
For campaign‑related questions (e.g. how your funds are used, how schools or companies can join), you can contact Crossroads directly at [email].
Contact support@raisely.com or visit https://support.raisely.com/ for technical issues with your page.
