April 2000

We have not yet seen estimates of total amount raised within India – but amounts have been considerable. The most visible form of public fundraising has been the fundraising appeals put out by the major newspapers. Examples of this are:
(In Crore)
Times of India Rs 10.7 (till March 17^th) includes Rs1.5 crore from Bangalore
The Hindu Rs 2.5 (till March 31)
Deccan Herald Rs 1.3 (including the Kannada daily Praja Vani)
India Today Rs 2.7 (till March 19)
Total Rs 17.2 (USD 3.7 million)

The Times of India will channelise its funds through their own Times Relief Fund. The focus would be on restructuring schools, hospitals etc. Their role will be as a monitoring and mediating agency with the voluntary organisations executing, with help from the Gujarat government. The Hindu and Deccan Herald and Praja Vani funds will go to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Contributions from the corporate sector have also been considerable. Hundreds of companies and their staff have donated. One notable donation has been the contribution of the 7,000 staff of WIPRO the Bangalore based computer company – who have donated Rs 1 crore (USD 217,000) to Oxfam India for support to voluntary organisations in Gujarat working with persons with disabilities. Another example is the 450 staff of Planetasia in Bangalore, who donated Rs 6.5 lakh to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

These examples illustrate an interesting development. Newspapers and companies are beginning to support voluntary organisations. In the past most collections went straight to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund. This brings us back to the need for the voluntary sector to be more coordinated at times of disaster – both in immediate practical response; and in public communication. Gujarat voluntary organisations have done well in programme coordination under very difficult circumstances; we who have been on the outside must develop a more coordinated approach to public communication.

• Bangladesh Fundraising Group (BFRG) has recently completed a very active year. During the year 1999-2000 membership built up to 170 organisations and through 12 workshops organised at district and regional levels 280 organisations discussed local fundraising. BFRG is planning to host this year's South Asian Fund Raising Workshop. Dates, probably in November, will shortly be announced.
  Email: prip@prip.org Attn: Z.I. Furook, BFRG
  Email of SAFRG: safrg@vsnl.com Attn: Capt. Rajeev Dua

This issue of Fundraising India features an interview with Ms Veera Rao of ALERT, Mumbai who has more than 26 years of experience in fundraising, mainly through conducting events. According to her, conducting an event is always a pleasurable challenge!. Whereas according to people like Alice Prema, fundraiser of Greenpeace India (previously with Oxfam India), who believes in Direct Mail fundraising, organising an event needs the involvement of lot of people and it is often risky.

There are a few useful tips if you are one of those like Veera Rao, who believes in the challenge of conducting events.

1. Events don’t JUST happen. You need to PLAN for resources - people and money. You need to SPEND MONEY in order to GET more money for your cause. It is a business-like activity, which involves planning, budgeting, organising, directing, control and evaluation.
2. Sponsorship is a must to cover fixed costs. This will reduce the risk factor. The opportunities created through meeting the corporate may pave the way to future sponsorships.
3. Besides money, events provide opportunity for building good public relations, finding supporters and free advertising. Any event will attract media attention. Include media personnel as your special invitees.
4. There should be one person (organising secretary) to plan and control the entire programme. S/he should hold the event together and delegate tasks to subcommittees or individuals. This person must monitor the process and progress every moment and make back up arrangements in case of last minute crisis.
5. From Veera Rao's experience, one point is very clear. Over a period of being active in this field, the fundraiser becomes a friend to many celebrities and this fosters a chain of good-will relationships. Future endorsements and sponsorships will only be a telephone call away.
6. The social psychology tells that people move with people of the same type, corporate executives move only with their flock. Many things happen because of this herd instinct. If one can't help you, s/he will recommend your cause to another and the chain goes endless (provided they believe in you and your cause).
7. It takes time to establish a name. Once you achieve this, often it is your personal credibility that plays a vital part. So a fundraiser is not only a representative of an organisation, s/he becomes an institution by personal virtue.
8. A good organiser must look into micro details. Assume that things can go wrong anywhere. Anticipate problems and make immediate decisions for alternative action.
9. Innovation helps in event management. Try doing something unusual, unexpected by the public - that will make news and entertainment. Maybe it is the unexpected appearance of a favourite film star or a competition or a charity auction.
10. In all the fun and entertainment, participants must not forget the cause. Even after the fire of excitement is over, they should carry the satisfaction of giving. Create a system to collect the contact addresses of people who have participated in the event. Follow-up with 'thank-you' letters and further communications

- Jacob Varghese

Veera is all the time coming up with ideas. Ideas are one thing - putting them into action quite another! We learnt from Veera that she starts executing a plan only when she is absolutely confident of its success in terms of expected income to the organisation.

Events Veera does most of her fundraising through events such as musical concerts, art exhibitions, celebrity dinners and charity film shows. Over the past several years she has developed valuable contacts with well-known personalities in the corporate, entertainment, sports and social fields. These celebrities respond to her invitations and endorse her programmes. She has gradually built a pool of donors and well-wishers around ALERT-India and its cause. The following are some of the events organised during 1999-2000.

Beauty and The Feast - a Celebrity Dinner was organised at the Taj Mahal hotel to raise funds. World-renowned designer Hemant Trivedi donated three outfits, which were successfully auctioned at the dinner. Popular singers Usha Uthup, Sunita Rao, Nirmal Pandey and Rahul D’Mello delighted the audience with their live performances. The patrons requested for their favorite numbers to be sung and promised donation to ALERT for this!. Several celebrities from the film, fashion and music industry and the corporate sector attended the function. During the evening the opportunity arose to auction a special Cognac, donated for the purpose, in a designer crystal bottle. This unplanned idea raised an additional Rs50,000. A sumptuous dinner followed. The Taj gave a grand discount in its bill and gave extraordinary service. Tickets to Beauty and The Feast were priced at Rs3,000 per head. Total amount collected from this event was Rs24 lakh and expenses were around Rs3 lakh. There was tremendous media coverage given to the event and to ALERT’s work.

A musical concert by popular singer – Sonu Nigam This was a very successful fundraising event conducted recently at the Race Course lawns. Besides raising Rs25 lakh, a lot of corporate support and publicity was generated for ALERT-India. The exclusive venue was given free of cost (rent for such a programme is normally Rs1 lakh) and the Sonu Nigam charged half his fee! . Tickets were priced at Rs3,000; Rs1,000; Rs500 and Rs100 (in grand stands). Since it was an open air venue banner space was sold at Rs10,000 per banner. A caterer gave beverages against a sizeable discount.

Photographic Exhibition A very committed friend and donor who heads a top advertising agency held a photographic exhibition in aid of ALERT-India. His travel photographs were enlarged into big and small frames – sold at Rs5,000; Rs11,000; Rs15,000; Rs25,000 and Rs50,000. Thanks to Mazda Co. and Kodak we got this done free of charge. This event netted Rs6 lakh. The friend-donor took care of every expense. The exhibition was held in a prestigious hall and VIPs from the Government, business houses and film industry visited and also bought the exhibits. Besides publicity, this event gained several committed volunteers for ALERT's work. The work of ALERT received endorsement in the Health Ministry and other Government officials since the Chief Minister and other officials came to the Exhibition.

School fundraising is another strategy which Veera adopts to raise funds. ALERT conducts album talks, exhibition, slide shows and also free medical checkups in schools. Even the rigid school authorities in Mumbai have changed their attitude after they heard Veera and her team presenting the issues to the children. Over Rs25 lakh is raised through school children each year.

It is said that… 'Fundraising is all about luck. The harder you work, the luckier you get!.' Sincere and persistent hard work carried out with honesty and transparency always get the desired success.'

To illustrate, Veera shared this story. 'A school we had been approaching for collections for four years with no luck called us recently to conduct the Leprosy Education Program. They still maintained that they were unwilling to collect funds. We shared our work with them, arranging a slide show on leprosy for the students. A lot of enthusiasm was generated at this program. In the end I took a chance once again and ventured to ask the Principal… 'Do you think you could reconsider our request and let at least a handful of students collect money on our donor cards? We would be delighted if your school is represented in our Fundraising drive.' 'OK,' said the Principal, 'but only those who volunteer may participate.' The collection brought in a whopping Rs2.5 lakh. Persistence did the trick!'

‘Funds are the backbone of any organisation. Fundraising has to be a continuing process. It can not be done in sporadic bursts, undertaken only when money is urgently required,’ says Veera.

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