May 2001

Editorial

Not the right move!

It's been reported that in the next Finance Bill a provision is being introduced requiring voluntary organisations to print their audited statement of accounts in a local newspaper; and to submit evidence of this along with annual returns to the Registrar of Societies and Trusts.

Editorial Not the right move!
Tutorial You too can write a catchy slogan!
Request From PROFILE 300 to PROFILE 500
Feedback From Annual Report Workshop Trainees
Next Issue Features

For further queries
email mcas@fundraising-india.org
Website www.fundraising-india.org

Given our interests in promoting the public accountability of organisations one might think that we would be in favour of such a move. In fact, we are not.

The main reason is that no generally accepted standard has been established for presenting voluntary sector accounts (Balance sheet and income-expenditure statement) in a summarised format. If this format would be established it would be possible to estimate the costs of publishing such a statement and then to judge at what income level an organisation would be obliged to make a pubic statement. At the moment there is fear going around the voluntary sector about the costs of publishing their accounts. So we would advocate holding up the proposed act amendment, until the standard for reporting had been clearly established.                           - MC

Do donors have rights?

Of course, they have and we won't be surprised to see during one of these days a voluntary organisation being questioned by a donor at a consumer court. It may be debatable as to whether a donor fits into the definition of a consumer. But definitely someone can challenge the actions of a registered body under the Societies or Trusts Acts. Always remember, Donor Right is a Human Right!

Whether we like it or not, many of us end up sooner or later copying or at least using some of the ideas that emerge out of America!

Read the Bill of Donor Rights reproduced below:

The following document was developed by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel (AAFRC), Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP); Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the National Society of Fundraising Executives (NSFRE). It was endorsed by the Independent Sector, the National Catholic Development Conference, National Committee on Planned Giving, National Council for Resource Development and the United Way of America.
Donor Bill of Rights

1. To be informed of the organisation's mission, of the way the organisation intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
   

2. To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organisation's governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.
   

3. To have access to the organisation's most recent financial statements

4. To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.
   

5. To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
   

6. To be assured that information about their donations is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
   

7. To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organisations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature
   

8. To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.
   

9. To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share
   

10. To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.
    

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You too can write a good catchy slogan!

'We believe in life before death' (Christian Aid)
'Enable the child to look beyond slums' (Deepalaya)
'Let's Build - A New World' (Service and Research Foundation of Asia on Family and Culture - SERFAC)

When we read these lines along with an organisation's logo, do we feel inspired to join hands with them?

At mcas workshops, we give an exercise to participants on writing short and effective slogans for their organisations. It is sometimes extremely difficult to put the essence of your work in 3-10 words. But if you get the right words, they can make a significant difference to your institutional image and your fundraising efforts. While going through some of the brochures and newsletters, we have noticed two categories of slogans, which voluntary organisations use. One is a statement on the core activity or belief (institutional slogans) and the other is specifically with a fundraising intent.

Institutional slogans
These are permanent in nature which should go along with logos. They decribe the activity of the organisation. Number of words should not exceed 7. To create an institutional slogan, answer a simple question: What are we doing? or What do we believe in?

Oasis India creates 'Opportunity, Hope and Dignity for the Underprivileged.' Sakti (Bangalore) does the task of 'integrating gender with development.' ActionAid 'Gives People Choices'; AfPiC (Action for People in Conflict) works on 'Building for all our futures.' The Bridge Foundation creates a link 'From Need to Opportunity.' Oxfam (GB) believes in 'Working for a Fairer World.' What about you?

Slogans like the above explain what the organisation does or believes in… the core foundation on which it is built. Many organisations confuse slogans with their mission statements. The latter, we believe, should be longer than slogans. A mission statement is the raison de'etre for your organisation, why it exists. - which must be reexamined and refreshed peiodicaly if an organisation is to remain dynamic. Venture for Fundraising, a training group in the Philippines states their mission as: 'Dedicated to assisting people and organisations raise the resources needed to achieve their missions.' Their slogan is 'Teaching the Joy of Giving'.

Fundraising slogans are strong and short statements that influence giving. Although the primary function of a fundraising slogan is to create interest, later, in conjunction with the other elements such as copy, headlines and captions, the message directs one to take a decision and action (give). Fundraising slogans generally call for direct action and so it contains a strong verb - if not a command but a suggestion or an active proposal.

Direct Action Slogans: eg. 'You CAN change the life of a deprived Indian Child' (CRY); 'Turn the Tide on River Blindness' (Sight Savers International); 'Share Life with the Dying' (ACCEPT); Remember those who cannot remember (Alzeimer's International).

During the search for fundraising slogans, we came across interesting variations of a statement, spoken by Mother Teresa. The original words are: 'We can do something beautiful in the lives of these people, if we work together'. World Vision India used this in 1995 rephrasing it to: 'Together, let us do something beautiful.' Later, Oxfam India created another variation: 'Together, we can overcome poverty'; ComChest, Singapore has given some life to it: Individually, We Can Make a Difference; Together, We Can Make Dreams Come True.' The Bodyshop Foundation made it very simple - 'You can make a difference.' Which one do you like the best? Or do you want to try a similar one? It may not be true that all these originated from Mother Teresa's statement, but they do have something in common.

Other effective fundraising slogans are: 'If We Can't Spare Some TIME, It's better to spend some MONEY' - Stree Adhar Kendra, Pune 'Universal Rights for All; You Can Help Make it Happen.' - Amnesty International; 'Give Them the TIME of Their Lives' The Fresh Air Fund.

You too can write a slogan

Method 1. Take a broad sheet of paper. Write your core activity in the middle. Use a dictionary or thesaurus and write synonyms of other activities that connects to the core activity word. Then try to link words with active verbs.

Method 2. Try to answer questions like: Why do we work for this cause?; What motivated us to start this organisation?; What is our request to fellow citizens?; Are we trying to solve a problem?; How does our activity affect the community we serve?

Tips:

Request from mcas
From PROFILE 300 to PROFILE 500

In 1998, (with support from Charities Aid Foundation, New Delhi and Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, Mumbai) mcas published PROFILE 300, a directory of selected organisations in India working in all the main sectors of voluntary organisation activity. The key objectives of PROFILE 300 were to facilitate:

mcas workshop feedback

"Now, I do see this as a fundraising tool"

mcas conducted a three-day workshop on Publishing Annual Reports from April 5 to 7, 2001. We had 19 participants from all over the country. their feedback comments are self-explanatory on the quality of the workshop.

I never viewed an annual report as a fundraising tool. Now, after this course, I do! The practical hands-on experience is what really makes the course stand out as the one that is different from just listening and having notes. The voluntary sector, especially the small NGOs could definitely benefit from this as the Annual report now seems an effective way to fundraise.
- Anita Kaniaiya, Oasis India, Bangalore

For us there was no system maintained in an Annual Report. But now we got the knowledge of preparing an Annual Report in a systematic way, which will build the credibility of our organisation. Actually this is a nice and ideological course one should know about so that it is easy to prepare an annual report qualitatively.
- Chandra Sekhar, Peoples Rural Education Movement, Orissa

The workshop has given innovative and informative way for preparing an Annual Report and also given the idea for fundraising. It is a good programme, which has given more innovative ideas for effective way of presenting an Annual Report.
- V Padmavati., CHAI, Secunderababad

Preparing a report can be an enjoyable experience when you understand the process and the underlined elements involved.
- Rochelle D'souza Yepthomi, YRG Care, Chennai

Training gave me many new insights. Your interest in the improvement of NGO Sector is well appreciated.
- Fr. Gregory Onamkulam, CHASS, Kerala

Training programme was lively. I hope you will continue the same programme in future as it is badly needed by most NGOs.
- Ravi Shankar, Cooperative Development Foundation, Hyderabad

The course was worth its money. Thanks for the expert advice from the faculty of mcas and Mahiti.
- C. Wesley, World Vision, Madurai

A special request: If you can organise a total package workshop of one-week duration on Fundraising, it will be very useful for us.
- Kuhu Das, Mobility India, Kolkata office

By giving us time to work on our reports within the workshop, your training became tailor-made to fit my needs - not the conventional 'listen-to-lectures, take-notes, and then, go-back-to-your-office-and-forget-about-it.'
- Bidisha Fouzdar, Action for Food Production, New Delhi

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NEXT ISSUE FEATURES

An interview with Usha Menon - Ace fundraiser, currently Director of Resource Development (Asia and the Pacific), Habitat for Humanity International based in Singapore

Fundraiser of the Future - Profile of bright young management graduates looking for a career in fundraising.

Introducing IndiaCares - a new organisation to encourage donations to voluntary organisations in India.

Compiled and edited by Jacob C. Varghese
Send all queries to mcas@fundraising-india.org This newsletter has a present circulation of 1,500. If you find the information useful to friends or any other organisations, please forward this newsletter to them.

mcas   314/1   ‘Vijay Kiran’   2^nd Floor   7^th Cross   Domlur Layout   Bangalore   560 071 India
Tel: 080-535 2003 email mcas@fundraising-india.org

MURRAY CULSHAW ADVISORY SERVICES – mcas (website: www.fundraising-india.org) based in Bangalore serves the voluntary sector, predominantly in India. We promote public fundraising through training, research and publications, and maintain a highly reliable database of about 7,000 organisations throughout India. We are one of the promoters of Bangalore Cares (www.bangalorecares.org) – an initiative to help the voluntary sector in Karnataka and IndiaCares, an online one-to-one fundraising service through the web portal www.indiacares.org