June 2002

Editorial

Sadly, development is a political matter

The recent political developments in the Indian subcontinent have sparked an alarming exodus among some development circles.

We're referring to the international development agencies that have pulled out their senior staff from the region on the basis of "travel advisories". Others have cancelled meetings in this part of the world, in some cases postponing them by as long as six months.

The sad reality is that international development is, and has always been, a political matter. It is inextricably linked to the political climates of not only the countries in the South at the "receiving end", but also to the political positions of the countries to which these agencies belong.

The departure has affected the work of small, medium and large organisations in the region. It is tragic when international development support suffers due to political exigencies.

Development has both good times and bad. Tough times and easier times. International agencies should be ready to stick with the ups and downs as a reflection of solid commitment. Of course, if there is no solid commitment, they will come and go with the swings and roundabouts of life. This type of withdrawal creates an "us" and "them" attitude... surely something none of us want or are comfortable with!

We only hope that this storm blows over, and quickly, so that we can all get on with work -- together.

Editor
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Opinion

Gujarat - a nation's 'charity' exposed!

The fires of hate and anger continue char the fabric of Gujarat. Thousands have lost more than homes; livelihoods or even loved ones. And unfortunately, any help is decidedly slow in coming.

Cut to Jan 2001 and the devastating quake that brought Gujarat to its knees. No sooner had the news trickled into other parts of the country and the world at large, than a mammoth relief effort began unraveling. The reaction was unprecedented. International agencies rushed in specialised rescue and health teams. Software professionals and rickshawpullers alike cast in their lot to bring relief to the victims. The media was effusive in its display of empathy. The government rolled out special tax incentives and relaxed curbs on donation ceilings. Voluntary organisations came in by the droves. Neighbours helped each other without reservation. It was a poignant picture of a country united by common disaster with the bottomline rightly being: humanity.

CAF India reported that an estimated Rs 500 crore poured in as donations to Gujarat from around the country. Concerned NRIs also muscled in with huge sums. It seemed like a classic snapshot of national altruism. Hardly a year later, it is an image soiled with the ugliest of ironies.

As Gujarat burned to the macabre music of sectarian madness, the veneer of unity peeled away to reveal a nation split up the middle. Bigoted state machinery fiddled and glossed over the episode with the sincerity of a pile of bricks. The local media rolled over and played possum to the facts. The centre dithered over finding the most politically expedient stance. The rest of the country stood divided over the issue, the debate itself evincing that a good many people thought the tragedy did not deserve unqualified condemnation. The voluntary response struggled to cope, hamstrung by a fractured donor base. The influx of volunteers notably thinned and the inflow of funds and basic supplies paled against the benchmark of the last year.

Kalpana Deswal, communications and fundraising officer with Oxfam India, an organisation working in Gujarat, alludes to what the problem might be. "It's an error of perception. People are more inclined to see this as a communal issue, whereas it is a humanitarian one. This has fragmented the base of potential donors and inhibited giving. That's why we've seen more donations come in from individuals rather than organisations."

Fundraising efforts for the quake didn't have to be persuasive. They merely needed to inform people of how they could help. A sharp contrast to the present predicament. ActionAid India, another major voluntary agency, has had to evolve various new schemes like 'Share your big idea', 'Payroll/part-impart' and the 'Friends of Gujarat' campaign to encourage public giving to riot victims.

Meanwhile, corporate giants who gave large sums to quake victims are apprehensive of being seen as taking sides. Hence, the unfortunate (but understandable) recourse has often been fundraising within individual communities. But such a pattern only serves to denigrate any claims that we are disinterested and altruistic people.

When all is said and done, juxtaposing the reactions to the two tragedies will prove meaningless if we ignore the uneasy question that arises from it. Is the philanthropy of our purse strings truly motivated by the understanding that people are people? Unfortunately our money talks and it seems to have answered in the negative.

Bryan Samuel Richard, mcas

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Book Review

How to write successful fundraising letters
By Mal Warwick, Published by JOSSEY-BASS
Price: US$ 27.95

Most people don't see much else to fundraising letters than ensuring grammatical correctness, a courteous tone and a clear appeal. Mal Warwick certainly does… and has written a whole book to prove it!

'How to write successful fundraising letters' is a definitive guide for those in the voluntary sector who need to write letters that achieve results. The book is divided into four parts - motivating your audience, the letter writer's plan of action, customising your appeal and the letter writer's toolbox. Warwick provides an abundance of sample letters, style tips, useful hints, practical wisdom and real world examples, making 'How to…' an engaging and illuminating read.

The book discusses everything from understanding donor psyche, using envelope teasers and writing winning lead sentences to resolving writing challenges and finding effective endings to letters. For good measure, there's even a bit on how NOT to write fundraising letters!

The only drawback is that the book seems to assume an American context and all the strategies may not be relevant in other situations. That aside, it's a book that any serious fundraiser will profit a good deal from.

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News in Brief

What's happening in communication & fundraising?

Corporates, VOs seek to 'bridge it '

Bridge It, an initiative to span the gap between the voluntary and corporate sectors, seems to be taking off well in Bangalore. The group, which meets every Friday evening, throws up opportunities for voluntary organisations to network and cooperate with companies. Bridge It also provides an environment where individual organisations can find solutions to their respective needs. In one such example of joint action, the Association of People with Disability (APD) and the Ramana Maharishi Academy have tied up with IBM to maintain its horticultural centres. Bridge It is working on its website, which is likely to be launched by end June; and proposes to have separate teams to work on different issues such as fundraising, media, and so on.

Mobility takes disability awareness to schools

Mobility India has found an innovative way of raising awareness in schools about disability issues. The organisation approached a few schools in Bangalore with a proposal to show video films and give talks on disability during school periods when a teacher is unable to take the class.
Mobility has also initiated a 'Give as you care' programme in a number of schools towards the aid of a school for children from slums. With children voluntarily giving out of their pizza or soft drink money, Mobility was able to collect about Rs 25,000. The organisation is also regularly taking schoolchildren on visits to the school for children from slums.

Dappu plans event to raise profile, funds

Dappu, a large Dalit human rights group working mainly in Andhra Pradesh, is seriously exploring the idea of raising funds locally. With a membership of 120 organisations working in 200 mandals in 14 districts of Andhra Pradesh, Dappu is now planning an annual communications and fundraising week in December that will involve its union membership of 100,000. It hopes to raise awareness of its work and generate funds from the event by sharing its achievements and conveying to the participants the benefits of joining the group. mcas is involved in helping Dappu develop strategies in this direction.

Monthly magazine on Dalit issues seeks to widen base

Dalit Media Communications, a member of Dappu, is taking communications very seriously indeed! It publishes a 36-page Telugu monthly magazine, Nigha, on Dalit human rights violations and prints about 2,000 copies of each issue. Apart from documenting violations against Dalits, the magazine also has articles on Dalits history and culture, women's rights, debates and other major events. Plans are afoot to bring out an English version simultaneously.

One World partners train on the web

One World recently organised a five-day workshop at Trivandrum for its south India partners. mcas was invited to conduct a one-day training programme on 'writing reports that people will want to read.' Topics dealt with included making reports more attractive, and the 'how to' of structuring and writing reports for the Internet. This was followed by a two-day training by mahiti on building a website and on content management. Fifteen participants from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh attended the workshop.

Maharashtra group seeks to set up communications cell

Search, a group in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, wants to establish a communications cell to share its work at an international, national and state level. The organisation runs a unique healthcare programme with Dalit and tribal communities on the care of 'neonates' (new born children up to the age of 28 days), with the cooperation of traditional dais and village healthworkers. It has also developed successful alcohol de-addiction programmes. Its five-day counselling workshops for addicts and 12-day workshops for chronic cases have enjoyed close to a 45% success rate, which is high by any standards. Search hopes that the cell will facilitate the sharing of experiences to benefit other organisations working in similar areas.

Credibility Alliance moves forward, to consider more drafts

The Credibility Alliance continues to build momentum in its efforts to establish broadly accepted norms for public disclosure and accountability of voluntary organisations. Following the first discussion of norms with southern networks and voluntary organisations in Bangalore in February, a meeting was held with the donor network in Delhi on 14 June 2002. The next meeting will be held in Mumbai, on 4 and 5 July to discuss draft 'minimum norms'. Drafts for personnel policies, accounting practices, annual reporting and categorisation will also be presented for discussion. For more details contact CredibilityAlliance@yahoogroups.com or visit the temporary Credibility Alliance website at www.credibilityalliance.150m.com.

If you have any news or announcements pertaining to communication and fundraising, do write in to us. Thank you.

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Website Review

Your guide to creating a smart web experience
www.useit.com

'The next best thing to a true time machine'. 'Reigning guru of web usability'. 'The smartest person on the web.' Jakob Nielsen's been called all that and more. So it's fair to assume that his site www.useit.com has a couple of helpful pointers to give the rest of the world. For starters, there is a column on Web usability that Nielsen tosses up twice every week. With an archive that dates all the way back to 1995, that's a fair bit of info!

There are guidelines on how to make your website an optimised user experience and lots of links to the latest web design news on the Net. Nielsen discusses various aspects of usability such as design, navigation, technology and offers insightful tidbits on how to reduce redundancies, optimise the experience of senior citizens, support multiple location users and lots more.
Nielsen's site practises exactly what he preaches - a stripped down, no nonsense approach to communicating through the web. You'll learn…or more likely unlearn something!

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Announcements

New mcas training fees

mcas has reduced the prices of its workshops by as much as Rs 1,000, to make our training programmes more widely accessible and to encourage more organisations to benefit from these programmes. The next set of workshops on communication and fundraising is scheduled to begin in the month of August. For details, mail us.

Belgian University announces research openings

The Free University of Brussels (VUB) has announced opportunities for two fulltime researchers to undertake Ph.D programmes lasting four years. The university is looking for an economist to study 'Objectives and performance measurement in NPOs', and an organisational psychologist to research 'Motivation in profit and non-profit organisations.' More details can be obtained from Marc Jegers at marc.jegers@VUB.AC.BE.

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Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends, associates and anyone who might be interested. And do send in your queries and suggestions to training@fundraising-india.org

mcas -- MURRAY CULSHAW ADVISORY SERVICES -- Bangalore, serves the voluntary sector in India. We offer training on communication and fundraising, undertake research on related issues, publish books and maintain a database of about 8,000 organisations in India. Contact us at:  2nd Floor  Vijay Kiran Building  314/1  7^th Cross  Domlur Layout Bangalore 560 071  India  Tel: 91-80-535 0035/ 535 1939  email training@fundraising-india.org  website: www.fundraising-india.org