May 2005
October 2003
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October 2003
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Issue 28
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In this issue
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Donation
boxes at homes!
Dr
Kutty, president
of Association for the Welfare of the Handicapped (AWH) simply
says he thought it might work because it worked when he
tried it among the Kerala diaspora in Dubai. In the beginning, Dr
Kutty, had to go to unknown places in Calicut and
decide for himself who/ which house might be a donor/ member. 'Experience
has shown that middle income families are good members.' An excellent
form of communication he feels is the calendar of events that is
distributed to all members. Small
plastic boxes bearing the name “Association for the Welfare of the
Handicapped' are kept in houses. An average of Rs 100 per house is
collected. Three or four out of ten houses do well. Gradually houses
that are not donating well are removed. Dr
Kutty has been doing this for the past ten years and collects around
Rs 30 lakh annually. They have around 35,000 boxes in and around
Calicut. While the cost of the boxes is kept low, Dr Kutty and board
members join in with volunteers and help with the collection! Also see A giving jar at home! |
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What's happening in communication & fundraising?
Donate
to a
Charity 'shop'? – Blind People's association (BPA) 'When we started
to collect old/ used goods there was a great response! We were left
with more than we could use and all kinds of things.' That was how
BPA's charity shop was born in Ahmedabad. Then, a 'friend'
came along who was willing to sponsor a shop! The fundraisers quickly
made inquiries and found a shop that would cost Rs 5 lakh. He
willingly sanctioned the amount in return for his name on the shop. Today, they have almost anything you can think of in the shop. There are people who leave their numbers and ask to be called if what they are looking for comes in for sale. It has also become an effective way to involve the corporate sector.
...and, they have
obtained sales tax exemption for goods sold at the charity shop.
Online mom! Engaging Communities - 15th South Asian
Fund Raising workshop concludes in Agra Ranjini reports: 'The workshop consisted of plenary and skill development
sessions. In keeping with the theme various sessions were conducted
like raising resources from non-residents, income generation programmes
and innovative ideas from across the world. These sessions provided a
lot of insight into an organisation's efforts towards self-reliance. Beyond Fortune 500 gave excellent ideas to fundraise from
corporates and to share ideas with fellow fundraisers and learn
from their experiences. Sessions on direct response fundraising, use of
communication technologies in mobilising resources and resource
mobilisation techniques for grassroots NGOs brought out innovative
ideas. The workshop served
as a platform for many fundraisers to exchange views and enhance their
skills.' |
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A giving jar
at home! In the last issue, we saw how a young lady in Ahmedabad encouraged guests at her kid's birthday party to donate to a charity. Well, taking a cue from her and Dr Kutty, a giving jar at home is an excellent way to involve kids and introduce them early in life to giving. Ask your children what they feel after watching a news clip about an environmental disaster or when you pass by a homeless person on the street. Talk about how you felt when you gave for the first time and why you continue to give. Encourage kids to put in a portion of their pocket money into the giving jar. Maybe a nice way to turn those tiny takers into givers...
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| Tutorial How to build credibility for your organisation through transparency and accountability ‘The Government and non-government organisations face a financial and credibility crisis as racketeers masquerading as voluntary outfits siphoning off funds…the real problem: no one, not even in Parliament knows how many NGOs there are, how much funding they get, how many are genuine and how many bogus.’ - India Today You say funds are not plentiful. Can you quantify the amount of money that reaches the NGO sector?’ - Bangalore Weekly ‘Unlike the corporate sector, NGOs have no established standards of performance evaluation. With close to a 100,000 functioning in the country it has become a tough task to sift the legitimate from the spurious.’ - Meantime
Key areas of transparency include:
Well, to everyone who may be interested and especially to
Communicate
activities to the public through mass media (articles, news items,
issue reports…)
Communicate activities to donors and well wishers (newsletters, annual reports) Invite all to visit (meetings, open days, festive events) Involve volunteers Accountability is showing, documenting and widely sharing results of your work. These serve as indicators of success. And maintaining cost effectiveness – What results at what cost of programme implementation, financial management, personnel practices, marketing and fundraising, consistent with values and principles As your organisation moves towards being accountable it is important to Establish baseline
information, monitor, document and make achievements known
Set high standards of personal and professional integrity and commitment Present financial information in a way that clearly explains income sources, expenditure patterns and the link to programme and services. (The average audited report is most unsatisfactory) Widely distribute annual reports Support from the public is an indicator of an organisation's transparency, accountability and credibility. Therefore, expansion of public fundraising is vital for the image of an individual organisation and welfare of the voluntary sector as a whole. Transparency and
accountability
build credibility It is important
because it tells everyone
that...
You are professionally competent You are a good investment You are to be trusted With transparency and
accountability -
donors will be
prepared to fund you
communities will want to work with you companies will wish to associate with you people will believe what you say; leading to effective advocacy |
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Editing
skills workshop in December For more details contact training@fundraising-india.org. |
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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 and direct support 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 7th Cross Domlur Layout Bangalore 560 071 India Tel: 91-80-535 2003/ 5115 0580 email training@fundraising-india.org website: www.fundraising-india.org |
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