November 2003

Editorial

To thank or to please

Acknowledging and appeasing donors. Where does one draw the line?

We recently had a phone call from one of the participants of our training courses in Karnataka. His organisation had received a small donation and the donor wanted an advertisement in the local newspaper commending his gesture! The donor even tried to convince the organisation that this would encourage more people to give to the organisation.

This puts the fundraiser and the organisation in a delicate situation. Clearly, the donor needs recognition, but the organisation should be able to decide what is feasible. Such a situation, may be easy to tackle if the organisation has an ethics policy for fundraising.

An ethics policy will guide the organisation in tricky situations and also help decide whether you accept the donation in the first place. 'Black' money, support from tobacco and liquor companies, anonymous support and the like, are issues your organisation needs to take a stand on, while deciding what it is that your organisation will and will not do.

Having said that, it is important to note that there is no uniform code of ethics in fundraising for voluntary organisations. It is for each organsation to decide what is acceptable. This will clearly enhance the credibility of your organisation and in the long run, the voluntary sector as a whole.

Editor
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FR Snapshot

Buy and donate

American Express (India) Pvt Ltd has a 24-hour call centre at Gurgaon (near New Delhi) with 1,300 employees. Around 100 employees got together and formed 'Shine'. The group coordinates with local NGOs and promotes resource mobilisation for social causes at the call centre.

On September 4 and 5, the group arranged stalls at their office for two voluntary organisations, 'Goonj' and 'Khushboo Welfare Society' (Khushboo). While Goonj is a disaster management organisation, Khushboo works for persons with mental and multiple disabilities. Shine, Khushboo and Goonj together had worked out a wonderful strategy for helping out both the causes.

Khushboo has a dal packing unit at its vocational centre where different kinds of dals (pulses) are cleaned, weighed and packed in 500 gm packets. These dals were to be sold at the stall, along with block printed paper products and greeting cards. Goonj was collecting old clothes and pulses from the employees for victims of the Orissa flood. They were also selling products made by village craftsmen. Mails were sent through Intranet to American Express employees to purchase dals from Khushboo and donate them to Goonj. Posters saying 'Buy Dals from Khushboo and Donate it to Goonj' were also put up in front of the stalls.

In the end, Khushboo collected around Rs 10,000 from sales; every single packet of dal was sold and 90% of the dal had been donated to Goonj by the American Express employees!

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News in Brief

What's happening in communication & fundraising?

Your wish list could turn into your ask list

When we were wading through the web recently we came across this creative idea. The Willingboro shelter highlights its wish list on its letterhead.

The list includes current, specific shelter needs (umbrellas, dishwasher soap...), office needs (step ladder, book case...) and children’s programme needs (poster board, school back packs...). The list also states that the shelter can always use cash donations 'if you want to leave the shopping to us.' At the very bottom of the list, the shelter gives a quick plug for an upcoming fundraising event.

And, when someone drops off a donation, a staff member hands the donor a receipt/ acknowledgment and gives the donor a copy of the shelter’s most current wish list.

Lesson: Firstly, turn your 'wish' list into your 'ask' list and update it regularly.

NESA revitalises its fundraising efforts

The Bangalore-based New Entity for Social Action (NESA) conducted a five-day strategic planning workshop between 27 and 31 October. The workshop was attended by representatives from NESA partners, individual and community- based organisations, external experts and longtime associates of NESA. The objective of the workshop was to review the seven sectors in which NESA works (Dalits, Adivasis, Gender, Child Rights, Micro-credit, HIV/ AIDS and Natural Resources Rights Restoration and Management), consolidate learnings, build on the network's strengths and bridge deficiencies.

Also included was a review of NESA's communication and fundraising (C&F) initiative. The C&F team has been revitalised with the recruitment of Sunita Zacharia as fundraising manager and Komala Raghavan as communications coordinator. Sunitha Rayan continues as database manager. The new team is based at mcas, and supervised by mcas' direct services unit.

Foundation to raise local resources for organisations protecting rights of Dalits

Dalit Foundation, launched in early October aims to expand its resource base by raising funds from national and international sources that support the foundation's mission. Initially supported by the Ford Foundation and other Indian donors, the foundation will support small community based organisations, individuals and networks working to secure social change and protect the rights of Dalits in South Asia.

mcas direct services unit prepared initial communication material for the Foundation and helped prepare for the launch.

To find out how your organisation could benefit from mcas' services, please contact Bharati Ramachandran at bharati@fundraising-india.org

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Tip of the month

Build a media database

A simple database of media contacts will help you get widescale support for your organisation. The key is to organise your information. Build a database of persons in the media who you can keep in touch with regularly. Keep track of their timings and beats covered. People at a media office work under strict deadlines, and will appreciate your sense of timing. Organising yourself will help you get a great story on your organisation. Use your database to send regular updates and keep in touch with persons on special occasions. This will also enhance your recall value and the media in turn will get in touch with you on special occasions.

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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 7^th Cross Domlur Layout Bangalore 560 071 India Tel: 91-80-535 2003/ 5115 0580 email training@fundraising-india.org website: www.fundraising-india.org