October 2004

Editorial

The spirit of festive giving...

In the last quarter of the year, most of you have got your direct mail campaigns well underway, for undoubtedly these months speak of the biggest festivals that India celebrates, namely Navratri, Dussera, Diwali and Christmas.

Giving to charities in these times has been known to be plentiful as everyone participates in the celebration and jubilation all around and generosity reaches it peak. Most people tend to participate in the festivities irrespective of the caste and give alms and donations to the needy; and voluntary organisations really can’t ignore these festivals.

However targeting this time of the year for your fundraising (direct mailing or otherwise) needs to be done carefully and meticulously, planning each stage of the campaign so that it is implemented without any glitches. Any delays will close the giving window during this time of the year. The appeal letter is something that bears a considerable amount of importance too and while you must be eloquent about your work and cause, never directly ask or beg for funds (refer to our Tips section for more pointers.) This is also the time to think about the segmentation of your constituency database and decide the appropriate section to target.

Some voluntary organizations also work smart by bringing out greeting cards and corporate gift products around Diwali time. Others can use this festival time to plan events and fundraisers that they have the capacity to organise.

All said and done, the campaign must really stand out because despite the fact the giving patterns peak around this time, so does the competition. Plan a theme, a cause and an aesthetic design for your appeal ensuring that organisations look at supporting your cause as against many others presented to them.

Happy Diwali and good luck to all of you!

                                                  - Editor.

P.S: Those of you who ran successful direct mail campaigns this year, do mail us and tell us your success stories. We would love to feature them in our snapshot section.

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FR Snapshot

Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre(MMHRC), Madurai, held a unique fundraising drive in September, called 'A Celebration in Giving'. Celebrating 14 years of philanthropy, they brought their donors together in order to honour them and encourage them to donate bigger gifts.

350 invitations were printed for the event, in English and Tamil (regional language), listing out the details of the donor meet, the venue and the agenda. MMHRC's team of six people distributed 130 invitations in person and the rest by post or courier. Confirmations of attendance were sought from all donors and their families.

One regular donor was chosen as Guest of Honour from the 150 donors who participated. Other people who attended included corporates, coin-box establishment owners, hospital authorities and beneficiary patients. The events included the chairman's address, a dance performance by school children, felicitations of donors with “Best philanthropy Award”, a vote of thanks by the beneficiaries and lunch to all the guests. MMHRC then solicited fresh donations and were surprised by the spirited response of Rs 1.35 lakh from eleven donors (they expected to collect Rs 30,000 - 40,000) and Rs 3 lakh in promised donations.

MMHRC's organised fundraising that started with personal invitations and involved families of the donors too, was a highly successful event, with all costs of the event being borne by sponsors. It presents a good learning to all organisations who intend to honour donors in this way and become transparent to their donors on the utilisation of the funds.

Snapshot contributed by: Fundraising Department, MMHRC

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News in Brief

What's happening?

2004 South Asia Regional Resource Mobilisation Workshop
The Resource Alliance based in the UK along with the Center for Advancement of Resource Mobilisation in Sri Lanka is conducting the 2004 South Asia Regional Resource Mobilisation Workshop on 20-23 November 2004 at the Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo Srilanka. The programme will provide workshops covering all aspects of resource mobilisation including fundraising, communication, mobilising local communities and developing and managing corporate relationships. For further details and to register email sarmw@resource-alliance.org.

MCC forges alliances with Cascaid Group, Results Matter Consulting
MCC has forged alliances with Cascaid Group, an international fundraising and communications agency in UK and Results Matter, an organisational and programme development consultancy, to provide an international fundraising service for voluntary organisations working in Asia. Pooling the skills and knowledge of the three organisations, the combined aim of MCC, Cascaid Group and Results Matter Consulting is to lift the breadth and depth of advice and support available to organisations working in Asia, to a new level. Murray Culshaw, Director of MCC, said, “We are excited about this opportunity to combine our extensive knowledge of the NGO sector and resource mobilisation in India with the hard-won international fundraising and organisational development experience of our associates”. For more information please visit www.fundraising-india.org/cascaid.

Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2005
The Standard Chartered Bank has announced the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2005. The marathon to be held on January 16, 2005, will be flagged off from outside the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and will cross Worli (touching INS Trata) to reach Bandra reclamation, from where it will turn and return to the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Having seen last year's stupendous success where the general public, celebrities and corporate head honchos raised over Rs 1 crore for various charities, many voluntary organisations are already finalising their runners. Give India, a “philanthropy exchange” managed by the non-profit GIVE Foundation, is the Official Charity Partner for the marathon. Last year GIVE Foundation raised Rs 52 lakh for various charities. This year they have designed special packages to encourage people to pledge for a cause of their choice, with over 100 charities participating. For more details visit www.givefoundation.org/events.htm.

Noshir Dadrawalla appointed to the Resource Alliance Board
Mr Noshir H Dadrawalla, Executive Secretary of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, has been appointed as a member of the Governing Board of the Resource Alliance, the international network working to build the capacity of voluntary organisations to mobilise funds and local resources for their causes. Based in UK, the Resource Alliance’s primary activities include training, knowledge sharing and networking.
Mr. Dadrawalla is a member of the Governing Council of the ‘Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium’ since March 2000 and also of various other societies and organisations promoting philanthropy. He is also the author of several resource books. We wish Mr Dadrawalla the very best in his new and important role. More details on the Resource Alliance are at www.resourcealliance.org and Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy can be visited at www.capindia.org.

Grants for arts, research and documentation
India Foundation for the Arts, an independent grant-making institution is inviting applications from individuals and organisations for grants to be made under its ‘Arts research and documentation’ programme. The programme funds research and documentation projects in general and is aimed at both scholarly and practice-oriented projects that attempt new modes of inquiry and exploration of fresh ideas. IFA is accepting applications till 31 January 2005, while the grants will be announced on or before 30 October 2005. For more details please visit www.indiaifa.org.

24th International Fundraising Conference concludes in Holland
The 24th International Fundraising Conference organised by the UK-based Resource Alliance in Holland was attended by around 800 participants from over 60 countries. The conference from 12-15 October 2004 promised to lead fundraisers to new heights in fundraising. With over 60 speakers carefully selected for their ability to challenge thinking, enhance skills and reinvigorate the approach to fundraising, the programme also
provided a unique opportunity to share ideas and experiences with fellow fundraisers from different organisations, cultures and countries around the globe. The global fundraising recruitment website www.globalfundraisingjobs.com was launched at the programme. For details on the 25th IFC, visit www.resource-alliance.org.

Tip of the month

Writing appeal letters that work

With Diwali and Christmas around the corner, most of you will be sending out your direct mailers. Here are a few tips from MCC on designing appeals and letters that will have the maximum impact.

• Write with a particular target segment in mind.
• Open with a story that touches people.
• Keep the language simple and direct.
• Talk about a single cause.
• Ask for specific amounts from the readers.
• Ask at least thrice in the course of the letter.
• Highlight or underline the important points.
• Use both the sides of the paper.
• Be brief, not verbose. Give just enough information and avoid jargon.
• Use a P.S. to make the final impact. You can repeat your appeal here.

Effective writing for the Web

When writing for the Web, you must remember that web-based writing is non-linear, spans multiple pages and retains low attention span of the reader. Only 16 per cent of the readers read word by word of what is written and reading from computer screens is 25 per cent slower than from paper. Added to this is the fact that the number of websites that users can visit is ever increasing. Therefore, the cardinal rule when writing for the Web is KISS: Keep It Short and Simple.

1. Make it short and scannable, with links leading to further information or other sites where ever possible. Use simple and short sentences and familiar words.

2. Put the most important information at the top, following the inverted pyramid structure.

3. The writing style should be informal, addressing the individual directly.

4. Gain credibility by mentioning useful statistics, examples and the latest information.

5. The overall visual image of the page must aid easy reading - use complementary colours on headlines, sub-headings, blurbs, coloured backgrounds and text, distracting images and sounds, slow loading pages and pictures.

6. Format the text using a table of contents and fonts such as Verdana, Arial or Helvetica that make online reading easier. Provide a print-friendly version where necessary.

7. Finally, remember that it's not about how much we want to say, it's about how much the visitor needs to read.

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

MCC-- Murray Culshaw Consulting Pvt Ltd 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: 91-80-2535 2003/ 5115 0582
email training@fundraising-india.org  website: www.fundraising-india.org