A lesson in fundraising
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New Delhi: Every year, about $2.3 trillion is disbursed in the form of overseas development assistance. As a result of this investment, the world has witnessed great success stories in sectors like health and education.
But despite some progress, about two-third of world’s population remains poor. Where have we gone wrong in our efforts? How can NGOs keep generating resources for development? To look for possible solutions, the Times Foundation organised a talk by Mal Warwick, Chairman, Resource Alliance on March 5, 2008 at Times House, New Delhi. The theme was ‘Sustainability, Capacity Building and Best Practices from International Learning’.
Mal Warwick has distinguished himself through his global contributions to the non-profit sector as a leading author, consultant and public speaker on fundraising and as an advocate for socially and environmentally responsible policies and practices in the private sector. The event engaged numerous stakeholders of civil society who discussed some of the important trends in international fund-raising for development activities. Warwick noted that development has been a painstakingly slow process with a huge income imbalance still existing between the North and the South. Development – not a top down approach Warwick identified some of the key hurdles as corruption, misuse of funds for expensive infrastructure development and massive debt burden on developing countries. But the root cause of the problem, he felt, is the development mindset – a top down mentality with the rich claiming to know better than the poor. To make sure that benefits reach the needy, it is imperative to involve the people in the project designing and policymaking, he said. One of Warwick’s deep concerns was the threat posed by global warming to sustainability of the planet as a whole. To combat this problem, an interesting proposition was made during the discussion about redefining the notion of corporate social responsibility. It was felt that corporations and business houses must show the foresight to respond to global problems. Warwick cited Walmart’s example as to how it is employing environment friendly policies by urging its partners to strictly adhere to the company’s guidelines. He felt that it is important to win people’s trust and illustrated the exemplary success of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. This innovative enterprise of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is solely based on understanding the actual needs of the people. Mobilise local resources One of Warwick’s key observations was the need for local resources mobilisation rather than relying on foreign funds to sustain development initiatives. What is important for NGOs is to learn skills of local fundraising. Individual interest and commitment can play a vital role in this exercise. Many development initiatives are on the right track but need to engage society in a more effective manner. To realise this objective, it is time to harness indigenous philanthropy, said Warwick. |
User comments
"Funds - Used For Mis use"Author:
santakar chelapila
Time: 11.03.2008 07:20
Comment: Friends, Congratulations for having received such a great talk on the importance of local fund raising . I am writing from Koraput, one of the remote corners in India. It's a tribal district . Hence a lot of focus has been given on the region in the name of development . But as rightly said lot was needed after each spending . being a journalist , I have seen the process through which funds are used by Gos and NGOs . While funds received from inside the country was utilised to greater extent with care , many funds received from outside has been treated as some kind of donation for the concerned organisations . This was beacuse people in general donot have a clear understanding on the ways funds were raised /The difficulties that the donors face in raising the funds . It should be widely publisised . And moreover only inovations on the basis of local needs need be funded rather than opening the box for some model adopted by some other country to be followed blindly . Any new model should be exposed to local understanding and if found suitable in totality or in part after giving innovation inputs funds should be released . The organisations and individuals should also be given orientation on local fund raising rather than depending on the funds from outside everytime .
With regards Santakar Journalist Koraput Orissa www.koraputonline.blogspot.com |
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