DATE:  Thursday 8 October 2009

FACILITATOR: Mohamadou Sy

See Group information here.

One of the workshops on the final day of the Acacia Research and Learning Forum provided participants with an understanding of how to successfully secure funding for their future projects. This is a toolkit giving an overview of the key lessons highlighted during the workshop - use this to help with your fundraising initiatives and pass this on to your colleagues/friends.

This page can be edited by forum members so please feel free to share any additional information/notes/case studies or resources. 

Outcomes of the workshop:

1.     To understand what resource mobilization is.

2.     How to identifying resource mobilization needs

3.     How to create a resource mobilization strategy

INTRODUCTION
Contextualizing Resource Mobilization: Understanding motivations for giving

Exercise:

Open your wallet and find the smallest note you have.

Each person puts their contribution into a glass on the table.

Now in each group, discuss and decide upon one real or imaginary cause that you would all be willing to invest your money into. Once decided, designate someone to be spokesperson to convince the rest of the participants at the workshop to invest the money from their communal pot into your cause.

Once all presentations have been made, the participants vote on the best cause.

Some examples that were shared with the workshop participants:

1. An initiative to train youth in post-conflict countries, to help understand democracy and prepare a generation of future leaders.

2. An initiative called ‘La femme artisan’ which creates partnerships between African artisans and Canadian shops to sell and market African crafts.

3. An initiative that provides partnerships between school and business to provide scholarships, training and internships to bright and promising youth.

Outcome:

This exercise was undertaken to understand why people give, what kinds of causes out there and what motivates donors. A key point was to understand how to convince funders about the importance of your cause, and the need for support, especially when situated within a competitive environment amongst a whole group of causes that are asking for money.

1. WHAT IS RESOURCE MOBILISATION

Definition of Resource Mobilisation:

Resource mobilization is defined as

“… a management process that involves identifying people who share the same values as your organization, and taking steps to manage that relationship.” - Resource Mobilization: A practical guide for research and community-based organizations.

Fundraising is a component of resource mobilization. This is the process through which an organization gathers resources to meet its needs, in order to be able to fulfill its mission.

There is more to resource mobilization than just monetary contributions – resources can also be a free service, application of skills for free by individuals, for example the Board of Director, time, transportation, free training/coaching and volunteerism.

Why is resource mobilization important?

The non-profit environment provides services for the good of society, which means that services are not ‘sold’ at real cost.  The emphasis is on providing services for the good of a community, which means profit is not the bottom-line. However, non-profits need to be able to survive and cover costs – this is where resource mobilization is important.

Why do funders donate money?

Funders donate money to non-profit organizations because they share a passion and belief in the values and mission that the organization wishes to address. Apart from the obvious satisfaction from providing for a good cause, donating to non-profits is a beneficial practice for funders as they become associated with the cause, which can be a valuable reflection to the rest of society, whether for marketing or relationship-building purposes. Another benefit is tax rebates/reductions.

When donors provide money to a cause, they share in the strategy and outcomes of the project. The result is that a trust-relationship needs to be built between the donor and the organization, in order to ensue that the donation is well spent.

2. IDENTIFYING RESOURCE MOBILISATION NEEDS

Exercise

Participants were handed large pieces of paper and pens and were asked to place their organization’s name at the centre. Then, in concentric circles placed around the organization, participants were asked to indicate the existing partners/funders and amounts of money they donate, in relation to organization. Participants were asked to not only depict the monetary amounts, but the in-kind donations too, e.g. a university providing office space and internet, the cost of volunteered time offered by students.

The aim of this exercise was to be able to have a rapid image of who is supporting the organization and in what proportion, as identified by the concentric ‘rings’ of donors.

Outcome

This exercise was undertaken to be able to map out the current funding pockets for an organization and to recognize the areas of need for additional or follow-up funding, and whom to approach.

Once the exercise was completed, four areas of concern were identified:

1.     Some organizations appeared to be “financially fragile” that is, 90% of their funding was provided by a single donor – should funding be pulled, the organization could face being shut down.

2.     Thus, the more diverse funding sources, the better. However, with more funders, more administration is needed.

3.     The exercise brought to bear the question of whether all sources of funding had successfully been tapped into? Some examples of untapped sources would be the organization’s membership fees, or even looking at Diaspora communities to help provide services within a country.

4.     An area of concern was tax being paid on ‘trading operations’, should a non-profit organization be providing a chargeable service to society, for example, providing training services. A local tax consultant should be consulted on this issue.

The future

The next question to ask is: What are the challenges for the next few years? The current economic climate has seen budgets for CSI and upliftment projects cut, which has affected countless non-profit organizations. The questions they need to ask is where can additional funds be generated?

The aim for all participants in this workshop is to assess their ‘funding map’ in order to diversify the source of funds for their organization, while continuing relationships with current donors.

3. HOW TO CREATE A RESOURCE MOBILISATION STRATEGY

The importance of planning

“The plan is not important, it’s the planning.”

This was a key quote used during the workshop. It is essential that an organization be prepared when starting resources mobilization through fundraising efforts in order to have clear goals and outcomes to be achieved through the process.

Credibility is the basis for fundraising; this means that a few systems need to be in place before you begin the resource mobilization process.  Here are some examples:

- Strategy: What is the vision and mission of the organization and how will these goals be achieved?

- Governance: What are the ethics of the organization? Establish up-front what your terms of acceptance of the donation will be, for example, should your organization value and support open copyright licenses, have your donor agree to that all content produced through the project be licensed in this way.

- Financial accountability: Prepare an accounting system that will allow you to report-back to the donor, proving the successful utilization of funds

- Internal and external communication strategy: Monitor what others think of your organization, even your beneficiaries. Communicate your achievements!

- Monitoring and evaluation: This is linked to the financial accountability point raised above, but also concerns showing how a project or intervention has had an impact within a community. In some cases, outsourcing this to an external party might be beneficial.

A resource mobilization strategy

Once you have sufficiently prepared the organization, the following steps should be taken to construct a resource mobilization strategy:

Identify donors
There are a range of ways to identify donors, the best and most effective way is through networking. This can take place at conferences or local meet-ups. Keep your ear to the ground when finding out about funders who provide support to organizations similar to yours – there might be scope for you to approach them too. Another way to find donors is on the Internet (see list of websites below), publications or magazines (such as Alliance magazine) that specialize in identifying donors. Sending letters of enquiries to potential funders is an approach that can be taken, though this is not always the most successful avenue to pursue.

Diversification
Is your goal to broaden your scope of donors? If so, diversification of your target donors will be necessary. With the current financial crisis, non-profit organizations have been affected, as the scope and size of grant making has been scaled. Furthermore, funders are scaling their overseas development assistance, thus affecting the funds being made available to African non-profit. The key to this predicament is to look to the local donor environment. Thinking laterally, for example, looking to Diaspora communities might be an option, as this community would be willing to help invest in building services and capacity in their country of birth.

Who is the ideal donor?
“It’s not fundraising, it’s friend-raising”

Align your cause with the donor’s areas of interest, thus you will need to modify your approach to suit the exact outcomes and requirements from each donor. Be open to suggestions from your donor – think of this as a conversation, where you discuss the project in order to work towards a goal together.  Also, make all information about the cause or project available to your donor, in order to assist with decision-making

 As this is ‘friend-raising’, rely on your board to introduce you to key donors.

The amount
What is the total amount of funding made available by the funder? When setting your targets, be realistic about the amount that you ask for when approaching the donor.

Timing
Adhere to the timeline set by the donor. Also remember that once the funding has been approved, there is a process of getting the funds into the account, which takes some time – so don’t go hiring staff and signing lease agreements before you are sure the money is in the bank!

TIP: Applying for funds in the last quarter of the financial year is a good time to ask – at this time there is pressure to spend the final tranches of funding. This might be a good time to associate the organization with a funder, even for a small amount, then, with the new financial year, further funding might be available.

Relationship building

Once again, remember that this is a ‘friend-raising’ process. So keep in touch with your donors to keep them informed about what you are doing and how the project is unfolding. This could be done through a regular email or even a newsletter. The same principle applies to previous donors – they might be interested in your current or future work. Remember that relationship building takes time; so be prepared to work at it.

Evaluating your resource mobilization activities
Do an internal evaluation of your mobilization resource activities after a few months. Look at how much you have collected, which staff have been involved and what their strengths were. Was the campaign successful, and in which ways? Are there areas for improvement? Learn from your experiences, review your strategy and keep going.

BEST PRACTISES FOR RESOURCE MOBILISATION

Here are 10 tips for effective resource mobilization:

1.     Resource mobilization should be undertaken by a team. As resource mobilization will allow for the longevity of your organization, it is in all staff’s interest for it to be successful. Call on the expertise and talents of your staff to help write winning proposals.

2.     Believe in your cause. This will be reflected in your proposal and communication with potential funders. If you believe in the cause, your donor will too.

3.     Build the credibility of the organization. Build relationships, tell people about your good work and ensure that your project outputs are always of the highest quality.

4.     Show donors that they should work with you.

5.     Build strategic partnerships. Align with other organizations to show donors that you work well with others.

6.     Keep the priorities of your donors aligned with your project.

7.     “First your mind, then your heart, then the purse.” Remember that the cause you are working towards is at the centre of your resource mobilization strategy.

8.     Add value to donors; regularly recognize their assistance in helping to achieve the project/organization’s cause.

9.     If the answer is “no,” see this as an opportunity to improve the proposal

10. Keep going!

RESOURCES

For identifying funders:

·      The Association of Fundraising Professionals

·      Council on Foundations

·      Africa Grantmakers Afinity Group

·      East Africa Association of Grantmakers

·      Inyathelo

·      Globalgiving.com

For Resource Mobilization

• Resource Mobilisation: A practical guide for research and community-based organizations. A Publication of Venture for Fund Raising in association with the International Research and Development Centre. Download a copy and find additional resources here: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-86081-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
  
•  Resource Alliance
  
• Alliance magazine

This is a public page so feel free to add to any of the information shared here!

toolkit, fundraising, sustainability, donors, funders, resource mobilisation

Last updated 127 days ago by The African Commons Project