On 6/14/05, Arrigo della Gherardesca asked: > How can a small entity (say in rural India or Africa) - it could be a > women's cooperative, a small local NGO, or even an existing company or a > single entrepreneur (but the same could hold for a Local Government) - > if they have a viable project (both economically and socially), tap the > rich countries donor and grant opportunities (Foundations, Corporate > donors, etc.)? (Lee's note: the author says that the NGO has writing capacity, a track record, a business plan, and a good idea, in this theoretical situation)
Dear Arrigo and Colleagues, This is an excellent question. I have been involved in fundraising for small, anti-poverty projects for over 30 years and I know this question is quite important. I even spent a bit of time teaching fundraising strategy. I know more about US sources than I do about foreign sources, but I can speak a bit about both. I also know about frustration in fundraising, so my empathy for the folks in your project and similar ones is real. 1. The answer, first, is that it is darn hard for any small program to get funding for anything anywhere. Don't expect that what you do will be easy. This is true because people give to people ultimately and it is easiest and least risky to give to people you know and trust. The extreme situation in the US is the case of groups often called 'Beltway Bandits', who tend to take 30-40% off the top for perhaps dubious, certainly high-priced services rendered or to be rendered. Their business is to cultivate major donors mainly in places like Washington, DC and NYC. Many of these folks worked with the donor organizations previously. This business is as old as government. You can read about it in any history book. At the same time, creative solutions are almost always produced by lean-and-mean organizations with deep roots in their communities. The beltway bandits (who have their counterparts in other parts of the world than the US) miss these opportunities very often. However, much of major donor money is funneled through them. So forget that money for start-ups. It just won't come. I am not here complaining about any individuals. Almost all the individuals we have worked with at World Bank, ASEAN, ADB, UN and in other major institutions have been dedicated, direct, helpful, and forthcoming. The problem is not people particularly. It is systemic in a major way - not just institutional. There is one exception we got early on in the Jhai PC and Communication System process: the IDEAS fund administered by World Bank's IFC with funds from one of the Soros' foundations. I'm not sure if it is still around, but it was a very straight-forward process and we were (and are) small. 2. Which reminds me of another aspect: IFC and other more market-oriented funds within World Bank and other development banks are more open to innovative solutions when approached locally. They usually require a major match, like 50%, local ownership of the solution, and a business plan. However, at least in Jhai's experience, their procedures are much more streamlined than many other sources and the people we have worked with at IFC are quite good. 3. One last comment on sources, US foundations give very little money (of the total given) to international projects. Almost all monies given are to larger projects. Again, there are exceptions. Kellogg and McKnight come to mind. There are also foundations focused on particular countries and regions. The lead time on American major foundations can be up to two years and you need a way in. The big foundations have regional offices or regional consultants. Most of these folks are approachable by local NGO's with good solutions. World Council of Churches in Geneva funnels much money from European Protestant groups. There are excellent sources of funding for some projects, especially in the Muslim world, in the Near East, especially the oil rich ones. The best internal sources for small projects, I think, in terms of great help from donor groups and excellent checking out processes, are governments like those of Sweden and Canada. There are also some international prizes and contests funded by places like the Canadian government that have helped us. However, the whole effort in each of these cases are helped by having a foreign-educated or foreigner on staff or as a consultant to bridge the contacts. However ***this is not required and in some cases may even get in the way***. 4. I used to teach: "use what you have to get what you need to get what you want". The first step in fundraising is self-assessment: what do I have that I can use to get the money? The fact that local projects have local knowledge is a big asset. The fact that you have a business plan is a rare asset, especially if it is well developed and is easy to read ... and relatively short. What most people who are poor or who are close to poor people do NOT have is a network of influential people or people who know people who have money. This is an important and rarely talked about piece of the poverty puzzle. How do you get through that? That is a very important aspect of your question, as I see it. 5. One way out is for local organizations to get together and learn fundraising via the most successful local fundraising trainers. In big countries like India, such training can become available. For example, our partner, Chetan Sharma at Datamation Trust, does this kind of training. I had the honor of seeing his team work. The most important part of the training, like the most important part of conferences, is the networking that happens there. In smaller countries someone knows how to do this ... and they are probably on this List. Do it. Everyone wins. What you need is to get as close to the funder as possible. Usually that happens through intermediaries. It is definitely true that we are all only seven (at most) people from anyone in this world. 6. Another way, and an absolutely essential way, is to fundraise locally first. In the US the way to find the most successful way of local fundraising is to look at what the local church or synagogue is doing .. and copy it. It might be bingo or other forms of gambling, food sales, or direct mail. Whatever. Just copy it. This has three effects: it builds your marketing team, it shows local initiative in fundraising which is very important to most major funders, especially national funders, and it gets you some money that has no strings. 7. Finally, have a plan that is ambitious and takes into account that: a) most things won't work; and b) 80% of the money comes from 20% of the people ... almost always ... in poorer countries this may be even more extreme. However, the 20% of the people that give are the most important in many ways: a) they are your base and are most loyal; b) they often give time and their skills, too; and c) they talk to their peers and create more opportunities for you. This is as close to a book as I'll get, now. I'm actually writing a book on changing the way development is done so that the problem you are addressing is less difficult. Hopefully that will do some good. In the meantime, perhaps this gets this discussion going and others will have bigger and better ideas. By the way, we are launching the Jhai PC and Communication System Proof of Concept on the Navajo reservation as I write. We have begun. We congratulate our former volunteers at Inveneo for their first steps using a system that is derived from their work with us in 2003/4. We have Memorandi of Understanding, now, in India and Brazil, we have made major progress (no slam dunk, no agreement yet) on a potential Chinese implementation and we are pursuing a decision-making process that will help us launch in Africa. Our partners include Cisco and Intel. We are not and will not be in the hardware or software business. We will give that all away. We are in the facilitation of locally owned and sustainable solutions that include ICT and promote economic development ..business. I'll write an update on this stuff soon. Hope this helps. Yours, in Peace, Lee Lee Thorn Chair, Jhai Foundation 350 Townsend St., Ste. 309 San Francisco, CA 94112 1 415 344 0360 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.jhai.org ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
