Fundraising Workshop

ISLAMABAD
DEC. 2001

ECI organized a 4-day training workshop on Fundraising with focus on Indigenous Philanthropy which concluded in Islamabad on 29 December 2001.

Fundraising is an art to solicit the support of a wide range of donors as well as philanthropists for resource generation of an organization and development of multidimensional projects. It is a source of navigation for organizations, professionals and the ordinary members of society, which helps them determine their future directions and fundraising strategies.

The proposed training workshop on Fundraising will provide information on how to raise funds taking into account the modalities of Indigenous Philanthropy; what are the fundraising techniques, tools and elements to enhance resources of organizations, achieve specific targets and level the grounds for development of multi-dimensional projects. It will also encompass the database of fundraising sources, different fundraising models, role of volunteerism and indigenous philanthropy in fundraising for integrated development and conservation of environment. As a result of this training workshop, the participants would be able to learn the importance of fundraising through indigenous philanthropy for development purposes and how to solicit private and public donors' support from various sources in the public and NGO sector.

The 4-day extensive training course will provide participants opportunities to interact with fundraising professionals, engage in study, discussion and preparation of an action plan for promotion of Indigenous Philanthropy in Pakistan. It will comprise different fundraising modules, case studies, real world problems and a field visit to collect data on present status of Indigenous Philanthropy. Each day, there will be presentations by resource persons, group work analysis of different fundraising models and learning exercises on techniques and tools for soliciting donors' support. Each participant will learn how to take the initiatives for planning the fundraising strategy for a specific development project The main focus will be on how to raise funds for organizations to undertake development activities.

The 4-day extensive training course will provide participants opportunities to interact with fundraising professionals, engage in study, discussion and preparation of an action plan for promotion of Indigenous Philanthropy in Pakistan. It will comprise different fundraising modules, case studies, real world problems and a field visit to collect data on present status of Indigenous Philanthropy. Each day, there will be presentations by resource persons, group work analysis of different fundraising models and learning exercises on techniques and tools for soliciting donors' support. Each participant will learn how to take the initiatives for planning the fundraising strategy for a specific development project The main focus will be on how to raise funds for organizations to undertake development activities.

The course content covered:

• Introduction, background, present status of indigenous philanthropy at the national and global level.
• Fundraising through indigenous philanthropy.
• Existing models of fundraising.
• Techniques, tools and elements of fundraising.
• Traditional vs. modern approaches.
• Comparison between role of philanthropic organizations in Pakistan and other countries around the globe.
• International donor organizations and fundraising.
• Prevalent fundraising norms in the West and the East.

The workshop consisted of 4 training modules providing information and skills on preparation of fundraising strategies, grant-seeking proposals and networking among different organizations taking into account the modalities of indigenous philanthropy. During the first two days, participants learned the fundraising techniques, tools and elements to enhance resources of organizations, achieve specific targets and level the grounds for development of multi-dimensional projects. It also encompassed the database of fundraising sources, different fundraising models and role of volunteerism in fundraising.

On Day-3, the participants visited SOS Children's Village Rawalpindi. The Village Director briefed them in detail about their policy framework, fundraising strategy based on philanthropy, current activities and future course of action for enhancing overall resources of the organization. Soon after briefing, the participants had a transit walk in the village where they met the children, saw the Village School, Community Center, Vocational Training Center and the Youth Hostel. They found SOS Children's Village as one of the best models in Pakistan, which is generating its resources at the local level through philanthropy.

On the last day of the workshop, the participants had in-depth and highly interactive discussion for development of policy framework for establishing the Fundraising Network of NGOs in Pakistan. At the end they prepared an action plan for promotion of indigenous philanthropy in Pakistan. Following are the salient features of this action plan:

• Need for concerted efforts to raise awareness for promotion of philanthropy.
• Collaboration between different stakeholders.
• Institutional capacity building.
• Maximum media coverage to the initiatives based on philanthropy.
• Advocacy and need to revise the national education curricula.
• A mechanism of transparency and accountability to be developed.
• Promotion of role models of philanthropy.
• Facilitation of national level conferences.
• Survey the fundraising strategies of religious institutions.
• Promotion of endowment structures based on philanthropy.
• Advocacy for tax incentives on the funds obtained through philanthropy.
• Strengthen Corporate-NGO-Community partnership and raise advocacy for corporate social responsibility.
• Initiate the leadership development process in charity / philanthropic organizations.
• Improvement in the governance structure of philanthropic organizations.

Learning objectives of the 4-day extensive training course were:

• Provide information on background, present status and future potential of indigenous philanthropy for fundraising.
• Share available information on different fundraising techniques, models and their applicability at the local level.
• Determine the role of indigenous philanthropy and modern fundraising techniques in the present era of globalization.
• Identify and prepare the list of major fundraisers at the national and global level.
• Identify potential stakeholders in any fundraising activity.
• Establish networking among participants from different organizations to share the information resources on fundraising for capacity building.
• Skill enhancement to mobilize resources for promotion of indigenous philanthropy at the regional level.
• Prepare an action plan for promoting the art of Indigenous Philanthropy by mobilizing NGOs network in Pakistan.

This highly interactive event was attended by the participants from following organizations:

• Aga Khan Education Service (AES), Gilgit
• Karakorum Area Development Organization (KADO), Hunza
• Swabi Women Welfare Society (SWWS), Swabi
• Murree Kahuta Kotli Sattian Development Project (MKKS), Islamabad
• National Rural Support Program (NRSP), Islamabad
• Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (SPARC), Islamabad
• Global Relief Foundation (GRF), Islamabad
• Soan Valley Development Project (SVDP), Soan Valley, Nowshera

ECI has a panel of internationally recognized experts on fundraising and sustainable development. Among these, the following resource persons will be mainly responsible for designing and conducting this training workshop.

Dr. Azhar Khan is an engineer, an economist, an expert in project management, environmental management and fundraising. He holds an MS and Ph.D. in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, USA. He has an MS in project economics (Cost-Benefit Analysis) from the same school, and has also earned post-graduate diploma in management of social sector and infrastructure projects from Georgia Tech. Dr. Khan has worked as an expert of project management in various public and private sector organizations in Pakistan and the United States. He is a consultant to various national and international organizations and has vastly published on engineering, economics, environmental management, technology management, fundraising and project management.

Dr. Anwar Nasim is a well-known name in science and technology development both at the national and international level. At present, he is advisor (Science) COMSTECH, Pakistan. He has diverse background and is associated with a large number of government organizations, NGOs and corporate sector in Pakistan, Middle East, Canada and the United States. Dr. Nasim's active involvement in community development and resource generation can be traced back to his early career. He has been playing leadership role to bring various cross-sections of ethnically diverse societies together for the achievement of common objectives. The motivating force behind his community participation has been to promote a positive image of overseas Pakistani to facilitate a balance between heritage retention and cultural integration. Dr. Nasim is elected Fellow of Third World Academy of Sciences, elected Foreign Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences and elected Fellow of Islamic Academy of Sciences. He has written extensively and lectured in several well-known universities across the globe. He has in-depth experience in technology management, project development and conducting workshops, seminars and symposia on a wide range of development issues. He has rich exposure with philanthropic and fundraising initiatives being undertaken in Pakistan and other countries. In a nutshell, he is an intellectual, a think tank and an institution of knowledge and development.

Mohammad Azhar Qureshi is a development specialist. He holds a masters degree in Zoology with specialization in Microbiology from University of the Punjab. He has vast experience in research and development of Integrated Crop Management (ICM). He possesses skills in project development and evaluation, planning, monitoring, community organization, transfer of technology and fundraising. He has been designing and conducting the training workshops for Eco-Conservation Initiatives (ECI), Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and several international development projects. He is a Fellow of LEAD-Pakistan and has also served this organization as consultant for development of Fellows Program at the national level. At present he is operating projects in agriculture, health & education and training of trainers. He has written extensively and possesses vast experience and professional skills to design and conduct training on fundraising, natural resource management, environmental management, project management, project proposal development, integrated crop management, conflict resolution, institutional building, rural development and health & sanitation.