The Ethical Spies of Fundraising mixes fun and fundraising

'The Overhead' deals with the issue of non-profit costs in a theatrical way

The Overhead, a newly launched short film deals with contentious issue of costs incurred by NGOs on their overheads in a theatrical manner. The film features an NGO worker, named Target X, who is being spied on by two detectives (named Black & Orange). The spies are intrigued to find how liberal she will be in spending the organisational funds, as they think she is on a spending spree on the personal front. The film tries to work on perceptions related to non-profit costs and public expectation that NGO workers may not even possess a middle class lifestyle.

Watch it now to form your opinions and please do leave your comments below.

Tele-facing could be a solution for NGOs in industrialised world too

An interesting piece on tele-facing that appeared some time back at Charity Choice UK. Enjoy reading how it is being tested globally after making a mark in India and South Asia.

http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/the-fundraiser/telephone-fundraising-what-to-learn-from-indian-telefacing/136

2 days Workshop on Fundraising for NGOs in Bangalore

To fill an important gap in non-profit fundraising information, Penelope Cagney and Bernard Ross, went about compiling and editing pieces contributed by leading fundraisers across the world. The result is "Global Fundraising: How the World is Changing the Rules of Philanthropy", published by AFP and Wiley.

The book covers fundraising across countries, regions and continents. Each chapter highly derives on local contributions from fundraisers in respective geographies. In other words, it is collective wisdom, which is not very often available publically in the field of fundraising.

To order copy of this must have publication, please click http://www.amazon.com/Global-Fundraising-Changing-Philanthropy-Development/dp/1118370708#_

Fundraising by Telefacing- a warm welcome!

The following article on Telefacing appeared in May 2012 issue of "The Fundraiser", a leading magazine on fundraising published from UK. To subscribe the magazine click on http://www.wlrstore.com/caritas-data/fundraiser.aspx

The article talks about how telefacing is being viewed with interest across geographies.

Non-profits urge SAFRG to take central role in fundraising advocacy

At the just concluded 22nd South Asian Fund Raising Summit, the leading non-profits of South Asia urged SAFRG to take a central role in advocating for policy reforms related to fundraising.

The non-profit sector is raising funds under lots of disadvantages. The taxation laws in respect of accepting foreign currency donations are not very friendly. Besides, the laws that give greater incentives to donors and hence increase giving are a non-entity. Many other countries in the world have very supportive policies. Why does our government shy?

Recent TRAI- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India regulations on telecalling make it impossible for NGOs to raise money. Prior to Sept 2011 ruling, non-profits were exempt from embargo on calling. Now the commercial telecallers and NGO have been clubbed as one. This is very unfortunate. By one estimate NGOs raised close to INR 1000 million per year from telecalling. This is a big jolt to the sustainability of the sector. There is no one to listen to NGOs on this. Any effort to meet officials at TRAI fizzles out at the lower bureaucratic levels only.

Direct mailers used to be a successful source of raising money from general public. But right now the quality of postal services available in the region is very poor. Often, 40% of the mailers that NGOs send do not reach the addressees.

What NGO sector lacks is a representative body that advocates for the fundraising rights of the NGOs. The NGOs at the summit urged that SAFRG should play that role in bringing the sector together.

SAFRG has promised to soon call a meeting for all affected NGOs to chart the future course of action. More details on this space soon.

Article by Shweta Shukla