Local Resource Mobilization for Institutional Sustainability Workshop

1. Local Resource Mobilizationfor Institutional SustainabilityWorkshopOrganized by LWF Program on Confronting Poverty & Economic Injustices In Africa 22nd – 26th June 2015 PCEA, South C, Nairobi

2. I. Introduction Self introduction ( Who I am) Expectations from LRM workshop (Write & Pin on the board)

3. Introduction… Workshop objectives 1. Understand the importance and fundamental concepts of Local Resource Mobilization (LRM) 2. Understand the importance and techniques of communicating church work 3. Passion for flourishing communities in our midst 4. Understand the role of transparency, accountability and credibility 5. Explore techniques of LRM 6. Plan the annual LRM Strategy

4. Introduction • Background to the workshop • Overdependence on external donor funding. “Hands Tied”. Implement donor priorities • Change in Donor fund available • In fighting poverty Institutional Sustainability prioritized by LUCA 2013 • LWF Strategy 2012-2017 highlights organizational sustainability & effectiveness

5. THE LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION (LWF)REGIONAL TRAINING ON local resources mobilization- introduction TO FUNDRAISING techniquesLUCCEA SUB REGION 22nd- 26th June 2015 • Workshop schedule -Refer word doc

6. II. LRM Experience Sharing • The African culture of Giving • Fundraising experience

7. A person is a person throughother persons- UBUNTU • The African culture of giving.( Discuss experiences. What is the current situation? Where did we go wrong? Any signs of recovery?) Person (individual) experiences • Sharing experiences on fund raising: • Opportunities and constraints • Resource gap. Country specific Experiences on national budgets and church budgets

8. III. On the road to sustainability • Importance of LRM • Changing environment in the current aid environment- Global Aid decline; experiences by individual country ; • Strategic positioning: How much is currently raised locally by our churches and how much comes from external( Financial reports /statements) • The legal environment of churches • What is the situation?

9. On the road to sustainability… 2.The Tough gets going • Yet life goes on: • Children need to be educated • Homes need to be built • Diseases have to be treated • Poverty needs to be tackled • Gospel preached • Rights should be defended

10. On the road to sustainability… 3.Challenges to fund raising • Public is unaware of social issues and needs, and of the role played by churches, NGOs • The question of credibility. Increasingly the credibility of civil society including churches is questionable. Public is skeptical. • Boards and leadership have a non-committal attitude to fundraising, often stemming from dependency on a single source of income • Boards and leadership are seldom actively supportive • Integrating people with professional fundraising skills into Churches is a challenge • Churches are reluctant to allocate resources for investment • Any others in own contexts/ experiences?

11. On the road to sustainability… 4. Diversify your income sources • Identify key sources of income and how to tap them: • Financial and in-kind contributions from individuals, local community members within and outside the country, business houses, national trusts and foundations.

12. On the road to sustainability… • Explore more fundraising support: • Promote your work ( Annual reports) • Work at retaining regular donors • Network with like-minded organizations/ churches • Learn from larger churches/ organizations that continue to grow • Tap the rising middle income class( Philanthropists) • Get Government support

13. On the road to sustainability… 5. Baseline study • Conduct study, analyze and interpret the data collected

14. IV. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM Organizational Systems to be put in place include • Long term strategic planning ( mission, vision, strategic directions, strategic priorities)– • Required to understand why organizational sustainability is important as opposed to project or programme sustainability. • Understanding where the organization wants to be five years from now, will help in understanding what you are raising funds for and who could be your potential donors; and, • Therefore what are the fundraising techniques you can employ.

15. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Budgets – Understanding how much you want to raise each year and the purpose will help you plan your fundraising in terms of the audience and the relevant fundraising messages. • Annual Reports with Financial information – Having this will strengthen your image as atransparent and accountable organization thereby increasing your chances of raising funds. • Communication material – brochures, newsletters This is crucial to communicate with your donors on how you have used their money and the impact you have had on the lives of the people you work with.

16. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Databases – This forms the backbone of your fundraising strategy, building on a database of donors or building your constituency of supporters is very crucial for your LRM • Donor relation building systems –A lot of fund raising depends on how you build relations with your donors. The idea would be to appeal to every section of donors – kids, college students, employees, employers and retired personnel.

17. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Fund Raising Planning An organization spends a considerable amount of time developing its medium-term strategic plan. Similarly, it should also spend time developing a fund raising plan. Through a fund raising plan, the organization can efficiently develop campaigns that will yield the monetary targets necessary to achieve its vision and mission while developing a base of supportive donors.

18. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… A fund raising plan should follow the following steps: 1.Review the organization’s vision, mission, goals, and strategic plan (The vision, mission, and goals (VMG) of an organization serve as the anchor for its fund raising program. Fund raising remains merely a medium for achieving the organization’s goals and fulfillment of its mission. An organization’s vision and mission must be reviewed periodically but should be revised sparingly)

19. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Vision • Is it clear? • Can people relate to it and work hard to achieve it? • Is it powerful? • Does it inspire improved performance? • Is it strategic? • Does it capture the organization’s image of the future?

20. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Mission • Is it clear and understandable? • Does it specify the purpose of the organization? • Does it express the organization’s reason for being? • Is it broad enough for flexibility but not too broad to lack focus? • Does it serve as an energy source and a rallying point for the organization?

21. Pre-requisites for Successful LRM… • Goal statements ( long-term objectives) • Are they specific? • Are they measurable? • Are they attainable? • Are they relevant? • Are they time-bound?

22. V. How to Ask Interactive session- Ice breaker Participants to Volunteer( 2,2,2) Plenary: Brainstorm what was right and wrong Participant volunteer: which parts they did well and what could have done better Note: It is possible to Ask

23. VI. Fundamental concepts of LRM 1. Fund raising as friend raising • Fund raising is often seen as merely raising money for an organization. While this remains true, organizations should look at fund raising as more than just about money. Fund raising should be seen as a management process that identifies people, corporations, and institutions that share the same values of the organization and taking steps to manage that relationship. In effect, it’s all about “friend raising.” • For fund raising to succeed, it requires relationship building, communications, and organizational management and development. A fund raising organization must have the ability to build relationships whether with individuals, corporations, or funding agencies. The organization must also communicate its mission, vision, and goals to various publics. As good governance and financial management are key to having a positive public image and credibility, an organization should also be prepared with the systems and structure that would allow it to raise funds legitimately and transparently. This will include setting up a legal entity, with the ability to issue official receipts, and with access to an organizational bank account, to name a few. This may also include certification as a donee institution.

24. Fundamental concepts of LRM… People give to people: Whether you’re approaching individuals, companies or foundations, remember that it’s people at the other end that make the decision. Both companies and foundations make decisions based on their priorities and how well your work fits their priorities, and these concerns have to be addressed in your presentation or proposal. However, it is still worthwhile highlighting the change that your work has brought about in the lives of people, communities or the environment!

25. Fundamental concepts of LRM… • Always include donation options that will help a donor decide quickly how much he/ she can give and what would be the impact that can be achieved from that amount. Emphasize that phrases like ‘please donate’, ‘support us’ or ‘join us’ seldom work.

26. Fundamental concepts of LRM… • The 80:20 rule: The 80:20 rule or Pareto Principle is a management principle that is ascribed to the 20th century Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto. For fundraisers, it implies that the majority (80%) of income will come from a few donors (20%) who make large donations (perhaps trusts and foundations, or high net worth individuals.) The remaining 80% of your donors – including companies, individuals, small trusts – contribute only 20% of your income. Organizations often choose to concentrate on the 20 percent of the donors that provide 80 percent of the funds, without nurturing the bigger chunk of one-time donors, or encouraging one-time donors to become repeat donors, and eventually upgraded donors. It is important to nurture this group, as they extend your constituency and potentially, over the years, contribute larger amounts.

27. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • All communication material should be so clear and crisp that it achieves the 3-30-3 rule: • THE 30 SECOND RULE • You have 3 seconds to grab your audience’s attention. • You have 30 seconds to engage your audience. • 3 minutes for your prospect to read or listen to you

28. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • More people give when approached as a group than individually. For instance, the payroll. Giving technique works on this principle. However, in some cases, individual approaches work better. It would be good to analyze which technique of fundraising is better approached on an individual basis rather than in a group.

29. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • Leverage Peer Pressure: everyone in the organization – the Board, the head of the organization, the staff – must be supportive of fundraising. • Fundraisers “ask” for a cause, not for themselves. It is best to be specific while asking. For example, if you’re approaching a company or an individual, specifically state what you wish them to do (volunteer/ sign up for payroll giving/ provide employment/ donate) and give details. • Asking for the right amount can be tricky but can be mastered over time by testing with different audiences and amounts.

30. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • Plan: Many organizations tend to view fundraising as an ad hoc activity, and not as an ongoing process. Develop a plan and stick to it.

31. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • Test and test again: Test methods of fundraising to decide which methods – and mode of implementation – works best for you. • Similarly, with communication materials, test the design, content, and donation amounts to arrive at material that evokes the best response from people. • This however, does not mean you have a separate testing phase before you launch into LRM, but the initial years are known to be testing in nature to see what works best for your cause and organization.

32. Fundamental concepts of Fundraising… • Saying thank you quickly and in different ways through the year, could easily be the most important principle in fundraising

33. VII.LRM PLANNING • Analyze your existing donor base and potential for growth: Where are we now?

34. Where are we now? This exercise helps you analyze your KEY sources of income and plan for desirable change in amounts and percentages. • Analyze your existing sources of income and set targets • Use the latest financial data and Annual Report

35. Where are we now?... Conduct an analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) in relation to your fund raising activities. Strengths and weaknesses should refer to factors internal to the organization, while opportunities and threats are factors external to the organization.

36. Where are we now?... SWOT Strengths may include: • Board assists in fund raising. • Fund raising staff in the organization • Publication of annual report Weaknesses may include: • The organization is unable to process credit card transactions. • The organization is not a certified donee institution. • Financial systems are not in place. Opportunities may be: • For environmental organizations, climate change is a funding priority for donors. • The European Union is present in the region where the organization works. Challenges may include: • Currency exchange fluctuation weakens the local currency. • The peace and order situation in the community is less than ideal.

37. Where are we now?...

38. Where are we now?... Determine your Organizational Funding needs

39. Determine orgn. funding needs • Refer word doc

40. Determine orgn. funding needs • Identify key program areas and compute the corresponding funding requirement. THEN list funds that have been committed by virtue of (for example) a grant agreement, or a contract for contribution. Only the actual signed agreements should be included in this portion, since it is more prudent to underestimate the committed funds than to overestimate, lest it encourage complacency in the organization. • Upon subtracting the total committed funds from the total funding requirement of the key program areas, the organization will establish the fund gap and the fund raising target.

41. VIII. Where can we be? Building constituency of supporters and setting LRM targets

42. Where can we be? • Setting LRM targets This is an example of a funding needs table which you can use as a reference to help you determine your fund raising target. Looking at the example, you can derive that the program requirements for year 1 amount to 1,500,000 and the committed funds total to 500,000. Thus there is a funding gap of 1,000,000 which should now be the fund raising target for year 1.

43. Where can we be?

44. Where can we be? Other Funding agencies may request a breakdown of your expenses. Below is an example of budget table required.

45. Exercise • REFER WORD DOC 2

46. IX. The 3 pillars of Communication Statement of work, Achievements and Success stories: Fundraisers need to learn about three essential elements of good communication: • 1. The ability to quickly summarize what the organization does; • 2. The ability to highlight what the organization has achieved through its work; • 3. The ability to capture the target audience’s interest by telling stories.

47. The 3 pillars of Communication… • These three must-haves of communication can be used in all verbal and written communication. • They can be used in communication material being produced by an organization – brochures, newsletters, annual reports, appeals and so on – as well as in personal meetings and formal presentations.

48. The 3 pillars of Communication… Exercise: ELEVATOR RAP

49. The 3 pillars of Communication… Two volunteers to come up and explain the scene – you are both now in an elevator. • One of you is a rich and famous businessman (if possible, name a famous personality known for his/ her philanthropy) and the other is working for an NGO. Now, when you accidently meet in a lift, how will you introduce your organization and use the opportunity positively. • This role play will highlight – 1. The need to build rapport 2. The need to stay abreast of philanthropy in your country and local area 3. How to speak about your work briefly and in an attractive manner

50. The 3 pillars of Communication… • The Route map • Statement of work – What is a statement of work? – Some examples and what to avoid • Statement of achievements – Activities vs achievements – Link between activities and achievements • Success story – Writing a success story – Sample Stories