My flight left Accra, Ghana at about 22.30pm GMT and finally arrived in San Francisco, California at about 15.00(about 20.00 GMT) the following day. It took at least an hour to get through immigration...going through US immigration is probably one of the things I hate most about travelling to the US. I always find that I get asked the most inane questions (maybe the questions are not inane and I just hate being quizzed). One of the questions I got asked this time was 'You've been to Turkey?'. I had a Turkish stamp in my passport from a holiday there a year ago and 'Have you been to the US before?'. My answer, 'several times' and the follow up question from the Immigration Officer was ' Was this on this passport or your previous passport'. I guess it was in my previous passport as my current passport was issued in 2006 and I had no US stamps in there. Actually I just realised I probably have it easy when it comes to US immigration.I have dual nationality and carry a British passport...I can only imagine what life would be like if I travelled on a Ghanaian passport.
I am in San Francisco to participate in the 'Women Raising Millions' training program which seeks to enable women's funds to leverage millions. I have been looking forward to this course but also slightly concerned about the fact that the majority of participants are Executive Directors of their own organisations whereas I am a programme officer. After Day 1 of this course, that concern has gone. I still think the other participants have an advantage over me because they are the primary decision makers in their own organisations but the good thing is I haven't felt out of my league at all which was one of my concerns. Part of what I want to do on this blog this week is to share some of my key learnings from this course.
Key learning for me today has been:
* A reminder about the importance of 'story-telling'. When you tell a donor or potential donor about your fund you are able to connect with them at a deeper level than when you state what your mission is.
* Some of the most exciting results we get from the work we fund are 'unexpected' and may not always come across in grantee reports. A good way to get this information is to ask ' What were your unexpected results?'
* Do not ask potential donors for money straightaway. Ask instead for advice. A useful quote that the guest presenter Tuti shared is ' When you ask for money you get advice. When you ask for advice, you get money'.
If you are a fundraiser reading this blog I am really curious to find out what you have learnt about leveraging major funding from individuals? What has had to be in place for you to raise major gifts from individuals?
Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer
Fundraising & Communications
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