One of the things I had promised to do this week is to blog about my experiences at the 'Women Raising Millions' training course being held in San Francisco by the Women's Funding Network. Part of what has been great about this course has been the opportunity to learn from all the other women who lead and work for women's funds across the world. I found myself yesterday starting to make a note of 'What do you need to be a successful fundraiser?' and compiled my list based on what people were saying and ideas that struck me during the day. Part of what I think is really interesting at this point in time is that AWDF in association with Resource Alliance(UK) and the Ghana Institute of Management and Professional Association (GIMPA) is currently running in Ghana a fundraising course with trainers including Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director of AWDF, Abigail Burgesson, Senior Program Manager for Special Programs and Joan Koomson, Donor Liason Officer.
So here is my list so far:
To be a successful fundraiser you need to :
* Be passionate about your cause
* Have an extensive network of friends and supporters
* Be knowledgeable about your organisation and have key figures and facts about your organisations to hand
* Have a compelling story about why your organisation should be funded
* Research your prosepctive donors
* Ask for advice not money ( I think I will need to write a separate blog about this)
* Understand that 'No' only means 'Hello'
* Track the impact of your work and be prepared to show the results of your work
* Think of innovative ways to raise money
* Work hard to establish connections and good relationships with your funders
* Cultivate your prospects (this could be a separate blog too!)
* Find opportunities to learn more about your prospective donors
* Not worry about making mistakes - see mistakes as learning opportunities
* Dedicate time and resources to fundraising
* Find out what issues your prospects emotionally connect with
Nana Sekyiamah
Programme Officer
Fundraising & Communications
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2 comments:
HI I wanted to ask you? When holding a fundraiser in a stadium who provides special event insurance the company holding the fundraiser or the stadium?
Hi Anonymous,
In response to your question. Personally, I guess it will depend on the policy of the stadium and the agreement between both parties. I imagine that the stadium will already have a policy stating whether it will be responsible for the insurance, or not, but I doubt if it will want to take such a responsibility.
Roselynn
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