Summary
Book Bank Scheme: This is a project where individuals donate books, both used and unused, and READ sells them to collect funds to buy locally published fiction and text books to donate to schools.
Monthly individual giving: READ has initiated this as a three year campaign where individuals will be contributing not less than 5000 TZS (2.1 Euro) monthly for three years from 2017 to 2019, in order to increase local commitment. READ will continue to encourage as many people as possible to donate whatever amount they want.
Corporate Engagement: READ engages different corporates which operate locally and have an interest in what READ does. They fund their programmes as a social return to the community, but also to increase their visibility.
Consortium Proposal Writing: This is new initiative; READ partners with likeminded NGO’s who together write one proposal with the same focus. When funding is pledged the programme is also implemented together.
Fundraising dinner: This is another new initiative. READ expects to engage individuals/good Samaritans, businessmen, new corporates, government stakeholders, etc.
Grants Foundations: READ is writing proposals to different foundations within and outside the country.
Tips and lessons learned
Lessons:
- The big lesson is: local fundraising makes your organisation more sustainable. An organisation needs local funds, especially when grants from outside to keep your projects moving are diminishing.
- Successful fundraising with corporates takes time. Corporates are living in the profit making world; although they have corporate social responsibility their main concern lies with the targets of their company. Therefore you need patience and create possibilities for engagement. When they see tangible results they trust you and keep working with you.
- Local people are willing to donate for the development of their own country, what you need to do is to raise more awareness and to be able to show how much value for money they are getting.
Challenges:
- Not all corporates you try to engage are willing to donate, some can even promise and when you reach the point of signing the MoU they turn down the offer, this is sometimes because of the review of their market plan, management change etc.
- Another challenge is the fact that local funding is short-term. Though corporates/individuals might be happy to fund you this year, that is no guarantee that they will fund you in the coming years. No partnership agreement goes beyond a year.
- No corporates/individuals READ has engaged so far are ready to fund operational costs.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
READ has obviously understood the importance of not putting all your eggs in one basket. They are applying different fundraising techniques and are constantly thinking of new strategies that could be profitable. In order to be more successful in (inter)national fundraising, they co-operate with other NGO´s and write joint proposals. But READ also wants to concentrate on local fundraising and turn this into a reliable source of income. New initiatives have been developed and are now being put into practice.
One of the biggest challenges that READ mentions is: how to keep your donors (corporates and individuals) happy, so that they will choose to contribute to your work in years to come. For all of you who are struggling with this problem: the Change the Game Academy offers a course on Donor Relations Management that teaches you how to stimulate existing donors to increase their contribution and/or to donate more frequently.
Details
Short description of the organisation the funds were raised for
Realizing Education for Development (READ) is a Tanzanian legally registered non-governmental organisation working for the development of the younger generation through education. READ is affiliated with READ International with the mission to improve access to educational resources for young people in Tanzania and support them in skills and capacity development. To date READ has refurbished 88 libraries in government schools, donated over 1.5 million books, reaching about 60.000 secondary students and 1.000 university students across Tanzania. 223 teachers have been trained since 2015. At READ we believe that the joy of reading should be for everyone. By creating a space that captures young people’s imaginations and fosters a love of books, literacy can be fun! That’s why we work with Tanzanian volunteers from local universities to create safe, inviting libraries in secondary schools across the country: changing the way Tanzania reads, one book at a time.
Short description of the project or programme the funds were raised for
READ always raises funds for all of their programmes:
Library Refurbishment Programme - The library programme grew out of an assessed need that secondary school pupils in Tanzania don’t only lack access to books, but that they also lack a safe, quiet, organised space to read and to further their studies. READ libraries are planned in partnership with each school’s management team, Parent Teachers Associations, local government and the local community. To keep costs low, a currently disused space in the school is identified to be refurbished into a library and the work is completed over four weeks by five volunteers from local Tanzanian universities.
Literacy and Reading Programme - In order to maximise the efficacy of the created library, this programme focuses on reading promotion through establishment of school-run literacy activities such as reading clubs. The objective is to promote the reading culture among students and teachers, increase their self-esteem, promote independent reading and improve their comprehension and fluency. This is done through the orientation training for the schools’ pupils and teachers on how to use their library, how to find books and on using textbooks. This happens with 15-20 pupils at a time over two days. Ten library prefects are also chosen by the school to monitor the responsible use of the space and to help those in need to use the library fruitfully.
Teacher Resource Use and Professional Development - In Tanzania, most schools only have one textbook for every eight pupils, creating a significant barrier to learning. Therefore, READ aims to fill the refurbished libraries with locally published and locally relevant textbooks and fiction, in both English and Kiswahili. However, having enough textbooks is only useful if teachers know how to use them. READ trains teachers on reading promotion, improving literacy, textbook use in classrooms and library management.
Alumni Mentoring Programme - All of READ's libraries are refurbished by Tanzanian university students. They are trained on workplace knowledge and skills and practice what they have learned. READ supports them to have access to jobs through an internship programme. This is a relatively new programme intending to empower 50 university students per year.
Objectives
- To raise funds to create 40 new libraries in 2017 and 2018.
- To implement literacy and reading programmes in all schools READ supported with libraries since they started the operation.
- To train teachers in resource use and enhance their professional development.
- To start an Alumni Mentoring Programme.
Targeted donors
Corporates, big grants foundations, big funding agencies, bilateral donors, individuals.
Results
| Cost/benefit |
National currency (TZS |
Euro |
| Total amount raised |
209,000,000 |
89,700 |
| (-) Total amount invested |
0 |
0 |
| Net amount raised |
209,000,000 |
89,700 |
Description of preparatory work
Book Bank Scheme - Budget for money to have this project allocated.
Monthly individual giving - Setting up organisation of money collection accounts, such as mobile money accounts, networks/connections and development of flyers, awareness raising key messages and talking points.
Consortium proposal and grant seeking to foundations - First you need to find the right partner; donor sourcing and analysing donor priorities plus requirements are also important.
Fundraising event/dinner - You first need to determine what you want to achieve, whom you want to invite, find the right location for the event and make a plan for all logistics.
Description of implementation
Book Bank Scheme - Buy the book bin, put them on location and collect the books when the bin is full.
Monthly individual giving - Raise awareness among friends, relatives and partners through formal and informal meetings, social media, etc. Start collecting the money.
Consortium proposal and grant seeking to foundations - *Sign the partnership agreement needs to be signed, sharing/exchanging of organisation materials such as strategies, programme descriptions, etc. need to be done, joint proposal writing plan needs to be developed and lastly proposal writing session needs to be carried out.
Fundraising event/dinner - Prepare the written business/event plan, search for the corporates/individuals who might sponsor the event, raise awareness among people why you want to raise funds, sell table tickets and launch the event, then lastly start follow-up action to collect the pledges.
Follow up: Donor appreciation and acknowledgement
READ appreciates donor contributions:
1. On Social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn).
2. Through their website.
3. By advertising their contributions through selected newspapers and blogs.
Plans to repeat the action
READ will repeat most of the actions, using the strategies mentioned in this example, though they will sharpen some of the objectives, based on the changes of targeted donors/sponsors.
