Local fundraising example:
Bright smiles to kids

Organisation	Smile Foundation
Website	http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/
Type	NGO
Suitability	More experienced
Country	India
Funding needed for	Mission Education programme, to send underprivileged children to school
Period of action	2013-2014
In-kind donations raised	n.a.
Types of donations	Corporate donation, employee contributions
Types of donors	A well-known corporate and its employees

Summary

20.500 children across India are currently being provided education under Smile Foundations´s Mission Education programme through 114 operational projects across 21 states of India. These children are mostly either homeless, orphaned, runaways, or belong to extremely poor families. Many of them have suffered the harsh realities of child labour. Smile Foundation is actively approaching corporates to support this programme. In this particular case the monetary sponsorship of 200 children was combined with volunteering opportunities /employee engagement for the employees of the donor organisation. During the engagement activity, employees of the donor agency visited the Smile Foundation project site and spent quality time with the beneficiaries by participating in a joint drawing competition and playing a Diwali based quiz. After the activities goody bags were distributed to the children and prizes were also given to the winners of the drawing competition and quiz competition. The donation was used in sending 200 underprivileged children to school. In return, Smile Foundation provided a tax exemption certificate, branding and reporting to the donor agency.

Tips and lessons learned

1. An employee engagement activity involves a lot of back end work with lots of planning, which is time consuming, but once the event has taken place the corporate has a sense of ´ownership´ of the programme they are supporting. This helps to secure ongoing support from the corporate.
2. As this is a strategy that works it is advisable to consider it when you are approaching corporates, especially with a child support programme.
3. If the first joint activity goes well, there is a huge possibility of continued (and larger) support from both the corporate as well as Individual employees.

Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation

This is an excellent example of corporate sponsorship with a plus. By offering employees of the corporate the possibility to celebrate Diwali and Family Day with the children their company sponsored, they were made to feel part of the programme. For some this was the start of getting involved individually as well.

Details

Objectives

1. Direct funding of the Mission Education programme.
2. Exposure of the children to a joyous celebration of Family Day and Diwali, together with children from famillies of the donor.
3. Adding credibility to Smile Foundation by associating with a renowned corporate and using the same in future to showcase Smile´s work to other prospective donors.

Targeted donors

A renowned corporate brand.

Results

Accounting details

The costs were reimbursed by the corporate.

Description of preparatory work

1. Proposal and presentation making.
2. Coordination with the corporate for proposal approval and signing the deal.
3. Keeping in touch with everyone involved in arranging the event with the children.
4. Booking a venue, ordering lunch, purchasing the necessary materials and gifts.
5. Coordinating with programme team for kids´ availability and participation.
6. Preparing the event flow with the corporate.

Description of implementation

1. Ensuring the presence of the children and participating volunteers of the corporate.
2. Ensuring the event flow going smooth and on time.
3. Post event settling of accounts with all the vendors.
4. Sharing event report and thank you mail to all participating employees and the corporate.
5. Maintaining donor relationship through good donor nurturing by paying a visit to the donor once every two months and sending regular updates.