Summary
A fundraising event was held in Ngong town (suburb of Nairobi). Living Positive Kenya (LPK) hosted a dinner to raise funds for the construction of a classroom in Ngong Hills slums. LPK focussed on the ´shilling for a shilling´ promise made by Kenyan Change the Game Academy partner KCDF to encourage potential donors. LPK also used flyers and posters to market LPK and the proposed project. The fundraising dinner event was graced by an area Member of Parliament and a senator who showed their support for the project by making generous donations.
Children from the daycare center entertained the guests with performances and songs. LPK also showed the guests a video of the overcrowded classrooms that the children were using. There was a raffle with various prizes and in-kind contributions were sold/auctioned.
LPK is still expanding its network for resources other than monetary donations. Among the relations that were established as a result of this first fundraising experience is a healthy connection with the local churches.
Tips and lessons learned
1. It is good to take ample time to fundraise. This enables you to mobilise local business people and corporates, who may need time to take a decision.
2. Target individuals within the organisations and corporates you want to reach. They may have their own individual reasons for giving. In LPK´s case many church members gave when they discovered the children themselves were taking a lead role in fundraising outside the major churches in Ngong.
3. Use volunteers and interns to mobilise the community to fundraise.
4. It is not easy to recruit politicians (except perhaps during election time). But if you start to engage them early and make them understand how important this project is for the community, it is possible to secure their co-operation. In general: the more publicity you are able to guarantee, the bigger the chance of getting significant donations from politicians.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
LPK organised a fundraising dinner with a number of side-activities, all bringing in money. As a result, LPK raised a satisfactory amount of money for a first attempt, although the actual dinner was not as profitable as anticipated. One of the results of this first fundraising experience is the establishment of an important network of relations with individuals, corporates and the local churches.
In future it must therefore be possible to have (part of) the costs of an event like this sponsored, especially hall hire and food. It is quite clear that LPK owes these new relations to their impeccable follow-up of the event, staying in touch with pledge makers and potential future donors.
Details
Objectives
Mobilise the community towards construction of a classroom in Ngong slums.
Create awareness about the project and need for early childhood education.
Raise funds to meet the overall project costs.
Targeted donors
Local community members around Ngong township
Corporate companies in Ngong town
Local churches
A hospital in Ngong town with whom LPK plans to partner on HIV advocacy and outreach
Results
| Cost/benefit |
National currency (KES |
Euro |
| Total amount raised |
1,014,928 |
8,728 |
| (-) Total amount invested |
300,600 |
2,585 |
| Net amount raised |
714,328 |
6,143 |
Accounting details
|
Income |
Costs |
| Social media |
63.670 |
3.000 |
| Baking & selling of cakes |
9.658 |
7.300 |
| Dinner related costs/income |
189.700 |
141.800 |
| Auctioning prizes |
122.900 |
90.000 |
| Fundraision churches |
435.000 |
52.000 |
| Fundraising individuals |
194.000 |
6.500 |
Description of preparatory work
1. Visiting leaders and politicians (5 days).
2. Moving from one church to another creating awareness (5 days).
3. Design visual materials: brochures/flyers/invitation cards (2 days).
4. Identification of guests and distribution of invitation cards (5 days).
5. Selling/auctioning in-kind donations like cakes and sweets, safari-tour packages, etc. (4 days).
6. Preparing for the dinner and soliciting raffle tickets/items for two days prior to the dinner.
7. Hosting the actual dinner.
Description of implementation
Team spirit and support lobbying from all stakeholders was key to the success of LPK´s local fundraising efforts which were characterised by the following:
• Community beneficiaries were encouraged to bring in-kind contributions to be auctioned during the dinner.
• Volunteers and staff took part in getting potential donors to sign Friends of LPK pledge forms and donation cards that explained the different donation categories ranging from Kshs 50 to Kshs 1.000.
Follow up: Donor appreciation and acknowledgement
Afterwards LPK stayed in touch with individuals who pledged during and after the fundraising dinner. Also they contacted organisations that had offered in-kind donations to see if they would be willing to assist in the future.
Plans to repeat the action
Although the proceeds of the actual dinner were a bit disappointing, LPK decided to use this fundraising method again. There now is an annual fundraising dinner at a pre-school for learning materials.
