The work of NGOs in developing countries is vital to millions of people. However, fund-raising for these organizations is particularly difficult, for numerous reasons:- There is often great competition among numerous local groups for scarce local financial resources.
- International funders are reluctant to fund community-based NGOs “directly”,because of a perception of lack of accountability, difficulty in establishing crediblereferences, practical issues with resource transfers, and numerous taxquestions.
- Some community-based organizations lack what donors regard as the necessary prerequisite structure for being able to process donations, financial or otherwise.
- For many organizations, this becomes a “Catch 22”: resources would permit the necessary administrative changes to become more donor rule-compliant, but they cannot get those resources without making the changes.
Fund-raising: Some things You Should NEVER Do:
- post to online discussion groups or send letters via post with desperate pleas for money. You will not gain funds this way. You may even harm your credibility and create bad feelings about your organization among potential supporters.
- send out information riddled with spelling errors.
- WRITE EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This is shouting online or in print.
- Give Up. If you are not successful with your first attempts, keep trying. Review the reasons a donor has rejected your request, and use the information you gather to improve future requests. If you don't receive a reason, ask, respectfully, and say it is because you would like to be able to do better in the future. Don’t pester the same donor with multiple requests, but if your NGO changes its work or administration and you believe your NGO's operations now better fit a funder's guidelines, consider contacting a potential donor again, emphasizing how your proposal is different than the one previously rejected.
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