My First Fundraising Experience

I was maybe eight years old and visiting my grandmother in Dehradun along with a gaggle of my other cousins. My uncle (mum’s cousin) lived some distance away, and this one time, my grandmother sent a whole bunch of us kids to give him some kheer she had made – apparently his favourite.

He lived in one of those old Dehradun homes with a long driveway and a garden, with the home set far inside the property. They had a fairly vicious dog at that point – this chap was famous for taking outsized bites out of all visitors’ ankles. So clutching the kheer ka dabba we were at the gate and sort of clanging it hoping to catch the attention of a human while still keeping a metal contraption between us and the vicious dog. My uncle saw us from his verandah, which was set off from the gate by a good 100 metres or so, and not being the most sunny-tempered of people himself, came charging at us with his stick literally chasing us off his gate, shouting and spitting.

We were stupefied; as children you know adults are always mysterious and act so weirdly, but this was something else – I can still remember being gawp-faced watching him tearing down the driveway shaking his stick yelling, “Bhag jao! Hum kisi ke liye chanda nahi dete!” Get lost! We don’t want to donate for ANYTHING!

From the verandah he hadn’t recognized us and thought we were a gaggle of kids raising funds for some neighbourhood do-gooding activity and he was very subtly letting us know that he wasn’t all that keen on participating.

Somewhat unbeknownst to me, that was my first fundraising experience. I must say that in all the years since then, so much has changed. And so much remains exactly the same.

My Weirdest Fundraising Experience

I’ve had so many – in my next life I want to be a fundraiser for whom this never gets weird. But this one time we had gone to meet this person, hoping to be able to get a decent sum from him. I had never met him before, but I was assured by a lot of people who had met him that he was a tough negotiator, and not exactly the straightest arrow. But sometimes if you managed to get all the random ducks that controlled his giving behavior in a row – bingo, you could get lucky.

So we show up and he has this sob story all ready about how he absolutely cannot spare a penny and so on and so forth. Then he says to us, I may not have a cheque for you today, but I do have advice.

(As an aside here, can I say to all you funders and donors out there, that’s the first sentence of the fundraiser’s prayer, i.e., please dear God if the funder does not have a cheque, please may he not then have some advice for us)

But what could we say? We just simpered and said insincerely; of course, we would love to hear it. So he starts off on how we can raise enormous funds if we simply start making paper products that have a demand; not just things like cards etc which no one wants. “Have you thought of calendars?” he says.

“Yes, we do have calendars – with tribal art and children’s drawings and modern Indian art, etc.” I began to chunter.

“Oh no, that’s not the sort of calendars that have a demand!” he cuts me short. “The ones that will really really sell and earn you millions and you will thank me for the idea and I will say I gave it to you free –  is those Kingfisher calendars. Now that – that has demand!” Yes, those Kingfisher calendars, featuring swimsuit models for every month.

I will never ever forget ushering ourselves out of his presence, all the while muttering on repeat the second line in the fundraiser’s prayer, please dear God, if it has to get weird, please can it not get Kingfisher calendar weird?

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The waves of the global COVID pandemic – and subsequent lockdown across India – have brought along a period of distress for everyone. The social sector, in particular, has been brought to the frontlines to serve communities in this difficult time. 

With a large portion of the sector’s funding diverted to COVID-related causes, financial support for other causes and interventions started to dry up. Social Purpose Organizations continue to struggle to raise funds for their regular programs. Many have had to downsize their operations – giving up office spaces, rationalizing salaries, and letting go of important staff members. With this squeeze, many development professionals are feeling disillusioned, discouraged, and even tempted to leave the sector altogether.

With the aim to address fundraising as a major pain point – during this crisis and otherwise – and the organization’s overall mission of building leadership and capacity in the sector, ILSS announced the launch of the Fundraising Program in June 2020. The Program, an online learning experience, presented a great opportunity for social sector leaders and professionals to hone their incumbent skillsets in raising money for social causes.

In turn, keeping in mind the dire situation on the ground, and with the hope of retaining talent within the social sector, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation came on board to devise a novel ancillary Scholarship Program. The Scholarship offered employment and course enrolment to motivated, young professionals who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic crisis. The Scholars could build their skillsets in fundraising through the ILSS Fundraising Program, and simultaneously apply their learnings within the development verticals of Placement Organizations for a period of 6 months.

Participating NGOs, in turn, got to experience first-hand the impact and advantage of retaining a fully-trained fundraising professional for their programs. 

After a rigorous selection process, 8 Scholars were identified and mapped to 8 Placement Organizations (POs). Through the next 6 months, the Scholars worked closely with the fundraising heads of the POs, whilst being a part of the ILSS Fundraising Program cohort. To bring their learnings from the classroom to their POs in a more focused manner, Scholars and their supervisors set goals for the duration of their placements. Specific fundraising and personal targets could then be set within a timeline and periodically assessed.

Every month, Scholars would share new learnings with one another, supporting each other’s initiatives and working through challenges as a group. For example, one of the Scholars set up a detailed Business Development Operations Management System at their PO, and was then able to guide two other Scholars with their own retail fundraising processes. Another Scholar shared a structured method to research prospective donors gleaned from their PO. A third demonstrated how they used detailed census social indicators data at the district level to build a case for funding. This cross-pollination of ideas and best practices helped take learned concepts of fundraising to the next level.

By March 2021, the scholars had graduated from the ILSS Fundraising Program and completed their 6-month stints with their respective POs. 

To measure the success of the Scholarship Program, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation and ILSS set up a rigorous set of review criteria. This covered assessments of the Scholar, of the PO, of the overall project management, as well as of the ILSS Fundraising Program.

One of the most critical measures of success for A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, in particular, was that Scholars stay in the sector with full-time employment after the 6-month Program. This depended on several factors including the Scholars’ expectations, and financial feasibility for the PO. Three Scholars were retained by their POs as full-time employees. Two stayed on as part-time resources while also taking on other assignments in line with their own personal career goals. One is starting their own SPO. The remaining two Scholars are exploring employment options outside the sector.

ATECF Scholars Program Highlights, in Retrospect

Changing the Culture Around Fundraising

This Program helped 8 organizations, diverse in domain and size, experience the value of having a full-time fundraising resource. It pushed founders, irrespective of their ability to offer full-time employment to the Scholar, to consider such a resource for the organization. Four of the POs, where fundraising was traditionally managed by the founder, have now decided to invest in a full-time fundraising resource.

Building Capacity of Critical Talent

The Program had a success rate of almost 40% in getting full-time employment to fundraising talent after the 6 months. This is a particularly good value-add keeping in mind that the Program’s intent was to retain critical trained talent in the sector.

A Risky Bet on an Innovation

A.T.E. Chandra Foundation took a leap of faith after seeing scores of valuable people in the sector getting laid off due to lack of funds. The Scholarship Program allowed the Foundation to explore an area of innovation within capacity-building, getting immediate impact and feedback from the ground by funding an experiment.

Scholar Reflections

On Building Confidence: ‘I am confident that I can raise funds for any NGO/ cause.’

‘The scholarship gave me the space to think about what I really wanted to do. I now feel armed for the future.’

On Collaboration: ‘I have learned that communications and fundraising have to go together, and teams must collaborate deeply to create impact’.

On Pursuing Long-Term Learning: ‘Fundraising is a long-drawn process, and one needs to keep at it. That fundraising cannot be separated from deep program knowledge.’

On Networks and Resources: ‘The ecosystem created, and its collective effort will help grow the mindset of giving in India. Strategies for each donor profile, taught by experts, will stay with me for life.’

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The meeting was set up by one of my mentors and well-wishers. He said the philanthropist was open to hearing about the work I do. My thoughts were running at a dizzying speed, with a healthy dose of both nervousness and excitement, as though meeting someone for a blind date.

There I was, in the lobby of his swank office.  I had to be on my best behaviour to convince and cajole (or at the very worst scare?) a potential funder into falling madly in love with my cause. He’d immediately write me a large cheque, and then get on the phone to invite all his rich friends to also support the stellar work we were doing. 

Of course, it never goes like that. This was my first ever fundraising meeting. I had never met someone before with the sole purpose of asking for money, and especially not for my own organization. It was awkward and stilted, and I was more nervous than I would have imagined. Simply put, I just wasn’t sure how this conversation was supposed to go. After one is done extolling the virtues of the work, what does one do next?

Money, of course, was the proverbial elephant in the room. Should I be straight up and just ask for funding? If I don’t mention it, surely the philanthropist will wonder why we had the meeting in the first place. He may even think me a fool for not making the move! But if I ask, what should the number be? Asking too little could seem like an insult to him and his time. And asking too much could scare him away or sound entitled. Should I be asking at all in the first meeting?

My questions then evolved into the existential. What is it about asking for money that reduces a normally ebulliently confident go-getter like myself into a dithering preteen? Had I taken the time to articulate what I really wanted from this fateful first date? Isn’t fundraising supposed to be about building a relationship first? And how long does it even take to build purposeful partnerships? What would be most critical to my organization’s success at this stage- did I need his trust and support more, or was his money more essential?

I came away from that meeting with no money, but a kind offer to consider my cause the following year. To be honest, though, it may be a while before I feel prepared to go back to him, mostly because the memory of my stuttering self is so humiliating that I can’t bear to meet again the only other person who witnessed it. 

My biggest learning a year and a half later?

Fundraising begins in your head. It isn’t simply about the great work you are doing, but also your ability to put yourself out there, take rejection on your chin, and learn over time to ‘win friends and influence people’. Dale Carnegie was clearly on to something when he wrote that book. It is equally about your ability to do the research, figure out where you stand, how you can pitch for the context, and – perhaps most of all – build the right partnerships with the right funders who will walk the path with you and champion your work beyond just dipping into their wallets.

Looking back, I realise that fundraising – and the inevitable donor relationship- is a dance that one has to choreograph. Two steps forward, three steps back, cha cha cha. It may take a while to find a rhythm and to fall into step together, but once you’ve synchronised your intent and resources towards a common vision, it can be magic all the way.

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Pratyush Rawal & Radha Arakkal

Funds are the lifeblood of social-impact organizations. The criticality of fundraising for a non-profit cannot be overstated.

At India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS), we conducted a detailed study on the development sector fundraising landscape, the main challenges that organizations and social sector leaders face while raising money, and the best practices that some of the most successful fundraising organizations follow.  We interviewed over 70 non-profit leaders, donors, experts, and intermediaries and had over 50 informal conversations for this study.

In the first article of the two-part series, we enumerated the key challenges faced by non-profits while fundraising. In this piece, we discuss the best practices followed by organizations that have been successful at fundraising and have aced the domain.

• They have robust governance systems. From financial reporting to impact assessment, organizations that build strong governance and reporting systems are often the donor’s favourites. Besides helping nonprofits with access to funds, these systems also ensure a strong stewardship model and better relationship management with the donor.
• They have irrefutable evidence of impact. Most donors like to fund projects that are not only sustainable but promise long-lasting outcomes and impact. Successful fundraising organizations present irrefutable evidence of impact through pilot projects or RCTs and inspire confidence among donors.
• Their interventions are simple to understand, technologically driven and scalable/replicable. Despite working in the complex world of human development, organizations successful in fundraising communicate their interventions in the most basic terms, without relying on jargon. Safeena Husain, founder of Educate Girls mentioned in the ILSS Fundraising Program how she practiced her pitch in front of a nine year old child. Such organizations also emphasize the use of data and technology in their interventions, and how their projects are scalable or replicable.
• They have a clear plan for growth. Successful organizations meticulously plan their growth trajectory, both in terms of project expansion and finances. The whole organization- from the leadership to the ground staff- are strongly aligned to these plans.
• They have a diverse funder base. Successful non-profits do not put all their eggs in one basket. The diversity of their donor base ensures sustainability and ability to deal with external shocks.
• They invest in marketing and brand-building. Successful organizations do not shy away from investing in marketing and brand-building. This enables them to build a strong brand and harness the power of retail fundraising and untied funds.
• Finally, successful organizations invest in building fundraising capacity and cultivate a culture of fundraising. These organizations understand the criticality of fundraising. The head of development gets a seat at the high table. Fundraising is not a compartmentalized function, but an activity which the whole organization engages in, and enjoys.

We found out that successful fundraising organizations strongly believe that social change is impossible without successful fundraising. This is an important lesson for all social impact organizations to emulate. These organizations must not only recognize the centrality of fundraising in their work, but also actively invest in recruiting and upskilling fundraising talent. The success of their social missions will closely follow the success of their fundraising efforts.

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Pratyush Rawal & Radha Arakkal

It will not be incorrect to claim that fundraising ranks amongst the top three challenges faced by most non-profit leaders.

Researching prospective donors, crafting a pitch deck, securing the first meeting, making the actual ask, writing grant proposals, reviewing budgets, reporting impact to donors, and/or organizing a crowdfunding campaign have surely given sleepless nights to all fundraisers. No doubt fundraising is considered ‘the other F-word’ for non-profit organizations.

At India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS), we conducted a detailed study on the development sector fundraising landscape, the main challenges that organizations and social sector leaders face while raising money, and the best practices that some of the most successful fundraising organizations follow.  We interviewed over 70 non-profit leaders, donors, experts, and intermediaries and had over 50 informal conversations for this study.

In this first article of a two-part series, we enumerate the following key challenges faced by non-profits while fundraising.

• Communication Challenges are the primary struggle for many social purpose organizations. For example, many small and medium organizations addressed the difficulty in making strategic pitch decks, with a strong problem statement and solution. While most organizations facilitate transformative projects with their communities, effective storytelling as a skill is difficult to hone. Organizations also often lack the ability to write complex grant proposals. Moreover, we found organizations are generally unable or unwilling to spend on marketing and communications, probably because the leadership and/or the donors do not understand the benefits of brand-building as a part of org strategy. This prevents these organizations from establishing themselves as strong and trustworthy brands. Very few organizations make full use of technology, including social media, for brand-building and retail fundraising.
• Networking happens to be another huge challenge, especially for small organizations. In the absence of an evolved and mature non-profit fundraising environment in the country, fundraising on many occasions is driven by personal connections and networks. Smaller organizations often have very limited access to these networks, an advantage that large organizations enjoy.
• Recruiting, training, and retaining fundraising talent is a concern across the social impact sector in the country. While everyone in the sector understands the criticality of the fundraising, not many professionals are keen to join the fundraising vertical of the organization. There is also a dearth of funds channeled toward training and capacity building. 
• Many organizations find it difficult to maintain strong relationships with donors. Social development is a slow and gradual process, and fundraisers struggle to show results on a quarterly basis, which many donors ask for. Organizations also mention how the power dynamics with the donor makes fundraising a tough task.
• The difficult regulatory framework, especially with respect to foreign funds, is an important pain-point for non-profit fundraisers. Navigating the plethora of complex laws, regulations, and reporting mechanisms that govern the Indian non-profit space, reduces bandwidth allocated to raising money.
• Apart from a few large non-profits, most organizations have not been able to harness the power of Retail Fundraising, which is often seen as a cost and not as an investment. It is intriguing that while 61% of the social sector funds came from everyday giving in the US last year, this share was just 6% in India (Sattva Everyday Giving report, 2019).
• Finally, the reluctance in asking and fear of rejection are among the biggest behavioural challenges for fundraisers. In the ILSS Fundraising Program, we incessantly reiterate our core mantra: “If you don’t ask, the answer is no”.

This is not to say that fundraising is a sad, hopeless field. In our research we came across several organizations – both small and large – that ace fundraising, and are the top choices for donors, institutional and individual alike. These organizations strongly believe that social change is impossible without successful fundraising.

We discuss these best practices in the second article of this two part series.

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On March 9,2020 Mumbai recorded its first case of Covid-19. The city went into a frenzy fearing the worst. Soon the country went into a prolonged lockdown. We at SNEHA, a Mumbai-based NGO working to improve the health of women and children in the most vulnerable slums, with a population of about one million, realised that it was not going to be business as usual for us. We would no longer be able to visit homes for door-to-door counseling on health and nutrition, gender-based violence, mental health and for palliative care.

With no past experience to draw from or a roadmap prepared for the future, the only certainty we had was that our communities needed our support now, more than ever. The question was, how do we keep our staff safe, while continuing to support our communities?

As Brian Tracy once said, “The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.” Leading my organisation at a difficult time like this, there were two things I felt strongly about:

1. Being true to our mission of serving the slum communities we work with
2. Being true to our team by keeping them safe, equipped to work and motivated.

The goal posts, in a sense, was well defined. The challenge was placing the ball into the net without any formal training in football!

Working with diverse stakeholders

Our stakeholders range from women in slum communities who are not familiar with the use of mobile phones to doctors who were working overtime in the pandemic and donors who were struggling with their own businesses. We had to reach all of them through new online platforms, in a timely manner. Everyone was struggling in their own way to deal with this unprecedented situation.

As we spent the next few weeks connecting with each of our stakeholders, I learnt a few things:

1. Be the calm in the storm: As a leader in an unprecedented crisis, you too are grappling with the situation. But your team looks to you for stability, decisiveness and direction. While non-profits usually have very participatory decision-making, this is a time when you have to make some big decisions quickly — and make them alone. But for this, you must have great clarity in your mind about the criteria and goals for making these decisions. It calms people’s nerves to hear one voice and hear the same priorities. It gives them a sense of security.
2. Ask the right questions:  Don’t second-guess your stakeholder needs. Use your team like your tentacles to bring in the voices of your stakeholders. Then act swiftly. There was initial apprehension from the teams about our ability to undertake food relief due to fear of contracting Covid-19. But given that such relief was the need of the hour, the question to ask ourselves was, “How can we do it in the safest possible manner?”
3. Innovate and calibrate: New needs emerge during a crisis – as a leader, it is important to keep a close watch on these. In the Covid-19 world, a critical and ongoing need is the dissemination of information on to stem the spread of the virus. With new information emerging every day on Covid-19 and misconceptions and stigma spreading fast, we needed to act quickly. We were able to meet the community’s needs for information by making quick decisions on providing data packs to frontline workers and volunteers, building capacity to use online platforms and using locally available communication channels like Cable TV and WhatsApp. Effective feedback loops also helped us calibrate the information.
4. Operate in good faith: Maintaining trust is an important part of navigating a crisis. Working remotely, distributing food in the community or safety gear to public health professionals required us to rely on a host of stakeholders. The belief that everyone will act in the best interests of the communities we serve is integral to working effectively with stakeholders.
5. Have honest conversations: This was a time when we had to keep our top donors on speed dial. Sharing our situation and concerns honestly helped us evoke empathy in our donors and a desire to support our efforts. It was heartwarming to see how supportive people were and how they rallied around us to see us through.

Leading and motivating teams

A crisis brings people closer together like nothing else can. It also reveals human nature — you see what lies below the iceberg. At this time, how can we as leaders let our teams know that they are truly our highest priority?

• Communicate clearly and consistently: As soon as the lockdown was announced, clear communication on our overarching priorities was critical to guide everyone in the same direction. But communication also needs to be consistent, regular, and directed at addressing the team’s challenges. Daily team meetings helped understand the changing situation on the ground, take timely decisions and disseminate the information across the organisation. This also helped teams to switch to online platforms (a challenge given our diverse team) and continue our routine health intervention and Covid-19 work and keep the momentum going.

• Time to let go: During a crisis, leaders play an important role in getting the engine to move smoothly on the track. But we also need to listen to signals when the train is moving smoothly so we can step back and give our teams the space to manage themselves.

• Time for abundance: Despite all the funding constraints, I took two important decisions: not releasing any staff and giving annual increments. It required a huge leap of faith that we would be able to raise adequate funding in a difficult time. But more importantly, that seemed like the correct thing to do for our staff, especially since 70 percent of our team lives in the slums we serve, with other family members out of jobs. We have got to let teams know that we have got their backs!

• Bonding and self-compassion: As our teams went way beyond the call of duty, some even risking their lives, we could feel the fatigue and mental strain set in. We started Friday learning sessions on themes such as ‘happiness’, ‘workload management’ and ‘improvisation’, and discussed practise of our organisation values, thus creating a safe space for staff to share, learn and grow as a team.

• Be realistic about team performance: These are difficult times, professionally and personally. The psychological costs of fear are steep.  Don’t expect your team’s performance to improve significantly because it could be difficult for them to match what they could have done in normal circumstances. Reassess priorities and timelines. They are also trying new ways of doing things; be kind and patient!

Managing the head-heart pendulum

The pandemic led to an outpouring of empathy everywhere. More so in the non-profit world where we witnessed, at close quarters, some of the most challenging times for the most vulnerable. Migrant workers walking for days, overnight income loss by daily wage earners and food insecurity, coupled with intense fear of contracting Covid-19, made our hearts bleed. Every decision was weighed with empathy. As a leader, managing the head-heart balance is always a challenge.

1. Taking calculated risk: As a health NGO in a pandemic, we were called upon to help public health systems to screen for Covid-19. We understood the criticality of this exercise and made sure our teams had protective gear and all the necessary information to keep themselves safe.
2. Balance between ‘doing’ and ‘being’: The pandemic has forced many of us leaders to strike a fine balance between delivering on the mission and also being sensitive to our teams and their needs, more than before. Apart from usual work on strategy, business development etc. in the past few months, there has been the emergent need to work on building morale, helping teams manage uncertainty, being empathetic to challenges of ‘work from home’ and also being more vulnerable by sharing and talking about our own challenges, to bring people together and build trust. In a recent zoom meeting, we could hear a young child going through an online school session while her mother was presenting to the team. On another call, a staff member had to handover her presentation to another colleague mid-sentence as she had to run to attend to the cries of her young child. It’s all become par for the course!
3. Harnessing peer networks: I don’t think leaders have ever connected with so many of their peers at such a level before as they have in the past six months. While discussing important topics at hand, there has also been sharing of challenges, fears and embracing their own vulnerabilities. This sharing has also led to joint efforts at problem-solving which has then helped with more prompt responses and playing to each other’s strengths and the ability to take up larger challenges and help more people.

The pandemic has been a crisis in a million ways, but not in leadership. Crisis moments create opportunities and help us seek clarity and find direction. They ignite our creativity, push us to our limits and force us to think outside the norm. By and large, it has brought out the best in leaders. Pushed to their limits, leaders have emerged wiser, more resilient and more compassionate. Real leadership is leaders recognising that they serve the people they lead. They are centred, grounded, and comfortable with their values, who they are, and how they present themselves. This is the place from which they will always make their best decisions and be of most service to others in troubled times or otherwise.

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India’s school system reflects an ever-widening gap. Students from privileged backgrounds get the best resources, especially in early childhood, which ensures that they are able to develop much better cognitive abilities and soft skills and puts them way ahead of children from underserved communities. The moment children from low-income families set foot in schools, they are already far behind their privileged peers.

Bridging the gap

There is a crying need to level this playing field, and create equal opportunity for all children to learn and grow. For this to happen we need work to happen with parents because children spend significantly more time with their family and the community than in school. Parents will always play a vital role as companions in their learning. We at Saarthi Education have worked relentlessly for the last three years to build a system that offers mothers from low-income families necessary resources and counselling to allow them to ensure that their children are adept in foundational learning skills.

There are two critical factors in ensuring learning outcomes at home:

• Good quality, ample resources for the child to learn and practice.
• Awareness, on the part of the parent, of the child’s existing learning level and confidence in their own ability to help the child.

The new layer of complexity with COVID19

The COVID-19 crisis and the lockdown have aggravated deep-set class and social differences, widening the already existing learning gap. Children from high-income families have access to requisite technology, internet connection and other school supplies compared to their counterparts from lower-income households. Maintaining this ‘privilege gap’ looks to be a struggle for children from low-income households.

On a national scale, we have been witnessing the crisis migrant workers are facing during the lockdown, with severe implications in terms of reduced income and increased burden for these families. Faced with concerns about survival, their children’s education is understandably not a priority for such parents at this point.

If anything, the pandemic has shown us that we cannot adequately prepare children for the future of learning without first ensuring equality of opportunity. The issue of equity in education has to be at the top of our agenda with a focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-management along with digital skills as skillsets to move forward.

We are currently treating education as a Formula 1 race with the driver having the best time record getting to start from the pole position in the race while the rest of the drivers will start further down the line-up. If you are starting from the first five positions, you are most likely to win the race. If you are restarting from the bottom five, the gap with the top drivers only increases as the race progresses. It will be a longer, harder race to the finish line.

We need to actively work towards the vision of all children being able to start on an equal footing in their learning journey.  We need to do it with creativity, flexibility and resilience, tackling problems as they emerge. No child should have to struggle throughout their lives just to be able to learn.

Investing in foundational learning skills is the proactive measure that is both effective and economically efficient, than trying to close this gap later on.

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Having turned seventy recently, I often reflect on the seven decades of my life and realise how lucky I have been. Being born into an upper-middle class family, there was enough attention given to my education and nurturing my potential – an investment that has paid me dividends all through my life. This realisation has become even more acute in the COVID19 era where the survival of much of humanity seems to be at stake with hundreds of millions of human beings not knowing where their next meal will come from or how their children will survive.

It is hard not to see the disproportionate impact of the crisis on different sections of the population.  It is equally hard not to recognise how lucky several of us are and how kind the universe has been to us.   Acknowledging that we have received more than a fair deal is the first step towards recognising our responsibility and ability to pay it forward.

To give — and to give

The corollary to acknowledging your good fortune or privilege is to identify where and how you can put your abilities or your resources to the best use. I have found that encouraging, mentoring and guiding young people gives me immense pleasure. My idle time has become my biggest asset because over the years, word spread that I have time, the ability to ask questions, suggest solutions and perhaps make connections that would be useful to young people seeking help either with their enterprise, job, profession or ideas.

I spend almost all of my mornings on calls with youngsters or meeting them in person to discuss their ideas in diverse spaces such as education, livelihoods, health, kindness, governance, artificial intelligence, blockchain and so on.

We are all inherently good and want to help others. Some of us may lack discipline and consistency in our giving, or we may simply not be aware of the giving landscape in general. We, therefore need to start off with being more self-reflective and figuring out for ourselves what giving means to us as individuals and how we can give back. How much we give in terms of time or resources really depends on each of us as individuals and will differ from person to person.  

Every individual counts

One of the reasons we often hesitate to give is because we underestimate the difference we can make as individuals. The COVID-19 crisis has however helped surface gaps within our society and has provided a big motivator for people to contribute to various causes.

The power of individual giving has become quite clear over the past few months. People have become increasingly aware of the impact they can create on others, directly or by supporting the efforts of social organisations. There is a need to sustain this momentum. Especially now, with CSR and foreign funding shrinking and becoming unreliable. This can only happen when we stay engaged with issues of social change and continue to acknowledge our role in the process of change. The potential is huge, make no mistake. If 25 percent (roughly about 2 billion people) of the global population is living below the poverty line, the top 2 billion should be working to negate that, to make sure what they received is equalising and harmonising. It is our duty.

Vulnerability as a propeller for giving

We are experiencing unprecedented vulnerability and uncertainty today. Being in this situation has helped us reflect on the life we have had so far and also think about what went wrong. This vulnerability is making people understand the co-dependency that exists in society and the need to stand together, reinforcing the need to give. Having seen and experienced these truths, we have an opportunity now to make sure we never forget either our own vulnerability or our interconnectedness with others.

This Daan Utsav is as good a time as any to begin your giving journey. Start with your community, make a donation, use your skills, express gratitude, look for ways to support vulnerable communities. At the end of the day, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you are genuinely able to contribute towards positive change, be it for a family, a community or society at large.  The sense of joy and fulfilment that comes with giving is unlike anything that has ever been experienced.

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The United Nations has described the global scale of education disruption from COVID-19 as “unparalleled”. The 2019–20 Coronavirus pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading to widespread closures of schools, universities and colleges. While students across the board have been impacted by the pandemic, it is important to explore the severe impact on children from marginalized communities in many countries of the global south, including India which, at 260 million children, has the largest school-going population in the world.

As the impact of the pandemic unfolds, it is becoming abundantly clear that traditional learning models and schools have ill-equipped us and our children to understand, make meaning, respond and adapt to the uncertainty and vulnerabilities emerging from the current crisis. The last few years have seen the discourse around education reform moving towards making children work-ready for jobs of the future. An approach that has become outdated due to 3 – main reasons:

• The future is already here:The often-repeated assumption that children would have to face an uncertain job market and a fast-changing world a few years from now is already a reality, and this uncertain future is changing as we speak. This is a time to self-reflect and critically examine — have we done enough to prepare our children for this unprecedented situation?

• Entrenched systemic inequalities have deepened: The current crisis has further thrown up the systemic inequities in our society with the poor and marginalised being affected many times over than the average population. When an eighth-grade student we heard from, who shares a smartphone with her family of four – the family has to make a  tough choice between buying an internet-package and essential groceries – is not allowed into her online class for being five minutes late, are we not perpetuating the same systemic biases we held offline on the online world? What could be the role of education in changing this reality?

The need to shift mindsets

The pandemic and its impact on educational ecosystems require for us to reflect on the existing systemic inequities that have become more visible in the recent months. We see schools rushing for immediate solutions to sustain academics, but there are far-reaching effects on students and teachers when they are forced to adopt online learning. Our policymakers need to take into account the fact that marginalised communities do not have easy access to digital infrastructure. The need of the hour is to ensure education is available to all, rather than to ensure those who can afford education continue to receive it.

The psychological impact on children, whose lives are suddenly changed forever has largely been left unaddressed; they are expected to adapt when even we, the adults who are meant to guide young people have no clarity on what to expect from the future.

Re-imagining the purpose of education

Where do we go when all this is over? If one is ‘lucky enough’ to have not been completely displaced by the pandemic, one hopefully goes to school. But just how prepared are schools to respond to this reality? We have all experienced collective grief and loss at a global and unimaginable level. We need to let this sink in. And then, when we are ready to respond, let us ask ourselves what is the most compassionate offer we can make to our children under these circumstances? Will our best foot forward be dumping our own anxiety of ‘loss of learning’ on them? Or will we recognise that they have learnt perhaps the most difficult lesson of their lives in the last few months as they stayed put in their homes? The role of teachers in the upbringing of young people is often overlooked. 

#Whatif, instead of examinations based on rote-learning, we ask our students; ‘Do you know how to be kind to each other? Do you know how to make decisions that are good for you, your community and for the planet? Do you know how to collaborate and celebrate the success of others? Do you know how to heal?’

The need for a more inclusive policy

Current systems follow a one-size-fits-all approach, whereas the reality is that in a country like India, such an approach is tough to put into practice. We need an education system that is sensitive to the myriad impact of adversity on children from vulnerable backgrounds. When designing solutions, the needs of these sections of society deserve more attention than they presently receive. The New Education Policy, while a positive step in the right direction, once again lacks clarity on implementation. It remains to be seen how such a revolutionary step in education will affect a country as diverse and vast as ours bearing in mind that not everyone will have access to the same kind of facilities and infrastructure. Another challenge that we foresee is the measurement of success upon implementation and the way forward from there.

Kindness as the foundation of a framework for change

The framework for education should start by redefining the purpose of education to mean ‘thriving for all’. We conducted a study to better understand what it means to thrive. Are the indicators the same when children come from adversity? Do tailored approaches need to be followed to achieve desired outcomes across the board? We have found that empathetic adults and safe spaces allow young people to fully discover their potential and thrive despite coming from adversity. At the centre of this approach lies kindness and the willingness to listen, holding spaces for young people to express themselves and be treated as unique individuals. 

Academic outcomes can be affected by several factors that are out of the control of educators. Scoring high marks does not necessarily mean that a child is prepared for whatever the future may throw at them. Adopting an approach that places thriving at the centre of education is much more inclusive and helps young people seek a more meaningful engagement with life.

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A few weeks ago, I had a call with the head of fundraising of an emerging non-profit organisation aiming to build significant scale. The person was bouncing ideas and seeking advice on sizing, strategizing and addressing the Indian philanthropic market. After the interaction, something struck me as odd and fundamentally amiss. It was the absence of confidence and an overwhelming presence of an apologetic demeanour towards raising funds.

Why confidence is key

Fundraisers are the first port-of-call and the organisation’s public face for donors. If you, as the fundraising person, are tentative and lacking in confidence, the donor could develop doubts on two counts: One, do you lack conviction or belief in your organisation? Two, is your non-profit capable of absorbing the contribution and using it effectively? And the donor will likely hit pause, reconsider, or worse still, terminate the contribution.

Yes, non-profits need the money. And yes, there is almost nothing ‘in return’ for the giver barring the joy of changing lives. And sometimes not even that when the donor is giving to fund structural overhead investments and no money directly flows to a cause or a community. Which is why it is critical that you exude confidence and conviction when you speak about your organisation and the reason you need funds. 

Fundraising – non-profit or otherwise – is a sales process. It is elevated salesmanship because one is selling, even if the ‘product’ is intangible. And a diffident salesperson will regress the organisation. Fundraising professionals need to possess and display confidence, not in a muscular kind of way, but in a manner that exudes quiet self-belief and communicates reassurance to donors and stakeholders. 

Gandhi unapologetically used modern sales methods like hawking autographed photographs of Nehru, Patel and Azad for a price. And Mother Teresa never suffered any blushes asking for funds in the name of the Lord.

Always remember that a wonderful idea and keen strategy can be waylaid by the absence of high-quality fundraising. Fundraising pulses the arterial blood flow of your organisation, its commitment and aspiration. The success of your organisation depends on how well – and how confidently – you do your job.

What makes a confident fundraiser?

Fundraising with confidence requires, in addition to a deep conviction in the work your organisation does, a significant amount of discipline and conscious, consistent effort.

1. Engage at a principal-to-principal level: Donors prefer to engage with principals while writing a cheque, especially, if it’s a large one. Given that context, it is essential for fundraisers to conduct themselves as principals and be perceived by the donor as the person responsible for powering the organisation. Consequently, the chances of closing the deal increase manifold. It is the responsibility of non-profit leaders to equip and position their fundraisers as principals. 
2. Narrate a story: Never adopt an in-your-face selling style. And don’t be boring. A good pitch is 75 percent emotion. Narrate a story and carry your listener on a journey. Use the story to anchor your pitch and let the listener discover a hook to your organisation and its needs.
3. Practice. Practice. Practice: Selling is a performance. Be honest. Be earnest. But hone your craft and sharpen your pitch knives every single day. Cultivate three pitches:
   • An elevator pitch that you can zing out in a minute
   • A 10-minute version for paucity of time
   • A 20-minute expansive edition.
4. Vary your pitch: If selling is a performance, remember that you are performing for a new audience every meeting. Sell the same story through a different route. Make uncertainty your best friend. The more you break the linearity of the pitch, the more comfortable you will get with ambiguities.
5. Take risks: Asking big helps and confidence is your biggest ally. Here is a story. Six years ago, when Ashoka University was still young and growing, I was in a meeting with one of India’s most celebrated business leaders. After a thoughtful 45-minute pitch and conversation, he asked, ‘What is the amount you have in mind for me?’ I replied, ‘We will be grateful if you could support Ashoka with Rs 50 crore.’ Now, a Rs 50-crore ask is sizeable even by today’s benchmarks but back then it could have been construed as overly ambitious. But was it? The gentleman thought for a moment and replied, ‘What if I propose Rs 200 crore instead?’
6. Confidence in vulnerability: Tell your donors you need the money. And that without their support, your organisation is unlikely to progress or deliver impact. Or worse still, even survive. I have said these in meetings: ‘We need your money, without which we will not be able to educate this student’ OR ‘We have just x number of days’ expenditure as cash in the bank, need your help to overcome the situation’.
   Let the donor know unambiguously that their contribution is central to the success of the organisation. Are you showing yourself and the organisation in vulnerable light? Yes. Will it hurt your prospects? No, because the honesty and integrity of purpose will shine through.
7. Demonstrate impact: A scholarship beneficiary from a small town accompanied me for a fundraising meeting. She spoke simply about her experiences at Ashoka and how that education altered her life. This lived experience is far more effective than any well-meaning pitch. This will elevate the confidence of the donor, and in turn, yours too.

In conclusion, train well and learn to sport a confidence cloak. Gawky everyday Clark Kent or Lois Lane can morph into fundraising Superman or Superwoman. The ask could be big or small but fundraising principles remain the same. It takes similar effort and diligence whether raising Rs. 500,000 for a scholarship or Rs 5 crore for building institutional infrastructure.

Lastly, never be apologetic. Non-profit work is uplifting and in the service of society and country. Let that selflessness inspire the giver into taking positive action. As Henry Rosso said, ‘Fundraisers should use pride, not apology when asking for a gift for a charity that is doing good work.’ 

Venkat Eshwara is one of the speakers and Mentors at the ILSS Fundraising Program, designed specifically to equip social sector leaders with the skills and knowledge needed to raise funds with confidence.  Applications for the Program are now open.

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