Finding the value added

The central aim of the Resource Alliance’s recent International Workshop on Resource Mobilization was to enable voluntary organizations to mobilize local support through enhancing their accountability and credibility. As a participant, I had high expectations. Did the workshop live up to its promise? What value added did it contribute to the field? What could be done to make the next workshop better?

There were many good things about the conference. The ‘best practices’ introduced during the workshop were interesting – especially the experience of the Population and Community Development Association of Thailand in utilizing a mix of earned income to cross-subsidize social development initiatives. A session on packaging a fundraising strategy was clearly a hit among participants. The ‘how to’ session speakers were all people who were respected in their own fields.

But the two ‘how to’ sessions I participated in did not really delve deep enough. The session on ‘how to use your board and their friends to raise million of dollars’, for instance, offered only very generic approaches to fundraising. It did not specifically look at how to engage the board in generating resources. Questions like ‘Does the board know that this is their role?’ and ‘How do you ensure the board will buy into the idea?’ remained unanswered. The session on ‘how to mobilize community resources’ also left key questions unanswered: what steps must you take to generate local resources? How do you convince communities to contribute?

What next?

The following are some suggestions for areas where future Resource Alliance (RA) resource mobilization conferences might provide real value added.

Laying down the foundations
The absolute basics should be discussed at the very beginning. For example, the RA should be clear that resource mobilization is a means rather than end. Before an NGO tries to mobilize resources, it must be clear about its mission, vision and strategies. Many NGOs in developing countries are inclined to see what donors fund before they develop programmes. This strategy is faulty and will not last. The RA could usefully raise these issues.

The different dimensions of resource mobilization
The recent workshop focused mainly on different approaches to raising funds from the different sectors – companies, individuals, foundations, etc – but resource mobilization should not be limited to fundraising. Especially in light of the decline in donor support, future workshops should explore other means of mobilizing resources – earning income, utilizing volunteers like the board and community champions and partners, even investing.

Resource mobilization and sustainability
In some sessions, resource mobilization was indirectly linked to sustainability, but many participants struggled with the linkage. Are we talking about organizational sustainability or financial sustainability? How can NGOs establish a resource mobilization strategy that can contribute to the sustainability of the organization and its programmes? This is another area the RA workshop could explore further.

Donor understanding
One session featured a panel of three donors, Habitat, Plan International and Catholic Charities. Their presentations were useful and practical, but the session would have been much more valuable if it had included an analysis of different types of donor and their priorities and criteria for working with NGOs.

Donors sometimes prioritize one issue over others or copy what others are doing because they don’t know what the real needs of communities are. Some are unwilling to explore ‘controversial’ issues like sexual rights. RA could go beyond educating NGOs about the donor environment and look to enhance their competence to ‘educate’ donors on the needs of their constituency. If NGOs join hands and so acquire a stronger voice, they may be able to influence the agenda of donors – something which has happened in countries like the Philippines, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Tapping government support
The workshop touched on community resources and building partnerships with foundations and the corporate sector. One area that was missed was building relationships with government. At the national level many bilateral programmes are dedicated to social development and in many countries NGO undertake these programmes on behalf of the government. At the local level, most local governments have resources that NGOs could tap. This is demonstrated by examples from Canada, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and a host of other countries. This is yet another area that RA might consider for its next workshop.

EVENT 4th International Workshop on Resource Mobilization
Date 5-8 May
Venue Bangkok
Theme Strengthening the Voluntary Sector

For more information
See www.resource-alliance.org