Alliance Online - June 2006

Resource mobilization - a serious business

EVENT International Workshop on Resource Mobilization
Date 5-7 May
Venue Bangkok, Thailand
Organizer Resource Alliance

Resource Alliance's IWRM workshop in Thailand took place early last month. Alliance asked two participants, Jeffrey Phang of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Malaysia and Les Cohn from Artsource cc in South Africa, why they'd gone and what they'd got out of it.

The attraction for Jeffrey Phang was 'the line up of speakers, the right topics and the networking opportunities with the international delegates'. He went hoping to increase his international contacts, to see the current trends in resource mobilization, to learn from recognized experts and 'to recognize the "bar of excellence" that has been set by the international NGOs'.

Les Cohn was looking for 'fresh insights, stimulation and improved techniques in fundraising'. She was also seeking 'to create awareness of South African projects' that she is involved with and to develop a wider network both for herself and for those in her area of work in South Africa. She felt that delegates from South East Asia and from Africa shared some common concerns, and the conference allowed her to make contact with other African delegates and networks with whom she can now potentially develop further links.

The salient point that she drew from the meeting was that resource mobilization is a serious business. 'It should be planned and well thought through. We as fundraisers need to apply sound business principles and practices and keep ourselves aware of the environment within which we operate.'

In fact Jeffrey Phang felt that the IWRM revealed the lack of closeness between the NGOs and the business sector. At a time when businesses are moving towards corporate social responsibility, he said, there is a need to develop creative alliances between NGOs and businesses. This cannot be achieved by a donor-donee mindset, but requires a real partnership. 'In the face of fierce business competition, businesses value the fact that if they spend their resources on philanthropic efforts, this will yield better staff morale and increased community goodwill and if possible enhance their triple bottom line.'

For Les Cohn, the highlights of the conference were those sessions conducted by well-known fundraising expert Tony Elischer, whose delivery is 'enthusiastic, punchy, seamless and entertaining, but backed by solid experience'. The Africa group meeting she also found instructive. 'It was fascinating to see how we on the African continent talk to each other and dialogue (and sometimes don't talk to each other!).' It also provided an opportunity to begin to discuss a proposed pan-African conference in 2007. In addition, she found the strategy session 'well thought through and informed by solid business theories and concepts applied to resource mobilization'.

What surprised her was the ease with which her own experience could be adapted to other contexts. 'I could potentially apply my experience on a poverty alleviation craft-based project quite easily (despite supposed cultural differences) to assist my colleague from Islamabad on her project.'

The conclusion she draws is that the capacity for cross-cultural learning is greater than often supposed. 'We need to learn from each other rather than re-create the wheel, which is hugely wasteful of time and resources - human and otherwise. In South Africa this tends to happen. Well-intentioned people set up small under-resourced projects, often duplicated elsewhere, rather than assessing what is actually needed and how the best results can be obtained to assist communities.'

Jeffrey Phang found the most interesting workshop to be the one run by Khun Mechai on NGO sustainability. This was the session that threw into relief for him an increasing need for business professionals to work with NGO workers to strike that synergy that is so critical in achieving financial sustainability.

Both broadly felt that the balance of sessions and topics selected had been good. Jeffrey Phang felt that it would have been useful to have a session where a multi-disciplinary team looked at emerging trends for the non-profit sector. Such a session and the discussion it gave rise to, he felt, could have redefined the skills that are needed and might even have changed the whole current of future conferences. If Les Cohn had a criticism, it was that there might have been more opportunity for dialogue and discussion and less time given to listening to presentations.

Neither had been to previous IWRMs. Both felt that, from their point of view, the event had been a success. For Les Cohn, it had been an 'interesting, informative and mind-opening experience'. Their expectations had been largely fulfilled and they were very likely go to future workshops.

Jeffrey F K Phang is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Selangor, Malaysia. Email jfkphang@gmail.com
Les Cohn works for Artsource cc in Gauteng, South Africa. Email lescohn@acenet.co.za

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