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Description
Romanian NGOs still have a long way to go to reach financial sustainability, the amounts collected through mechanisms developed in the country are increasing but have not yet reached their maximum potential, the need for investment in the development of fundraising mechanisms is high and is directly related to the sustainability of NGOs. Most NGOs are dependent on external and public funding which are unpredictable, with limited duration / coverage, while Direct Debit and SMS donations are used sparingly, although there are significant increases in the amounts collected. At the level of the organization, there is a decrease in the support received from abroad, generated by different factors and there is a need to develop and expand social programs for underserved groups.
In this context, the need for funds is growing, and the organization must increase its capacity, develop new tools with a higher degree of predictability, develop a mix of tools, so as to reduce the risk of depending on a single source of financing or one or two major sources, which in the absence, would jeopardize the provision of social services for people in need. The project aims to improve the fundraising capacity of Concordia Humanitarian Organization, in accordance with the Internal Fundraising Strategy and increasing the capacity and sustainability of the sector, as it aims to involve 4 other NGOs that are active in social field. The organization will update and adjust its Internal Fundraising Strategy, develop fundraising tools and mechanisms, carry out campaigns for individual donations, round-up donations, major donors, corporate sponsorships, and public funding mechanisms/sources.
Summary of project results
The project, carried out between February 2022 and January 2024, aimed to enhance the organization’s fundraising capacity, particularly for individual donations, and to create a new fundraising tool to assist multiple NGOs from different fields of activity.The project addressed challenges identified in the prior period, especially those related to: the need for social NGOs to diversify funding sources and avoid heavy reliance on external and public funding, which is unpredictable, limited in duration/scope, the decline in support received from abroad, and the need to develop and expand social programs for underserved groups. In this context, the need to implement new fundraising tools became significant, with the applicant implementing a mix of fundraising instruments through the project, which led to a greater degree of predictability of the revenues needed to run socio-educational programs.
The following main activities were carried out: updating and adjusting the internal fundraising strategy, running campaigns to gather individual donations (via direct debit and online methods), “Round-up donations” campaign, “Major donors” campaign, small and medium-sized sponsorship collection campaigns from companies, and efforts to identify public funding sources
The activities led to individual donations (over 2500 individual donors at the end of the project, making regular, recurring donations), major donations (15), and sponsorships. As for the round-up donations, by the end of the project, the new tool was in the concept phase and the applicant in preliminary discussions with the NGOs they wished to collaborate with.