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Description
The hereby project targets the WELLBEING INSTITUTE Association, which supports the programme POVESTEA, dedicated to the Romanian education system’s problems (as according to PISA, EC reports). We are currently working with 3,504 principals, teachers, and auxiliary staff from 54 schools and high schools in 19 counties, while other 150 interested schools are registered on our waiting list. The financial sustainability necessary to the achievement of our long-term objectives is currently affected by the fact that, though our human resources have extensive experience in the educational field, they are insufficient both as number and as fundraising know-how, especially if compared to the increasing number of our beneficiaries. We realised that we actually cannot go on without specialised support in the field of fundraising, but also because of the lack of funds, this type of support is also out of our reach. As a solution to these problems, the project proposes a package of activities and results mainly targeting the organisational internal development for fundraising, training of the fundraising team, organising fundraising campaigns – SMS and digital, donor care development, and evaluation of the tools above. This way, at the end of the project, our association will be able to benefit of a professional fundraising team, effective operational fundraising tools, as well as of a significant number of recurrent donors. We will therefore be able to ensure the financial sustainability necessary for the implementation of our educational activities, and for generating the positive impact desired for our final beneficiaries, schoolchildren. By using the team, the know-how, the experience, the tools and the professional image developed within the project, our association will be able to further develop meaningful fundraising activities in line with our beneficiaries’ needs and expectations.
Summary of project results
The project addressed the need to increase the fundraising capacity of the "School of Trust" Association, which at the time of submitting this project was working with 54 kindergartens and state schools, and currently operates in 286 kindergartens and state schools in 37 counties and the municipality of Bucharest. The program carried out by the association in kindergartens and state schools is supported exclusively through private financial support, sponsorships, and donations. Although from the very beginning the organization has benefited from human resources with extensive experience in education, the organization''s financial sustainability was very fragile, as the organization did not have extensive expertise in the field of fundraising.
Within the framework of the project, the organization created a fundraising team and increased its organizational capacity, especially in the area of fundraising from individuals and cultivating relationships with donors. Thus, within the project, the organization''s fundraising team was formed and trained, consisting of 5 people (of which 3 people were part of the project implementation team), the organization''s fundraising strategy was revised, the first awareness and fundraising campaign of the organization was planned and implemented, the donor strategy was created and the actions within the strategy were implemented according to the communication calendar (10 newsletters sent to approx. 35.000 people, the first fundraising messages and donor care, the first telephone contacts with donors, 10 interviews and photo reports with beneficiaries, etc.), and CRM software for managing donor relationships was set up and implemented.
As a direct result of the fundraising campaign through SMS and digital methods, the organization attracted 221 donors who donated via SMS, 45 recurring digital donors, and 45 one-time digital donors, raising a total amount of 4,554.98 euros, thus bringing the total funding source to 7,918.54 euros. In terms of sustainability and further results, using the team, know-how, experience, tools, and professional image developed in the project, the association was able to continue to carry out much more efficient fundraising activities after the end of the project, including 3 Direct Mail campaigns, 2 more fundraising campaigns from individuals, etc.