Challenge

To increase local citizens' involvement in and commitment to financially supporting a civil society organization (CSO).

Background

The Forward Foundation, a CSO in Bangkok, Thailand, is assisting relocated slum-dwellers to improve their economic and social status through the following activities:

• Developing educational opportunities for youth;
• Providing reproductive health information to women;
• Increasing environmental awareness;
• Promoting self-reliance through income generation activities.

Two years ago, founder Boonsom Namsomboon, registered the Forward Foundation as a CSO with permission to raise funds locally. Namsomboon comes from a background in community development that always emphasized self-reliance, and it was her goal from the beginning to make the Forward Foundation a self-sustaining organization.

Strategy

Within the next ten years, Namsomboon hopes to make the Forward Foundation 100 percent self-financing from the profits of small enterprises that would earn income both for her organization and the low-income communities served. However, in the short-term, the Foundation is seeking to sustain her the Forward Foundation through local donations.

Namsomboon's fundraising experience has led her to believe that an organization's success in this area depends on the degree to which local citizens feel a sense of responsibility to the organization. The Forward Foundation has determined that local citizens will donate more if they feel a sense of belonging and commitment to the organization's work. It is also essential that the Foundation treat community members with respect and keep them informed about the Foundation's activities.

Based on this assessment, the Forward Foundation developed a fundraising idea that brings in income and galvanizes local commitment to the organization by giving individuals a chance to play an increasingly important and on-going role in its work. The basic outline of the strategy and its tenents follows:

• Create a vehicle for local citizens to have ownership over fundraising activities:
  The Forward Foundation finds local citizens who are interested in the organization and want to invest in its projects. In exchange for 250 Baht (approximately US $6.5), the Forward Foundation gives each individual a donation box (the 250 Baht covers the cost of the box construction.)

• Transfer responsibility for fundraising onto local citizens:
  This box becomes the individual's responsibility – the individual decorates the box and puts his/her name on it as the sponsor. The Forward Foundation usually suggests where the individual should place the box. Though often, the organization finds that the box's "owner" will move the box to the location where they are best known and can thus generate the most donations. In this way, individual participants have adapted the strategy in a way that improves its effectiveness.

• Be transparent and let citizens know were their donations are going:
  The Forward Foundation updates citizens regularly as to how much money is raised from a specific box. Most importantly, the organization tells the individual where the funds that have been raised are going. This gives citizens quantifiable results about what their donations are achieving.

Results

In a pilot study, the Forward Foundation raised 185,000 Baht (approximately US $5000.) through this strategy. Based on these results, the organization is in the process of launching the strategy more widely. Their goal is to increase the number of box owners to 300 local citizens at two boxes each for a total of 600 boxes. They estimate that this will generate 750,000 Baht (just over US $20,000 ).

The Forward Foundation also saw indirect results from the campaign. Through the pilot study, the organization's public visibility increased. Further, several companies became familiar with their work and wanted to participate. In total, these companies donated 51,928 Baht (US $1331.00) worth of products; also several of these companies offered to sponsor additional projects.

Case Studies

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