Safe Center for Vulnerable Children in Douala

Introduction:

It is very difficult in Cameroon to raise funds from corporate. Since we had started back in September 2013, many denied us funds for lack of visibility for their brands. This is why in Juin 2014; we decided to raise funds through a fundraising charity gala hosting 150 people in order to offer the companies we would approach visibility in the country through, logos on banners in town, invitations cards, event magazine, and advertisement on the night of the event.

The gala was initially planned for November 28^th, 2015. However, we met lot of challenges. Early November, we realized that we did not have sufficient sponsors nor funds to pay for the room, material to be printed, or entertainers to be paid. We were a young organization, and there were other more experienced and well-known charities that had gone before us to the companies we had approached. The charity budgets of these companies were finished because we were too late, or they simply had preferred to fund a better known charity. We had to be realistic: we had failed, and would not be able to do the gala.

The Strategy:

Fortunately for us the gala committee we had formed out of our volunteer was very resourceful. They came out with an idea of a “Donors Thank You Cocktail Event” to replace the gala. The strategy was to postpone the gala, but meanwhile, not lose the fund raised (about 800USD from only 1-ONE Company), honor our word to offer visibility to those who had supported, and remain credible in our environment.

This is how we proceeded:

- We switched to a smaller, therefore cheaper room at the hotel hosting the event

- We convinced this hotel to accompany us as a sponsor to have the room even cheaper ( 8 times less) and offer for free a snack in exchange of their logo on invitations cards and on the presentation on the day of the cocktail. We also promised them to hold another event on their venue later in October/November 2015 and give them advantages like logo on the banners in town, invitation card, and insert on the event magazine.

- We asked another company who regularly donates juices and flour to AGAPE to sponsor the drinks of the event

- We thanked the corporate who donated 800USD in any possible way and made a similar promise to the one made to the hosting hotel.

- We wrote a letter to all the companies approached inviting them to attend the event and explaining the change of plan. Please see in annex a sample of the letter.

- In addition to the letters sent to these companies, we invited everybody who had donated/helped or promised to donate to/help AGAPE since our beginnings. We also asked them to come along with friends, colleagues or family members.

The Thank You Cocktail:

- It was a free daytime event of about 1hour and half .

- I talked with lot of emotion on a really nice PowerPoint presentation of our work that the Fundraising Gala Committee kindly helped me to put together with lots of pictures. We also put together a slide show of AGAPE’s photos. I still use this presentation to explain our work to potential helpers.

- We invited 3 of the children we are helping to come and share their testimonies.

- We asked 2 volunteers to come and share why they have been helping AGAPE.

- We exposed our challenges, among which, the fact that we needed to fund the domain name and hosting of our website in order to increase our visibility. A partner had already designed the website for free.

- We equally invited 2 members of the association helping to pay our rent, Solenca, to share a word.

The results:

- We had a turnover of more than 60 people.

- We enriched our donor database taking business cards and personal information.

- We sampled and sold plantain chips double of the ordinary price during the event (it is one of the fundraising activities of the center).

- We got commitment to support the gala to be held in 2015.

- We got about 400 USD donations on spot.

- A local artist offered 3 paintings to auction on the night of the gala to come in 2015.

- A company offered to sponsor the domain name and hosting of our website!!!

- We managed to create awareness of our work to some extent.

- We also gained the confidence of some of the local companies.

Lessons we learned:

We learned a lot about event planning and gained confidence. We are now bolder. We approached the corporate with more confidence for our upcoming gala. I heard someone say one day there is no champion without a race. I guess the cocktail was the training to the race in order to become champions in fundraising.

Links:

• Website

• Sample letter for AGAPE Partners (DOC)