NGOs can be sustained by mobilising funds from their communities, thereby reducing dependence on donor and foundation grants — if the Ashoka Citizen Base Initiative (CBI) is anything to go by.
This strategic shift for organisational sustainability was displayed earlier this week when Ashoka presented five South African organisations with R250 000 in prize money for demonstrating their ability in tapping resources from the communities they serve.
The five winning organisations are the Free State Association for Persons with Disabilities and the Deaf, the Victory Sonqoba Community Theatre, the Men on the Side of the Road Project, the Social Change Assistance Trust and the Cape Mental Health Society.
The five organisations generate more than half of their operational costs from local fund-raising.
An example is the Cape Mental Health Society, which undertook to broaden its resource base. For the better part of its 90 years of existence the organisation relied heavily on state grants, but in the past few years it has reduced the state grant portion to 41% of its operational costs.
Cape Mental Health Society director Erna Prinsloo says partnerships with private companies have paid dividends. “We do a lot of contract work for companies… providing counselling on mental health for their employees and that includes stress management and retrenchments.”
According to Elizabeth Nelson, Ashoka CBI programme manager, it all has to do with “how an organisation structures itself. The quality of financial sustainability proposals that were submitted has improved substantially. Many organisations are now thinking of marketing themselves, using volunteers and raising funds from within their communities. This is a trend that we encourage throughout the 42 countries Ashoka CBI operates in.”
Founded in 1980, Ashoka CBI pioneers a new social investment approach to advance the emerging field of social entrepreneurship and encourages creative resourcing strategies for civil society.
Khanyisa Balfour of the Social Change Assistance Trust (Scat) says the biggest challenge in generating resources lies in individual organisations having the necessary capacity in drafting proposals and business plans.
“This is where Scat features in… our role is one of a conduit… to build the capacity of rural organisations through imparting skills so that they are able to go out and raise funds for themselves. Recently we have introduced an incentive scheme whereby Scat provides matching funds to those that an organisation has been able to mobilise in its area. Every rand that an organisation has generated, Scat matches”.
Another creative fund-raising initiative is the Victory Sonqoba Community Theatre. In response to the scant funding that goes into arts and culture, the theatre uses the stokvel concept among its 12 community theatre groups to raise funds.
“Many of our groups perform musical theatre, and each time one of us performs, the others make a R2 000 contribution and help out in the selling of tickets for the show,” says Bongani Linda.
Ashoka CBI South Africa’s panel of judges includes Ann Brown of Charisma Communications, Elizabeth Nelson of Ashoka Washington, Gail Smith of the national Department of Social Development, Hell Cawthra of Sangonet’s Thusanang project, Jane Foster of Civicus, Lucy Muyoyeta of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa and Andrew Miller of Project Literacy.
Criteria employed for granting awards entails generating resources, feasibility in implementing plans, mobilising citizen support and an innovative approach to and replicability of resource generation.
Ashoka award winners
Free State Association for Persons with Disabilities and the Deaf: The organisation’s award-winning strategy is based on deriving 40% of its income from project-related financing. Its revenue budget for 2002/2003 is R5-million, representing a 20% growth from last year.
The organisation maintains a network of volunteers who provide delivery services to people with disabilities in the Free State. The programme is to be extended to rural areas in the eastern part of the province. Volunteers are drawn from the private sector as well to provide managerial, financial and marketing support.
In conjunction with Technikon Free State, the association is facilitating entrepreneurial activities to generate income for people with disabilities.
Victory Sonqoba Community Theatre (Gauteng): The organisation plays an important role in education and social change through community theatre. Its stokvel initiative seeks to promote independence for community theatre groups, build grassroots musical theatre and promote tourism.
It has established partnerships with community radio stations such as Alex FM and Jozi FM as well as tour operators in Gauteng. The prize money will be used to establish provincial chapters of community theatre.
Men on the Side of the Road Project (Cape Town): The project highlights the plight of more than 18 000 males who gather at main road intersections in search of piece jobs. Launched in 1999, the project wants to raise donations of one-million used and broken tools, which its members will fix, then sell or start their own small businesses.
The Social Change Assistance Trust (Cape Town): The trust provides rural organisations with financial and institutional support and helps them to implement resource mobilisation within their own communities. Last year it disbursed more than R107-million to fund and support 64 organisations in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, North West and Northern Cape. Local fund-raising activities undertaken by the organisations include concerts, cultural events, sports tournaments, raffles and dancing competitions.
Cape Mental Health Society: The organisation provides counselling, education and job creation and placement for more than 14 000 people with mental illness, intellectual disability and emotional problems. It hosts the yearly International Kite Festival to raise awareness and funds for its activities. Last year the festival raised R1,4-million worth of media services. The organisation generates 59% of its R8,7-million
operational budget.