Our Change Accelerator for June is Ryan Joseph Figueiredo, Founder and Executive Director for Equal Asia Foundation, a regional innovations incubator for LGBT+ inclusive and appropriate SDG engagement in Thailand.

What does your organisation do?

Equal Asia Foundation is an incubator for inclusive LGBTI+ projects that is disrupting the LGBTI+ movement from within and encouraging it to find collaborative solutions to deep-seated social inequities.

Equal Asia Foundation’s work this year is focused on addressing the growing intergenerational gap in Asia, in particular reducing the social isolation of the elderly; preventing suicide and self-harm in the young; and mitigating the vulnerabilities of LGBT+ migrants and refugees affected by climate change, conflict and disaster.

The Equal Asia Foundation has a secretariat in Bangkok and is a collaborative community of change-makers from the non-profit, business and public sectors across borders who incubate and accelerate LGBTI+ inclusion projects in Asia.

Equal Asia Foundation has recently released its first publication. With this report, we have turned a corner in our work with refugees by documenting the condition and circumstances of LGBTI+ refugees, an invisible and vulnerable community living with us in this City of Angels and around Thailand. This report is a distillation of voices from across the refugee and LGBTI+ rights ecosystem and an urgent call for empathy and action. Click here to read more.

How did you get into social impact sector?

I  have worked for over 19 years in the social impact sector. Though I trained in Clinical genetics, I was moved by the plight of sex workers and their young children and started a local non-profit that provided basic health and nutrition services.

I also went back to school to pursue a Masters in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work.

I later began working in iNGOs, NGOs and social sector practices of management consulting firms across the region.

I founded Equal Asia Foundation in 2019 to respond to the glaring gaps in the LGBTI+ movement in Asia.

What is your driving force for accelerating change?

I am surrounded by inspiring human rights defenders who are driven to make the world a better place. I think human suffering is unnecessary and we have it in us to work together to find solutions to fix what is structurally wrong in our societies.

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

Radical collaboration is the key. The only way we can make a difference is if we are able to work intersectionally and across social movements.

We need to make leaps of faith and leaps of imagination if we want to make a big impact in the lives of the people we work with.

Also, be ready to grow and change as well. This work is as much about you as it is about the communities you work in.

Our Change Accelerator for May is Ntombenqaba Precious Petros, Co-founder of Masakhe Community Development Programme,  a community self-empowerment organisation in South Africa.

What does your organisation do?

MASAKHE (which means ‘we build’ in Xhosa) is a community self-empowerment organisation in Nyanga East and Lower Crossroads. The organisation emerged as a response to the difficult economic situation in the townships. There are not enough jobs for people and unemployment is very high.

We came together as concerned community members and decided to form an organisation to help ourselves and many others who are desperately looking for income.

Our aim is therefore to instil our members with a sense of self-worth, self-respect, dignity and hope for a future. We aim to help our members find employment and a steady income. To have an income and a daily task gives a person dignity.

The organisation started in February 2011. We were a group of 6 women then – women who were not educated and so found it very difficult to find paid employment. 

Things have been even harder during Covid-19 lockdown, as we had to shut down operations leaving many families in the community left without support, and without a safe place for their children to go each day.

As a response to this, I started an online funding campaign to help get essential food parcels to children and families in Nyanga East township to that they could survive the lockdown period.

This is something as an organisation we have never done before, and the response was incredible. In just a couple of weeks we were able to raise enough to get food packs together for 56 families.

I also reached out to other NGOs who were running feeding schemes and they were able to support and provide an additional 144 families with food packs.

What motivates you?

I am motivated every day by the people in my community. I see the hope and determination of people who want to make change happen to improve the situation that their community is in.

Their eagerness to do something different and learn new skills, or support others – regardless of their own situation.

Where does your inspiration come from?

My mother played a big role. She always made sure that everything she did came from her heart, focusing on supporting others who were less fortunate than her.

Everything she did was with passion, and she brought people along with her by inspiring others to support people who needed it.

What piece of advice would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

Trust yourself. Do everything with confidence and passion.

Change Accelerator: Ouafa Belgacem

Our Change Accelerator for April is Ouafa Belgacem, CEO of Culture Funding Watch, Tunisia, who advocate for sustainable, transparent and smart culture and creative sector financing.

Please briefly describe what your organisation does 

Culture Funding Watch is a social enterprise specializing in intelligence, capacity building and advocacy for sustainable, transparent and smart culture and creative sector financing.

We support cultural and creative industry workers by giving them access to the information, resources, advice and assistance they need to achieve their goals. We do this by facilitating access to information on resources, training and building capacities in resources mobilization, raising resources and influencing donors and future donors.

Our reach expands across Europe, MENA Region and Africa, offering 20 workshops per year and supporting over 9,000 users through our Facebook page.  

How did you get into social impact sector? 

This is funny story… I am actually an archeologist by trade, and I was destined to be a researcher or a teacher with little exposure to project design or implementation. My passion for old stones and dead bodies meant my mum used to tease me, saying ‘you are grave digger’. My shift to the social impact sector started when I got my first job and international experience at the supreme council of antiquities in Egypt where I was working on a Finnish/Egyptian collaboration project. There I discovered the whole world of development, collaboration and fundraising. When I joined the project it was nearing the end of it’s funding and I was worried about its sustainability and continuity. I remember asking my Egyptian manager “what is going to happing once the Finnish funding is over?”, to which he replied “you are a ‘digger’ and I have still 6 months budget for a junior researcher… go and dig and find out what we should do next”. I was convinced that the survival of the art and culture sector was dependent on the “cultural workers”  themselves mastering their own financial sustainability. 

And there came my lightbulb moment. I discovered that Fundraising is a profession in it’s own right, and there is a whole world out there that comes with it. In 2005 I decided to become a fundraiser, and to learn as much as I could, so I could come back and apply it to the arts and culture sector. It was around the same time that I found the Resource Alliance. It was a turning point in my career, and my whole life. Being among the 12 bursary winners from over 450 applicants for the IWRM Workshop in Malaysia was the little push that I needed to be able to shift from an archeologist to a professional fundraiser. I met people that inspired and encouraged me, and it allowed me to move forward and dare to apply for a position at the European commission delegation in Egypt (where I knew I would have exposure to the most complex intuitional donor in my region). Following that I worked at Oxfam as regional funding programme coordinator and now I am the founder of Culture Funding Watch. I am very proud of what I have accomplished so far. CFW is the only MENA and Africa focused social enterprise helping the arts and culture sector reach the resources they need. 

What is your driving force for accelerating change? 

I have always been driven to solidarity and caring about others, but most importantly I have a deep belief in the major role that art and culture plays in human lives and collective wellbeing. And besides, I am Tunisian and French – an explosive combination of cultures of resistance, revolution and strong women. It is in my genes. This is the reason I have been driven to working with organisations like Oxfam, SNV etc. I have a very low tolerance threshold to injustice.  

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

Give it time. If you have a look at my career you will see what kind of change maker I am. I took time (15 years) to master my knowledge before creating CFW because I have always advocated that meaningful change can only happen when we act on the roots of the problem. I like to inscribe my actions in the time so that they have deep and lasting impact. It takes time to change policies and behavior and I am not afraid of time. 

The first time art financing and funding was mentioned in the MENA regional art and culture conference arenas was in 2010 when I brought it into discussion, when most of the sectors’ attention was about cultural policies. CFW is 6-7 years ahead of the game when it comes to bringing this dimension of cultural and creative sector development. I am very proud now that my small organisation is operating with zero external funding, zero influential supporters is now a reference in the region. I take pride in quality, durability and solidarity. 

Everything You Need to Know

What is the Emerge programme?

Emerge is a capacity building programme that aims to help organisations to devise and implement a fundraising strategy that enables them to diversify their income sources and improve the prospect of long term financial sustainability. The delivery process is designed to help the organisations improve their resource mobilisation skills and strategic thinking and also enable them to critically assess other areas of organisational functioning, including governance, leadership and management. The change that Resource Alliance wants to see is that organisations take ownership of and sustain new resource mobilisation activities that diversify their income base.

The programme is delivered by Resource Alliance associates (consultants), who are carefully selected and matched with the organisation in terms of skills, experience and their location.

Who is the Emerge programme aimed at?

The main beneficiaries of this programme are small to medium-sized organisations who need help and support to diversify and grow their funding portfolio for growth and/or sustainability.

What are the benefits of taking part in the Emerge programme?

• Strengthened organisational capacity in fundraising and resource mobilisation, including, if needed, the development of appropriate organisational structures and processes.
• Enhanced resource mobilisation skills, competence and confidence amongst key staff.
• A functioning resource mobilisation strategy with plans and tools to support the process.
• Coaching and mentoring to support the organisation in increasing and diversifying funding in the short, medium and long term.

What happens during the Emerge programme?

The intervention combines the expertise of a consultant with local market knowledge and a diverse range of skills and experience matched with each Oak grantee, and an opportunity to participate in peer learning activities. They are then supported by the Resource Alliance through the following process over 12 months:

The ultimate aim of the programme being implemented is for the participants to become more resilient, sustainable and capable of affecting change in their areas of work. It also aims to make organisations more robust, less dependent on a small number of donors and better able to leverage funding from a wide range of sources for the changes they wish to make. The project focuses on the critical areas of leadership and resource mobilisation, which are crucial to an organisation’s survival and its ability to grow and bring about sustainable programme outcomes.

It seeks to:

• Foster confidence and skills amongst staff, which can be applied to other areas of fundraising and to ingrain a culture of strategic thinking with regard to resource mobilisation.
• Develop a fundraising culture within the whole organisation so that resource mobilisation becomes a collective effort and an integral part of organisational functioning rather than a silo activity that is the responsibility of a few.
• Help establish an exit strategy for the organisation so that the financial dependency on any single funder is reduced.

Who has taken part previously in the Emerge programme? 

Since 2014, the Emerge programme has supported 42 organisations across 15 different countries across Asia, South East Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

“We benefited immensely from the Emerge programme. This has enabled us to set concrete targets and objectives, and we are engaged to follow up the strategy with concrete implementation. This will allow us to implement our three-year strategic framework”.

ALEX KAMAROTOS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL, SWITZERLAND

“We found the Associate you provided us on the Emerge programme to be highly engaging and knowledgeable, and she was quickly able to get under the skin of our organisation to appreciate what we needed and how we could develop our fundraising strategy”.

MARIA ALEJANDRA PAVICICH, COORDINATOR OF INSTITUIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MEMORIA ABIERTA, ARGENT

What do NGOs need to do to apply for the Emerge programme?

Organisations interested in the programme should contact Ajay@resource-alliance.org.

What can funders do if they’re interested in funding the Emerge programme?

The Emerge programme has clear benefits for NGOs requiring help with building their fundraising capacities. However, funders whose aims and mission concern the building of the fundraising capacity of their grantees may also benefit through investing in the financial sustainability of their grantees.

Funders and investors interested in finding out more about the Emerge programme should contact Ajay@resource-alliance.org.

An interview with Sophia Seawell from Mama Cash

Mama Cash was conceived around a kitchen table in Amsterdam in 1983. Since then, it has grown from a group of five feminist activists into an international fund that supports women’s, girls’, trans and intersex people’s movements around the world.

We caught up with Sophia Seawell to find out what makes Mama Cash stand out from other grantmaking organisations and how their value of sharing power really puts the women it serves at the centre of their work.

What makes Mama Cash different from other grantmaking organisations?

In contrast to much available funding which is project-based, Mama Cash gives grants to feminist groups, who decide themselves how to best use this money. With this long-term and flexible funding, we can offer the stability that activists need to realise their visions for a more just and joyful world.

How do you involve women within the granting process?

In line with our value of sharing power, Mama Cash has been moving to a participatory grantmaking model. This means shifting decision-making power about how grants are distributed to the communities we intend to serve – who are, after all, experts of their own realities. We piloted this with our Spark grants for local activists here in the Netherlands, recently launched our Solidarity Fund for fellow women’s funds and aim to extend this approach to all of our grantmaking by 2021.

From your grant applications, what are the key ‘trends’ or pressing issues facing women in the current climate?  

Data from our grant applications, recently analysed in our report Resourcing Feminist Activism, shows that feminist activism is thriving everywhere but remains underfunded – each year we receive far more eligible applications than we are able to grant. In particular, we see an increase in applications from trans and intersex activists, as well as sex workers’  rights groups; we also see an increase in applications from groups working on the intersection of gender and climate change.

How do you think that the social impact sector can accelerate change (our theme for IFC 2020) to support women and girls across the globe?

The social impact sector can best support positive change by redirecting resources and decision-making power back to movements themselves. Women, girls, trans and intersex people have a vision for a world in which everyone is equal, safe, and free and to make this vision a reality they need access to resources.

How is Mama Cash adapting to deal with Coronavirus? How has the pandemic affected your work as a team and as a grantmaker? 

Mama Cash remains committed to providing flexible funding to our grantee-partners around the world – crises like Covid-19 show why flexibility on the part of funders is so important. Activists need to be able to adapt and respond to situations on the ground. We are in dialogue with all of our partners about how we can best support them; we have also extended our deadline to apply for a grant in our current grantmaking cycle, and we are being flexible with reporting deadlines for current partners.

2020 Resource Alliance Global Fundraising Awards – Nominations now open!

With the entire world starting to work differently, responding to changing demands and a range of different challenges, people are rising up, showing courage, commitment, innovation and becoming the agents of change that the world needs. 

This year we want to dedicate the 2020 Resource Alliance Global Fundraising Awards to the innovative fundraisers and changemakers who are navigating the sector through this crisis. 

This is an opportunity not only to be recognised for your dedication and passion, but also to let the world know how you use that dedication and passion to help create lasting, positive change in the world.

Your success is all of our success, since as a sector we can learn from one another, encourage one another and celebrate one another.

So please take some time to nominate someone who you feel meets the criteria in the four categories below. They could be your colleagues, your staff, your boss… or yourself.

WHY NOMINATE SOMEONE FOR THE AWARDS?

• Winners will be recognised formally by the Resource Alliance for their outstanding contribution

• This is a unique opportunity to showcase their individual / organisation’s work on a global platform

• Winners will receive a grant to support the work they are doing, as well as a variety of other benefits

THE CATEGORIES

2020 Global Fundraising Innovator of the Year

This award is not just about money. The Global Fundraising Innovator of the Year has transformed the way their organisation works in response to the crisis. They have seen the challenges and faced them down with determination to rethink, regroup, reorganise in order to move away from transactional fundraising and into a healthy, holistic and sustainable income stream. They have set their organisation on a new financial course that will withstand the day-to-day ups and downs of economies, donor trust and interest, and the myriad other factors that can disrupt even the best fundraising plans.

The Activator Award

This award goes to an individual, campaign or collaboration that motivates the masses and activates the unstoppable force that is the power of people standing united for large-scale impact. The Activator coalesces individual donations and voices into a social movement intent on rocking the world.

The Rule-Breaker Award

Is this how fundraising is supposed to look? The Rule-Breaker Award goes to an individual or campaign which breaks the rules and paradigms of traditional fundraising. They pull the ‘F’ out of “IFC” and turn it on its head with an entirely unexpected way to resource work, creating a fresh and more sustainable model of resource development.

The Change Accelerator Award

Forward thinking. Progressive. Bold. The Change Accelerator Award goes to an individual who is advanced in their thinking, daring in their approach – and tired of the status quo. Their ideas are bigger, their goals loftier and their timeline faster. Their giant strides overshadow the baby steps of hesitation and timidity. They inspire us to the fearless pursuit of accelerating change in a time when we must displace fearfulness with fearlessness and strive for big impact. The Change Accelerator dares to live life in the fast lane of change.

HOW TO ENTER

The awards are free to enter, and nominations are open to all collaborations, organisations and individuals in the social impact sector.

Applications are open from 16 April to 31 July 2020, and the winners will be announced in August.

NOMINATE A CHANGEMAKER

For any enquiries, please contact Ruby at ruby@resource-alliance.org 

 

Global virtual summit launched to support the charity sector’s response to Covid-19

• The summit is supported by charity sector conference and training organisations around the world, made possible by Salesforce and hosted on Fundraising Everywhere
• Conference live streamed on April 2nd between 12pm – 6pm BST / 7am – 1pm EST
• Two virtual conference tracks on charity and fundraising response, plus additional resource library to support skills and well-being
• Other charity conferences supporting the project by providing individual content
• Free for everyone and available globally

The Resource Alliance is delighted to be part of a consortium, working together to respond to the situation faced by the charity sector as a result of COVID-19. 

With growing concerns from charities about how to respond in this time of crisis, the virtual conference has been curated to help connect charities and fundraisers, enabling shared learning to support a response with confidence and clarity.

Each session has been hand-selected and curated with COVID-19’s impact on the charity sector as its focus and will be presented online on April 2nd between 12pm – 6pm BST / 7am – 1pm EST.

Sessions are 45 minutes long including live Q&A with the speaker. Two tracks will run consecutively on Fundraising Everywhere’s website, fundraisingeverywhere.com, which attendees can interact and choose from throughout.

Attendance is free but attendees must register at fundraisingeverywhere.com/covid19.

Attendees can choose between the twelve live sessions on offer and will have access to all recorded content afterwards, plus a bonus video resource library, for as long as the pandemic impacts the sector.

Other charity sector partners including the Institute of Fundraising, Charity Comms, CharityDigital and Third Sector are supporting the project by using their speaker and charity connections to provide individual content.

The live stream will be subtitled in English for live viewers and available in other languages post-event.

Speakers and sessions

Planned sessions include:

• Setting up a response task force
• Working with your board during a crisis
• Diversifying quickly
• Creating digital campaigns
• Mobilising volunteers during a lockdown
• Becoming digital focussed
• Campaigning in a crisis
• Adapting strategic objectives during a crisis
• Changing plans with funders
• Engaging with HNWI during a crisis
• How to survive and thrive through and beyond COVID-19
• Turning cancelled events digital

Plus a bonus resource library on:

• Community fundraising during COVID-19
• Telephone fundraising
• Legacy fundraising asks during a pandemic
• Remote working
• Time management
• Well-being
• Engaging with the media
• Running virtual events on social media
• Supporter experience during COVID-19
• Making sure your COVID-19 response is inclusive

Confirmed speakers so far include:

• Beth Kanter
• Charity So White
• Ian Mitlock (Charity Excellence Framework)
• Kishshana Palmer
• Ligia Pena (Greenpeace)
• Rebecca Davies (Save The Children)
• Sam Laprade
• Tereza Litza (Lightful)
• Wayne Murray (Audience)

There will also be live hosting from Fundraising Everywhere’s co-founders, Nikki Bell and Simon Scriver to engage with speakers and attendees. The virtual platform hosts a chat function where attendees can get involved with their own discussions and network with each other and speakers.

#FRO2020 SPEAKER LINEUP ANNOUNCED

Over 2,500 people have already registered for Fundraising Online 2020 (#FRO2020), the free online conference from the Resource Alliance taking place on the 29 & 30 April 2020.

As the impact of COVID19 forces much of our activity online, #FRO2020 offers valuable insight, tools and ideas on how individuals and organisations can innovate and accelerate their social change efforts in the digital world. All sessions will be accompanied by a live Q&A with the speaker giving you the opportunity to learn and engage for free, from anywhere across the globe.

Following the exciting announcement of two of our keynotes, Ailbhe Smyth and Sophie Chen, we now have even more incredible speakers confirmed, looking at everything from Facebook fundraising to regular giving recruitment, the power of storytelling to examples of community campaigns in Brazil. Scroll down for more upcoming #FRO2020 highlights.

With an ever-growing programme encompassing a wide range of digitally focused topics and global perspectives, we’ll be sharing even more #FRO2020 speakers and sessions very soon.

Keep updated and register for #FRO2020.

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Adapting regular giving recruitment for the digital world: One journey from traditional to digital regular giving recruitment while harnessing the power of movement building and activism along the way

Kathryn Holloway and Alex Aggidis 🇬🇧

How were Friends of the Earth inspired by the digital activism of global climate activists? Like many NGOs, regular giving is the financial backbone of Friends of the Earth, and as a campaigning organisation they have depended on people power to pressure decision-makers.

In this session you’ll learn how they diversified their Individual Giving programme into a digital space after witnessing uprisings across the globe with climate activists and movements like Greta Thunberg, the youth climate strikers and Extinction Rebellion inspiring collective climate action.

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From local to digital – Brazilian examples of community campaigns: The power of local giving campaigns to mobilise the community and create online engagement

João Paulo Vergueiro 🇧🇷

Learn how a community-based and personalised approach, together with digital technologies, has generated great fundraising successes around Dia de Doar – Brazils’s version of #GivingTuesday.

In this session João Paulo will share examples of Brazilian community campaigns built around Dia de Doar. He’ll make the case that it’s more effective to reach people in their local communities with the goal of developing their own neighbourhoods.

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The power of storytelling: Leveraging the power of storytelling to create social change

Supriya Paul 🇮🇳

The session will include key insights from Co-Founder Supriya Paul on Josh Talks’ unique approach of telling stories, through relatable role models and vernacular languages in India. She will also share the tangible and unique impact their channel has had and the change they are creating in Indian society.

Supriya will also share the strategy behind crafting a good story and choosing the medium of dissemination to ensure it reaches a wider audience and can help individuals/organisations to achieve their objectives.

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It’s not just about birthdays: Five reasons why you have to adapt to social fundraising & how to deal with the lack of data

Nick Burne 🇬🇧

In this in-depth, tools-agnostic workshop, featuring recent real-world case studies and benchmarks taken from over 300,000 Facebook fundraising transactions, you will learn the seven different types of supporter that you can engage with and where to spend your time and effort for the biggest rewards.

You’ll also learn the #1 most compelling message strategy that engages Facebook fundraisers and lets you raise more. Plus, how to get supporter relationships off Facebook so you can develop multi-channel relationships, as well as how to drive more fundraisers, how to navigate the tricky waters of GDPR and PECR, not forgetting the top tricks for blowing up your own fundraisers and much much more.

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More sessions to be announced!

Look out for other #FRO2020 sessions soon, including:

• Embracing data-driven fundraising
• Generating more income from happier supporters 
• Using Facebook Messenger as the new donor conversion channel

And much more!

Make sure you signup for #FRO2020. We’ll keep you up to date with all the exciting speaker and session announcements, and share details of exactly where to catch the sessions on the day.

As the COVID19 pandemic progresses the work of social impact organisations will become increasingly difficult over the coming months, especially for those on the frontline of this crisis. 

However, we know that by combining the talents, expertise and dedication of our global community of friends and experts we will be able to tackle the unprecedented levels of change ahead of us together. The Resource Alliance will continue to be a platform for connection, friendship, knowledge and advice. Our commitment to serve our global community will not be diminished. 

We are still planning confidently for IFC 2020, still over 200 days away, but after consultation with our partners in South Africa and Brazil together we have made the decision to postpone our South Africa and Brazil IFC Pop Ups until the situation stabilises. We will continue to carefully assess the situation over the coming weeks and, in the spirit of complete transparency we will share any updates with our community as they become available. Our commitment to serve our global community will not be diminished. 

Our team are on hand to listen to your questions, concerns and ideas. Contact us on social media or at contact@resource-alliance.org when you need us.  

In the meantime, do what you can to keep safe, stay informed and look after each other.  

The Resource Alliance is proud to introduce four new Trustees

We are delighted to announce the appointment of four new Trustees to the Resource Alliance Board.
 
Each of these incredible women bring a wealth of experience, talent and wisdom to our leadership, and we are greatly appreciative of the contribution they have already begun to make.

Here’s more on Nana, Naila, Ingrid and Willeke.

NANA ASANTEWA AFADZINU

Ghana 🇬🇭

Nana is Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), with 19 years’ experience in the civil society sector. Nana is a passionate advocate for an effective, efficient, influential and sustainable civil society in West Africa.

A lawyer by profession, Nana has worked extensively on governance, human rights, philanthropy and capacity building with national, international, continental and regional organisations. Nana spearheaded the establishment of a legal division for the Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) and volunteered as WISE legal counsel.

Read more about Nana here.
 

NAILA FAROUKY 

Egypt 🇪🇬

Naila has built an award-winning career across several continents. She is a Peabody Award recipient with experience in executive project management, media production and strategic development and communications. In 2014, she took on the role of CEO at the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF), a membership-based network of associations and foundations in the Arab region.

Prior to joining AFF, Naila spent 14 years at Sesame Workshop where she was responsible for managing overall strategic project management and development, production, content and creative aspects of Sesame Workshop’s multi-media Sesame Street projects in the MENA region, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

Read more about Naila here.

 

INGRID SRINATH

India 🇮🇳

Ingrid is the founder Director of the Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP) at Ashoka University, the first academic centre in South Asia to focus on these themes.

As well as her roles as Executive Director of CHILDLINE India Foundation and CEO of Hivos India, Ingrid served as Secretary General for 4 years at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, an influential global network of non-profit organisations.

Ingrid has served on several advisory boards including: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Fair Share of Women Leaders to mention just a few.

Read more about Ingrid here.

 

WILLEKE VAN RIJN

Austria 🇦🇹

Willeke is a highly experienced resource development manager currently heading up the Strategy and Analysis team at SOS Children’s Villages International, the world’s largest charity focused on providing a loving home for children around the world.

Prior to that Willeke spent 13 years at Oxfam as a global fundraising strategy advisor for affiliates all around the world providing strategic fundraising oversight, R&D of new fundraising markets and channels, and entry set up and market development of new fundraising departments and personnel.

Read more about Willeke here.

Resource Alliance Statement on IFC 2020 and Coronavirus (or Covid-19) 

STATEMENT FROM MARCH 2020 – Please revert to update here

First, policy issues aside, our hearts and thoughts are with all the individuals, families and organisations impacted by the Coronavirus around the world. We particularly offer our deepest compassion and commitment to the members of the social impact community we serve, and the countless people and causes each of you serve. This is an incredibly challenging time for work that is already challenging in the best of times. We offer our sincerest hope that that Coronavirus does not stop us from doing that work but becomes a test of our creativity and our will to thrive and succeed on behalf of all those we serve.   

In that spirit, with IFC 2020 taking place in the middle of October (still 7 months away), the Resource Alliance team continues to plan confidently for the event. This is the 40th anniversary of our beloved gathering and we are working diligently to deliver the best IFC ever. The theme of Accelerating Change seems all the more profound in the current climate. 

We will continue to carefully assess the situation over the coming weeks and, in the spirit of complete transparency, share any updates with our community as they become available. If, for any reason, we decide to reconsider any aspect of IFC 2020, we will work with each of our registered delegates to offer a full refund of registration fees*, as well as offer the opportunity to participate in other online and offline events and forums throughout the course of the year. 

In the meantime, we continue to plan for IFC, in addition to our online conference, Fundraising Online (or #FRO2020), at the end of April. We hope you will be able to join us for both opportunities to connect, share and learn!

If you would like any further information, have any questions or want to share your thoughts with the team, we encourage you to get in touch with us at ifc@resource-alliance.org — as always, the collective wisdom of our community is our greatest source of inspiration and advice. 

*Please note that the Resource Alliance cannot cover any additional costs incurred such as flights/travel fares or visas. If individuals or organisations make the decision not to attend the event (aside from any government enforced travel bans), our standard cancellation terms apply. 

Change Accelerator: Sandy Cipriano

Our Change Accelerator for March is Sandy Cipriano, Founder of Cupcakes of Hope, who aim to create awareness and raise funds for children with life threatening diseases, predominantly done through a love of baking cupcakes. Every month Cupcakes of Hope helps 80 -100 little cancer patients by paying for their medical and day-to-day expenses.

How did you get into social impact sector?

I’ve always volunteered as a student.  It was not always easy, but it felt good knowing that I could and did make a difference. Unfortunately one of our family friends lost their 3 year old daughter to cancer. Seeing what this family went through, I felt I could do something to help similar families during one of their toughest journeys. 

We run a family restaurant and we decided to do our first fundraiser in 2009, we raised R5 000 for one little patient. Our yearly fundraisers grew bigger every year and in 2011 we introduced cupcakes as a fundraising tool. That year we set a New World Record for the MOST CUPCAKES ON DISPLAY, 21 000, and raised R200 000 for children with cancer.  

I absolutely loved seeing how the whole community came together to ‘bake’ a difference and I felt that we could help more children if we get the whole South Africa involved so we decided to registered Cupcakes of Hope as a Non Profit Company in 2012. 

Since we started our foundation, we have helped more than 2 000 patients as well as 16 other cancer charities in South Africa, and raised over R10 million. This is by far the SWEETEST way to help SAVE a life.

What is your driving force for accelerating change?

I believe that EVERY ONE can make a difference in this world – all you need is a bit of time and LOADS of LOVE! I also believe that every act of kindness has a ripple effect with no end.
 
If you could “wave a magic wand” and accelerate your organisation’s success, what’s the one big thing you’d most like to accomplish?
I believe that Cupcakes of Hope has created a community of volunteers (our Cupcake Angels), who are between the ages of 3 and 90, from pre-schoolers to firemen, from nurses to accountants, who stand side by side to change the world for the better.

Together we are ‘baking’ a difference in the lives of children with life threatening diseases. I would love to see more people from different socio-economic backgrounds, working together for a great cause.

On National Cupcake Day we see our Cupcake Angels coming together, working side by side to ‘bake’ a difference in someone’s life.

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

In my case I started with a fundraiser to help one patient and little did I know that it would be ‘the spark’ to ignite Cupcakes of Hope. My message to accelerators is to always dream BIG, and believe that you can make a difference.

Find your passion, in our case it was using our God given talent of baking cupcakes, and try and use that to make a difference in a cause you believe in!

So let your light shine bright and it will inspire others to do the same.

This week International Women’s Day took place. Tell us about a women who has inspired/helped you accelerate change in your life or work.

I always talk about two ladies who had a huge impact on me when I was growing up. 

The first one was Oprah Winfrey, as I loved watching her Angel Network shows. The foundation of Cupcakes of Hope is actually based on one of the episodes I watched, where a young 15 year old girl wanted to make a difference, but she did not have money. So instead she visited old age homes and spoilt the ladies by doing their nails and hair… showing me that you don’t always need money to make a difference and that sometimes all people need is a bit of time and loads of love. 

I alway knew that one day I would meet Oprah, but I always thought that I would be flying out to America to attend her show, instead Oprah actually came to visit us as she has had dinner at our restaurant in Vereeniging, not once but on three separate occasions. For me this was a full circle moment meeting someone who has inspired and touched millions of people all over the world.

The second woman who inspired me is Mother Teresa, who said ‘we can’t all do great things, but we can do little things with great LOVE” – and that is what Cupcakes of Hope is all about.  

Our Cupcake Angels are spreading Cupcake LOVE all across South Africa and my dream is to see Cupcake LOVE being spread all over the world, helping even more children fight their battles because they don’t deserve to fight this battle alone.

Do you know a inspirational Change Accelerator? Nominate them for our next newsletter and to be entered into our global awards by emailing us here.