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This page is designed for current Nyaya volunteers to engage in fund-raising. If you are interested in assisting us with thic extremely critical task, please read this page and submit an application from our website: http://www.nyayahealth.org/volunteer/
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Rationale
The need in Achham is immense and we cannot meet it without raising significant funds. We have added physicians to a place where previously 250,000 people had none. We have a long way to go and we expect and hope that every person associated with Nyaya will help to raise funds to provide services in Nepal: be it emailing hundreds of people on your email address book, be it sending out press releases to your local newspapers, organizing a drive at your church or school, posting links to Nyaya's website, documentary or blog posts on your facebook page, you name it. Please encourage everyone around you to join in supporting Nyaya's work!
Don't think about fundraising as soliciting or shaming people into donating or otherwise being a nuisance; think about fundraising as making personal connections, as connecting people who want to help or want to be involved with ideas and a movement and a place and an organization and people that inspire them to act. Most people may not enjoy asking for money. However, we have been surprised and inspired by the way people have responded positively to our modest solicitations. Fundraising is fundamentally about telling stories, about talking to people about our ideas, about how our innovations really can change the world. The stories that we tell are not about death and poverty as they are about hope, about ingenuity, about inspired action leaving a fundamental societal impact.
As is true of our work in Nepal, our work outside is more about taking part in a social movement than about creating and strengthening the "institution" of Nyaya Health per se. We hope to create a model whereby the funds and technical support continue to grow for the Nepal-based team without overly depending upon support from single large donors. Rather, we seek to create a social network of people who are helping to build clinical services in Achham, to lobby the government to improve services, and to provide critical financing when the government's funds fall short. Our aim is to have a network of committed, dedicated, reliable people who may live in Achham, may occasionally travel to Achham, or may never see Achham, but who together, from donations of $5 to $100,000, play a small but significant role in the international movement to achieve equity in health.
Here is a helpful blog post on this subject of "In Defense of Raising Money: a Manifesto for NonProfit CEOs":
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/10/in-defense-of-r.html
Overall Approach
Fundraising within personal networks
Asking for small (or large) donations from people you know or through local publications or alumni magazines has a huge impact. One of our volunteers, Ana, self-financed her entire 8-month work in Nepal by showing some marketing materials to her local community-- and this was before she had ever been to Nepal and before the clinic had even opened!
You are an agent of change
A key aspect is that you identify yourself as a member of the organization and an important agent of change. Even if you are new to the organization, you should take ownership over whatever role you are playing. You are their link to this initiative, and to our patients and work in Nepal. Tell stories of our work, of your work with Nyaya, and of the work we aim to do with their support. Personalizing our work - offering your audience stories and images - is crucial to developing our support network.
Use relevant statistics with your personal narrative.
Identify specific statistics that may be relevant to the people you are telling the project about. Many of these can be found on our wiki, while others can be found in our various publications (www.nyayahealth.org/reports).
Provide specific examples of what dollar amounts can go to.
This may seem self-evident, but members often forget or are too shy to directly ask for help. People want to help, but they often do not have easy access to an organization to do so. Your job is to provide them with specific examples of Nyaya's work, explain where their money will go to and ask them for it. These are found in several of the different materials below.
Never assume that someone you know won't be interested
The audience is usually a mix: people who won't care, people who will maybe make a small contribution if nudged a little; people who are compassionate and decide to give once they read like the first sentence. We can never make assumptions about who will fall in the first category. And also, there are several who may know people that are willing to work with us/donate to us.
Follow-up with donors
Its important that members follow-up individually with their friends and family who have donated. Additionally, Nyaya organizationally engages all donors via thank you letters and subsequently emailed reports. Nyaya's Donor Management team will make every effort to notify members when someone connected to a member has donated. A few challenges to this process:
If you run across someone whom you solicited and who has donated but has yet to receive confirmation, you can let them know that it takes 2-4 weeks to process donations, and they should expect confirmation shortly. If you have any concerns, it is worth emailing donations(AT)nyaya with the name of the donor, the approximate date they donated, and the method (internet, snail mail) just to keep it on the Donor Management team's radar.
Materials
In presenting Nyaya's work, it is important to offer your audience materials, whether these are in the form of PowerPoint presentations, hard copy handouts and brochures, or mailings. Here we have compiled several templates in each of these mediums for you to adapt to your needs. We encourage you to consider specifically who your audience is, and what medium, as well as what information and aspect of Nyaya's work, is most appropriate for them. While many of our supporters learned about us through Facebook, or a global health article, for others, a fancy flash-based website may be less effective.
If you are adapting any of the resources below for a presentation, please alert our Director of Operations (info@nyayahealth.org) so we can assist you with the revisions and ensure all information provided is consistent. As a spokesperson for Nyaya Health it is very important that all information you provide your audience with be accurate.
- PowerPoint presentations
- generic presentation slides discussing our work can be found here (45-60 minutes)
- a shorter generic presentation can be found here (10-15 minutes)
- a presentation targeted at challenges can be found here (45-60 minutes)
- a presentation discussing the challenges of transparency, accountability and collaboration can be found here (45-60 minutes)
- Our 2010-2011 Bayalpata Expansion brief can be found here
- A tri-fold brochure can be found here http://nyayahealth.org/Library/nyaya_brochure.pdf
- A guide for snail-mail (hard copy) funding solicitations can be found here
- proposals for specific initiatives - ex:http://www.nyayahealth.org/Library/Ultrasound_Request.pdf or http://www.nyayahealth.org/Library/X-Ray_Request.pdf
- a social investment prospectus can be found here http://www.nyayahealth.org/Library/SocialInvestorProspectus.pdf
- our reports (published three times per year) can be found at www.nyayahealth.org/reports
- our photo library can be found here http://picasaweb.google.com/nyayahealth
Webinars
Oftentimes, we are invited to conferences to present our work but we cannot attend. In some cases, the conference organizers will allow us to present without being present. You can do this in the form of a pre-recorded "webinar". Try to be personally engaging since otherwise without audience participation (since they are pre-recorded) they can be dry. The key is that while the slides and the work described are our collective efforts, what you ultimately say becomes YOURS in the sense that you can speak passionately from your own experiences and insights. The talk should highlight your own abilities to speak in articulately and in a personable/approachable way about things you know and are passionate about.
Examples are here: http://www.slideshare.net/nyayahealth [All webinars should be uploaded here]
These can be downloaded as PPTs or posted as webinar [ remove highlighting ]s (preferably with audio).
Login information is here (private to nyaya users):
http://docs.google.com/a/nyayahealth.org/Doc?id=df8rgpnb_15ctnjkthr&hl=en
Informational Sheet
A brief two-page info sheet about Nyaya Health:
Please feel free to use this for any public relations -- e.g. fundraising requests, press releases, etc.
Fellowships
Please see our Fellowships and Funding page for more information.
Strategies
Press and Publicity
In addition to the information below, specifically about Press Releases, please see PressRelations and PublicityAndPress.
Press Releases
Be self-promotional! Send press releases to your hometown newspapers about your planned or actual trips. Its all about personal connections-- people from your family and community want to know what you're up to, and they often want to contribute. Press releases should be written about a particular event, or aspect of the organization's work. However, if the press release is for a venue not familiar with Nyaya's work, it should also encompass general information about the organization including the url for our website as well as our donation page's url (www.nyayahealth.org/donate). Press releases are typically written in third person, should emphasize the particular participant's involvement in Nyaya's work to connect with the audience. All press releases should be in a positive and constructive tone; there is room for discussion of organizational challenges (which can often solicit support!), however the overal attitude should be one of positivity.
Some venues:
*member's alumni magazine, newsletters, or website
*local newspapers
*community newsletters
*religious group publications
Press release examples: http://www.pvnews.com/articles/2008/05/10/local_news/news4.txt
http://www.medangel.org/nyaya/nyaya014.shtml
example press release: please replace ALL instances of (name) with local student name. There are four such instances in the press release.
For the contact details, provide a name other than local student's own name, i.e., a contact person within Nyaya. This makes it easier for the local student to not feel pressure or embarrassment.
Strategy: First email/fax. Follow-up phone call within three days of the email/fax. If no fax/email is provided, make a phone call to the paper and ask how to submit news press releases.
Area Students Provides Healthcare in Rural Nepal
(Date)
Contact: (your name, phone, email, address, fax: 630-604-8615; fax number comes to nyayahealth@gmail address under "efax" label)
(Name), a local student from (hometown, state), has been leading a major new international initiative to provide essential medical services in the poorest location in South Asia: the war-torn border zone between Nepal and India.
(Name), who now attends (university), is a key member of Nyaya Health, a new 501c3 organization that has sparked attention for using the Internet and creative fundraising techniques to build clinics and repair hospitals in a part of Asia where 1 out of 100 women die during childbirth. The group, whose name means "justice", has mobilized young people across the country to talk to their local communities and get involved in helping to build healthcare infrastructure and long-term, sustainable training programs for healthcare workers in rural villages of Nepal.
"This is a really creative new initiative," said (name). "We all hear about AIDS, tuberculosis, and hunger. Most people just donate a few cents and nothing really long-term gets done about this. Nyaya Health is unique because they train local people to work as paramedics and nurses, building local capacity and literally building new clinics and hospitals that work with the national health system to fix the health problems associated with poverty."
The group, which is entirely volunteer-run, uses 100% of donations to provide medical care and pay Nepal-based staff. They often receive money by donating services, like editing essays online or holding dance marathons to fundraise for medical equipment and supplies.
The group recently received an "OpenArchitecture" award from the computer company AMD, which will build a new telemedicine center in the community of Achham, Nepal, where there was previously only 1 doctor to treat several hundred thousand people. The new center will provide computers and equipment so that local nurses and doctors can email and video chat with professors of medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., providing valuable medical advice and expertise.
"The idea is to build up local capacity," said Duncan Maru, a member of the Nyaya Health program and an epidemiologist at Yale's School of Medicine. "There are a lot of non-profits out there, but our idea is not just to collect money and do something temporary. We've created a system where local people get control over their own health system, and foster a sustainable and long-term solution to chronic health problems in their area."
Nyaya is a "decentralized network", said Maru, being composed of young students that collaborate online in order to create campaigns to improve health. This Internet-based approach has brought together young people who would otherwise have no ability to network with others in order to create a large clinic and healthcare center.
The initiative has already repaired an abandoned grain shack and turned it into a state-of-the-art pediatric and maternal health center, complete with obstetrical delivery rooms, a pharmacy, and laboratory, all staffed by local Nepalis. The telemedicine center will adjoin this facility, and will be close to an abandoned hospital that the group plans to renovate.
Given that the nearest functioning surgical facility is over 10 hours by bus and one months salary from the clinic, Nyaya aims to quickly construct and staff an operating room. This new facility, as with all Nyaya Health's programs, will be overseen by local community members and in collaboration with the Nepal government. The long-term vision is to be part of a sustainable and responsive health system that meets the needs of even the poorest patients.
For more information, visit www.nyayahealth.org or contact Nyaya Helath at press(AT)nyayahealth.org
Alumni and/or Admissions Magazine
Your college loves you and wants to tell others about you, especially if you are working with an organization that is proving health services in rural Nepal.
There are several strategies to get started: going through a prof you are close to asking them to put you in touch with the alumni office; asking students who work at the alumni office or admissions office; and simply emailing the staff at the admissions or alumni office with a one paragraph summary of Nyaya and how you are involved. Ask them if they would be interested in mentioning this in the monthly newsletters or the alumni magazine. Also offer to provide any and all information including a draft if that helps. In some cases, you will have to do a phone interview and in some you will write a draft that they will edit.
After the magazine agrees to write something, do insist that you want to look at the final draft before they print so it doesn't cause confusion. It is easier than you think. Again, your college loves you and wants to tell everyone about you.
Mailings to Friends and Family
Directly mailing your friends and family can be one of the most effective strategies. Writing a personal, passionate, professional letter can be incredibly high-yield. The protocol for this is quite straight forward and all the materials are available here: DirectMailing
Fundraising events
Fundraising events generally happen one of two ways:
1) You come up with an idea for an event designed to raise money for Nyaya Health, for example a bake sale, or a charity poker tournament, and then put together the event with help from a team of friends and Nyaya Health Members. Click here for ideas on how to think through this kind of event.
2) Alternatively, you might be involved in, or you might know someone involved in setting up an event like a cultural show, or dance event which will be charging money for admission. Oftentimes organizers of these events are looking for charities to donate their proceeds to. So if you would like to pitch Nyaya Health as a potential beneficiary, click here for some information you may want to include to help you make your case.
Guidelines for a Fundraising Event Benefiting Nyaya Health
To plan a benefit for Nyaya Health, it would be good to think through the questions below and write down some answers that you could email to someone else or to our current marketing volunteer press(AT)nyayahealth(DOT)org so that we can figure out how to help you make the event as successful as possible.
Name:
Email:
Phone:
1. Proposed date and location of event (approximate date is ok):
2. Please describe the proposed event: (ex. cocktail party, small dinner, informal party…)
3. Do you want the event to benefit a certain Nyaya Health program? Or would you prefer for the funds to be directed towards the area of greatest need?
4. Do you have a plan for a venue for the event?
5. How many people do you plan to invite to your event? Who is on your guest list? (Friends? Family? Alumni network? All of your Facebook friends?)
6. If you’re not sending out invitations, how do you plan on advertising? Do you need posters/flyers?
7. What is your fundraising goal for the event? What is your revenue plan? (i.e. How will you achieve that goal? Suggested donations at the door? Ticket price? A request for donations at the end of the evening?)
8. Do you have any specific questions about planning your event?
Thank you again for your support!
Nyaya Health Meet-ups
A member would put together a slideshow of pictures, figures, video, etc. and present to the member's local community, religious, civic, or charity groups. A meet-up could alternatively take the form of discussing a particular aspect of health care in resourece-constrained settings (e.g. in Nepal), or how, for example, global health is relevant to the spiritual, political, or civic philosophies of a particular group.
Start a campus club
Campus clubs can be great ways to generate ideas, awareness, enthusiasm, and-- most importantly-- funding for global health. See
http://nyayahealth.pbwiki.com/CampusClubs
For ideas about starting a Nyaya Health chapter at your school.
Organize a Fundraising Appeal
Are you running a marathon and want to raise money for Nyaya Health? In lieu of gifts for your birthday or wedding, are you asking guests to make donations to Nyaya Health? See guidelines below.
Expanding our online presence at social networking sites
Our current sites on facebook, myspace, takingITglobal etc. all require updating of content regularly. If you are a manager of these sites, you can obtain our login info here:
http://docs.google.com/a/nyayahealth.org/Doc?docid=dgn3nhv2_4hj24nc79&hl=en
Gifts that Give More
These are gifts through the hunger site:
http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=28337
http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=28338
In the first six months of posting on this site, we raised 930$ without any work on our parts, so these can be effective for some folks.
Goodsearch
In addition to the ideas above, everyone should also be promoting the use of the search engine goodsearch.com This search engine works like any other, but every time a search is performed, money is donated to an organization of the searcher’s choice. Be sure to let people know to designate Nyaya Health as their designated charity.
Local Business Donations
Pursue donations of 0.1-1% donations of purchases among local businesses, similar in spirit to the http://www.joinred.com/ campaign but on a local scale. This can also be done by aggresively calling local business for small donations ($100), promising on our part some level of "value-added" typically in the form of publicity.
Charity Bikerides or Runs
For example, see http://www.rideforworldhealth.org/
Alternative Wedding Gift Registry
For some families, providing guests with option of donating to a cause you care about can be a powerful way to celebrate your bond:
http://www.alternativegiftregistry.org/
Pursue a Rotary Club in your local area
Rotary funding is through a local mechanism. First you approach the local club and then the national organization matches those funds.
Sample text:
I work with Nyaya Health, a 501c3 non profit organization that operates a primary care center with an all-Nepali staff, including a physician, two health assistants, a pharmacist, four auxiliary nurse midwives, a laboratory technician, and several community healthcare workers. Presently, we treat approximately 100 patients per day and employ the only allopathic physician in two districts covering nearly 500,000 people. Please see our most recent update attaced.
There are two rotary clubs in Kathmandu that have expressed interest in working with us on a Matching Grant. I am inquiring as to whether your group might be interested in being the US sponsor for the matching grant. In terms of financing, to facilitate the process, if necessary Nyaya Health members can provide the initial $2500 worth of funds required of your local chapter.
Please see attached the program in question (THIS IS IN SharedNyaya\Clinic\Grants\rotary)
Please let me know if this project make sense for your particular mission. Our team would be excited to work with you in any form of partnership.
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