Big gifts come in little packages - Twende Pamoja is a prime example of this. Without their own powerful fundraising apparatus, Twende Pamoja has relied almost solely on betterplace.org to reap donations quickly and efficiently. As well as abundantly.
Twende Pamoja is Kiswahili for “Let us walk together.” That’s exactly what a couple of Germans have been doing since the year 2000, together with their friends and partners from the east African country Tansania, on the island Zanzibar. It was here that the aid organisation Twende Pamoja was established.
The project’s fundraising success is due in part to Twende Pamoja’s embrace of the full gamut of online-fundraising opportunities: the internet is fast, current, and aesthetic and a presence on the internet is inexpensive to maintain. And that’s just how Matthias Mnich, Michaela Blaske, and Verena Specht-Ronique, who placed the organisation Twende Pamoja on betterplace, brought it into being. Never before have potential supporters had the opportunity to stay so up to date or to develop with as much transparency such trusting network relationships as they now are able to with betterplace.
Admitting to weakness
Transparency and the development of trust require the strength to openly admit weakness. While Twende Pamoja thanked supporters for donating toward the material needed to produce cloth bags, they also simultaneously admitted that the bags were not competitive in the long run and openly reflected in hindsight that this project wasn’t especially sustainable.
Ongoing Communication with Donors
Up to now, Twende Pamoja workers have written a total of 167 blog posts about their seven projects; that’s almost 24 blog posts per project. News about the life of the projects have been updated continuously through the blogs, fresh information is reported as it happens, and the trusting relationships between the supporters and the project initiators are maintained. Users who are connected to a particular project as an Advocate, Visitor or Supporter, receive a prompt email from the betterplace system each time a blog post or photo is uploaded for the project. “There’s a news update on your project!” it says, and since news always serves to pique interest, a single click on an embedded link takes one directly to the updated information on the project blog.
The blog entries also give the project managers the opportunity to show supporters that they are pouring their hearts into their work. Together with photos that portray the history and evolution of the project, the regular blog updates turn the act of donating into a real experience. One doesn’t only donate money or goods, but rather feels connected in tackling the project alongside the project managers.
Low costs - high rewards
It takes less than 20 minutes to post a project on betterplace.org. But without proper care and attention the project may wither. In order for it to grow and thrive, those responsible for the project have to put their backs into it. Verena Sprecht-Ronique has worked with Twende Pamoja since its founding and has been responsible for two projects on betterplace. She invested several hours each week to update blogs and photos and to develop the project’s network. She describes the response of her labors with one word: “Phenomenal!” Not only has Twende Pamoja won countless new donors, but in comparison to the limited fundraising opportunities of pre-betterplace-days, the organisation has now also risen in international prominence. “Today we even receive support from England–a super publicity effort!” according to Verena. As a small organisation, Twende Pamoja has virtually outsourced their Online-Fundraising and now links their projects directly from their homepage to betterplace, where they are then elaborated and evaluated by the Web of Trust.
Activating networks
One important key to a project’s success is to activate one’s networks. You have to hold matches under several logs simultaneously to really start the fire going. In other words: write loads of emails, exhaust the rolodex, inform colleagues, friends and acquaintances about the project on betterplace, send around the link, post it in your email signature, on
Facebook, on Twitter, in your status update, tell the whole world! And be sure to remind everyone: spread the word!
“But don’t forget that the project rating system is also very important,” says Verena. She remembered to ask friends and acquaintances to rate her projects with several stars, pushing them to the top of the Recommended Projects list on betterplace.
Enabling the beneficiaries to act for themselves
Because betterplace participation is possible wherever internet access is, Twende Pamoja decided to take their results one step further: the organisation trained people from Zanzibar on how to use betterplace.org (using laptops that were acquired from a betterplace.org project). With no more go-betweens, the shortest route between points stands wide open: the Zanzibari are now independently fundraising with betterplace for the construction of a street to a maternity ward and for an important bridge. The crow doesn’t fly any straighter than that.
many thanks to Becky for the translation!