Dr Prahalathan enlightened us about “how we can leverage Bhumi Events to maximise our fundraising goals.”  

Remember: Small Actions < Big Impact : Bhumi Events

We at Bhumi started conducting events ten years back starting with internal events, then events for our beneficiaries and now for external audiences. We have learnt a lot along the way and this document is to set the context on how we will conduct all these events going forward to 2020.

In the next years we will focus greater on

• Operational excellence in all events
• Maximizing achievement of all primary and secondary goals and outcomes
• Holistic leadership development to build better teams for events and for Bhumi

Type of Events	Events for Beneficiaries	Fundraising / PR events / Knolwedge Events	Internal Events	External Events
Examples	Nakshatra, Ignite Fest	Bhumi Sports League, Bhumi India Run, Cyclation, Volcon, Fulcrum etc	Bhumi Premier League, All Volunteer Meetings	Corporate Volunteering events, Asian Games etc.
Operational Excellence (Doing a perfect event)	Must	Must	Must	Must
Scope of learning Operational Excellence / Leadership development of volunteers	Great	Less	Good	Less
Primary Goal	High Quality event for the beneficiaries that maximizes outcomes	High Quality event for the donors/supporters that maximizes funds raised	High Quality event for the volunteers that maximizes Engagement	High Quality event for the external stakeholders that maximizes outcomes
Secondary Goals – 1	Maximize funds raised for Org / projects / city	PR opportunity to engage supporters	Volunteer happiness	PR opportunity to engage supporters other stakeholders / society
Secondary Goals – 2	Audience Engaged	Audience Engaged	NA	NA
Publicity Goals	High – Post event	High – Pre-event	High – Internally	NA
Scope for Volunteer Engagement	Great	Less	Great	Good
Feedback and Feed-forward	Must	Must	Must	Must

 

Events for Beneficiaries

Nakshatra / Ignite Fest

After ten years and almost 70 Nakshatras conducted across India there is no excuse to not do a sub-standard event

These are the events that allow volunteers to think on their feet understand excellence and grow as leaders. This the breeding ground and learning arena for leaders for Bhumi and the best event organisers for all other events.

Success Metrics / Factors

1. Focus on a joyful event for the children that maximizes life-skill learning outcomes
2. No. of children reached and year on year increase in no. of children reached
3. No. of supports or spectators engaged: Nakshatra is a performing event, hence the success of the event will also be measured by supporters / donors / corporate donors engaged
4. Reach of publicity like newspaper, online, TV etc.
5. Feedback rating from children / wardens / Volunteers
6. Total funds raised:
   Each event will target minimum 200% funds raised, Example
   The cost of doing Nakshatra for 600 kids is three lakhs rupees (600*Rs.500)
   The city will target to raise six lakh rupees so that the surplus can be for running Ignite in the city
   Total estimated Funds Raised: Rs. 6 Lakhs
   Total estimated Funds spent on event organising: Rs. 3 Lakhs
   Total Minimum Surplus: Rs. 3 Lakhs

Events for Fundraising / PR Events

Bhumi India Run / Bhumi Sports League / Cylation etc.

Everyone understands these events need high operational excellence, but a high-quality event is delivered by high quality teams and people. High quality people are only developed from events which we do for beneficiaries.

Success Metrics / Factors

1. Focus on a perfect event experience for the participants / supporters
2. No. of participants engaged
3. Reach of publicity like newspaper, online, TV etc. – Pre-& Post Event
4. Feedback rating from participants / VolunteersTotal funds raised
   Each event will target minimum 200% funds raised, Example
   The cost of doing Bhumi India Run for 600 runners is three lakhs rupees (600*Rs.500)
   The city/team will target to raise six lakh rupees so that the surplus can be for running Ignite in the city
   Total estimated Funds Raised from participation fees and sponsorship: Rs. 6 Lakhs
   Total estimated Funds spent on event organising: Rs. 3 Lakhs
   Total minimum Surplus: Rs. 3 Lakhs

Volcon / Volcon +/ MLEP / Fulcrum.

Success Metrics / Factors

1. Focus on a perfect event experience for the event attendees
2. No. of participants engaged
3. Reach of publicity like newspaper, online, TV etc. – Pre-& Post Event
4. Feedback rating from participants / Volunteers

Internal Events

Bhumi Premier League / Bhumi Awards / AVMs

Success Metrics / Factors

1. No. of participants engaged
2. Feedback rating from participants / Volunteers

External Events

Corporate Volunteering Events

Success Metrics / Factors

1. No. of volunteers engaged
2. Funds raised for Org / city / projects
3. Feedback rating from participants / Volunteers

Other Events like National Games, Government events, Fundraising events for other orgs

Success Metrics / Factors

1. Feedback rating from event organisers

Dr Prahalathan, Bhumi’s co-founder shared some insights on why mobilising and retaining support from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is essential for running our programmes.

Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013 makes “CSR spend of 2% of average net profits … during the three immediately preceding financial years” mandatory, and under Schedule VII programmes that promote education and ensure environmental sustainability are eligible.

It’s important to:

• Build credibility: what can be a better testimonial than an employee pitching a non-profit that he/she volunteers with?
• Be consistent: a corporate saying no this year does not mean it’s a no forever! Continue to invite them for events, and share quarterly updates. Stay in touch, for when they are looking to add partners, they are likely to remember you!
• Co-create: avoid judging a corporate by its size. It’s easier to connect and grow with smaller companies.
• Convert: be open to exploring any kind of partnership. Engage the employees in volunteering with Bhumi, and the management is likely to invest in the cause a few months/a year later.
• Plan for contingencies: “do not put all eggs in one basket” because you have little control over some decisions the company’s board is likely to make. Try for multiple opportunities.

Take your first step now! Write to devteam@bhumi.ngo to explore partnerships with the corporate you work for.

Archana Hari who currently heads Online Giving & Subscriptions at Give India spoke to us on how monthly giving is essential to build a sustainable organisation. Her key responsibility at Give India is to understand the giver’s mindset and build solutions to grow the tribe of committed donors across the world.

We hope these key insights from the webinar will clarify some of your queries and help you get started with Monthly Giving:

• The need (in our case, to educate our children) is ongoing
• The ask (from the prospective donor) is friendly on the pocket
• The call for action makes the giver an ‘equity stakeholder’ – that is, the donot
• Small contributions add up to make a big difference!
• Monthly giving contributes towards building a sustainable organisation

Call for action:

• Start by signing up to give monthly – much like crowdfunding, you must be the first contributor!
• Find 20 people every year to give Rs. 300 a month (Making a list of all those you know and putting an estimated amount of donation against each name would be a good start! Do not drop any names assuming they can’t/won’t give!)
• Reminding the donor or expecting the donor to remember to give monthly is not a concern! Our National Automated Clearing House (NACH) will ensure this is done automatically at the beginning of every month for a duration committed by the donor.

Write to reach@bhumi.ngo for further details.

We invited Mr Kiruba Shankar, a marketing expert to share his two cents on how one can make an effective pitch; and these are some triggers he offered:

1. Establish your credibility
2. Establish credibility of Bhumi
3. What’s in it for them?
4. Get out of your comfort zone
5. You only get when you ask
6. Look for ways how Bhumi can benefit
7. Use Social Media to document your experiences
8. Focus on storytelling
9. Practice your elevator pitch
10. Keep the donors updated

The following note on Bhumi will help you draft your pitch/story:

Although there is no dearth of schools in the country, the quality of education is questionable for a recent survey showed that only 48% of children in class 8 can solve a simple mathematical division. This gap in learning levels makes Bhumi’s work essential.

Bhumi is a non-profit organisation that educates 25,000 underprivileged children across India. Our programme at orphanages is implemented by young volunteers who have the passion to drive social change and the commitment to teach.

A preliminary assessment helps us understand the current skills level and create content specific to the child’s needs. Volunteers then gather at the shelter home every weekend to deliver an activity-based education programme. The results of our consistent effort showed 30% increase in the learning outcomes of the children last year.

Bhumi engages 20,000 volunteers across the country and our work would not be possible without the support of individuals who donate for our children’s education.

Donate Rs.500/- annually to help educate a child through Bhumi.