Principles of Fundraising  - A Workshop for Non-Profits in Belize

By Jonathan Labozzetta, Development Director for TIDE

TIDE and the Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) hosted a 3-day fundraising event February 13 – 15th in Punta Gorda, Belize for dozens of non-profit organizations of all sizes.  The goal of the workshop entitled, “Principles & Techniques of Fundraising: A practical introduction” was to lay a solid foundation and provide a comprehensive training session for dozens of environmental non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations in Belize on the art and skill of fundraising.  Fundraising has many forms, and this seminar covered everything from the basics of “What is Philanthropy?” to specific planning and development of different types of fundraising campaigns (capital, major gifts, special events, endowment, etc.). 

This workshop was extremely beneficial to TIDE and the other participants.  It was

truly eye-opening and a wake up call to the participants in attendance, and even more so to those who did not show up and missed a golden opportunity.  The facilitator, Mr. Noel Jacobs, did a masterful job covering a wide variety of material, and relating it to our needs and our specific situations.  Mr. Jacobs covered the basics of philanthropy, and then got down to the nitty-gritty of how and why to run an Annual Fund campaign, Capital campaign, Endowment campaign, and Special Event campaign. 

Mr. Jacobs made it painfully clear to me that even the large, well-established NGO’s in Belize are not taking advantage of some fundamental fundraising strategies or opportunities that would make them more stable financially.  For example, he spoke of the importance of having a Development Committee for each campaign that is charged with building your case file, identifying prospects, crafting the message and launching the campaign.  The Committee should be chaired by a Board Member and include volunteers and prospects to bounce ideas off of.  At TIDE, for instance, the Development Director, Executive Director and Program staff develop proposals and campaigns; no other people are involved. 

Also of note to me was also the extreme importance of having an Annual Fund that is supported by a wide range of individual donors that provide your operating

costs from their numerous smaller gifts from $100 to $10,000 annually.  TIDE and the other NGO’s need a broader base of support to lower our risks of a crisis if one or two large gifts are not renewed.  We need ~500 – 1,000 individual donors whose annual membership gifts would cover our core costs, leaving the Foundations to fund programs and capital campaigns, which they tend to prefer financing.

All in all it was a fantastic workshop, with great participation from the group.  We were blessed to have a wide range of participants, from TIDE, to PACT, to smaller CBO’s such as Friends of Gra Gra Lagoon.

A hearty thanks to PACT for sponsoring the event, Noel Jacobs for his stellar job facilitating, and Machaca Hill Lodge for the venue and accommodations!

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work - but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Antoine de St. Exupery