Fundraising School for NGOs – a school for brave hearts and sustainable organizations

"As a new foundation with no experience in fundraising, the training laid a good foundation both in terms of theory and examples from practice to be able to start this activity", participant in Fundraising School for NGOs 2024

On 20 and 21 May 2024, we held the second edition of the Fundraising School for NGOs, where 25 budding fundraisers from 20 CSOs from different parts of the country took a bold leap into the deep waters of fundraising. All of them – driven by a strong motivation to gain knowledge and experience on how to be truly successful in fundraising for their organizations' causes to achieve financial sustainability, expand their circle of supporters and reach the hearts of thousands with impactful communication.

As an organization that has worked for over 23 years to develop the laws and environment in Bulgaria so that people can freely associate and be civically active, we know that implementing a civic initiative in Bulgaria costs a lot. It requires interdisciplinary skills and training. That is why we believe that continuous learning and developing the capacity of teams in different areas is the way to build civil society organizations into true opinion leaders that are financially sustainable and independent.

During the two training days, experts in the field of fundraising, communications and the legal framework from the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law (BCNL) and the For Our Children Foundation gave detailed feedback and answers to the many questions civil society activists had about their fundraising initiatives. Experienced experts shared valuable guidance on how to create strategies for attracting and retaining individual and corporate donors, tactics for presenting a cause for support in accessible language, the importance of investing in hope-based communications campaigns, and the legal requirements for soliciting and reporting donations.

"An outstanding bouquet of heartfelt, experienced and knowledgeable speakers who added to the overall style of the event something of their own personal style of communication, of conveying information, of visual presentation. It was a pleasure to move from the stages of lecture listening, to discussion, to exercises, and into personal presentation and appearance before the group of each participant.", NGO Fundraising School 2024 participant

Among the most important lessons learned from Day 1 of the training was the importance of regular communication with donors and building a program for retention and sustainable relationships with donors. It was extremely valuable for us to observe how within 2 days the participants increased their confidence to make donation appeals, a skill that before the school seemed scary and impossible, but after a series of practice sessions is now perceived as fully achievable, with messaging that inspires rather than educates.

We sent off the second class of our NGO Fundraising School with pride that 25 civic activists will move forward more confidently, boldly and inspired on the path of fundraising for their organizations' causes and their development. And they won't be alone on this path – because they will be walking alongside new supporters and the friendships they made during the training. 

"You are great and thank you to the whole team for the opportunity and for the professionalism, warm and friendly environment.", participant in Fundraising School for NGOs 2024

 

Fundraising School for NGOs is realized with the support of America for Bulgaria Foundation