The Challenges of Fundraising

OK - I admit - non-profit fundraising is a thousand times harder than I had given credit for. After years of working for high powered consulting firms with seemingly endless amounts of capital and resources, I now find myself on the complete flip side of the spectrum with no job, few contacts, and very limited resources. Raising money for profitable organizations is challenging in itself. Even though you have developed a fail-proof, fully profitable forecasting model you still risk being turned down by investors because they "don't see enough in it for them" or "the return on investment isn't in line with our growth model". These are corporations with relatively large access to capital and who understand their line of business very well,yet fail to invest internally because the returns are not profitable enough and they don't see the value of investing. In hindsight, raising money for SAI is exponentially more difficult and requires way more creativity to achieve even half the results.

In entrepreneurship, raising capital is the second hardest part to developing any new business venture. The hardest is, of course, developing a product or service that people truly want. This seems to be the deadliest inhibitor to any start up company, as more and more ventures fail to develop a product that directly solves their customers problems. Thankfully the Sauder Africa Initiative has developed a service that is truly unique and inspiring. Our mission helps develop the essential fabric of entrepreneurship amongst those who are passionate about starting / growing a business but lack some of the necessary tools, resources and knowledge to accomplish their goal. Our group is extremely passionate and desperately wants to help our fellow students achieve professional and personal success, but how do we enlighten others with similar passion in order to generate the voluntary donation that supports our cause? One solution is to share success stories of the program with those who may be on the fence in donating to our cause. This helps people understand your passion and the cause to which they are investing. Telling stories is a powerful method to establish a link between the intrinsic value of our program with the inherited social benefit that one receives when donating to the program. I encourage everyone to get excited by reading some of our success stories on the Sauder Africa website. I know these stories will inspire you to give, and support our wonderful cause.