UNICEF Fundraising Plan 2012- 2014 - Example

Running head: Fundraising plan Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date xxxxxxxxxxxxxx UNICEF fundraising plan: 2012- 2014 Executive summary The United Nations Children’s Fund UK (UNICEF) is a UN agency mandated with the role of ensuring child survival and development, child education equality for all gender, addressing the issues of HIV and children and child protection advocacy. In these tasks, the areas of focus include early childhood development, basic education programs and advocacy, health and nutrition, mother and babies’ safety, and sanitation and hygiene. The organization upholds the Rights of the Child Convention under which the organization operates. This is fundraising plan in the pursuit of the goal thereof. It intends to delineate how the organization will raise resources. It will detail on the SWOT and PEST analysis especially within the UK, develop the organization’s fundraising audit and as well recommend appropriate strategies in this pursuit. Fundraising audit UNICEF UK is a registered UK affiliate of UNICEF. The organization raises funds through donations and does lobbying for child rights in the UK and internationally. Its mission statement recognizes that UNICEF UK ‘Works in the UK to champion children’s rights, win support and raise money….guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse.’ In doing this, the organization responds to emergencies in the vulnerable areas to protect the rights of children. It runs programs in local communities, schools and hospitals. Some of the programs currently underway include the Baby Friendly Initiative, set to ensure high standard health care for pregnant mothers, infants and women. Secondly, there is the Rights Respecting Schools Award which promotes the protection of child rights in educational institutions in the UK and the complementary World Friendly Communities program which enhances the understanding and application of child rights. In the parliament, UNICEF-UK works to improve policy at the House of Commons and the House of Lords. UNICEF UK values and beliefs entail being child focused, challenging, effective, cooperative, rights based and integrity. This is in tandem, with UNICEF’s whose core values are diversity, integrity and commitment. These values have driven the core competencies such as the focus on results in people-centered activities and as effective communication. Every organizational activity is people-oriented and entails working for and with people. These competencies transform into functional effectiveness which is manifested in the formulation of strategies, relations and networking, application of technical expertise and organization and planning. Year 2010 analysis The income for 2010 was £81.3 million with £63.2 million being availed for the programs enlisted above. This amount was exclusively donor funds as the organization is not funded by the UN. Rather, the UK National Committee donates into UNICEF at the higher level. In the same period, the organization received from partners such as Global Guardians, FTSE4Good, individuals and corporate organizations. The corporate entities donated in excess of £9.8 million while legacies gave in excess of £4.3 million with another 3000 supporters pledging to give to children in their wills (The UK Commitee for UNICEF, 2011). Fundraising groups and community volunteers gave over £2.5 million through events such as marathons. The individual members of the public gave £27.5 million while the sale of cards, then a new venture, totaled £277, 000. Strategic vision The organization projects to raise £59.7 million in the next year 2012 from donors in addition to the statutory income from the Department for International Development to total £43.3 million. The department funds the organization every year. in 2012, the amount expected is £43.3 million. This is in line with the Strategic Framework 2011-2115 in which the organization aims at maximizing the resources raised on children and at enhancing the observance of child rights in the UK and internationally (The UK Commitee for UNICEF, 2011). The framework brings along change from biennial operation planning to annual planning in a bid to adopt the organization to thrive in the challenges there are today: global economic crisis, competition for charity and difficult government policies on youths and children. For every £1 raised by donor, the organization spends 75% exclusively on child rights programs, 23% to raise extra funds and the remaining on administrative tasks (UNICEF UK, 2010). SWOT analysis The organizational structure and commitment to the mission statement is a key strength of UNICEF. The strategic framework 2011-15 presents this with a lot of clarity. In this strategy, the main objectives are to maximize on revenue utilization and strengthen child rights and policies. The organization projects to avail at least £52.8 million by 2015. This is enhanced by the focus of efforts in recruiting long-term donors and cost cutting. These are built on effective management which intertwine stewardship and utilization of financial and information and communication technology (ICT) resources as well as policies systems and procedures (UNICEF Executive board , 2011) The shorter planning schedule is projected to enable more precise forecasting and strategic planning. It is also adaptive of the current unstable economic times. This, along with the structural organization forms a sound and objective capability. The Board of Trustees heads the structure followed by a Management Committee and the Executive Team in that order. The opportunities of the organization lie in the strategic framework for the period and the now improving economic times. To begin with, the economic times are improving and recovering from the global crunch in 2008-9. The various donors at the global level are now stabilizing. However, it is projected that revenues and incomes for the organizations are going to be lower in the coming year. This is a trend for the totals of the year although regular resources are projected to grow. The organization has a fair standing in the UK public. This is both with individuals, the government, and corporate entities. This is demonstrated by the amount each of these segments raised. In the year 2010, the public entities in the organization’s list included Barclays, BT, Dell, DHL, Manchester United, Procter and Gamble and Vodafone among others. They are an opportunity for long-term sustainable funders. The threat faced by the organization is increased competition for charities. This is in addition to difficult times characterized by the economic slump, (The UK Commitee for UNICEF, 2011) PEST Analysis The political context in the UK and most governments is generally supportive of charity organizations. This is expressed in Charities Commission and Charities Act which has provisions for a support structure and framework under which registered charities operate. There also limits on the tax deductions over donations with the government introducing incentives through Give as You Earn scheme (G.A.Y.E.). This is the largest payroll giving scheme which enables individuals to give to a charity directly from one’s pre-tax salary. There are various sociocultural factors in play. With increased interaction, communications and globalization, the masses of potential donors are more aware and therefore more demanding on transparency reports. In addition, donor behaviors are affected by demographics with the older people giving more and the younger more concerned with accountablity over the resources. The economic platform provides the organisation with a challenge especially with increasingly tough economic times. Though there is recovery from the global economic times, it is slow and characterized by poor company profits. It is also characterized by increasing competition amongsts charities for the already dwindling disposable incomes. Technological advancements have greatly enhanced the operations of the organizations. This also applies to other charities. The advancement of internet and communications channels provide the charities with a wider donor market as well as improved transparency and ease of donating. Fundraising objectives The objectives of this plan are: 1. To raise £103 million from both the government and other volunteer donors, i.e. 43.3 and 59.7 million respectively 2. To lobby the government to commit a constant percentage of the national gross income as a assistance dispensed by the Department for International Development 3. To identify, recruit and retain committed long-term donors 4. To enhance the organizational rating by donor groups 5. To develop research and evidence-based fundraising techniques Fundraising Strategy The organization has been using several tactics in the past. There is need to develop new strategies and as well enhance the currently beneficial ones used by the organization in the UK. These include: Research and market development The growing competition for charity resources and toughening economic times require an objective evidence-based approach. We are in globalized times when having information is key to positioning an organization on the edge of the market. Indeed this is the basis of every strategy since it gives an opportunity for the organization to be profiled. This will help focus one’s efforts toward either enhancing a strategy or replacing it. The research strategy will not only be case-study designed but will also be comparative. In this endeavor, the organization will be benchmarked against its peers in the UN and otherwise. It will also be intended at developing new markets that UNICEF has not previously addressed. A most critical segment is the non-committed donors. Government relations This strategy aims at ensuring that the organization receives a significant constant percentage from the government. The projection is 0.7 percent of the gross national income (The UK Commitee for UNICEF, 2011). This is an adaptive measure that will ensure the organization keeps its commitment of concentrating resources on child rights affairs and programs in spite of unstable economic times which are rendering the sources equally vulnerable. In this endeavor, the organization will lobby the house of Commons and house of Lords to push the government to commit itself. Establishment of corporation partnerships The organization shall establish new and enhance the already present partnerships with corporate entities. This will also entail building of foundations as well as partnering with others. In this strategy, the organization shall streamline the selection of potential appropriate high value partners in order to boost both direct and indirect funding. It shall also identify ways in which the corporate entities shall gain from the sponsorship. In this endeavor, it shall explore incentive options such as awards and capacity building opportunities. This shall target both private and public entities. The corporate strategy will details activities such as payroll giving, sponsored events, cause-related marketing, and fundraising events. Communication and promotion strategy The organization shall invest in modern technology to enhance communication effectiveness. The globalized world is digitalized demanding state-of-art infrastructure. Apart from this, there shall be capacity building ventures to enhance staff operations and proficiency. This is intended to personalize the interaction of the organization with the sponsors: both corporate entities and individuals. It is also intended to improve the visibility of the organization on various platforms and at all levels as well as creating awareness. This strategy will entail the development of social media platforms, digitalized advertisements, the internet and broadcast and print media. Face-to-face meetings for major gift donors are vital especially complemented with functions and events such as auctions, galas, and balls. The organization shall enhance e-fundraising in addition to recruiting individuals for the fundraising e-newsletter. Strategy rationale The global market of charities has grown increasing competition. This has also been so in the UK which registered a 7-fold increase in donations to the top 200 charities between 1978 and 2004 (Arulampalam, Backus, & Micklewright, 2009). They continue to indicate that in the same period larger charities that have overseas programs received donations and bequests totaling almost £1 billion, which is a quarter of the government’s official development assistance. The strategy by the organization and any other charity is to build a gain-platform which inter-links the supply and demand sides. According to Atkison’s model, individuals and corporate companies donating to a charity do identify with the ultimate beneficiaries on a one-to-one or one-to m basis where m is a small number (Arulampalam, Backus, & Micklewright, 2009). This indicates that the well being of the ultimate beneficiary is the donor’s concern. As such, it is vital that the organization creates a platform where the donors feel like they have interacted with the ultimate beneficiary. It is important to enhance the ‘warm-glow’ effect. This is more cost effective than the public-good model in which there is concern over what the donor gains. This well aligns and relates to the social exchange theory which builds on delineating the relationship of the donor and the organization as two components of a subsystem (Lindahl, 2010; Drezner, 2009). This is the supply and demand relationship in which the concepts of altruism and need for rewards compete. According to this model, the receiving organization is not just a silent and non-responsive recipient: there are non-financial benefits in return. These come in the form of gratification for social responsibility, awards and plaques, recognition and enhance visibility especially for corporate donors. It is delineated that the giving process entails a situation in which the donor and recipient have internal motivations which can be addressed through external influences. Organizations survive to the extent they are effective (Twu, 2007). This effectiveness is derived from the management and serving demands, especially those of interest groups upon which the organization depends for support and resources. This aspect also borrows from the resource dependence model in which donor’s needs may be met by gifts, awards, business strategy enhancements, etc. The social exchange theory refers to this as transactional. There is numerous literature alluding to the fact that donations are a function of the donor income (Arulampalam, Backus, & Micklewright, 2009; Arulampalam, Backus, & Micklewright, 2011). As such donor perceptions are important in defining how much is given for charity and the attitude. These perceptionsa are affected by the actions of both the charity and government. It is vital that the charity enlist strategies that help establish good attitudes. The Atkison model provides for the interpretation of charities’ actions. The model enables the donors analyze the actions of a charity as either appropriate or as an evidence of leakage or excessive. According to the systems theory, organizations do not exist in isolation. They are part of larger social, economic, and political systems. These systems affect and are affected by the organization’s activities (Lindahl, 2010; Tempel, Seiler, & Aldrich, 2011). As such,the success of an organization such as UNICEF depends on how effectively one responds to the environmental changes. This is by either adopting a closed or an open system orientation. Lindahl indicates that an organization’s survival depends on its ability to change in response to the changing environmental factors such as demographics, politics, economic and sociocultural aspects. The globalized environemnt UNICEF is operating is ever changing and challenging requires a change of strategy or enhancing what is currently beneficial. This makes the very need for research and market development (Sargeant & Jay, 2004). The information gathered is the basis of any change, enhancements or replacement in various fronts. The digitalization of communications is an endeavor to enhance the operations of the organization along the open-systems orientation. Successiful fundraising depends on an open system which will enable organizations to be up-to-date with change and need, thus attract sustained support. This is both from individuals and corporate entities and governments alike. In the open-systems, there are various contexual factors: resource dependence, organizational ecology, instituitional theory and sense-making (Twu, 2007). Resource dependence details that efficiecy is related to charity managers’ intention and actions establishing structures that enhance organizational boundary and interdependence. Organizational ecology relates to the efficiecy rating depending on the interaction with competition and environmental conditions (Schmid, 2004). The effect of internal instituitional forces also affect the efficiency due to the internal pressure. Finally, social interactions and situational practices also influence how organizational financial information is produced and presented. These create the greater need for integrated and and more enhanced communication systems and relationship marketing (Drezner, 2009) The charity-donor relationship is vital. Investing in relations and stewardship can result in increased donor loyalty (Waters, 2009). As such, strategies that enhance the charity’s rating of stewardship is vital. Stewardship is a component that comprises aspects such as reciprocity (Slyke, 2006), responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing. Reciprocity entails the organization showing gratitude to the stakeholders. This is by directly acknowledging them or sincerely expressing appreciation on the organization’s behalf (Waters, 2009). This is the basis of social exchange and social responsibility. For responsibility, it is vital that the charity uses the resources for the specific purpose they were given. This will demand accurate and up-to-date reporting. In this pursuit, the organization aims to enhance the communication and informational communication technologies. It is projected that the integrated implementation of these will not only build new relations, but will also nurture long-lasting loyalty. References Arulampalam, W., Backus, P., & Micklewright, J. (2009). Donations for overseas developement: evidence from UK charities. Southampton: University of Southampton. Arulampalam, W., Backus, P., & Micklewright. (2011). Unofficial Development Assistance: a dynamic model of charities donation income. London: University of Warwick. Drezner, N. (2009). Why give?: Exploring social exchange and organization identification theories in the promotion of philanthropic behaviors of African-American millennials at private-HBCUs. International Journal of Educational Advancement, 9 , 147-165. Lindahl, W. (2010). Principles of Fundraising: Theory and Practice . Ontario: Jones and Bartlett Publishers . PFP . (2011). 2010 Annual Report . New York : UNICEF. Sargeant, A., & Jay, E. (2004). Fundraising management . New York : Routledge. Schmid, H. (2004). Organization-Environment Relationships: Theory for Management Practice in Human Service Organizations. Administration in Social Work, 28(1) , 97-113. Slyke, D. (2006). Agents or Stewards: Using Theory to Understand the Government-Nonprofit Social Service Contracting Relationship. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17 , 157-187. Tempel, E., Seiler, T., & Aldrich, E. (. (2011). Excellence in fundraising . San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons . The UK Commitee for UNICEF. (2011). Trustees' Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 Dec 2010. London: UNICEF UK. Twu, Ruey-Der. (2007). A study of factors influencing reported fundraising efficiency of symphony orchestras. Ann Arbor: ProQuest Information and Learning Company. UNICEF Executive Board . (2011). Institutional Budget for 2012-2013. New York: UNICEF. UNICEF Executive board . (2011). MTSP Planned Financial Estimates 2011-2014. New york: UNICEF. UNICEF UK. (2010). Major Donors . Retrieved December 16, 2011, from UNICEF UK: www.unicef.org.uk UNICEF. (2004, Aug). UNICEF . Retrieved December 14, 2011, from UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org UNICEF. (2010). Governmental and Instituitional Support. Retrieved December 16, 2011, from UNICEF: www.unicef.org Waters, R. (2009). Measuring stewardship in public relations: A test exploring impact on the fundraising relationship. Public Relations Review, 35 , 113-119. Read More