Direct Marketing Fundraisers Forum India (DMFFI)

Outling Priorities Volunteering Together

2008-11-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

From Convener (Wg. Cdr. Retd.Sashanka Roychoudhury)

Dear fellow fundraisers,

From various discussions and email exchanges, I have understood that you all want DMFFI to work on following priorities:

1) The condition of lists available to Direct Marketing fundraisers, whether direct mail or telemarketing/tele-facing users, is not great. The reliability levels are very low. We need to work with list owners, list vendors and list brokers to change this. It cannot go endlessly.I am sure collectively we will do it.

2)Making a concerted effort to approach the Government (Department of Post) for reducing the bulk mailing postal charges for charities. We also fear that a big percentage of the mailers just do not reach the addresses. In the 'The Way Forward' DMFFI's coordinating volunteer Anup Tiwari talks about how we plan to do it.

3) To form a registered association by setting up an effective commanding body. Rati Misra, has agreed to my request to be the lead volunteer on this.

Please go through the The Way Forward where Anup is mentioning how you can contribute to our joint mission. Please join the group by using the comments box now. Do not delay, it is our common cause!

Warm regards,

Sashanka

The Way Forward (by Anup Tiwari)

As Wg. Cdr. said, we need 3 groups immediately. First the List Development Group . This group will collectively ascertain the kind of consultations and activities that we need to undertake with list owners/vendors/brokers. Please volunteer to be part of this group. Our friend Bijay Mishra from HelpAge India had expressed earlier his intention to volunteer on this. Bijay is in Delhi, ideally if we could have 3-4 more people on this group from different locations. Please quickly send in your name in the comments box if you want to join this group.

The second group is the Postal Advocacy Group. This group will make a case with India Post to provide better delivery of direct mailers and also special considerations for the sector. As a first this group will undertake a pilot study to ascertain what percentage of mailers actually reach the people it is intended for. This will be done by creating a seed panel and tracing it. Naresh Kakkar from Syrex has donated one seat in his call center to provide back-up for this pilot. Thanks Naresh. Praveen David from World Vision and Meena Menon from CRY have also volunteered to be part of this group. I am also volunteering to be part of this group.

The third group is the DMFFI Governance Group . This group will study and work on the governance structure of DMFFI. This is a must for the forum to survive and work on collective issues. Rati, as Wg. Cdr. mentioned has volunteered to steer this group. Reena George from Can Kids had earlier agreed to provide her inputs as a professional lawyer on this issue.

Binali from Sense International, Gurinder Virk from SoS Villages India, Anand Joshua from World Vision, Avijit Dey from Plan International and Sudeshna Mukherjee from Mumbai had also responded on the email/phone to support and volunteer. Guys please choose the group you will like to work with.

And the rest of us, please use the comments box below to choose your groups. Alone, we can serve our social causes quiet well but together sky is the limit!

DMFFI nominates Founding Convenor

2008-11-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

Direct Marketing Fundraisers Forum India took its first major step last week. The fundraisers unanimously nominated its Founding Convenor.

The email proposal was put foward to a group of fundraisers and read as below-

"I will like to propose the name of Wg Cdr Roychowdhury (current Head-FR Deepalaya and formerly at HelpAge India) to be the Founding Convener. We need to start some where and he is the best to lead. Once we are set we could have a more democratic set-up.

Look forward to your ayes and seconding on this :))

Anup Tiwari"

The proposal was very well received and got 'ayes' from a cross-section of fundraiser. These included Rati Misra (Resource Alliance), Binali Suhandani (Sense International), Bijay Mishra (HelpAge India), Naresh Kakkar (Syrex InfoServices), Deepa Ghosh (Direxions), Anand Joshua (World Vision India), Meena Menon (CRY), Gurinder Virk (SoS Children Villages of India) and Sudheshna Mukherjee (formerly with Make a Wish Foundation)

Expressing his gratitude to the fundraisers and direct markerters Wg. Cdr. (Retd.) Sashanka Roy Chowdhury said,

" Dear Friends,I am overwhelmed by the trust and faith you all have reposed on me to be the founding convenor of 'Association of Direct Marketing Fundraising Professionals'.I am aware of the responsibilities and challenges ahead of me.Personally, I would have preferred a younger shoulder to take this load.But I respect the desire of all of you and am sure that you all will join me in taking our mission forward. Together we will make it happen in our own interest.HUM HONGE KAMIYAB".

One of the first steps that DMFFI will take is to form a panel of volunteers who could focus on particular challenges that we will have to over come as a collective. Please do volunteer if you have not so far by using the comments box below.

Celebrating Mail Day?

2008-10-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Today India Post is celebrating Mail Day. In fact from October 9-15 it is celebrating the National Postal Week.

As a build-up we saw a new India Post logo and newspaper advertisements. The one on the papers today says " No matter where you are, you are never too far away". Quiet rightly, because no alternative service in India can boost of that.

The advertisement also talks about "Delivering smiles through a wide and affordable mail network". Another bout of truism, but only half. Yes, the mail network is wide, no doubt, but it always does not deliver smiles.

This comes from DMFFI, members of which are non-profit organisations who send out millions of mailers through India Post to seek contributions from individuals. We are not a happy lot. There are valid reasons as below:

1) There is no transparency on how the mailers are going through their journey. Nobody knows where they are. In fact there is no one to answer the queries of the hapless NGOs. A big percentage eventually does not reach. Some of us put seed names in our mailings and hence can say that reliably.

2) Globally, the postal authorities have special treatment for non-profit mailings. They offer special rates and other privileges. Like the one that India Post has given to commercial direct mailers in the form of Bill Mail Service. Nothing like this exists in India.

We are hopeful with the new logo India Post will also look at the woes of non-profit fundraisers too.

We cannot succeed much without that. The net losers are the social causes- needy children, elderly, animals, sick, dying and many more. Can an organisation like India Post, ignore them???

Call to Join The Fundraisers Forum

2008-10-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

(Contributed by Rati Misra)

Dear All,

As you all maybe aware, we recently had the advanced round table on direct mail. For the first time fundraising practitioners and direct mail vendors and consultants met together for intensive discussions on the topic and also on how all players can work together to create an enabling environment under which fundraising from individuals through direct mails can thrive.

During the Round table all fundraisers unanimously proposed the creation of an Association of Fundraisers that would work to address all aspects of creating this enabling environment.

This would be a separate registered entity and the Resource Alliance would be happy to offer all initial support to the organisation. some examples of such associations in other countries are http://www.fundphilippines.org/ or http://www.kafpkenya.org/membership.html.

An Association of Direct Marketing Fundraising Professionals could be created under this larger umbrella organisation. Alternately it could be a stand alone distinct from the larger association. Please do use the comment box below to express your thoughts on the same.
To elaborate on the roles of each:

The main purpose of The Fundraisers Forum (India)is “to encourage all those involved in resource mobilisation for nonprofits organisations in India to adopt and promote high standards of professionalism and ethical practice"

The specific objectives of the forum would be:

1. To establish the Professional Fundraisers Association of India as the representative organization for
fundraisers in the country.
2. To establish and promote high standards of ethical and professional fundraising practice
3. To enforce the implementation of its standards and code of practice
4. To protect the credibility and integrity of its members and of nonprofit organizations that abide by its
standards
5. To promote public policies, including legislation, that creates a favourable environment for the growth of the
nonprofit sector In India
6. To develop and offer a certification system for professional fundraisers
7. To support research and learning in fundraising best practices
8. To publish and disseminate educational materials for the benefit of its members and to educate
policymakers and the public
9. To raise sufficient resources for the implementation of its programs and activities
10. To promote, stimulate and enable co-operation and exchange of information among its members in
the fields of fundraising and resource mobilisation

The Association of Direct Marketing Fundraising Professionals would aim to enhance the skills and professionalism of all those organisations and
agencies engaged in the business of direct marketing fundraising.The association would help upgrade the direct marketing knowledge and
skills of its members; to encourage the exchange of ideas among its members individually and that of the organizations and companies they represent; to
promote harmony and ethical conduct; and to facilitate an enabling environment under which they can work to promote fundraising through direct
response.

Immediate tasks as discussed at the round table:

1. Registering a formal body with its office bearers

2. Lobbying with Ministry of Post and Telegraphs for reduction of DM rates
3. Accreditation of data vendors

4. Creating a blog for members (which we do with this post)

I look forward to your thoughts on the above... how would you like the Forum to be organised? Have you any other thoughts you may want to share with the group?

Reena George from Cankids has very kindly agreed to help with all the legalities of creating the association.We have some very informed and experienced fundraisers in the country and we would like to create a platform where they could come together to create a credible civil sector and an environment that is conducive to sustained and creative fundraising efforts.

Although, we had this discussion largely with the members of the round table, yet that is just a small part of our fraternity. Therefore, this post is to invite rest of us too. Please do contribute to this brainstorming.

We can arrange a follow-up meeting (and a conference call at a later date for all those outside of Delhi) to take forward the next steps on the issues of the post office and data vendors.

It is our Forum and we can only make it run.

(Rati Misra is a volunteer for the newly created "The Fundraisers Forum (India)" and is also the Regional Representative (South Asia), The Resource Alliance)

Let's Come Together

2008-09-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

Dear all,

Indian Fundraising for non-profit sector needs all of us to come together. Resource Alliance has invited all of us to form and consolidate this platform.

This is an invitation to join in. One of the first things on the agenda could be to speak to various facilitators in fundraising like post office, data vendors, call center, direct marketing agencies as one. This will help us in leveraging resources to the hilt.

Please join in.

Cheers

Anup