Baikunthapur Tarun Sangha (BTS) a grassroots NGO based in West Bengal working for the riverine coastal areas of Sunderban in areas of education, WASH, Livelihoods, Healthcare and Bio farming. They were facing the challenge of dwindling support from foreign donors post the 2009 financial crisis. The team from BTS attended various workshops on Local Fundraising and got acquainted with multifaceted ideas to strategize their fund-raising avenues and techniques. The training improved their sense of dignity in raising funds and helped them understand the power of proper documentation and organisational process setting. The BTS team has since improved their relationship with external stakeholders and surrounding community. They have increased their donor base, including corporate donors, despite being almost 100 km away from Kolkata City.

Kankura Masat Social Welfare Society is located in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, among the country’s 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640) according to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in 2006. They were facing several challenges related to organisational growth with limited number of donors most of which were individual donors and coupled with limited documentation skills. After successfully completing the Local Fundraising workshops, KMSWS team has improved their fundraising skills considerably. At present they organise around 6 fundraising events every year. They conduct small fund-raising events as well in the form of rallies, drawing competitions etc. They have also received in-kind donations from corporates like Snapdeal in the form of books and stationery.

Shiksha is based in Gurgaon, it has the goal of providing education to underprivileged children through free education centres, targeting students from 4 years to 16 years. They were concerned about the continuity of their work when they lost support from a major corporate partner due to shift in the partner’s focus. The training programme on Mobilising Support helped them in communicating their impact to stakeholders better. They learnt the art of influencing decision makers (donors, media and governments) which helped them in influencing policies and actions at local level. Today they enjoy good local stakeholder connections and become stable in their operations.

Zenith Education and Welfare Trust is located in Malwani, Mumbai, it runs an English medium school for poor children. They were struggling with raising funds and resources to manage the school. The training programme and workshop on Local Fundraising and Leadership helped them in improving the management skills of the team and improve fund management processes. Their internal belief in their fundraising abilities increased as they learnt new ways to raise funds, design fundraising events and increase donor acceptance. Over the years, they have also been able to improve their engagement with external stakeholders by leveraging collaborations with 11 nearby schools to pool resources.