Change the world with a fiver

Sometimes it’s frustrating being a fundraiser for a small charity. The global economic crisis has hit charitable giving hard with many people canceling monthly donations to their charity of choice. And then there’s “donor fatigue”, that feeling of being overwhelmed by the problems in the world and not knowing what to give or how to give in order to help the world’s poorest people. Then there’s the cynicism that giving £5 a month to an organisation makes no difference, that it will be spent on overheads and administrative costs. But YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD with as little as £5.

The Turning Point Trust are a relatively small charity with an annual income of around £125,000 (We like to be transparent and honest so you can access our accounts by going to the Charity Commission website and searching for The Turning Point Trust). Our money mainly comes from a group of very kind, generous and dedicated individuals in the UK and, to this date, they have helped us achieve many great things. However, we believe that over the last seven years, through experience and hard work, we have come up with a great project model which is effectively and sustainably helping children in Africa’s largest slum, Kibera. We want to do more but we can’t do it alone.

Increasing our regular supporter base is something we, as a charity, desperately need to do but the question is, how do we do this? We don’t have the money to put an advert on the television or in magazines like Save the Children, World Vision, Water Aid etc. In any case, research has shown this isn’t always effective. Word of mouth is largely recognised as the best way to increase supporters and I’m not talking about me or another Turning Point staff member; I’m talking about you, our supporters. Regular supporters are instrumental in spreading the message of Turning Point and telling other people about us.

I recently attended an event in Nairobi hosted by The One Percent Club who work on the ideology that if the world gave 1% of their time, income or expertise, we could solve world poverty. When I try to match this concept to Turning Point I think how easily we could expand our work and help even more needy, vulnerable children.

We have approximately 500 regular supporters. If each one of these supporters managed to get just one friend or family member to give £5 a month to Turning Point we would raise an extra £30,000 a year. That’s enough to support another 165 children in centres like our Mashimoni project. That’s 165 more children with access to education, healthcare and regular meals, all for just £5 a month from someone you know.

Another one of the ways in which we are trying to increase our regular supporter base is entering into a partnership with Global Giving who provide a great way for small organisations to step up their online fundraising , connect with donors in a more impactful way and gain worldwide exposure for their projects.

During the month of April we need to raise £1000 from at least 50 unique donors through Global Giving. This will enable us to gain a permanent place on the Global Giving website. This will help us to raise awareness of our projects amongst an extensive network of corporate partners and major media outlets such as the BBC and The Guardian.

The two projects receiving the most funding at the end of the Project Challenge will receive additional awards of £1000, £500 respectively; the project receiving the highest number of unique donors will receive an additional £250 for their project. So there's even more reason to rise to the challenge!

This is a great opportunity for Turning Point to tell the world about the awesome work which is taking place in Kibera but we need your help to get started. Please click on this link and help us to reach our target of £1000 by the end of the month. You can donate as little as £5 and your donation, whatever size, will play an important part in this exciting step for Turning Point.

It’s also a great way to introduce the friend I was talking about :o)