Special

Joseph Scaria, Jr
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Are you passionate about making a difference in the world? Do you have a chosen cause to act upon? If yes is your answer, then fundraising can be a new career for you. Emerged as one of the top 30 careers for 2009 in the US by "US News and World Reports"; this is a career with many opportunities for people with a variety of skills. It is loads of fun too.

Joseph Scaria Jr. and actress Jacqueline Fernandez (Aladin) on a house building
project for Habitat for Humanity (The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Project) in Thailand.

Fundraising is a process of bringing together people and resources to act together on an identified mission. It is not begging for charity. It's about building a relationship to partner for a common cause. It is about providing a platform for individuals, families, businesses, corporations, foundations and government agencies to share a value; a value of caring for the community, society, the environment and people.

Fundraising or "Resource Development" in the non-profit sector is a close cousin to sales and marketing in the private sector. So some sales and marketing experience is a good tool for fundraiser. Add to this some experience accounting and working knowledge on creatively dealing with causes such as children in difficult circumstances, community health care programmes, poverty alleviation, environment issues, housing and various other causes; you could well be groomed to be a good fundraiser. It is like getting the right product knowledge a salesman or a marketer gains in a corporation before he embarks to sell his ware.

In India fundraising is now emerging as a profession. Many become fundraisers after years of volunteer fundraising experience. People who have developed contacts in their community and know how to motivate volunteers and run a successful fundraising campaign are just the type of people that successful not-for-profits are looking for. Some of the qualities needed to be a successful fundraiser are good organizational skills, leadership and team building skills, self-confidence and the ability to make good presentations to small and large audiences.

John Abraham works alongside other volunteers at the Jimmy & Rosalynn
Carter Work Project in Chiang Mai, Thailand

As a beginner, there can definitely be formidable obstacles, but they are not insurmountable. It is easy to design and develop a concept for fundraising. Making it possible on the ground is sheer persistence. But if you love meeting people and love networking you do not need years of experience to be good at fund-raising. All you need is the will to ACT. Chance will occur!

Good and experienced fundraisers are hard to find. One reason for this may be that there is no broad formal training ground for fundraisers. This is where hands-on training comes handy. One can take advantage of the opportunities to enter the field through the process of apprenticeships in organizations where you can learn from the competent and experienced fundraisers at work there.

In addition, you can gain an understanding on the process of fundraising and build your network for fundraising through: