One of my favorite jobs is trying to transform charities from traditional to modern business models. In Iran, as in other developing countries, the charity method is based on the limited relationship formed by the wealthy philanthropists. I try to introduce these charities in terms of fundraising and fund management with new findings in this area, especially behavioral economics insights.
After times of using classical methods to fundraising by charities, it is difficult to convince them to change their way. I try to show them that paying attention to the small donators (micro-giving) is as important as the affluent philanthropists. I teach them how to run a campaign, how to build a crowdfunding platform and reconcile with the exciting digital world. I also launch their site, communication tools, social networks, apps, and etc. I persuade them to use the following insights:
Below is one of my tutorial videos on new charity policies.
One of my projects is empowering charitable foundations at the university. I do this in two ways. First, I establish fundraising policies. Then I set up their financial management policies.
One of the issues that I have encountered is that the reforms in this charity cannot be widespread. You need to start with a small project first. For example, you can start by designing a campaign. The campaign can provide the necessary infrastructure and make needed reforms in other areas.
One of the hardships of working in developing countries is building trust in new practices. Notwithstanding the shrink of the real state budget, running campaigns to fundraising, even at the university which should be innovative, are faced opposition. So I started training university administrators in the first step. In the following presentation, I have outlined the Harvard Campaign as a successful example and then described the requirements for running a successful campaign.
To manage financial resources, you need to make an investment policy statement. This statement includes objectives, resources allocation, risk management, governance and more. By clicking on the picture below, you can access to one of my presentations on this topic. This presentation examines the investment policies of some universities.
