For long, the main challenge for civil society organisations in Tanzania has been the ability to raise resources to finance their philanthropy. Civil society organisations that are church-based for instance, that have decades of experience in the industry and even newly formed ones that are yet to make an impact despite having a noble cause, are bound together by the difficulty in raising enough funds for their causes.

Decreasing Funds

Older organisations are witnessing a drop in the number of donors and a decrease in the amount of funds provided by the existing donors. Newly-formed organisations don’t seem to strike the right cords with potential donors and therefore jeopardizing their quest to positively affect the lives of their beneficiaries.

Local Fundraising

This however, is set to change after a five-day rigorous training, facilitated by our partner Foundation for Civil Society, aimed at improving Local Fundraising in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The training brought together civil society officials from various organisations in Tanzania both old and new to learn the strings on how to go about Local Fundraising in a bid to boost their performance and meet their mandate. The training is based on the premise that communities are richly endowed and have the capacity to raise resources within their locality.

Sustainability of Civil Society Organisations

Due to the challenges that civil society organisations face in fundraising, they are sometimes forced to cut down on their activities to lower costs. This affects the number of people that the civil society organisations would have an impact on and the quality of services they offer. To this end, Father Deo Mngumi of the Diocese of Same who attended the training said that the it changed his thinking on resource mobilisation and improved his understanding of the role of local donors in project implementation. “The training widened my scope in fundraising plans. It will make our strategic plan actual in the use of local resources. It is practical and real,” he said.

The practice to only depend on international donor organisations has also contributed to the dismal performance in fundraising for most organisations. Apart from the decrease of funds, the inability to raise enough funds even threatens the very existence of civil society organizations. As Sapala Chambuya of Lindi Women’s Paralegal Aid Center said, the sustainability of many established NGO’s in Tanzania has become uncertain because of over-dependence on foreign subsidies and donations. “The Local Fundraising training has had an impact on us as an NGO on how to raise funds locally through various methods. This workshop upon implementation will decrease our reliance on foreign funds and hence increase our autonomy as an organisation,” said Sapala.

Transformative Knowledge

By the end of the five days, the participants were confident of having successful Local Fundraising programmes to finance their work. According to Father Alex Nduwayo of CARITAS in Tabora, the training took just five days, but the knowledge has transformed him in terms of fundraising skills and will go a long way in improving fundraising programmes in his organisation. His organisation, Caritas which started in 1976 depended on international donors to implement her projects and the donations have been dropping. “The knowledge and sharing among participants has built my capacity. This will help not only in getting resources from our community but also the people will be at the center of their own development. Moreover, it will create a sense of ownership in the community hence sustainability,” said Father Alex.

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