Expanding a fundraising base
Global Development Network Success Story
Summary
The Global Development Network (GDN) is a public international organiszation that supports high-quality, policy-oriented, social science research in developing and transition countries to promote better lives. It supports researchers with financial resources, global networking, as well as access to information, training, peer review and mentoring. GDN acts on the premise that better research leads to more informed policies and better, more inclusive development. Through its global platform, GDN connects social science researchers with policymakers and development stakeholders across the world.
Founded in 1999, as a unit in the World Bank a decade ago, it is now an independent international organisation with headquarters in New Delhi.
We were really impressed by =mc‘s truly international expertise in fundraising, and their professional and dedicated approach to this project.
The Challenge
GDN had strong strategies in place to achieve its vision: to equip people living in the daily crisis of poverty with the skills to provide their own home-grown solutions. However, it was suffering from an overdependence on bilateral government funding, and a relatively small pool of donors. Furthermore, it didn’t have the unrestricted funds it needed to expand into new areas of work.
GDN wanted to develop recommendations to the board, regional partners and management that would ensure its long term sustainability and enable the organisation to expand. Specifically, they knew they needed to increase their financial stability in terms of current funding, diversify their income streams, and raise additional unrestricted funds. GDN asked fundraising consultants from =mc consulting to help them with this process.
How we helped
The =mc consulting team, including our talented Asia partner Usha Menon undertook:
- An assessment of their original fundraising strategy and the feasibility of establishing an endowment fund
- A market mapping and entry strategy development for Asia, the Middle East and Australia
- Potential income source identification and related strategy development
- The crafting of the elements for a strong case for support to strengthen the overall fundraising strategy
The Impact
=mc helped the board, and senior management to re-evaluate their plans by providing a thorough assessment of GDN’s current fundraising plan, and some recommendations for an alternative strategy.
This led to GDN adopting some new approaches, including:
- The launch of a capital campaign leveraging on GDN’s global presence based on a prioritised list of prospects
- Comprehensive action steps with timelines for the board, management and regional partners network
Today GDN has a much broader list of donors and has been able to significantly expand its activities.
Who else have we helped?
Among the international agencies we’ve helped to design fundraising strategies for are International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, ICRC, World Animal Protection, UNICEF International, World Wide Fund for Nature International and the British Council.
In the UK we have helped UNICEF, British Heart Foundation, National Trust, CRUK, Princes Trust, Plan UK, British Red Cross, Macmillan, plus Glasgow, Edinburgh and Oxford Universities.
=mc consulting offers a high-level programme in Making the Ask designed specifically for individuals who have to work with high-level prospects.
Next Steps?
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Clare Segal, Director
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