A New Model—Fundraising for a New Community
Gone Rural and Gone Rural boMake are venturing into something new. Over the last week, I have been searching for models and similar structures to no avail. Even though, through my “irregular internet searches” and phone calling stakeholders, I have found other fair trade and social business organizations that have created their own nonprofit, there is nothing that I have seen quite like this. Similar to a foundation, boMake came out of Gone Rural’s existing service to the community. What makes boMake so unique, however, is that they serve the Gone Rural women and their community.
As I continue on my quest to create a realistic fundraising strategy, (which had to start first with creating a vision, mission and positioning — the start of a complete marketing strategy), I can visualize the impact that this nonprofit will make by focusing its resources on a specific community in order to make the biggest impact. With 700 women, each having an average of 8 dependents (some up to 25), the impact is more than 6,000 people. In addition, by improving conditions of these 700 women and their families, the entire village benefits. It is such a tremendous advantage to be able to offer the security, accountability and credibility of an established company backing (underwriting, you could say) a nonprofit with such lofty goals. But, this isn’t the easiest message to send around the world.
Until a year and a half ago, no woman could own land. Many women don’t even know that this law has changed and apparently many people don’t recognize the law. So, educating these women would go far (something that boMake is trying to do). And, it seems so simple that these women (and their families) can’t walk to the hospital to get treated for diseases, so a mobile wellness clinic is the only way they can help prevent the spread of disease and treat what they currently have to sustain their community. Of course, sustainable food sources (trench gardens) and clean water is an obvious need, especially for a country that has seen 5 years of drought (thanks to climate change).
A broad range of services for a targeted community to make the biggest impact— seems logical, but there isn’t an organization out there doing exactly this. It’s exciting and challenging.