My Fundraising experience

I come from the North West Region of Cameroon, one of the two Anglophone regions, which have been deeply affected by socio economic crisis in. Being a passionate disability advocate I come across a lot of persons especially girls and women with disabilities who lost their livelihood sources either because they had to escape for safety, they have been burnt down, looted or even collapsed because of constant lock downs. The result is that many women and girls can barely afford their daily and basic need.

In addition to the crisis Covid 19 pandemic came two years after the crisis only a to add the burdens of these girls and women. Being a pandemic, which needed everyone to adhere to some principal guidelines was not an easy task especially as these women and girls had not recovered from the impact of the sociopolitical crisis. They could barely afford a meal talk less of being able to buy hand sanitizers, face mask, soap and washing hand buckets. I decided I had to take action to raise funds to ameliorate the situation.

I had always seen people post links of GoFundMe for fundraisers on social media so I immediately log on their website to read about them. But then I discovered Cameroon was not eligible for fundraisers on their platform. I talked with a few friends for advice and finally got a way out of my problem to launch a fundraiser.

I had to come up with some literature as part of the fundraiser so i wrote a little introducing of my organization, its Mission and vision. I also introduced what the funds raised would be used for and intentional mention the impact the fundraiser would have on beneficiaries. I made sure I attached a photograph that would really paint a picture as to why I was raising the funds just in case there were people who did not want to read all the literature I had written about my organization. Without exaggeration, I also stated my target funds to be raised on the fundraiser. At the end of the fundraiser, the Organisation’s face book page was added. I felt this was a very good source of verification for my Organisation activities.

  Since Cameroon wasn’t eligible, my sister in the United Kingdom launched the fundraiser on my behalf using her details. https://www.gofundme.com/f/appeal-for-covid19-kits-for-the-vulnerable?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1  In order to be successful, I had to work extremely hard.

I started by posting the link first to those in my network who had been following my activities especially as I was positive some of them would donate and that will motivate others who didn’t know much about me. Then I posted to other friends, on my networks, in WhatsApp groups, my status and my social media handles. I made sure I followed up with constant reminders and appreciation for those who had donated. Considering that there were people in Cameroon I had shared the link with and who could not donate by GoFundMe, I shared with them my mobile money account details so they could fund raise directly to me. There where also others abroad who said they do not use GoFundMe so they had to donate through my sister pay Pal account. In all including the money that was sent directly to me I was able to raise 600 pounds out of a target of 1500 pounds within a period of one and a half month. It was so amazing that some people I have never known donated. Probably because I had attached my Facebook account and they were able to verify. Or maybe the photograph I attached to the fundraiser send out a lot of information as to my target beneficiaries.

My sister withdrew the funds from her account in the United Kingdom and sent to me. It was less than what I had previewed so I had to set out a vulnerability criterion to select those who will benefit. I carried out the activity of covid item distribution successfully.

After the activity I posted pictures of the activity on my socials and sent the link and a thank you note to almost all those who had donated since I didn’t know some people who had donated.

It was a little challenging but it was worth the try especially as it was a lifesaving activity.

I am so grateful for all the trainings offered at the change maker program by World Pulse, especially the live session we on module 5 with GoFundMe in which we learnt some very useful tips like updating the GoFundMe during the period of Fundraising.

Exactly sis years down the line and the sociopolitical crisis is continuing which means more women and girls are in dying need of livelihood resources and opportunities.

On my part I have been training women and girls on beaded shoe and necklace making , soap production and production of fast food especially focusing on deaf women and other women with disabilities.  I have also tried giving startup capital to about 25 women since 2016 while making referrals to other collaborators with the same objective. The demand is increasing by the day but the funds and resources are limited. Apart from writing project proposals I plan on fund raising too, just for these women to be able to put a meal on their tables.

I plead with anyone reading this post to get in touch with me if you are moved to donate to this cause while hoping to launch another fundraiser soon geared towards providing start up capital for women and girls.