Month: February 2021

Like the invisible thread that holds the tapestry of development together, 50 women working actively in development across Africa were selected and celebrated to commemorate the International Women’s Day.

They represent a truly pan-African diversity from over 10 African countries. The list highlights 50 rising stars who are actively leading change impacting their local communities through their work in international organizations, private and public sector companies, nonprofit organizations, media, and politics.

This recognition is unique as there is a need for increased focus and investment in the women who are leading development conversations in unconventional roles, especially women who may not be at the forefront.

Speaking with Chidi Koldsweat, Founder, Donors for Africa Foundation, she says “These women were selected based on their impact and commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We believe it is very important to shine the light as they work to accelerate the #2030 Sustainable Development Goal and the #2063 African Union Agenda.’’

Many times, key drivers of change especially in the development sector are often passed up for opportunities because there isn’t enough knowledge about the quality or impact of their work. This selection is a deliberate attempt to expand the conversations on equality especially in line with the 2020 International Women’s Day theme #EachForEqual.

 

From hundreds of application received from 10 African countries, we are incredibly proud of our selection committee and their diligence in ensuring all-inclusive criteria was adopted to narrow down our selection. We are pleased to see that from women leading change in stereotypical roles to women helping families find healing; this list offers a very diverse set of women who you may not know or see but the impact of their work continue to have in the lives of their beneficiaries and their countries at large.

Some of these women are; Kiki Mordi, Hauwa Ojeiofor, Jokate Mwegelo, Chidi Koldsweat, Patricia Uwase, Chisom Obi-Jeff, and Halimatou Hima Dioula amongst others.

 

To view the full list and profiles of recipients, click here 

We celebrate them and will make this an annual announcement so that more women from indigenous committees across Africa, can be identified, honored and celebrated. We encourage every woman in development to continue to work tirelessly to implement change in their communities.

 

ABOUT DONORS FOR AFRICA

Donors for Africa Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works actively with governments, NGOs, social impact leaders, the private sector, philanthropy organizations, and investors to break cycles of poverty by addressing the global challenges we face in Africa.

We are designing solutions for Africans to impact indigenous communities and we are passionate about helping to find long term solutions to the SDGs and ensure equal opportunity for individuals on the African continent.

 

We have raised $30, Million direct and indirect funds, trained over 1000+ nonprofits, and reach over 27,000 unique accounts weekly.

Our vision is to provide long-lasting solutions to global challenges on the African continent.

For more information, please contact us on:

mail@donorsforafricafoundation.org/ 09021851964/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/donorsforafrica/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/18879322/admin/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DonorsForAfrica

Many of you struggle with content! Content Management, Curation, Dissemination and more.

Every time we are approached to develop content for a nonprofit, I always respond with ‘’ah! Ah! but there is so much content here already.’’

The big problem is not that you are not transforming lives with your messages, it is that you DO NOT KNOW what to do with what you have.

This is why DFA launched 150 Content Ideas for your nonprofit – You can download HERE

Here is what you should know and do in these simple steps.

1. What you have can work excellently for you; you just have to think about it differently!

First note, everything you do presently in your organization is content.

“Your beneficiaries story your recent funding partner. Your idea your team’s behind the scene efforts”– it is all CONTENT.

 

Below are simple steps to further categorize the different content types we have;

• Teaser
• Videos
• Quotes
• Press Releases
• Research
• Life Changing Stories
• Direct Mail
• Webinars
• FAQ
• Polls
• Infographics
• Events

See it is plenty… just manage these ones haha.

 Now, what do you do with all these… continue reading. Let me introduce you to the ‘’Pyramid  Approach’’

 Step 1

Focus on creating  big pieces of long-form content, and then split them into smaller pieces. Long content takes a larger amount of time to create: press releases, webinars etc.

Step 2

Break them into short-form versions such as: blog articles, images, quotes, etc.

Step 3

Disseminate across your different platforms. You could post this information on your website, email newsletter etc. Take images, quotes, statistics, etc from that webinar, program, event and share on social media. In this way, you are moving up the pyramid and creating “efficient” content.

 

SIMPLE!

Let me tell you a bit about distribution

Think about all the channels you use for your content marketing.

At a minimum, you should be distributing your content via email, your website, and social media. You should be distributing both your long-form, cornerstone content and your short-form content.

Do not generate content and leave it hanging, always have a strategy for disseminating.

 

If you are interested in purchasing a

Social Media Content Calendar Template –  CLICK HERE

150 Content Ideas – CLICK HERE

Let me go and reflect if I should give you many more of the juicy templates we have.

Until then look out for our announcement on Friday.

 

Cheers

Written by Chidi Koldsweat.

The single most important thing you can do at the outset of your nonprofit adventure is to make sure your financial situation is as clear as day. Whether you are using your funding to hire an Accountant or doing it yourself, accounting is essential to understanding your current and future positions.

 

ACCOUNTING:

Know your financial situation. Know your income and expenses. What does it cost you to run your organization annually? EVERY Nonprofit MUST know this.

HAVE A STRONG DIGITAL PRESENCE

There is no excuse anymore not to be online. Your ability to afford a website is no longer an excuse. There are several platforms, where your nonprofit can be present on and we will even share some free platforms tomorrow in our newsletter.

TECHNOLOGY:

It is beneficial for many nonprofit organizations to spend a little money to save a lot of time. The best way to make that happen is with the use of technology. Conduct a technology assessment to determine what tasks need to be done, which ones can be automated, and how much it might cost to achieve.

UNBOUNCE OR DISHA PAGES:

This is a great place to start. Their simple landing page builder can get your brand and mission statement online quickly and easily, without having to take a big chunk of your money to pay a developer. https://disha.ng/pages/

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT:

One of the hardest things about running a nonprofit is organization. Keeping all of your ducks in a row, from donor data to staff communications, can be a daunting task. The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software helps you track all of your organization’s relevant information in one spot, allowing you to manage contacts, identify opportunities, and build better relationships.

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT:

If you are at the inception of your organization, consider building a foundation of knowledge for you and your staff by investing in training and development. Depending on your nonprofit, it may be worth your time and money to work with a consultant who understands nonprofit startups to learn more about best practices for nonprofit management, fundraising, communications, and more. You can talk to us or participate in this program HERE https://forms.gle/4KbaYEJRaSamBHg76 with your team members.

TEAM HIRES:

To hire staff, you need to pay competitive salaries, and those salaries are ongoing year-after-year, whereas your grant may not be. So when deciding whether to hire for a role, consider the human resources you already have in place, what can be automated, and what can be outsourced.

These are some key roles to hire early;

Communications/Marketing

Program Assistant

Grant Writer.

We know that the nonprofit sector leaders may not have enough funds allotted to institutional support that is why we have put this list and links together.

 GRAPHIC DESIGN AND VIDEO TOOLS:

 

CANVA 

Want to feel like a designer? Canva makes it easy! Canva is a simplified graphic design tool that uses a basic drag-and-drop functionality. It enables even the most aesthetically challenged person to design beautiful content. You should also check out CANVA for Nonprofits. Simply amazing!

PIXLR

Pixler offer the basics in design, including fill, crop, blur and smudge tools. This editor requires flash to be enabled, and some browsers will block it. But you can enable it by clicking on the tiny “blocked” icon in your browser bar and following the prompts.

DESIGNWIZARD

Create personalized images and video designs in minutes. Design Wizard is similar to Canva but focuses more on video editing and creation. So if video is your priority, this could be the perfect free tool for you.

VIDYARD

Have you ever wondered how to create a personalized thank you video for your donors?

Vidyard is a video hosting platform, but the beauty of it is its Chrome extension tool. Vidyard has a free screen and webcam recording tool that makes it easy to create videos on the fly. In addition, you can track who is watching it.

RECITE

Create word art using Recite, and turn meaningful quotes into images ready for social media. Recite is one of the tools that makes those quotes look amazing. Use this powerful tool to spice up your Social Media pages.

 

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: 

PEXELS

Pexels offers pictures for free by suggesting you promote the photographer or send them a donation, or you do have the option of doing nothing at all. For nonprofits, Pexels offers free images that are impactful and professional.

BRANDING AND LOGO DESIGN:

LOGASTER

Get a professional logo for your organization or project. This site offers professional-looking branding free. The design and logo creation is quick and easy and looks sharp. It is definitely worth looking at!

FLAT ICON

This free tool is a search engine for 16,000+ vector icons. It is a great place to search for free images.

If you’re building your website or developing marketing material and need uniform icons (drawings that signify an idea) You can find it all here!

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS:

TRELLO

This visual project management tool helps nonprofit teams stay on task using boards. It allows you to see current and future tasks and collaborate easily with your team.

DROPBOX

This is a great place to store and organize your nonprofit’s files. It offers free space up to 2GB. You can store any kind of file here and share it easily with anyone from anywhere. It’s a great central storage space if you need to collaborate with others.

SLACK

Slack is a must-have chat tool for modern nonprofit teams. It makes collaboration easy and powerful, and the free version offers unlimited users and many features.  Slack is the best choice if you need real-time, instantaneous online communication. It keeps your team’s conversation private and allows you to invite other users as needed.

GOOGLE HANGOUT

Bring conversations to life with photos, emojis and group video calls.

ASANA

This project management tool will help your team get more work efficiently. It offers a robust set of tools to help you organize documents, stay on track and hit deadlines. If you stick with it for the first 14 days, research shows you will begin to save time and accomplish more with this powerful tool.

BUFFER

Nonprofits use social media to create meaningful connections that drive people to donate or volunteer. Creating these connections takes time and dedication, and managing social media across multiple channels can be a daunting task.

That’s why you might consider using a social media management tool like Buffer. With Buffer, you can save tons of time by scheduling your posts across different social channels, get the full picture of your content calendar in one dashboard, and track the success of your social campaigns.

The free version offers one social profile per network – compatible with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can also register for their special program for nonprofits and get a Buffer Publish Plan for 50% off.

EVENTBRITE

You have probably heard of Eventbrite – whether you have bought a ticket for a local concert or hosted your own fundraising event. It is an amazing (and free) event management tool.

Did you know it also has a cheaper processing fee for all nonprofits? Not only you can ask your supporters to pay the processing fee, but also they can actually pay a much smaller amount than a normal ticket would cost.

MILANOTE

Milanote is a tool for organizing projects into beautiful visual boards. Just like working on the wall in a creative studio, Milanote offers a visual and tactile way to put together projects. It is a perfect collaboration tool for small nonprofit teams.

 

SURVEYS AND FEEDBACK FORMS:

TYPEFORM

Build beautiful surveys and forms with Typeform. Typeform will allow you to create effective and professional surveys that you can use to learn more about your donors, volunteers and the people you serve with at your mission. Typeform will tally and report on your results so you can simply review and move forward, taking the right next step.

FREE SURVEY CREATOR

This survey tool is a little different from Typeform in that the tool converts a survey you make into a line of code you can embed into your website. Here is an example: you add a new page to your website describing a detailed case study of one of your most recent projects. As a reader clicks away from the page, a survey may appear asking them the following:

• Yes, this is exactly what I want to see more of
• Sort of, but I would love to see more ___________
• Not at all, this is not where I feel my donations should be spent

JOTFORM

Jotform is another survey platform we really like. It is easy to use and it has over 5,000 beautiful templates to choose from. If you want to give a sleek and professional look to your survey, you can also build your own template and use your brand colors and logo. You can use JotForm for event registration, volunteer signup, post-event surveys, sponsorship forms, and much more!

The best part is that Jotform offers a special discount for nonprofits – 50% off all their packages if you’re ever interested in a premium version. You can always use the free version if it fits your needs.

 

Culled from Keela.

 

Tell us about yourself?

 

My name is Daniel Ikhelegbe-Ojo, I am an entrepreneur, banker, and one driven by a passion for philanthropy. I am the first of six children. I was born in Auchi, Edo state to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Ojo.

I attended Federal Government college Ibillo where I obtained my Senior secondary school leaving certificate. I also obtained my master’s and bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Benin in 2009 and 2006 respectively. I serve on the board of RavenBrooks International and is the Chief Executive Officer providing the organization’s strategic vision, stemming from my values and innovative approach to creating sustainable philanthropy systems that would stand the test of time and also serve as Head, branch services in one of the leading first-generation banks in the country.

I am a strong believer in education and would strive to attain knowledge in every way possible. One of my quotes is “giving is living”. This drives my desire to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children are well catered for. I am married to Sharon and together we have four lovely children.

 

Tell us about your organization, impacts, and achievements since establishment?

RavenBrooks International Initiative for sustainable development is a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose purpose is to ensure that selected Sustainable Development Goals are met especially in communities where direct governmental impact appears unfelt. The organization was established in 2017 and is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria. We are part of the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNGO) as well as WANGO.

Our work with the SDGs seeks to provide relief in the following areas;

• Zero poverty [goal 1]
• Zero hunger [goal 2]
• Good health and well-being [goal 3]
• Quality education [goal 4]
• Clean water and sanitation [goal 6]
• Decent work and economic growth [goal 8]
• Industry, innovation, and infrastructure [goal 9]
• Partnership for the goals [goal 17]

We have integrated these eight goals into four action areas

• Humanitarian aids
• SME support systems
• Training and civic development
• Educational interventions

At RavenBrooks International we believe that sustainable development is achievable, hence we emphasize actionable results through properly planned projects and the right partnerships that would lead to a future generation of individuals who can sustain themselves and are relevant in their communities.

Since its inception in 2017, we have focused on the welfare of orphans and vulnerable children through our annual orphansmiles project (providing 10,000 free meals) and also on the quality of education through our Aspire bouquet of projects such as the teachers’ connect conference sponsored by TY Danjuma Foundation.

We have trained about 350 teachers in 21st Century Instructions.

 

What advice can you give to young people who want to build a career in the development sector?

There is much prospect in the nonprofit sector and there is the need for young people to venture into.  I would love to see more young persons taking up career roles in this sector.

One interesting thing about non-profit is that you can gather experience without necessarily having qualifications by way of active volunteering.

Volunteerism can help them gather experience and build their capacity. Those who are interested should seek to groom themselves through training and on the job experience.

 

How has been your participation in the inner circle program or other programs prepared you for opportunities ahead?

The inner circle program has exposed me to the need to have a proper structure for my organization and to carefully plan and implement projects in line with my organization’s vision and mission statement.

 

Are there any ongoing projects your organization is working on at the moment? Please share it with us.

At RavenBrooks International Initiative for sustainable development, we are constantly seeking out projects that would better a lot of individuals.

Despite the covid-19 crisis, we have implemented the teachers connect 2.0 project as well as project Aiutare for orphans and vulnerable children and our traditional orphansmiles project(fifth edition).

To know more about Daniel Ikhelegbe-Ojo, and the amazing work he is doing, you can follow his organization on:

Facebook and Instagram: @ravenbrooksinternational

Twitter: @ravenbrooksintl

Website: www.ravenbrooksinternational.org