Muhammad Babangida | Philanthropy

Muhammad Babangida is a committed philanthropist from Nigeria

Author: Muhammad Babangida Page 14 of 16

Starting Small How Much the First Donation Matters

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On May 20, 2018

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Running a nonprofit charitable organization requires more than the ability to share your cause with others in hopes of a monetary contribution. Understanding how to appeal to potential donors while onboarding those who are loyal to the cause you represent is key to maintaining and growing a successful nonprofit organization. Learning just how much your organization’s first donation matters and how to expedite the process is a way to ensure you are on the right path with any type of charitable nonprofit you run.

The Snowball Effect

Obsessing over receiving your first donation as a nonprofit organization is not uncommon, especially when you are extremely eager to share the work you are doing for any cause you currently support. Achieving your first donation is not only desired psychologically, but it is also desirable to others who have an interest in donating to your cause but prefer organizations that already have live backers who have given their own contributions.

Understanding the “activation rate” with nonprofit organizations online is helpful to determine the best method of attracting new donors while raising financial contributions. Once your organization has received at least one donation from a patron, it is much more likely to go on to receive additional donations, even from first-time contributors. When users see that an organization has loyal followers and donors, they are more likely to make contributions themselves as they have gained trust by viewing the engagement of your campaign.

Learn more about how your first donation impacts the success of your fundraisers by keeping track of the number of pages you have created for your fundraiser, how many fundraisers received at least one donation, and the overall outcome of each individual fundraiser page. Keep track of how well various fundraisers pages perform both before and after you have received your first donation. Remaining aware of which type of fundraisers work best for your organization helps to launch future fundraising campaigns that are successful and attract loyal supporters and donors.

The more actively engaged you are with your users and potential donors during a fundraiser, the easier it becomes to pursue contributions and donations directly to your organization. When donors and supporters become familiar and trust your fundraisers (due to past donations), they are more likely to donate financially on their own in the future.

Questions to Ask in Order to Spot Your Most Dedicated Donors

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On May 7, 2018

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Asking donors about their feelings and loyalty regarding your nonprofit organization is one way to ensure you are always moving forward in the right direction. Whenever you are seeking feedback from your most dedicated donors, there are three simple questions to ask allowing your donors to share their feedback on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being “strongly disagree” to 10 being “strongly agree”).

“Name of Your Nonprofit” is My Favorite Charitable Nonprofit Organization

Learn more about your donors by asking whether or not your nonprofit organization is considered a “favorite”. If your organization is not considered a favorite by an overwhelming number of donors, consider why this may be and what type of marketing or campaign strategies may work to remedy the issue.

I Am Committed to “Name of Your Nonprofit Organization” and Support Its Cause

Commitment is an important factor to keep in mind when running a nonprofit organization. Many donations to large charitable organizations come from repeat donors and donors who have been loyal to the nonprofit throughout the years. Building a long-lasting relationship with donors is essential for growth and expansion as a nonprofit, which is why it is key to inquire about whether or not your donors currently feel total and complete commitment to helping your cause. Determine the underlying root cause if donors simply do not feel as committed to your nonprofit organization to make the necessary changes for improvement.

I Have a Sense of Loyalty With “Name of Your Nonprofit”

Loyalty is also imperative when building a nonprofit, especially when you are doing so on your own or from the ground up. Inquire about the loyalty your donors have to your organization and whether there is anything you can do to help increase and boost loyalty with your most dedicated contributors. The more questions you ask your dedicated donors, the more likely you are to receive funds in the future when meeting the needs of those who contribute the most.

The better you understand your donors and where they stand on supporting and sharing more information about your cause, the easier it is to connect and communicate with them on an individual level. Getting to know the wants and needs of your most dedicated donors is a way to truly build a working and successful plan for any nonprofit organization you run.

Steps to Becoming a Better Philanthropist

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On April 18, 2018

In Community Engagement, Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

A philanthropist is a charitable person who uses his or her time, money, and energy to improve the living standards of other individuals. The philanthropist does not expect to be rewarded. Philanthropists are concerned with helping the unfortunate in the society by giving them necessities. Successful philanthropists focus on improving lives on a long-term basis by empowering poor people with the right skills and resources. However, it is good to understand that philanthropy should be a systematic approach which should always impact lives and bring tangible differences in the world by eradicating poverty. Below are various steps for successful philanthropy.

Goal Setting

A good philanthropist should have a well-organized plan that entails mission, vision, and objectives the organization wants to achieve within a specified period. Philanthropy usually involves finding a solution to the problems that affect people in the society. An organization with a plan will be able to research on the cause of the problem and involve the right expertise in solving the issue, which will play a significant role in saving time and resources.

Develop a Perfect Strategy

After setting attainable goals, a good philanthropist will concentrate on how to achieve them as soon as possible. Setting goals and developing a plan are the fundamental pillars of building successful philanthropy. Philanthropy usually depends on finances, philanthropic advisers, and government regulations. A philanthropist should look for multiple sources of income, which will assist him or her in achieving the set goals.

Perform Research Extensively

A successful philanthropist utilizes most of their time researching about the needy organizations and individuals before giving out their resources. Additionally, research helps the philanthropist in identifying the needy organizations that are worth to invest his time and money. There have been cases of ghost charitable organizations who keep on seeking money from philanthropists and misusing it rather than helping the needy.

Focus on Infrastructure

Philanthropy is not all about giving money and food. Good philanthropist focuses on the underlying issues in the infrastructure and establishes a permanent solution to the problem. In many regions, people have no access to clean water, medical facilities, and means of transportation. A good philanthropist will build hospitals to enable the community to access proper medical care. This will be a permanent solution, and the region dwellers will keep on benefiting from the hospital for a long time.

Therefore, successful philanthropists focus on the above essential elements and maintain their reputation that lasts for decades. Conclusively, philanthropists should mobilize people to work hard to attain their goals. They should be good role models.

Why Even Small Non Profits Need to Adopt A Digital Presence

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On March 23, 2018

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

There are many small steps that charities can take in order to make an impact. You should embrace the digital world if you have a small charity. There are several ways that you can benefit from doing this.

Free Tools That You can Begin Using Today

Many small charities are daunted by the thought of having a digital persona. However, you do not have to a dramatic online transformation to make a difference. Many of the digital platforms and tools are free. Raise the Roof Kenya is an example of a small organization that is taking advantage of the digital world.

Byrony Partridge works is the communications director for the organization. He stated that digital marketing is one of the things that has made the organization a success. He also stated that integrating digital into your organization is not a necessity. Appear.in, Whatsapp and Basecamp are some of the digital platforms that the company has used.

Byrony is thankful for digital marketing. Because the company now uses digital platforms, the company is able to increase their funding. They also have more time to work on other projects and expand their organization.

Digital can Make Your Charity Stronger

GDPR laws are changing. Charities that are not prepared for these changes will be left behind. Fortunately, there are several online organizations that are available to help. A digital skills report showed that 50 percent of the charities surveyed did not have a digital strategy. Only 27 percent of them have implemented their digital strategies into another organization strategy.

You will have to be able to effectively communicate with your beneficiaries in order to serve them effectively. The digital world makes it easier to communicate with your beneficiary.

It is Fun and Social

Being a member of a charity can be lonely. There are many online communities where you can chat with other people who are a member of a charity. You can even chat with people about things that are not related to the charity. It only takes a few minutes for you to set up your social media, and you can instantly start connecting with other people.

Where You can Go to Get Help

You can use Reach in order to recruit trustees who can enhance your digital experience. Your trustees can also help you improve your digital skills. Technology is not going to wait from us. We can all benefit from it regardless of how small our organization is.

Ways Your Charity Can Use Facebook Live

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On March 12, 2018

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

If you are doing charity, then you should consider using Facebook live. You may be able to get more support for your charity if you use Facebook live. It is estimated that 80 percent of people would rather watch a video than read a blog. Facebook live videos get 10 times more comments than blog posts. Additionally, Facebook prefers live content over any other type of content.

Facebook live allows you to reach a live audience. Your friends can share the video with their friends, which allows you to get the message out more quickly. There are several ways that you can use Facebook live for your charity.

Behind the Scene Stream

You can show people exactly what they will be supporting by doing a live video. For example, you are raising money to help build a new retirement community. You can give people a behind-the-scenes look of what is already being done.

Explanatory Stream

You can make a live-stream where you sit down and explain exactly what you are trying to do. You can also provide information for people who need help with things like filling out forms.

Q & A Stream

Cancer Research UK was raising money in 2012 to support a 14-year-old girl who was suffering from a rare form of cancer. The girl was able to increase the funds raised by having a live Q & A. She answered questions that people had about her cancer.

Me TV Streams

You can tell a story about your cause. You can also talk about things that are not discussed in the mainstream media.

Event Streams

If you have events for your charity, then you can also live-stream them. The proceeds from the Mile Cheer Point at the London Marathon were used to support the Macmillan Cancer Support. The event was live-streamed.

Storyful Streams

Live-streaming should not be a one-time event. It is something that you should be doing over the course of a few weeks or months. For example, you can use your live-stream videos to update people on the progress that is being made thanks to their support and donations.

For example, you are raising money to support cancer research. You can do a live-stream of someone getting their cancer treatments. If you are raising money for a soup kitchen, then you can live-stream people getting their meals.

Cute Animals

Everyone loves animals, so you can get more support by having them in your videos.

Keep in mind that live-streaming is not for every situation. There are some videos that are best scripted and edited.

Using Big Data in Philanthropy

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On February 6, 2018

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Big data in the philanthropic sector could be optimized to produce a host of positive impacts. Like any entity that requires fiscal and operational management, a philanthropic organization should be ideally guided by data-driven goals and objectives and supported by staff with the tech know-how. This ensures that big data are efficiently leveraged or used by the organization. Aside from this reason, there are several others that underscore the importance of big data in the philanthropic sector.

Analytical Tool

As an analytical tool, it helps philanthropy managers identify smart and doable goals. Non-profits, foundations, charities, social ventures are just some of the entities in the philanthropy sector. These organizations operate around a specific mission, from education, social enterprise, public health, among other social issues and causes.

Creating programs and services in support of the organization’s mission require data-driven facts. Nonprofit management, for example, cannot just claim to provide education and training for a specific stakeholder group without a data set to back-up the need. Every program and service starts with research and assessment, and this is where big data comes in.

Strategic Development Tool

Depending on the nonprofit cycle, at the end of a fiscal or calendar year, philanthropic groups often undergo an annual evaluation. The evaluation looks at different operational components, including financial management, programmatic accomplishments, among other aspects. Through big data, managers can report to the community, the nonprofit board, and other stakeholders, how far they have come in accomplishing their goals.

Nonprofit managers can collate the data sets to show whether they are fiscally robust during the previous year. They can also report how their programs were able to make a difference in the community. At the end of the fiscal year, these data sets can be used to strategize for the upcoming year, from fundraising to program development.

Conquering the Fear

While it could be integrated into aspects of nonprofit management, the challenge is to encourage organizations to embrace big data into their processes. The value of big data should be looked at based on several important factors. Aside from its analytical purpose, big data could also help the organization achieve their customer relationship management goals.

The philanthropy sector relies on public funding, grants, corporate giving, and donations to operate. They are entrusted with a responsibility to utilize the funds for the betterment of the community. With big data, these nonprofit organizations can use the information to strategically plan their programs and services.

Personalized Learning and Philanthropy

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On January 25, 2018

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Personalized learning has become a hot topic of conversation concerning K-12 philanthropy. Personalized learning started to gain notoriety after the Gates Foundation and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative contributed financial donations to help support this style of learning.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has contributed to multiple personalized learning projects and helped fund Chiefs for Change and the College Board. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative also works closely with the Summit Learning Platform.

Defining Personalized Learning

While personalized learning is commonly referred to as structuring the lesson plan around a student’s individual needs, that might not necessarily be true in every circumstance. Some teachers have structured their classrooms so that students are working on different things. Some students may be working on a collaborative learning project while others are doing independent work. While personalized learning does not have to include technology, instructors have noted how much of an asset technology has been to personalized learning. Technology has helped teachers become more innovative with their lesson plans.

Historians point out that personalized learning may date back to the early 1900s. Personalized learning tools are used by different schools in the United States, as well as other parts of the World. The personal learning schools have started to attract engineers. The Carnegie Corporation has helped support New Profit, Learning Accelerator, and Power My Learning. These organizations have implemented learning techniques that are used to analyze the primary strengths of every student, as well as their goals.

Over-Reliance On Technology

Some advocates would like to emphasize that technology should not be seen as a replacement for teachers. The most powerful relationship is still teacher and student. Power My Learning has said that the technology’s primary goal is to strengthen the relationship between teachers and students.

Moving Forward

Critics of personalized learning point out that it is too early to tell if this style of learning will make a difference. Research has shown that students in personalized learning settings have achieved growth in their math and reading skills. However, student-teacher discussions in the personalized learning schools haven’t varied too much from the traditional method. Proponents of personalized learning point out that these are still the early stages.

Personalized learning plans to help close the achievement gap between lower income school students and affluent school students. The Summit Learning Platform notes that some strategies will last while others will eventually be dissolved over time. The future of personalized learning is yet to be determined.

Philanthropy and the Media Should Work Together

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On January 2, 2018

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

In recent years, the digital revolution has both changed the face of the media and cast an unflattering light upon its failings. In many parts of the world, the news is either censored or difficult to access and even modern democracies, such as the United States, are struggling to filter out fake news and irresponsible journalism.

Philanthropy Can Bring Integrity Back to Journalism

One resource available to the media, yet underutilized, is that of philanthropy. recently, this type of funding has been more directly applied to addressing the problem of fake news, promoting more thorough fact-checking policies. This is beginning to help, but, since we’re just learning how widespread the problem is, the media and philanthropists funneling money to news organizations are far behind.

The blame lies with philanthropists and with journalists. Collectively, these two parts of the same mechanism lacked the level of inquisitiveness necessary to uncover the problem. As a result, societies in countries around the world have been weakened and corrupted by a flood of disinformation and false information. As social media and news outlets continue to struggle against allowing fake news to make its way to the public, a fear that there will be a “resulting deterioration of public discourse” may lead to a breakdown of functioning civilized society.

How Can Philanthropy Benefit the Revitalization of the Media?

Already, philanthropy has helped to bring better reporting to underdeveloped areas, where the flow of news is otherwise inhibited. Independent news outlets have been funded to report on news in Malaysia, Peru, and Panama, as well as many other areas. This helps to create a better, more reliable flow of authentic, unbiased news, lowering the need to depend on an unsupported assumption.

Even so, the entire burden cannot be laid at the feet of philanthropy. The limited resources philanthropy provides are already stretched to fund even more than intended. The funding can’t be used solely to battle fake news when the world also needs greater media coverage of such ongoing problems as social injustices, global warming, and healthcare issues.

The best solution is for philanthropy and the media to work together to better utilize the available resources. In reporting on global issues and simultaneously battling its own problem of biased and false reporting, the media needs to use the resources provided through philanthropy to promote greater journalistic integrity. Through this effort, the world can receive more reliable information and the media can, once again, earn the public’s trust.

The Best Intentions Don’t Always Lead to Effective Philanthropy

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On December 16, 2017

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

If you’re part of a grant-giving organization, or you are merely a business or individual who has the funds available to give to charities, you probably have a process that you use to determine which organizations are most suited to your donations. If you have a grant that you have advertised that isn’t getting many applicants, you might begin to wonder why you organizations aren’t lining up at the opportunity to have these funds. Many times, there is a disjoint in perspectives of the grantor and any potential grantees.

When you’re giving out grant money, it’s important to make sure that you aren’t placing any unnecessary red tape in the way of potential grantees. It’s important to remember that a 20-page proposal will cost organizations money to have that produced for them. Although, if you are giving out, say, $50,000 you might want to have more restrictions and proof that the donation will be spent wisely. If you are only giving out a relatively small amount, it might not make sense for the organization to hire a grant proposal writer for such a small amount. They might rationalize that all of the money that they could earn through the grant would be eaten up in the fee to the grant writer.

To avoid getting in your own way of achieving your philanthropic goals, make the proposal appropriate to the amount that will be given. If you are giving out only a few thousand dollars, it might mean that it is more appropriate to require a short two-three page letter that details what the organization does and how the funds would be spent.

You should also take a look at your own internal practices to make sure that you are aligning your internal processes to your own goals and the organizations that you serve. Although you might be interested in finding the best ways to give your money and ensure that it gets into the hands of people who will use it to great effect, it’s easy to have a lack of focus and mismanage your efforts. When you take a closer look at your own practices in conjunction with the practices and goals of your prospective grantees, you will have a better idea of how to best serve them.

If you have found that you are not getting as many applicants to your grants as you would like, take heart in the knowledge that even a few shifts in perspective and an approach more appropriate to your target grantees will bring you closer to your philanthropic goals.

How to Give Smarter

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On December 2, 2017

In Muhammad Babangida, Philanthropy

Americans are well known for their charitable giving and generosity towards those who are less fortunate than themselves. Since there is so much need in the world, people are often subject to large numbers of appeals regarding all manner of no-doubt-worthy causes. In self-defense, people often elect to focus their personal efforts on a specific “cause” and leave all, or at least many, of the other needs to someone else.

Yet, even when one narrows their focus down to a limited topic, there are still many diverse organizations that are competing for the donations that go towards satisfying that particular charitable impulse. Since they all have excellent marketing campaigns and produce the same sort of heart-rending appeals for assistance, it is not always easy to know which ones truly make a real difference in their chosen charitable endeavor.

This is sometimes known, at least in military parlance, as the Tooth to Tail ratio, which is a way of expressing how much of the available dollars are spent on actually meeting the need and how much is being spent on extravagant new headquarters, large administrative costs, and even farmed-out fundraising campaigns. Indeed, there are some “charities” that frankly operate as outright scams that serve no other purpose than to provide easy living to the organizers.

Likewise, many large and well-known institutional charities have becomes so bureaucratically sclerotic that their administrative costs eat up gigantic amounts of money before spending a dime on their chosen mission. The best way of protecting oneself from giving your donations to regrettably unworthy organizations is to double-check with one or more of the disinterested charity rating services such as Charity Watch, Charity Navigator, or the compilations published at intervals in Consumer Reports.

Yet even these watchdogs are not immune to giving the benefit of the doubt to a charity that matches their own charitable impulses, which is one reason why it is best to consult with more than one. An even better way might be to give locally to a struggling organization that does not enjoy the worldwide cachet and fundraising prowess of some of the major “causes”. Nor does such a donation have to be monetary. Volunteering a little time to a local organization can not only be a big help to them, but it can also provide the rock-solid assurance that, when you do choose to donate your money as well as your time, it is going to be used wisely and efficiently.

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