Take a Look Around

Some successes
To give you a sense of scale of these developments, here are some of the successes:

■ UNICEF has increased fundraising income from $12 million to $100 million during 15 years investment in Japan.

■ The Red Cross has 600,000 members in Spain.

■ Plan International recruited almost 200,000 sponsors in its first five years in Scandinavia.

■ Almost 2 million Italians now sponsor a child following ActionAid’s entry into the market about 12 years ago.

The larger organisations certainly have been the natural pioneers, but their approaches, success and knowledge have opened up a wider world of opportunities for many other nonprofit organisations, especially successful ones based in the developed countries. We now are seeing single domestic organisations moving into new markets. We can see a dozen or so markets emerging as strong contenders for organisations wanting to move beyond their own borders, each with their own challenges and opportunities. As marketers know, there’s a lot to be said for being a follower rather than a leader — and now is the time to consider whether this is a route for you. The window of opportunity is wide open and certainly has several years of space for the right causes, organisations and followers to move in and find a niche in new markets to feed their visions. This issue of FundRaising Success has a selection of specially commissioned articles that I hope will capture your imagination and set you off on a quest to find out more.

Tony Elischer
THINK Consulting Solutions

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Tony Elischer is managing director of THINK Consulting Solutions, a U.K.-based consultancy for the international nonprofit sector.

Margaret Bennett is director of THINK Consulting Solutions.

Della Weight is director of operations, Switzerland, for THINK Consulting Solutions.

Simon Collings is chief executive at international nonprofit association The Resource Alliance.