START UP 3.2 Empowerment Approaches to Fundraising C AS E ST U DY Wajir Human Rights Network (WHRN) is a Kenyan organization of committed individuals who empowered their own communities with their own resources for a period of two years without donor support. Keep these principles in mind during fundraising efforts in order to empower the community you serve as much as possible. •N  GOs run businesses (including such disparate ventures as recycling, sanitary napkin, and chicken businesses) staffed by community members that generate funds for their programs, as well as generating jobs. •C  onsult communities, especially when drawing up proposals for spending the funds raised, in order to ensure that your plans are in line with their priorities and needs. • Involve community members in fundraising where possible, to build capacity. This is essential if you plan to transfer management of a project to the community eventually. •W  hile the communities you are working with may be able to contribute only minimal amounts for transport and administrative fees, encouraging this can be an important way of anchoring projects in the community, and cultivating longer-term buy-in and empowerment. This may generate behavioral changes, such as ontime birth registration, to avoid late fees. It also makes registering a birth or death the shared responsibility of the community, rather than the parents’ alone.  See 6. Ensuring Sustainability and 7.1 Identifying and Recruiting Staff and/or Volunteers. 3.3 Public Funds If public funds are available, applying for them may have disadvantages as well as advantages. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES IN ACCEPTING PUBLIC FUNDING REASONS TO ACCEPT GOVERNMENT FUNDS REASONS TO DECLINE GOVERNMENT FUNDS Helps build relationships with government decisionmakers, which may be beneficial for advocacy work. Elements of the state may be the source of discrimination against the group you are working with. Generally amounts to a significant amount of money, which may be available regularly. May encourage the government to include legal identity documentation, citizenship, or paralegal work in its development or other plans. 34 | Communities may not trust and cooperate with your project if you take government funds. You may not have the technical capacity to protect client confidentiality if the government as a funder oversees your project. A C O M M U N I T Y- B A S E D P R A C T I T I O N E R ’ S G U I D E : D O C U M E N T I N G C I T I Z E N S H I P A N D OT H E R F O R M S O F L E G A L I D E N T I T Y