TechnoServe’s New Online Fundraising Campaign Offers Transparency and Accountability

The Ankur Campaign Features Specific Projects in Developing Countries; Donors to Receive Progress Reports

  

DECEMBER 8, 2009 — Private sector development leader TechnoServe today launched the Ankur Campaign: Poverty to Prosperity, a transformative online fundraising platform that allows donors to give directly to four programs assisting people in need and then see how their donations are allocated and follow program performance and the path to impact.

Donations will help entrepreneurs and farmers in developing nations build sustainable businesses and realize increased economic opportunities, designed to create more jobs and lift communities out of poverty. Individuals who donate to an Ankur Campaign program will receive periodic reports from the field, including photos, stories and – most importantly – data that demonstrate tangible results from donations. Updates will be provided whether or not the program has reached the intended results or stated goals.

“Donors naturally want to know where their money is going and the impact it has created,” says TechnoServe CEO Bruce McNamer. “The Ankur Campaign embodies this desire and creates an opportunity for donors to get closer to the cause and see the lives they are helping to improve.”

Given recent interest in Kiva, Global Giving and others and in how individual contributions flow to beneficiaries, TechnoServe is making explicit on its website the percentage of the contribution that will go directly to support the program and that part that will support TechnoServe’s general operations and institutional strengthening.

The following is an example of a TechnoServe program being highlighted in the Ankur Campaign:

Creating Jobs—The El Salvadoran Ethnic Product Export Program

• Location: El Salvador
• Initiative: Build export capacity, increase profits and create jobs
• Reach: 90 businesses and suppliers
• Goal: Increase exports by $1.5M and create 150 new jobs

 

Due to the increasing presence of Salvadoran migrants in various parts of the United States, the demand for traditional ethnic products from El Salvador is driving a burgeoning U.S. market. A lack of production capacity, coupled with a weak understanding of how to export and market items abroad, prevents Salvadoran consumers in the U.S. from buying products made in their home country. This essentially wastes an opportunity for Salvadoran producers of finished products, as well as the rural suppliers of the raw materials they use, to increase profits, create jobs and strengthen the local economy.

 

Focusing on dairy, baked goods and frozen fruit, TechnoServe aims to provide direct assistance to 10 businesses that currently export products, as well as training for an additional 30 businesses with the potential to export in the future. As a result, approximately 50 rural suppliers of raw material will also benefit from the program. Assistance comes in many forms: training to improve production; processing and business management; and guidance in marketing and package design. By providing services to these businesses, TechnoServe hopes to increase the export of ethnic products by $1.5M, equaling $675,000 in new purchases of raw materials from rural agricultural suppliers.

 

Brief overviews of the remaining three Ankur Campaign initiatives are outlined below. 

 

Improving Livelihoods—The West Africa Cocoa Program

• Location: Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast
• Initiative: Provide technical and business assistance, increase crop profitability
• Reach: 500 additional farmers
• Goal: Increase farmer profitability by 80%

 

 

Increasing Options—The Kenyan Dairy Program

 

• Location: Kenya
• Initiative: Strengthen industry profitability and competitiveness
• Reach: 1,000 additional Kenyans not previously impacted
• Goal: Generate a $3.2M increase in sales amongst 14,000 suppliers

 

 

Discovering Entrepreneurs—Idea Tu Empresa, The Andean Business Plan Competition

 

• Location: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
• Initiative: Provide business training, encourage local economic growth
• Reach: 720 entrepreneurs
• Goal: Create 6,000 new employment opportunities

 

 

About TechnoServe: TechnoServe is leading a movement that empowers people in the developing world to build businesses that break the cycle of poverty. Growing enterprises generate jobs and other income opportunities for poor people, enabling them to improve their lives and secure a better future for their families. Since its founding in 1968, the U.S.-based nonprofit has helped to create or expand thousands of businesses, benefiting millions of people in more than 30 countries. The Financial Times has rated TechnoServe one of the top five NGOs for corporate partnerships. Charity Navigator has also awarded its highest Four Star ranking to TechnoServe.