A "Power" Post

I am going to start a series of new posts to the HBI Blog Spot. These new "power posts" are brief insights into the work that we are doing to grow our NGO.

My first "Power Post" -

Next weekend is a new fundraising venture for HBI. Today, Ben Grass and I spent most of the morning and afternoon planning the event, organizing our thoughts, compiling the supporting documents, and making copies of the HBI video/DVD. The new fundraising event is something we are calling "HBI Connect Dinners."

The HBI “Connect Dinners” are fundraising and social networking events that bring compassionate and concerned people together around the central cause that is building cooperation and collaboration. The “Connect Dinners” will involve an introductory video that describes the mission, vision, values and focus of HBI. In addition, dinner hosts will be provided materials and information to facilitate discussions about HBI and the work of the organization.

Hosting an HBI “Connect Dinner” will involve a few things: (1) Willingness and ability of event hosts to provide food and drinks to the invited guests (it is envisioned that Connect Dinners will involve groups of 15-20 participants) and (2) willingness of event hosts to ask family, friends, colleagues and congregates to participate in an HBI “Connect Dinner.” Each dinner guest will be asked to contribute a small donation to HBI. This donation will be tax deductible.

The goal of the Connect Dinners is to generate greater interest in HBI and to attract donations to extend and expand the work of Health Bridges International. I guess this is a good time to mention how much work it takes to continuously raise money for an organization like HBI. I think that there is a unique "learning curve" that any new not-for-profit organization must commit to tackle when they are working to increase their donor base and grow their financial coffers. We are on the steep side of that learning curve.

I am not complaining. I guess I am just mentioning this fact because it is an important part of what where we are focusing our efforts on at this time. We know that great programs and projects need money to facilitate them - it is, however, not always easy to step outside of your comfort zone and ask people to open up their wallets, purses and checkbooks to you.

We believe very strongly in the Mission of HBI and know that the work we are doing is a very important part of ensuring hope for people living in desperate poverty.