It is said that sometimes you just need a small ignition to make things happen. It was the meeting
with Shrochis Karki sir (Executive Director at Samaanta Foundation) where we had discussed how fellows could contribute more to the Samaanta’s work.
We had some ideas already but we could not implement those. We, the fellows had already realizedthe need for the public reach of Samaanta’s work and how fellows could support the Samaanta at the
fellows' level. After another meeting with my co-fellows (4th cohort), we came to the conclusion that
the programs and plans should be directed toward fundraising and public reach.
Without thinking more, we made an immediate plan after a meeting day. We made a fundraising plan. We had not the proper theme of fundraising initially but we had some ideas for fundraising as most of us had the experience. We were able to raise NRs. 50,000 over the target of NRs. 30,000 for the flood victims of Terai in 2017. I had some ideas and confidence to raise a fund from my experiences at Teach For Nepal’s Walkathon raising NRs. 1.2 lakhs from the Nobel College and got recognition as the fundraiser of the event.
Initially, we did not have a big plan. Previous experiences of art and craft exhibitions for the flood victim community of Terai gave us confidence and hence we wanted to use fellows’ creativity in art and crafts. We got to know the fellows' art skills from the different sessions and workshops at Samaanta. So, we planned to organize an Art Exhibition for fundraising where fellows’ made art would be displayed and opened for sale. Our objective was to utilize and sharpen the existing skills to provide another fellowship opportunity at Samaanta. Before the exhibition, I proposed to a team of fellows to widen Samaanta’s reach through digital platforms so that it could help us to create noise for the event. Without thinking twice, we formed a digital team of fellows and started Instagram and TikTok presence. I had some ideas for editing and creating content for social media. As I had already led the team for the publication of 3 consequent quarterly digital magazines of the Samaanta Foundation, The Horizon, I knew the fellows writing abilities and their interests. We started collecting the articles, blogs, literature and experiecnes from the fellows and started to post them. The reach and engagement were starting to grow exponentially which motivated us and show the worth of our effort. Leading the digital team, liaising with fellows, staff, and board members, and balancing college, and internships were not so easy for me. Slowly, by teaching, mentoring, and handing over the responsibilities to the junior fellows I could divide the work burdens. We also formulated brand guidelines for the first time at Samaanta.
(Event Planning)
On another side, we had formed the product development team, which was planning on the type of art and craft that should be produced. Being a research enthusiast and believing in a fact, I proposed the digital team conduct the survey first to understand the viability of our idea of an art and craft exhibition. The survey result gave ideas on whether people will buy the product for a cause, what kind of art product they prefer etc and that helped the production team to produce the product accordingly. The survey result also gave us the confidence to sell the products.
The first target was to raise a fund of Rs 70,000 from the product sale. With time, our plans and ideas were coming big. Then we developed our small ideas into a campaign with the theme of #OneMoreFellowAtSamaanta from Karnali province. This theme gave us a clear picture of what we were doing. The campaign itself set a target. To provide Samaanta’s comprehensive fellowship to one more fellow for grades 11 and 12 we need to raise $4000. As our target was big, we put extra pressure and work on ourselves.
Only from the product sale, raising $4000 was a challenging task for us. Also, we did not have enough time to produce a product on a large scale. We accept that none of us were professional artists at Samaanta, we were just beginners and we had a belief in ourselves. We had just willingness and confidence enough. We then planned for the exhibition event. Having exposure working in sponsored events, suddenly sponsorship popped up my mind and immediately I proposed the idea of sponsorship for the event. All fellows agreed with the idea. Along with that, we planned to incorporate individual fundraising along with the art product exhibition. We planned to look for any organization that could sponsor our event. But implementing the formulated plan was hard for us as none of us had previous experience. I believe we had a strong team and the team spirit of the fellows pushed everyone.
We again formed the marketing team for the campaign whose responsibilities could be to search for sponsorship, find donors and increase the reach of our work. The team started to list out a number of activities to implement our plans starting from the proposal, agreement, letter, emails, and one-pager writing. We wrote and reviewed it many times. I still remember my late-night work till 12:45 PM. I still vividly remember one meeting where Sharmila and other fellows were requesting me not to take the pressure and worry. But yeah, there were lots of responsibilities on my head. I should respond to queries from 35 junior fellows, partners, sponsors, multiple committees of fellows, staff, and board members. I am always grateful to the fellow's team where everyone was taking ownership of the campaign. We wrote multiple drafts of the proposal and letters. After completing of the writing things, we planned to go to market for the sponsorship. Along with that, we started sending a proposal to the individual and corporate houses that we knew. We listed the companies and individuals. We knocked the many organizations for the partnership. Finally, we were accepted by 3 organizations for the partnership. We could tie up with 2 organizations for the economic partnership and one for the promotional partnership. Finding those organizations and their positive responses pushed us more to achieve our target. Leading the marketing and digital team, mobilizing the fellows, and working with the fellow's timing were challenging for me. Planning and executing those ideas amidst the fellows' colleges, exams, internships, and jobs was the main challenge I had event faced. But I was learning about time management at the same time.
We brought product development, marketing, and digital promotion works simultaneously. We formed small sub-committees among the team. Some groups were assigned to produce mandala art, some to produce stone art so on and we assigned one fellow to be in charge of that group. In fact, I could easily practice the principles and theories of management which I studied in college such as chain of command, esprit de corps, scalar chain, planning, controlling, staffing, and so on.
Finally, producing over 350 art and craft products including paintings, sketches, mandala art, stone art, bottle art, and other forms of art we were ready for the event day. We invited all the networks we had, friends, friends of friends, our teachers, corporate houses, social workers, local communities, and all. We fully utilized our social media to create the noise for the event. We had prepared the content calendar to post a content
.
(Planning just a day before an event at our venue)
We again formed the event management committee to plan the event and logistics. Being in charge of the event committee, I had to look after all the logistics, planning of event schedules, and coordination with venue partners. Working with a limited budget it was difficult to manage the logistics. I remember carrying the furniture from Karkhana Office (Gyanesor) to the Venue (Dillibazaar). With the help of all fellows, staff, and board members we successfully organized the event where 500+ people visited, 350+ products were displayed and 150+ products were sold. Along with the exhibition we had games, painting stalls, and book stalls. We were able to raise $2600 over the target of $4000 from that event. The #OneMoreFellow campaign has not ended yet, I am glad that my junior fellows are still running the campaign and our products are available online for sale.
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Writing this article, I am remembering all the supporters and well-wishers. I thank Ganesh Bhattarai sir and the whole Vijay Memorial School for accepting my single word for the venue of the event. We are grateful to our partners WOW magazine for being our magazine and promotional partner, Mirai Global Education, and Visa services, and Texas International College for being our sponsors. We are grateful for all the buyers and visitors making our event successful. I want to express my deep gratitude to Samaanta’s staff and board members for believing in us and providing the all autonomy for the event.
Working with the 40 fellows, partners, sponsors, and community and managing the 500+ visitors at the event, planning and executing the event, and the whole #OneMoreFellow campaign was significant learning for me. I have learned to communicate, lead, mentor, collaborate, write, research, and believe in my own abilities. I learned to be accountable. The most enjoyable moment was seeing all the invited people and community people of Dillibazaar. Now those learning are helping me at my workplace. I consider that this event is one of the milestones of my leadership journey.
(After event photo)
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