What I Learned On My Spring Vacation (Part 1)

Last week, I was part of a delegation from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, visiting non-government organizations in Brazil as People to People citizen ambassadors. Our goal was to learn from our colleagues in Brazil, a country experiencing rapid economic development, about the fundraising challenges they are facing.
First, some background - our hosts frequently mentioned that the bulk of funding for Brazilian nonprofits comes from the government and corporations. Individuals generally do not give, viewing social programs as something that the government should fund. Some organizations are beginning to build a small cadre of individual partners, and others are able to get donations of needed materials, but this is a slow change in a country that has long been Socialist.