SOFII's Choice(s)

Target audience: Individuals

Origin: Ethiopia. July 1997

Summary/objectives: To find out if direct mail could be used to raise funds effectively in Ethiopia.

Background: Among the most unlikely of places on earth to find brilliant fundraising would surely be the beautiful but trouble-torn East African country of Ethiopia, home of many of the world's poorest people. But fundraising in Africa is developing fast, and a few years ago a young woman of Italian descent, Nadia Weber, working for the Ethiopian branch of the nonprofit Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief and its Plant a Tree programme, attended a training workshop run by fundraising management consultant Bernard Ross. It was a lucky meeting for both as it gave Nadia an idea for innovative fundraising and gave Bernard what is undoubtedly one of the fundraising world's best case histories.