Edhi Fundraising Campaign
“My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world.” -Abdul Sattar Edhi
During the Amal Academy Career Fellowship program week 5 & 6, our batch was assigned a project “Challenging your problem solving skills to accept failure” in which we were supposed to collect donations for Edhi Foundation from our relatives, strangers and atleast 2 organizations/community centers.
Edhi Foundation needs no introduction but they have suffered from shortage of funds after the demise of Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi as compared to when he was alive. This was addressed by his successor and son Mr. Faisal Edhi in an appeal to the nation because Mr. Edhi never took any donations from international community as it was his motto, “I only take from the people of my nation and help them with it”.
Batch Strategy:
As a batch, we devised a comprehensive plan by arranging a circle leaders meeting in which the following criteria for funds collection was decided:
- Each circle leader is going to encourage their circle members to collect funds either through physical or online campaign. It completely depends on their convenience of collection
- Each member should provide their circle leader’s or personal account for fund collection
- Every circle leader is responsible for collection of funds from their circle members.
Circle Strategy:
As a circle, our strategy was to entrust the masses by providing them official bank accounts of Edhi Foundation available on their website and also collect donations physically preferably from strangers to challenge ourselves for personal growth. We also submitted an post-project video in the official whatsapp group of the batch courtsey of Saba Afzal.
Circle Members Experience:
Faizan Ahmad:
“This activity really helped me a lot in terms of challenging myself to accept failure. It was tough to accept it as I approached my family circle, friends, strangers, local mosque, local businesses and door-to-door campaign but did not get the response I was expecting. I managed to collect a good amount but it came with the cost of harsh rejections, absurd remarks and nonresponsive behaviour of the people I thought would help. But in the end, the activity was for a noble cause and the learning spectrum was great.”
Mahvish Khurshid:
“Edhi fund collection activity was amazing in terms of self growth and getting out of my comfort zone. Constant rejection and being ignored when asked to donate for a good cause at first felt bitter to swallow but in the end I came to know how to deal with such situations.”
Mubeen Ahmad:
“I approached my family members and relatives majorly because it was more convenient to ask to them for donations. I got a good response from them but a few demeaning words meant nothing because when we look at the bigger picture, its for self betterment”
Saba Afzal:
“Inspite of my hectic routine, I approached few of my fellows and family members. I could not pursue them but a few good responses felt like the world to me because we have to look at the positive side of life as there’s too much negativity already.”
Kashood Aslam:
“Initially I was quite upset with the response I got but that was the whole point of this activity. I kept pursuing people, asked them humbly and finally I got a great response surpassing my expectations. That really has taught me a positive lesson of never give up attitude which I will implement further in my life.”
Ahsan Farooq:
“As I am a professional myself so I approached the corporate structure for donations but due to job responsibilities I could not take up with the activity. I got a fair response from my close friends through in-person contact.I still kept in touch with circle fellows and provided them with tips that reflects on our total collected donations as a group.”
Muhammad Imran:
“I could not participate fully in this activity due to family and health issues. But I am really happy with my group’s attitude and smart work related to this project.”
Total Funds Collected:
We collected a total of Fifty Four Thousand Five Hundred and Ninty Seven Pakistani Ruppees only via physical and online campaign by the Grace of Almighty Allah.
Fund Deposit Slips:
