A Journey of Happiness: Edhi’s Fundraising Drive
“It is hard to fail but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
Helping the needy is a noble cause for sure but trying to help them by getting donations from people was really a very tough job. It was at that time, we felt how great and noble EDHI was. During this fundraising drive, being connected to him gave us a sense of satisfaction. Every selfless effort for the welfare of others is always close to heart.
“Empty words and long praises do not impress God. Show Him your faith by your deeds.” (Abdul Sattar Edhi)
1. Strategies to Collect Funds
Our first and foremost task was to define strategies how we are going to do this activity.
• Faqeeha and Taqwa, shared the idea of collecting funds digitally because of the pandemic situation and convinced them to be a part of this noble cause with as minimum share as possible for you to as much possible.
• Hassan and Sana suggested that we should make posters and share them on our social media platforms to get donations.
• I (Engr. Shayan Ahmad) took the lead to design posters.
• Faisal gave the idea of merging another Mega Circle to work collectively. So, we talked with Mega Circle 7 and Asma Afzal agreed to work with us.
2. Working as a Group
We decided to work on one of the AMAL Principles of Success (EK AUR EK GYARA) and collaborated with Mega Circle 7 whose group leader is ASMA AFZAL. Everyone posted the poster on their social media profiles and also asked their friends to post this on their social media platforms. We were able to target and contact great number of audiences in this way. Although we collected donations individually (through different modes of communication and interaction) but we were flooded with ideas and suggestions to boost our campaign. We helped each other in many ways and experienced the benefits of teamwork and EK AUR EK GYARA.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
3. Challenges Faced
“We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.”
All of us were really reluctant to ask for help from anyone regardless of how desperately we were but this time despite our nature we took the lead and ask for help from as many people as we could.
“Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” (Roy T. Bennett)
Following are some of the issues we faced while collecting donations:
• We couldn’t collect money physically because of the pandemic situation.
• Credibility and Reliability Issues: We had to assure people that we are authentic in this regard and it is not some kind of scam or fake contact detail and we went extra miles to communicate with them through calls and tried to convince them about our policies and credibility.
• We were really depressed on how people responded and were being defensive rather than helping us.
• Most of us were feeling nervous and awkward to ask for money, as we were collecting money for the very first time. To overcome this nervousness, we encouraged each other and completed the task given.
• The other challenge was being rejected and ignored on our post. Most of our relative, friends and family members had no reactions on our posts. So, we decided to contact them personally and it was impactful.
- As every person is facing financial crisis due to lock down and are reluctant to donate money. We did overcome this challenge by encouraging them to just start with whatever is feasible for you(minimum of PKR 100) to those who can afford that by showing empathy to needy and motivating them that some people are in worse conditions that can’t be even compared to us.
4. Lessons learnt from our Fundraising Experience
As most of us were going to have such volunteer work experience for the first time. So, we already knew that we were going to face rejection. We learnt the following things:
• Collecting funds for the needy in this social crisis gives a sense of fulfilling our duties as a responsible citizen.
• A failure is not a failure. It adds experience and we can overcome failure with persistence.
• When we fail, we grow and mature as human beings.
• Failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.
• Fear is actually nothing itself it’s just our perception that if I will do this, that can happen. No one is going to do it for you! You are the one who can change your future.
“In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.” (Bruce Lee)
5. Words of Gratitude for the Facilitators
With our combine efforts and people’s open-hearted donations, we were able to collect PKR 38,000. We really thank to all those who supported us for this social welfare, both emotionally and physically by donating.
Faisal shared the following experience, when he submitted the donations to Edhi Foundation at its Zonal Office (Muslim Block, Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore).
“The registrar thanked me and Amal Academy for taking the initiative of collecting funds for Edhi foundation. He explained with grief that the number of donations have decreased drastically after the demise of Edhi Sb and also due to pandemic situation. I was clearly able to see a sparkle in his eyes and that I felt to the core of my heart.”
If our little efforts can bring smiles on those needy faces we would love to work on this our whole life. Thanks Amal Academy for providing us with this wonderful opportunity.
