As the lead mentor for our “Mentoring young adults in Uganda into innovators against poverty”, as I begun to prepare my notes for a mentoring session on fundraising, I felt unsure. So, I decided to tap into the wealth of knowledge provided us through the GlobalGiving Platform. I thought, let me do a quick refresher fundraising course. I enrolled for the Philanthropy University Fundraising Course, thinking I would complete it in one day. I was wrong.
The course’s welcome and module one shocked me to the reality of how so outdated my fundraising skills are and how much more fundraising skills I need to learn, in order to be a good mentor for fundraising. Take for instance, my fundraising writing skills. Using learning from the course, I did a readability test on the approved text that we use to describe our organisation’s vision, mission and objectives. The results:
“Readability consensus – based on (7) readability formulas we have scored your text: Grade Level – 30; Reading Level – Impossible to comprehend; Reader’s age: college graduate.”
This surprised me a lot. But I followed the guidance provided, edited the text until I was able to improve its readability score to 63.3.
Post featured photo, Norah Owaraga, receives gifts on a field visit to beneficiary Oluka’s home in Ocelakur in Kalaki District.
By Norah Owaraga, Managing Director
CPAR Uganda Ltd 