News & Trends for Donor-Advised Giving to Asia

Development at Altitude: Women’s Empowerment in Nepal

By Charles Ostertag, Give2Asia

Fluttering and curling between the winds of China and India, the flag of Nepal flies as the only non-rectangular national flag on earth. The amalgam of two pennants from the previous ruling Rana dynasty, the flag's jutting edges and celestial figures aptly mirror a weather-pleated, atmospheric land rising from the monsoon-prone southern plains to the rearing walls of stone in the north. Since its inception in 1962, however, the Nepalese flag has bared witness to profound social change: the June 2001 tragedy within the royal palace left Nepal without a king or queen; a decade-long civil war resulting in over 14,000 casualties; and last year the newly elected Constituent Assembly voted to end the 240-year-old monarchy. Even though this flag now stands for a recently formed nation (Nepal was officially declared a democratic federal republic in May 2008 and the first president was elected in July 2008), it has not been without cost. Today, Nepal depends heavily on foreign aid, possesses the second-highest unemployment rate in Asia at 42% after Timor-L’Este (from 2004 estimates), and remains one of the poorest, least developed countries in the world.

With one third of Give2Asia grants in Nepal being made in the area of women’s empowerment, we have chosen to highlight three of the many excellent organizations we work with—Empowering Women of Nepal(EWN), Himalayan Healers and The Asia Foundation —all focusing on improving the quality of life, social status and opportunities for women. The missions of EWN, Himalayan Healers and The Asia Foundation are imperative. According to 2001 estimates, only 34.9% of Nepalese women can read and write, while statistics from the Asian Development Bank point to poverty and lack of job opportunities as the driving factors causing women to resort to commercial sex work.

Sakena Yacoobi Awarded Kravis Prize for Leadership

Claremont McKenna College and the Kravis Leadership Institute has selected Sakena Yacoobi, founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning, to receive the fourth annual Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. The Kravis Prize, which carries a $250,000 award designated to the honoree's organization, recognizes extraordinary leadership in the nonprofit sector. Dr. Yacoobi was selected for her outstanding record providing an estimated 350,000 women and children with access to education and health care each year.

Sakena Yacoobi and the Afghan Institute of Learning

   Sakena Yacoobi has spent the last 28 years providing education, training, and health care services to women and children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of her enduring contributions is focusing attention on the issue and importance of girls' education in Afghanistan. She has received funding from Give2Asia since 2003.

Dr. Yacoobi's achievements demonstrate significant courage and persistence in the face of extensive obstacles to educating girls and women in Afghanistan. During the Taliban's rule, for example, the education of girls was prohibited. Dr. Yacoobi and the staff of AIL too great risks in operating 80 underground home schools for 3,000 girls during the 1990s.

Lessons for Fundraising in the New Year

By Birger Stamperdahl and Kalsang Y. Tashi, Give2Asia

The start of a new year for many is a time for making plans, setting goals and declaring resolutions. For those of us in the nonprofit world, it also is a time to assess the success of the past year and our efforts to move the needle on the social issues we care about. Perhaps this year more than most, our success and ability to meet future goals depends on effective fundraising.

With that in mind, we’ve taken a step back to consider some of the successful fundraising efforts that have been employed by the hundreds of organizations in Give2Asia’s network. These efforts range from simply putting up a donation button on a website to carrying out large gala events. Different strategies make sense depending on the organization, their resources, and their base of support.

Several groups this past fall were quite successful raising money. In fact, Q4 2008 was the busiest Q4 of any year we’ve had since our founding in 2001 – despite the economy. This success was based partly on the ability of our network to fundraise within their own communities, and we want to share a couple of examples of what groups did in 2008 to raise money. These are not examples of multi-million dollar fundraising efforts. However, they do stand out as good efforts and examples for how to make U.S. fundraising successful.

Both have these basic similarities:

• They appeal to a very specific, predefined audience
• Before the campaign, they leverage people within their target audience to lead the fundraising and build interest 
• The fundraising itself helps to create ongoing ties within the donors’ community so that giving also has an immediate reward, in these examples there was either an event or a matching gift