1. Water and Wastewater Management Programme PN 10.2004.9-001.00
PROPOSAL WRITING AND
FUNDRAISING WORKSHOP FOR GRASS
ROOT NGOS
05-Feb-15
Final Report
by Olfa G. Tantawi, Fundraising Consultant
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The participation of communities, civil society groups, the private sector and consumers in the sustainable
development of the water sector represents a big potential, although mainly unused, in order to strengthen the
human right of having access to water and to reduce possible water use conflicts. Amongst others, the
programme in close cooperation with the Public Awareness Department of the Holding Company (HCWW) and its
Affiliated Companies (AC) seeks to further mobilise and involve local communities and civil society organizations
(NGOs) in its activities. Capacity building measures are currently implemented for selected NGOs in line with their
assessed needs in order to improve services in the water and wastewater sector. The training is designed to
tackle project proposal writing and fundraising and enhance respective competences of the participating NGOs.

2. Proposal writing and fundraising workshop for Grass Root NGOs
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Table of Content
PROPOSAL WRITING AND FUNDRAISING WORKSHOP FOR GRASS ROOT NGOS............... 1
ITRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................2
METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH.................................................................................................3
DISCUSSIONS AND RESULTS.................................................................................................. 4
DAY1...........................................................................................................................................................2
Day2……………………………………………………………………………………….3
Day 3 ………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Day 4 ...............................................................................................................................................5
LESSONS LEARNED AND FINAL REMARKS ……………………………………………................6

3. Proposal writing and fundraising workshop for Grass Root NGOs
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PROPOSAL WRITING AND FUNDRAISING
WORKSHOP FOR GRASS ROOT NGOS
INTRODUCTION
The workshop is designed in close cooperation with the GIZ WWMP and the team of the Public
Awareness Department in the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater (HCWW). The consultant
the initial plan was to implement a 2days workshop for two separate groups of participants. The
consultant advised on merging the 2 groups into one and organizing a 4 days workshop for both
groups. The reason for this is that there is a need to introduce NGOs which are mainly charity centered
organizations to a different mind-set when addressing proposal writing and applying for funds from
major donor organizations. Exploring Project ideas and developing sustainability plans and mobilizing
the existing resources in the community are at the heart of any wining proposal writing and successful
Fundraising strategies. The 4 days workshop is designed to introduce grass root organization to new
ideas and to equip them with necessary skills to develop their projects, write proposals and get funding.
ACTIVITIES AND DELIVERABLES
According to the ToR, the assignment included the following aspects:
• Providing the GIZ- WWMP team with a draft script for the training with the aim of enhancing
competencies of the participating NGO representatives on project proposal writing and fundraising.
• Implementing the above-mentioned 4 days training in close cooperation with the WWMP- GIZ
team and the HCWW’s Awareness Team with a prescribed agenda and elaborated materials for
handing out during the training.
• Thoroughly documenting the training course (detailed English report and Arabic summary)
In addition to the required deliverables, the participants were also offered with
 A hard copy of an “Innovative tools to access to finance guide” in Arabic detailing and providin
the latest for existing funding opportunities and tools including contact information. The guide
was developed by the Consultant and her team with sponsorship and support from the Social
Contract Center
APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
Financial security is one of the main elements of organizational sustainability for nonprofit organizations
as they are always in need to diversify their funding streams to cover their operational and development
programs' costs. This training course provided them with the necessary technical knowledge and
information about successful and sustainable fundraising strategies;
- How to communicate with variety of potential donors.
- How to mobilize existing community resources.

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- How to access finance using innovative banking tools and existing crowd funding
platforms.
- Practical tools for designing project strategies, whereby The content of the workshop
included training on the usage of advanced techniques in developing project ideas and devising
sustainability plans in order for them to be able to make a transition from charity based activities
and services to sustainable projects that can have a wider and deeper impact in addressing the
different challenges these included:
- The use of value chain analysis to address the gaps in different services and to locate
potential contributors, measures to address these gaps.
- Social entrepreneurship concepts
- Tools of business modelling
The workshop also exposed them to new ideas and new methodologies for resource mobilization in
addressing existing chronic problems especially regarding poverty alleviation, health insurance,
recycling, water services and modernizing water infrastructures.
DISCUSSIONS AND RESULTS
Day 1
In the first day the participants worked individually then collectively on Identifying the problems or
challenges that need to be addressed by the project proposal, After proposing a number of ideas they
were engaged in discussions on how to reformulate the challenges being addressed into opportunities
into opportunities, they also were asked to identify existing community resources that can support the
NGO in its efforts and ensure community participation., 18 project ideas were proposed and they were
divided thematically into 4 categories:
Environment ( 6 )
- The upgrade of water infrastructure in a Cairo suburb serving 60 houses to prevent water
leakages and improve the overall urban and environmental setting
- The establishment of a water irrigation advanced system in a rural suburb near Cairo
Developing raising awareness campaigns, educating and empowering civil society to address
water issues
- Waste recycling and waste separation at source
- Redesigning the street to be clean, green organized with no small vendors or with specific
location for them and with no cars side parking.
- developing Cairo’s greenery through introducing roof plantation
Education ( 4)
- Connecting education activities to societal needs
- Campaigns to combat illiteracy
- educating the parents in parenthood with a focus on mothers

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- Providing a Curricula for teenagers that can support them to face up to drugs and crime in their
neighborhoods
Health ( 3)
- Getting an ambulance car for emergencies to serve a local neighborhood
- establishing a rest house to host and lodge patients with severe ailments who are coming to Cairo for
treatment
- establishing a hospital for rheumatoid patients
Income generating projects (5)
- Transforming a slum area into an industrial productive corporation
- clustering handicraftsmen in one street and upgrading their skills
- supporting the handicapped (specifically those who suffer from feet paralysis) to gain new skills to be
productive and to start their own small business.
- support women in a slum area to work in packaging different products including grains and sugar.
- scaling up an existing small bakery that produces a variety of traditional upper Egyptian types of
breads and pastries
Day 2
Participants were divided in 4 groups and each group chose one project from each category to analyze
and develop into a potential real project. They were introduced to the value chain analysis tools to
identify system gaps and to suggest ways to address these gaps. They also were introduced to the
notion of markets and the need to identify the market that the product or service is addressing and the
potential of actual profits to sustain the continuity of the project.
They also were introduced to business modelling and used the business matrix as a tool to visualize
the different components of their project and to envisage the relationship between these components
and how they affect each other. The notion of social entrepreneurship and the employment of business
tools to address social challenges was also discussed as a means to ensure the sustainability of these
projects.
At this stage the participants started to rephrase the project ideas and objective to see the opportunity
laying ahead. For instance:
- A health project that proposed buying an ambulance car developed into a health insurance social
system with different types of membership that will ensure that all society members are paying
according to their actual financial abilities and where the contribution of the upper segment (the rich)
will be also financing services for the poor in exchange for some extra benefits and services
- A small project on recycling used garments to manufacture handmade small carpets developed after
ample research into a bigger more comprehensive project gathering more than one NGO to recycle
these garments for re-use and resale, carpets, and also re-knitting into fabrics. The participants got to

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see that there is a market for these different products that can be addressed if they collectively work on
organizing their efforts to have a mass production creating in the process new opportunities for
employment and sustainable returns that can help them address the challenges in the charity dominion.
Similar schemes were developed for waste recycling and roof plantation. The participants also
recognized that there were some policy measures that need to be taken into account specifically for the
waste management and that only areas where there is no contract with waste management companies
are eligible for these projects. The water irrigation model also developed into a membership based
system where the local community will also partially contribute in financing the infrastructure
Day 3
Throughout day 3 the participants got exposure to new and innovative tools of finance and they
watched films and short docs for actual projects that used these tools. Mainly Colombia’s crowd funded
sky scrapper, which is an interesting example that got extensive attention. The project was a bottom up
plan to modernize the city center and to build a sky scrapper in place of old shabby housing. It was
actually financed by 3500 “ local common famous people” as the fundraising campaign branded them.
The usage of the commonly known and widely used local revolving funds “ gam3eya” where people join
in order to collectively raise funds that go periodically every month to one beneficiary was also
proposed as a potential funding scheme. The suggestion and methodology proposed was developed by
an AUC professor to turn these local practices into a quasi-credit union in addressing sustainable
development projects got lots of attention and heated discussions on the needed measures to
implement such ideas and use these tools to empower local communities and the NGO beneficiaries to
fund small projects. Another example of mobilizing resources that got the participants attention was
Tahrir academy which has been working on mobilizing young men to offer new innovative online
classes for preliminary and preparatory classes.
In summary the participants during this session discussed:
- Fund raising basic strategies and potential activities
- Available communal finance
- Available institutional finance from banks, venture capitalists and angels
- They received information about potential donor organizations that deal directly with civil society
organization and that are specifically focused on social entrepreneurship; namely: UK based el Fanar,
and Drosos
- They also got introduced to crowdfunding concepts, tools and existing platforms
Day 4
On this last day of the workshop each group introduced their final proposal ideas and got feedback
from the other teams, they also identified potential partners and finance policies. The items that need
to be covered in the project proposal document were discussed thoroughly. The needs and potential
requirements from donor organizations and how to address these requirements was also part of the
discussion. Even on the last day new ideas were being proposed with a comprehensive frame. An idea

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for green schools education that addressed climate change awareness in schools involving a number of
for profit plants growing activities was also proposed.
LESSONS LEARNED AND FINAL REMARKS
This workshop was designed with a prior intention to introduce grass root organizations to advanced
knowledge in addressing project design and proposal writing as well as fundraising, a Knowledge that
is usually only available for English speakers who can roam the internet and make their own research.
They were also exposed to new ideas and new concepts of project design that were actually
implemented from different place in the world including Morocco where a major environment project
restored a river and brought it to life to Colombia to Egypt and specifically in the art of recycling.
There were some fears that this type of knowledge is too advanced for these groups of stakeholders
but in effect the workshop succeeded in inspiring and empowering the participants, most of them were
eager to attend daily and not to miss the sessions, many invited a friend, a NGO fellow member to
attend at least for one day to get some exposure to the knowledge being offered..
It is notable that these organizations are a great asset due to their long lasting experience, their
credible record, and their close networks with government officials, Most of them are actually handling
and managing some big projects involving great sums of money up to millions of Egyptian pounds.
Even in the charity domain, the amounts of money they are managing are considerable sums.
Still, most of the efforts to train these organizations have been focused on institutionalization and
documentation, but at this point of time they need to be introduced to modern strategies in
management and in planning and designing projects with focus on efficiency of management, social
entrepreneurship tools, monitoring and evaluation and accountability and mainly designing
sustainability plans.
in order for these organizations to develop and implement efficient projects addressing environmental
challenges especially in the water sector they need to be introduced to basic techniques and
procedures related to water supply and waste water management e.g. on the production of biogas, on
the recycling and possible usage of treated grey water, the latest application in solar power.
Besides, new ideas on how to cooperate efficiently not only with governmental institutions but also with
other NGOs is crucial to work effectively and achieve impact.
The final conclusion is actually a quote from one of the participants during the workshop discussions
“I got to understand now what needs to be done, one day we sat as board members and calculated the
sums of money we have been handling over the years it amounted to more than 10 million EGP. God
knows without the efforts of civil society, people’s sufferance would have been huge, we would have
fallen apart. But imagine ten million EGPs, with such a sum of money there is a lot that can be
achieved. We might be making a difference but still poverty is there and is increasing. We need to stop
addressing the ailments of the present, we need to plan and work on changing the future, and this is
what this workshop is all about. “