01-17-2005, 02:51 AM
Oh and AID clarifies how 0.5 + 0.5 = 2 Points of Clarification about Sulekha's Tsunami fundraising effort
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Some donors have contacted us with questions about Sulekha's fundraising effort and their arrangement with AID. Here are some points of clarification.
1) Sulekha is helping raise funds for AID's relief efforts through their website. Recognizing the massive need to mobilize support for the tsunami survivors, Sulekha offered to raise funds for AID's relief efforts because AID is a reputed organization which has long experience doing development and relief work and had already put up a prompt response to the Tsunami.
2) AID thanks Sulekha for their prompt initiative, which has helped raise a large amount of funds for Tsunami survivors.
3) Sulekha structured the fundraising scheme based on their ideas, and AID's priority has been to ensure the logistics so that the donations received through Sulekha reach AID promptly.
4) We have established a mechanism for them to transfer the donations received every week to AID, along with the list of donors and contact information. This will be received in batches by AID, and once we receive each batch, we process the information and send out a receipt. We have received the first payment on Thursday January 6th, and will receive future payments every Monday from now on.
5) AID has brought to the attention of Sulekha the concerns raised by some donors about the matching donation arrangement, and they have provided some explanations which we share with you below. Beyond that, any detailed questions about how the matching fund works should be addressed to Sulekha, because they are the best people to provide the answers.Â
6) Here is our understanding of how the fundraising works, based on the explanation received from Sulekha.
(a) Sulekha management have formed a core group who solicit funds for the Matching Fund using their personal and professional contacts. They have made more than 200 personal phone calls and also had a few get-togethers/meetings to solicit funds. Sulekha has informed us that more than 50% of the Matching Fund has been raised in this manner.
(b) In addition, they have also provided the option to any online donor to allocate their donation to the Matching Fund. If the donor chooses that option, then their donation goes to the Matching Fund. If the donor doesn't choose the option, then their donation gets matched from the Matching Fund.
© Sulekha encourages the bigger donors (>$500) to donate to Matching Fund, so that their donation inspires other smaller contributors to donate. However, this is OPTIONAL.
(d) During the first day of fundraising, there was some confusion because Sulekha did not provide this option to donors. As soon as AID noted this, we conveyed to them that this might be construed as misleading. Sulekha immediately agreed to change this, and provided the option to the donor. They have also agreed to transfer any donations mistakenly made to the Matching Fund (the left side column on the Sulekha page) back as a regular donation (to the right side column).
(e) If your donation was mistakenly allotted to the Matching Fund, please contact Sulekha (arti@sulekha.net) and send a cc to AID (dpadur@ECECS.UC.EDU) and they will transfer the funds to the right-side and then match your donation from the Matching Fund.
(f) Recently, they have also introduced the option of donating to CARE, since many donors have indicated a desire to help victims in other countries too, and CARE works in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. If you want to donate to AID, please make sure that you choose AID as the organization.
7) We do understand that some donors might have expected that Sulekha.com has set up a corporate matching fund from their own resources, but that is not the case as Sulekha is a small firm. At the same time, because this is an emergency relief effort, we appreciate Sulekha's quick response in leveraging their online presence. Please be sure that if you have any concerns, you should bring them up with Sulekha or AID, and if you are uncomfortable with their arrangement, you are welcome to make a direct donation to AID on our website (http://survivors.aidindia.org) instead.
Please be assured that both AID and Sulekha are working in the best interests of raising community support for the Tsunami survivors, and we request you to be patient with any shortcomings in this extreme crunch time.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Some donors have contacted us with questions about Sulekha's fundraising effort and their arrangement with AID. Here are some points of clarification.
1) Sulekha is helping raise funds for AID's relief efforts through their website. Recognizing the massive need to mobilize support for the tsunami survivors, Sulekha offered to raise funds for AID's relief efforts because AID is a reputed organization which has long experience doing development and relief work and had already put up a prompt response to the Tsunami.
2) AID thanks Sulekha for their prompt initiative, which has helped raise a large amount of funds for Tsunami survivors.
3) Sulekha structured the fundraising scheme based on their ideas, and AID's priority has been to ensure the logistics so that the donations received through Sulekha reach AID promptly.
4) We have established a mechanism for them to transfer the donations received every week to AID, along with the list of donors and contact information. This will be received in batches by AID, and once we receive each batch, we process the information and send out a receipt. We have received the first payment on Thursday January 6th, and will receive future payments every Monday from now on.
5) AID has brought to the attention of Sulekha the concerns raised by some donors about the matching donation arrangement, and they have provided some explanations which we share with you below. Beyond that, any detailed questions about how the matching fund works should be addressed to Sulekha, because they are the best people to provide the answers.Â
6) Here is our understanding of how the fundraising works, based on the explanation received from Sulekha.
(a) Sulekha management have formed a core group who solicit funds for the Matching Fund using their personal and professional contacts. They have made more than 200 personal phone calls and also had a few get-togethers/meetings to solicit funds. Sulekha has informed us that more than 50% of the Matching Fund has been raised in this manner.
(b) In addition, they have also provided the option to any online donor to allocate their donation to the Matching Fund. If the donor chooses that option, then their donation goes to the Matching Fund. If the donor doesn't choose the option, then their donation gets matched from the Matching Fund.
© Sulekha encourages the bigger donors (>$500) to donate to Matching Fund, so that their donation inspires other smaller contributors to donate. However, this is OPTIONAL.
(d) During the first day of fundraising, there was some confusion because Sulekha did not provide this option to donors. As soon as AID noted this, we conveyed to them that this might be construed as misleading. Sulekha immediately agreed to change this, and provided the option to the donor. They have also agreed to transfer any donations mistakenly made to the Matching Fund (the left side column on the Sulekha page) back as a regular donation (to the right side column).
(e) If your donation was mistakenly allotted to the Matching Fund, please contact Sulekha (arti@sulekha.net) and send a cc to AID (dpadur@ECECS.UC.EDU) and they will transfer the funds to the right-side and then match your donation from the Matching Fund.
(f) Recently, they have also introduced the option of donating to CARE, since many donors have indicated a desire to help victims in other countries too, and CARE works in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. If you want to donate to AID, please make sure that you choose AID as the organization.
7) We do understand that some donors might have expected that Sulekha.com has set up a corporate matching fund from their own resources, but that is not the case as Sulekha is a small firm. At the same time, because this is an emergency relief effort, we appreciate Sulekha's quick response in leveraging their online presence. Please be sure that if you have any concerns, you should bring them up with Sulekha or AID, and if you are uncomfortable with their arrangement, you are welcome to make a direct donation to AID on our website (http://survivors.aidindia.org) instead.
Please be assured that both AID and Sulekha are working in the best interests of raising community support for the Tsunami survivors, and we request you to be patient with any shortcomings in this extreme crunch time.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->