Dear Friends,
Greetings!!
This has been a wonderful anniversary meet and all of us who attended were very happy and we feel like meeting quarterly instead half-yearly. In fact, if we share the trip info. in detail, you all will feel bad for missing it :)
Members who attended:
1. Prasanthi, Satyakrishna, Chandana, Sivaji and Kasyap (Joined on Sunday for few hours) - Hyderabad
2. Pavan, Kamal, Pullarao, Kalyan and Srikanth (Joined on Sunday) - Bangalore
3. Arun, Santosh and Vindya - Chennai
Details of the trip will be shared by members who attended. I will only share the action points.
We mainly discussed on:
1. What should be the Vision and Mission of TMAD?
2. How did we join the group, whether our expectations of joining the group met or not?
3. What are the suggestions that we want to give?
4. How can we improve our volunteer base?
5. How can we be effective?
6. How can we improve the communication among different Chapters?
7. Whether there can be a single point agenda (a Cause) for all Chapters?
Points we finalized:
1. TMAD should not be like any other group that stis to one particular cause. We do not want to reinvent the wheel.
So, the Vision should be something like ...... raising to the position wherein we can set up a Toll Free Number which can give details to all the Needy and those who want to serve and see to that the purpose is served.
All Bangalore members stand and stick to this point when it comes to Vision. Others also appreciated the idea.
I added that BosF Web site if we build according to our specifications, would be much more and can serve the requirements of all those who can access NET.
Probably we can think of using the data by clubbing both the concepts, each one complementing the other.
2. All of us are happy and no serious disappointments :) for joining the group. Everyone specially liked the idea of being in a family and this made them stick to the group. Other point which clearly stood out was all of us feel that it is a collective group but not of few individuals who manage different Chapters. There is no ego among us and we are open to suggestions.
3. Suggestions: (Listing all the suggestions)
Web Site:
- We need to make our Web site clean and it should be up-to-date. We should give the highest priority to Web site Re-design. A PPT explaining our Vision, Mission and Activities should be handy to all Chapters so that we can concentrate on getting more likeminded volunteers.
- Cases update also should be in a way such that all effort that we put into should reflect there, which should make the viewers understand the kind of follow up that is required and the amount of time that each one of us put in.
- Not to post the details of donations till we complete the case. One argument is that if donors see that the amount is coming in, they may not come forward to contribute their bit.
- We will be sharing the balance sheet (monthly) in the Web site and also the Audit Reports.
- Web site is being developed in Drupal. Harinath garu and Kasyap are working on it. Kasyap is confident that we will get a base site by 15th March.
- Prasanthi should complete drafting the content by 31st March. (Whoever can help me in writing about the cases that we handled are most welcome)
- Our Web site would be single source for all our info. like discussion, case updates and photos.
- All key documents related to different cases will be posted in Googledocs.
- Our site name would be TMAD.ORG in all our publicity and promotional material. To Make A Difference.NET is also be renewed and it will be redirected to TMAD.ORG.
- Initially, we thought to share the Templates in a week so that everyone can give their suggestions and inputs. Later we decided that all members can come up with their suggestions or example templates so that we can consolidate. (For that matter any suggestion with respect to Web site updates and maintenance are welcome)
Causes/Chapters/Communication:
- We need to concentrate more on bigger causes rather than sticking to individual cases
- We can think of a one big cause which all TMAD Chapters can do and can allocate certain percentage of our efforts to individual cases and adhoc cases. (This has been debated and we still couldn't come to an agreement. So for now we will proceed with whatever we are doing currently)
- There should be an excel sheet which should serve as a single source to get a snapshot of all the cases that we are handling, their current status and also how we have been dealing with it (right from who forwarded the case to who is dealing)
- There should be a regular communication among members of our group. Skype has been suggested as one good medium and members of all Chapters should be in regular touch.
- There should be a weekly meeting of all Chapters or else a fortnightly meeting so that we can inspire each other and there will be a regular connect among the Chapters
Being in Touch with Donors:
- Whether a donor has been in regular touch with us or not, we should be in regular touch with him. If he is a donor for one time or for many cases, we need to be in constant communication (over phone and through e-mail) apart from sending the updates about the case.
- For all Indian Donors, we should also plan to send a Thank You letter through Post.
- We can invite the donors for any meetings or sessions that we organize
- A fortnightly or monthly newsletter of TMAD is also very important.
Being in Touch with Volunteers:
- First of all we need to talk to all dormant volunteers and try to understand why they are inactive and if there is any problem.
- We should be in constant touch with our volunteers and share updates related to the group and this way they will feel connected.
- Encourage them to take up one or more activity. Give complete ownership of an activity and also offer guidance and support.
- Make sure all of us meet regularly and no meeting should be a boring one. There should be fun and also satisfaction at the end of the day that we did a good job.
Fund Raising:
- If we can maintain the Web site up-to-date, prepare the Presentations, implement the suggestions shared, we are confident of fund raising.
- If we can increase our volunteer base and encourage them to contribute whatever they can afford, we can get enough funding.
- We need to be firm in collecting the membership fee and also contribution. So far most of the members are giving 100 rs. only which we set as membership. We can understand that dual members (members who are part of different groups) cannot contribute more other than membership fee, but who are TMAD members mainly, can think of contributing more to the extent that they can afford for social work cause.
What makes a TMAD Volunteer?
- Who can mingle with others as a family member
- Who can contribute time or money or effort for TMAD
- Who can follow one or all of the given guidelines:
- Pledge as Eye Donor
- Pledge as Organ Donor
- Donate Blood Regularly
- Use cloth bags wherever possible and avoid plastic
- Practice eco-friendly activities (like using public transport at least once in a month, help in creating awareness about waste management, using CFL bulbs and energy efficient equipment etc.,)
4. Increasing volunteer base
Any activity should be filled with fun so that members should feel like participating and look forward to any TMAD activity.
In every meeting, we should reiterate the importance of being together and also remind us of our pledge.
All of us should promote TMAD in all the social networking sites that we are part of. If our activities are fun filled and give satisfaction members will come forward
We should think of ways that we can bond with our group.
5. Effective operation and handling of cases comes from taking the ownership and being open to suggestions.
- One suggestion has been to maintain an excel sheet. There should be an excel sheet which should serve as a single source to get a snapshot of all the cases that we are handling, their current status and also how we have been dealing with it (right from who forwarded the case to who is dealing)
(This is the link to the sheet that we created to update the details of all cases.)
- Plan for the next month has to be drafted in the last week of the current month and this calendar should hared with all the team members. This way our members can plan their schedule and participate in the activities.
6. Communication among members of different Chapters
- There should be a regular communication among members of our group. Skype has been suggested as one good medium and members of all Chapters should be in regular touch.
- There should be a weekly meeting of all Chapters or else a fortnightly meeting so that we can inspire each other and there will be a regular connect among the Chapters.
7. Causes
Once we improve our volunteer base and work on all these action points, we can think of the possibility and feasibility of common cause or much effective functioning.
Education stood out as one important area of work. New volunteers from Bangalore suggested to create awareness among students about possible career options and also improving our skills to match the requirements of the Industry. Motivating students has to be the top priority no matter which standard they belong to.
Creating Livelihood Opportunity is considered a good idea and we have been doing it wherever possible. One good example is a case handled by Blr team, where the family has to sell all the sewing machines for the treatment and expenses of the case that we handled (before they approached us). If we give them money, we have to keep giving them for medicines and all post-operation. So they bought a second hand sewing machine (by taking the opinion of the tailor in the family) for 1800 rs. and asked them to pay 300 rs. per month (to save 10 rs. a day) in six instalments. This way we will get our money back, they get their tool for livelihood and even they need not depend on anyone for purchasing medicines. Otherwise they have to work more for lesser amounts (to owners who give them work).
For now, all of us, members of different chapters will explore the training centers that offer vocational courses in various parts of the city and get the guidelines and other information.
WE ALL WILL PLAN TO MEET IN JUNE TO DISCUSS THE PROGRESS ON THE ACTION ITEMS AND ALSO TO PLAN FURTHER.
My take: I think US team can do lot of work now with respect to coordination, planning and communicating the updates.
P.S: We have been saying that TMAD is a family and even our anniversary trip is to enrich the feeling. Surprisingly, we got the blessings of god too. We were at Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy temple and when we stood in line for darshan (in two rows), the priest came to us, asked all our names and did pooja as 'Sakutumbaanam'. (By the way, we didn't pay for any archana). He also has given us coconut and flowers as Prasad. I felt so moved and delighted that I take god's blessings for granted.
Members who participated, please let me know if I miss on any action points.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
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