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Chaired by Albert Fischer (The Netherlands),this panel discussed the issue of raising money tofund EE projects. Panelists were JacomineRavensbergen (The Netherlands), Daphne deRebello (France), Fred Matser (TheNetherlands), and Ibrahim Kerdani (Egypt).

What Do Donors Look For?

At the outset, Fischer listed four criteria thatdonors look for when considering funding aproject: people, market, product, and return fortheir investment. “People are the first considera-tion,” Fischer stated. Things that donors willwant to know about the people involved in the

project include their track record, the networkthey’ve developed, their personalities, and howthey function as a team. It doesn’t all have to beperfect. I would want a team that is capable ofseeing where they lack things. The second donorslook for is the market. Specifically, said Fischer,“what is the size, who are you trying to reach,what are barriers to entry, and what is the growth

rate?” Other areas donors might be interested inare the unique nature of your project and howeasily other people can do the same project. Thethird criterion is the product, the service, or theidea. Donors need to know: Is it unique, is therea demand for it, and which problem is the proj-ect intended it solve. Finally, donors are interest-ed in return on their investment. “They’re inter-ested in a financial return, of course,” notedFischer, but also in the social and environmentalaspects of their investment. Having set the basicstructure for the debate, Fischer added: “Aninvestment decision is something you do basedon your gut feeling. You will go through the listto consider those criteria, but in the long runyou ask yourself: do I love this project, is thespark there? Almost backwards you interpret the

criteria.” A good project will do both, he said.A good project will “answer the criteria,

but it will also deliver that spark.”

Matser, director of Sofam Beheerbv, a management and holding com-pany in The Netherlands, also empha-

sized the importance of this gut feelingfor success, both for the project team

and for the donor. He advised participantswho are seeking funding to have faith in their

projects and to speak to individuals, not bureau-cracies. In this way, he said, one would be able to“open someone’s heart,” which may lead tofinancial support.

Both Donors and Projects Should Benefit

According to Ravensbergen, Program Officer atthe Health Research and Development Council,

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Money MattersSpecial Panel: “Money Meets Ideas”

“It’s importantto speak the lan-

guage of the investor.An investor wants toget rich and he wants aplace in heaven. As aninvestor I want to relateto something. Am I inlove with the product?

That’s the big issue!”

Albert Fischer

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one should not avoid bureaucracies. Rather, sheadvised participants to seek alliances with organi-zations that have experience with funding similarprojects. The goal should be a benefit for proj-ects as well as donors and that expected returnson investments should be emphasized. The wayto go with a bureaucracy, said Ravensbergen, isto identify the specific goals and aims of thatorganization that you can connect to:“Establishing an alliance will help you getthrough a bureaucracy. It also helps you to paral-lel your project as tight as you can to the objec-tives of a specific program of that organization.Knowing their funding criteria and objectives isthe key. ”

EE Projects Should Create Opportunitiesin the Commercial Sector

Kerdani, of UNICEF, Egypt, mentionedfundraising activities as a possible alternative. Healso said that EE projects today tend to avoid thecommercial sector, and that the focus shouldshift to ways to create opportunities for the com-mercial viability of EE projects. Participantsagreed that EE practitioners underestimate theimportance of commerce. For EE to sustainitself, they said, fundraisers need to become morebusiness-oriented. In many countries, partici-pants said that profit connected to EE is still ataboo. Annie Coleman (USA) stated that EE canbe a valuable commercial commodity, but that itisn’t marketed in the way other commodities aremarketed. Coleman said that she believes there isa market sector that is interested in EE, as longas it is commercially viable. “Commercial viabili-ty can play an important role in creating sustain-ability for EE,” said Coleman. Kerdani said tobelieve that airtime on television is a key to com-mercial success for EE, and that the EE fieldshould aim to buy television time in the same

way big entertainment companies do this, inorder to disseminate their projects well.

There were objections to this philosophy.Garth Japhet (South Africa) said that he wasopposed to the idea that EE can compete withcommercial entertainment. “I don’t think thatyou can make a proper EE project, with a prop-erly worked out research design, for the equiva-lent amount of money that you would need tomake just a soap opera drama.” Japhet did saythat EE would be able to move to greater com-mercial viability in terms of cost recovery if theproject became popular for large audiences. Insuch cases, there is commercial viability plus theadded aspect of being socially responsible.

The Use of Celebrities to EncourageCommercial Success

De Rebello, of UNESCO, Paris, suggested thatan increase of celebrities in EE programs mightfoster greater commercial success. She mentionedthe Philippines, where popular singers wererecruited to sing about adolescent reproductivehealth. These songs became commercial hits,maybe even more so because the performerswere, because of their age and image, in a way,members of the target group, so the intendedtarget audience could easily identify with them.Many companies, suggested deRebello, wouldmore readily affiliate with programs that includ-ed celebrities. Kerdani added that project plan-ners should involve TV producers in the plan-ning phases of projects as early as possible.

According to Martine Bouman (TheNetherlands), this presents special problems inthe area of collaboration: “Media professionalsoften act like peacocks, displaying their feathersso that they can both be admired and exertpower and thus stay in charge of the production

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process. On the other hand, EE professionalsoften resemble turtles: solid and trustworthy, butnot quick in assimilating new and challengingdevelopments. Involving media professionals inthe planning phases of your projects has to bemanaged very carefully. The quality of an EEprogram depends largely on the quality of thecollaboration process.”

Research andDevelopment

Fundraisingshould focus onmore than justthe product, saidBouman. Sheagreed withJaphet andwarned that EEis not an ordi-nary commercialcommodity,because the“production

costs” are higher: “What EE professionals need isa research and development department or posi-tion. We try to convince sponsors that EE isvaluable and profitable, but the best we can pro-vide, in reality, is some sort of risk management.Especially, the planning stage of EE does notimply a mere choice for entertainment or educa-tion, but for something that is all new. Every bigcompany has a Research and Developmentdepartment that spends a lot of money on try-outs, but there is no one who can give us ‘try-out’ money. We always have to prove our best inthe first shot. If we would have more time andbudget to experiment,” Bouman said, “we couldovercome the intrinsic dilemmas we face whenwe develop EE products.”

Fischer again emphasized the importance ofownership for sponsors: “From a venture capitalpoint of view, an investor is putting his moneyforward, and he likes to buy something.”Experiments do not have to be taboo, he said, aslong as it is clear what the return on that particu-lar investment will be. Fischer suggested creatingan entity of which the investor can be a share-holder. “They like to buy something and say:‘This building is partially mine.’ That’s the feel-ing you should sell.”

EE Awards

Pedro Suarez Vertiz (Peru) suggested that EEproducts should be promoted on a much largerscale, using marketing techniques such as thoseemployed by the pop music industry: “In artssuch as painting, sculpture, dance, and literature,it’s really hard to think of commercial products,at first. EE products are not commercial either,at first glance.” Vertiz said that the quality of anartist is something that we know from the maga-zines reviewing the work, and from the awardsthe artist receives. When the artist becomes acelebrity, Vertiz said, “it’s an honor for the spon-sors to sponsor that artist.” He then suggestedstarting a campaign to recognize high qualityEE-products. He cited the Latin GrammyAwards as an example of how to do this: EmilioEstefan helped to create the Latin GrammyAwards to promote Latin artists, and the LatinGrammy’s now are very important for the artist’ssuccess. “We all know it’s a show,” Vertiz said,“but it works: people recognize the productbecause it received an important award.” He cau-tioned that commercializing EE might destroythe essence of the EE products, but if awardswere given, then sponsors might be more likelyto become involved with the EE projects.

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