Asociación Ayuda a un Niño (Help a Child Association)
The Asociación Ayuda a un Niño has succeeded in providing integrated services for street boys and girls without help from the state or from international foundations. Its fundraising practices should be a model for other programs, and its services are both creative and of high quality. Today it houses, feeds, and educates some 80 children in 10 houses throughout Venezuela.
In 1985, Irma Schoffel, a Mexican woman living in Caracas, began to advise and fundraise for other programs that serve street kids. She had great success with businesses and with individuals, but she felt ethically compromised: often Mrs. Schoffel would ask money for a particular purpose, but the program would use it to another end. From that moment, she decided not to make promises for other people: she would create her own organization.
Mrs. Schoffel is a businesswoman. She understands what businesses and rich people expect from their donations: transparency, accountability, and fulfilled promises. Thus, she keeps up constant relations with donors, from annual reports to photos of the goods bought with their donations. The donors are invited to every event the Asociación holds, and Mrs. Schoffel calls them regularly. She also understands that businesses see their donations as investments in good publicity, so she puts their names in neon (figuratively). During the annual charity golf tournament, donors receive loads of attention and publicity.
Here is one very successful fundraising technique: at the annual meeting, there was a huge jigsaw puzzle. For US$100, anyone could buy a piece and put it into the puzzle, creating the image of a bus. By the end of the meeting, the puzzle was complete and the Asociación had enough money to buy a bus. The next year, they did the same thing with a house, and at the end of the meeting, there was enough money to build a shelter for girls. After the house was complete, each donor received a photo of his name inscribed in the wall of the house, to prove that the money went where it was supposed to go. “This is how we construct a culture of philanthropy,” says Mrs. de Schoffel.
The secret to asking for money, says the Asociación, is to prove results and to maintain constant contact.
Emphasizing the quality of its fundraising apparatus should not blind us to the services the program provides. Though the Asociación works on the street, most kids come because their friends recommend the place. Outreach workers don’t try to seduce the kids into the house; on the contrary, they tell kids that they can’t come in. Through reverse psychology, the kids want to come in even more, and they learn to appreciate the house’s services. When the child finally does come to the house -- either for medical services or to live -- he is treated with great affection.
The Asociación understands that there will be problems: “If we want angels, then we’re not working with the right population!” By not having too high or too low expectations, the Asociación limits the dynamics of guilt that threaten many programs.
Though the program serves many drug addicts, they receive the same attention as all other clients. The Asociación has learned that caring, when combined with healthy challenges, does more to detox a kid than a formal rehab program.
The medical, dental, and psychiatric services provided for the kids are also available to the those who live near the central house. This service maintains good relations with the community and does much to prevent homelessness.
Asociación Ayuda a un Niño
Irma de Schoffel, Presidenta
Calle Sur 13, Esquina Carabobo a Bomboná #179
San Aguntín del Norte
Caracas
Venezuela
tel: 212 577 2232 o 574 8843
fax: 993 2163
asoayudanino@gmail.com
http://www.asoayudanino.org/
