Humanitarian efforts in Darfur

The scale of the atrocities and humanitarian disaster in Sudan lead most of us to a helpless sense of paralysis. Many of us don't even know where to send our resources to help, much less how to play an active role ourselves.

Gloria White-Hammond, along with her husband Ray Hammond, have been people who have been willing to take risky and costly steps to respond to overwhelming needs. Both are African American doctors educated respectively at Tufts and Harvard medical schools and both years ago left the path of elite medicine to work in inner city Boston. Ray pastors Bethel A.M.E, a vibrant church with an impressive outreach to gangs. Gloria co-pastors the church and works as a pediatrician in a neighborhood clinic.

Starting in 2001, Gloria began traveling to war-torn southern Sudan. She joined efforts to obtain freedom of 10,000 women and children who were enslaved during the two decades long civil war. In 2002 she co-founded My Sister’s Keeper (MSK), a group of women in America who support women of Sudan in their efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities. MSK has developed two grinding mill projects, supports the Akon School for Girls in Gogrial County, and has been a growing voice for ending the genocide in Darfur.

Clearly, the Hammonds are a rare couple with a willingness and strategy to address some daunting issues. But how will their organizations expand to encompass their vision? Like most nonprofits, they needed to raise money for expansion.

SixSeeds stepped in initially as a consultant and identified the need for a more integrated fundraising approach. The Hammonds work as a team and their different initiatives are closely knit (MSK is legally organized under the umbrella of the church). However, their fundraising has grown in an ad hoc fashion where one donor may get three different requests: one from the church, another from the gang outreach program, and a third from MSK. SixSeeds persuaded the Hammonds of the need for one full time professional executive who would coordinate the fundraising efforts of all their initiatives. In addition to our consulting, SixSeeds provided initial funding for the executive search and the first several months salary to get the effort off the ground. The potential in such a role is evidenced by the recent award to MSK of a major grant from one of the largest foundations in the country.

Any businessman is well aware of the axiom, ‘It takes money to make money.’ Yet that simple truth is often left unpracticed when it comes to philanthropy. Both foundations and individuals like to see their money go to programming; very few are willing to fund fundraising. Yet for organizations with compelling causes, programs and leadership already in place, such a canny move can be the way to most powerfully multiply impact. With your favorite organization, consider approaching them with the offer to put money towards building their fundraising capacity. You will soon become one of their most treasured supporters.