Building for the future: Islamic Relief’s Annual Fundraising Forum

In her second blog for Islamic Relief, Hiba Ben Abdennabi, media and communication officer at Islamic Relief Albania, recounts her experience attending Islamic Relief’s Annual Fundraising Forum for the first time.

A few weeks ago, Islamic Relief Albania’s fundraising and media team received an invitation to attend the Annual Fundraising Forum in Birmingham, UK. As our department is brand new and fresh out of the oven, this invitation came at the perfect time.

We were in the midst of preparations to begin local fundraising in Albania. Until now, our office has received funds from other parts of Islamic Relief, but we are now in a position to start fundraising within Albania too. Our goal is to engage individuals, businesses and others in providing and collecting voluntary financial contributions to build projects that meet our community’s needs.

The forum enabled us to explore the nooks and crannies of the fundraising ship as we set sail into this massive ocean ourselves. We hurriedly applied for visas and, along with our peers at Islamic Relief Kosova, packed our bags and headed straight to the airport.

As soon as we landed, we were welcomed by the warm sunlight of Birmingham. We were told about the sun’s shy nature in these lands, so being greeted by its loving rays felt like a good sign. A few minutes later, we found our friendly guide, hopped into a van and headed for our accommodation.

In front of a cozy Airbnb, we met the rest of the attendees who had just arrived as well. Everyone was enthusiastic and full of energy – 2 must-have qualities in any good fundraiser. We gradually came to link the names we’d seen on email lists with the faces that we were seeing in real life. Having established that sense of familiarity helped us feel at ease with one another and connect more quickly. And that set the tone for the rest of our stay.

Building strong pillars

During the next few days, we attended different seminars, workshops, trainings and other activities at the Humanitarian Academy for Development (HAD) that built strong pillars for us to carry on our fundraising work.  Every piece of information, advice – and even joke – played a role in contributing to our local fundraising action plan.

The forum’s main goal was to elevate and improve the act of fundraising in our respective countries, and that was made possible by hearing from each other, sharing ideas, adopting and adapting the best practices, as well as learning how to navigate negative experiences and avoid falling into similar traps. We then proceeded to create our strategy plan for the next 3 years, with the guidance of professional mentors, who gave us valuable input and advice every step of the way.

But that wasn’t all! We were able to hear from and ask questions to high-level decision-makers from various departments, such as: Fundraising, Media, Product Development, Programmes and Network and Resource Development. We also had the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations, and the mere fact that our ideas, suggestions and concerns were noted made the forum far more impactful and the feedback process less time-consuming.

In addition to that, observing the involvement of different departments in fundraising shed light on the interconnected nature of fundraising. As it is at the core of humanitarian service – the ability to engage communities to take action and help one another. No matter what department we belonged to, we all worked toward the same goal, and thus, we all shared the reward.

Something bigger than ourselves

The forum’s programme was packed… and in a good way! We had the chance to visit the headquarters, which in itself was a one-of-a-kind experience. At the reception, we were greeted by the beautiful ayah (verse): “Whoever saves a life, it is as if he saved all humankind”. We followed our guide going through the hallways and with every step we took we learned more about the organisation’s history.

Many of the rooms were named after Islamic Relief employees who gave their lives for the cause. Realising that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves was the dominating sensation throughout the tour.

As our tour was about to end, we had a final stop at the room where “The map” hung. The map was the motivation behind Islamic Relief founder Dr.Hani Al-Banna and his staff’s relentless work to make Islamic Relief what it is today: A faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency working to save and transform lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.

With inspired hearts, we parted ways after 4 days of sincere effort to honour the custodianship we are trusted with by providing services that reflect our excellence, share our compassion and contribute to repairing social justice wherever we are.

Trainings and learning experiences like the Annual Fundraising Forum empower Islamic Relief staff to support the communities we serve even more effectively. Please help us to continue this vital work. Donate now.

Hiba is one of our regular bloggers. Each month, she’ll share stories from her work at Islamic Relief.