The main focus over the last few weeks has been on securing financial support in order to initiate village confirmation and installation of the digesters. This has been very challenging due to the technical nature of the project itself and the fact that it is overseas.
We have currently pursued five main avenues for funding:
1) UNSW - Through the Business Faculty and the Student Union (ARC)
2) Corporates in Australia - e.g. BP, Caltex, Unilever
3) Corporates in Sri Lanka - e.g. John Keells Holdings, Dialog G.S.M.
4) Aid Organisations and Foundations - e.g. UN Orgs, Oxfam, The Red Cross.
5) The Sri Lankan Business -Chairty Community - e.g. Lak Saviya, OzLanka
All these avenues have been pursued to some extent but as a team we need to put a lot more effort into spreading the word about our project and generating enthusiasm that could fuel potential sponsorship. This is a vital element that we need to focus on as the entire project's progression.
Our meeting with Jane Westbrook and Prof. Chris Adam of the Australian School of Business (UNSW) left Leesa and myself rather disappointed. The outcome being that the University did not have financial allocations for such projects and had liability + risk concerns as they had not encountered a student initiative of this nature before. They advised us to pursue registration with the student union and gave us some assurance that they would assist informally with the sponsorship process.
We had admittedly placed a lot of reliance on the Australian School of Business (UNSW) providing us some financial support. We are still hopeful that the student union registration (ARC) will give us access to some grant funds that can fuel the start of the project. Despite this setback, I personally feel that a stronger, direct effort to directly contact people through all the listed avenues will bear some fruit, even if a delay in project commencement seems inevitable.
We have currently pursued five main avenues for funding:
1) UNSW - Through the Business Faculty and the Student Union (ARC)
2) Corporates in Australia - e.g. BP, Caltex, Unilever
3) Corporates in Sri Lanka - e.g. John Keells Holdings, Dialog G.S.M.
4) Aid Organisations and Foundations - e.g. UN Orgs, Oxfam, The Red Cross.
5) The Sri Lankan Business -Chairty Community - e.g. Lak Saviya, OzLanka
All these avenues have been pursued to some extent but as a team we need to put a lot more effort into spreading the word about our project and generating enthusiasm that could fuel potential sponsorship. This is a vital element that we need to focus on as the entire project's progression.
Our meeting with Jane Westbrook and Prof. Chris Adam of the Australian School of Business (UNSW) left Leesa and myself rather disappointed. The outcome being that the University did not have financial allocations for such projects and had liability + risk concerns as they had not encountered a student initiative of this nature before. They advised us to pursue registration with the student union and gave us some assurance that they would assist informally with the sponsorship process.
We had admittedly placed a lot of reliance on the Australian School of Business (UNSW) providing us some financial support. We are still hopeful that the student union registration (ARC) will give us access to some grant funds that can fuel the start of the project. Despite this setback, I personally feel that a stronger, direct effort to directly contact people through all the listed avenues will bear some fruit, even if a delay in project commencement seems inevitable.
I am personally looking into funding by the Sri Lankan Community in Australia and Sri Lankan Corporates. Mr. Ben Roche, formerly part of the Faculty of the Built Environment Outreach Programme , was able to give us some useful advise with regard to direction and some useful not-for profit foundations for us to approach.
Here's hoping the team's efforts will be rewarded soon.
Shanil
No comments:
Post a Comment