An ITSN fundraising workshop

From our Mission Statement: ITSN pursues its goals by working to increase the Capacity of individual Member Organisations, thereby strengthening the Tibet movement as a whole. ITSN therefore regards building the capacity of the Tibet movement as a high priority. ITSN works towards this goal by providing Training in a variety of skills, including Fundraising, and making a small number of capacity building grants available (see below).

Tibet Groups, with a few notable exceptions, are generally badly resourced, with many Tibet Groups caught in a small organisation “trap” (in which the people involved have neither the time nor the money to invest in strategies that would help their organisation to grow). Furthermore, ITSN members have conducted "Situation Analysis" exercises, which identified lack of skills and expertise as a major weakness of the Tibet movement.

Capacity Building is therefore a priority for ITSN for the following reasons:

• ITSN wishes to see stronger organisations in the movement, with the skilled personnel and financial resources to take action for Tibet on a sustained basis.
• ITSN wishes to help organisations generate the resources to employ staff: either retaining experienced individuals within the movement by providing a salary to those who have previously volunteered, or by recruiting professional staff from outside the movement, thereby adding to the skills available to the movement.
• ITSN believes that organisations with staff are generally better able to engage in strategic planning, since staff members have more time to immerse themselves in the issue and more time to carry out planning exercises.
• ITSN believes that organisations with staff are generally able to give more time to fundraising, thereby creating organisations that are more sustainable in the long term.
• ITSN believes that organisations with skilled personnel are better able to fulfil the movement’s strategic priority campaigns, and provide leadership.

In 2007, ITSN launched a Small Grant Scheme by which we offer a small number of grants, of up to $3,000 each, to Member organisations for capacity building projects; specifically for Training and Fundraising.

ITSN Member organisations should visit the ITSN worksite, or contact itsn@tibetnetwork.org for help.