BACK TO DESIORGS.US

DESIORGS.US 2005 LAUNCH FORUM
Sharing Resources & Best Practices

Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005
Columbia Journalism School


E-mail: desiorgs[at]gmail.com

- AGENDA -

8:30-9 am: Registration & Networking Breakfast

9-9:15: Welcome & Our Mission
Sreenath Sreenivasan, Columbia
Hemant Wadhwani
, United Community Development Corporation

9:15-10:40: Panel I - Fundraising Best Practices
Learn from peers about what to do and not do to improve your fundraising
- Presentation: Poonam Prasad, leading fundraising consultant (see bio below) - "More Donors, More Dollars: Ramping Up Your Individual Giving Program"

- Panel of reps from desi organizations that have been successful in their fundraising efforts.
John Albert, TASC, The After-School Corporation; Azad Oommen, American India Foundation; Purvi Shah, Sakhi for South Asian Women; MODERATOR: Udai Tambar, Indian American Center for Political Awareness

10:40-10:50: Break

10:50-12:05 pm: Panel II -
PR & Marketing Best Practices
Learn from peers about what to do and not do to improve your marketing and PR efforts
- Panel of reps from desi organizations that have been successful in their PR & marketing efforts.
Asif Alam, Association of Pakistani Professionals; Tim Dutta, MatchPia.org; Rajan Shah, marketing consultant; Harjiv Singh, TiE-Tristate; MODERATOR: Deepti Hajela, Associated Press

12:05-1:15 pm: Wrap-up, next steps, etc.

Facilitators: Sujay Parikh, SABANY; Theresa Thanjan, filmmaker & social worker; Kishore Seunarine, Arya Spirtitual Center

1:15-2 pm: Working Lunch & Networking Mixer

o o o o o

Bio of Poonam Prasad
President
PRASAD CONSULTING & RESEARCH
Major Donor & Special Event Strategies, Board Development, Advancement Research, Training, Audits & Publications

Poonam Prasad is President of Prasad Consulting & Research. Since the late 80s, this New York City-based consulting firm has provided donor cultivation and special event strategy, training, board development, audits, advancement research and publications services to almost 100 nonprofits across the country and around the world.  Her clients have included the American Red Cross in Greater New York, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Weill-Cornell Medical College, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Girls Scouts of the USA, Harvard Medical School, Oxfam America, Human Rights Campaign, and the International Rescue Committee. 

Poonam is a faculty member at the New York University Center for Philanthropy & Fund Raising and has been a guest speaker at NYU's Fundraising for the Performing Arts classes, Brooklyn College's Graduate Programs in Arts Management, and at seminars and conferences organized by many professional organizations and nonprofits such as the American Association of Museums, the American Red Cross, the Association of Development Officers, the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Council for Resource Development, the Council for Support and Advancement of Education, the International Rescue Committee, the Metropolitan Area Independent Schools Development Association, Women in Development-New York, etc. 

Among her much requested training programs is a presentation on raising money from people of South Asian origin.  

Poonam is Treasurer of the Board of the Greater NY Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals, and Chairperson of Women in Development-New York's 25th Anniversary and Nominating Committees.  She is also a member of the Foundation Center Consultants Network and an Advisory Board Member of the Sudar Foundation, which assists disadvantaged young women in South India. She is a former International Board member of the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement and of the Akanksha Foundation which provides educational opportunities to inner-city youth in Mumbai and Pune. 

She has also served several other nonprofit organizations as a Board Member, both in the US and overseas. In 1987, the US Ambassador to Jamaica honored her with an award for “outstanding service, unrelenting dedication and resourcefulness” as President of the American Women's Group of Jamaica. That year, the organization raised more funds for charity than before and established a scholarship endowment fund.  In 1995, she was honored by the Rotary Club of Calcutta, India for leadership efforts in providing free cataract surgery to villagers in eastern India.   

o o o o o

GROUPS THAT ATTENDED DEC. 10, 2005, LAUNCH FORUM

1        Adhunika Foundation     Adhunika
2        Angelwish
3        Arya Spiritual Center   ASC
4        Association Of Indians in America - NJ Chapter          AIA-NJ
5        Association of Pakistani Professionals          AOPP
6        Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan          Bhavan
7        Chowrangi Magazine
8        Desis Rising Up & Moving        DRUM
9        Fabindia
10       Friends of  Seva Mandir  USA    FSM-USA
11       ibtida
12       Impak
13       Indo-American Arts Council Inc          IAAC
14       John Bissell Scholars Fund
15       Legal Access Network for South Asians   LANSA
16       Lend-A-Hand India
17       Matchpia.org    Matchpia
18       Media for Global Development    MediaGlobal
19       Network of Indian Professionals         NetIP
20       News 12 Networks
21       Pratham NJ
22       Psychosocial Assistance Without Borders         PAWB
23       Relief Shelter Drive    RSD
24       Sakhi for South Asian Women     Sakhi
25       Share and Care Foundation       SCF
26       Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund          SALDEF
27       South  Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters   SAMAR
28       South Asian American Films & Arts Association   SAAFA
29       South Asian Journalists Association     SAJA
30       South Asian Women s Leadership Forum    SAWLF
31       South Asian Youth Action        SAYA!
32       Teyaari.com     Teyaari
33       The Citizens Foundation USA     TCF  USA
34       The Indus Entrepreneurs Conference East 2006    TiECON East 2006
35       TiE Tristate
36       The South Asian Health Project          The Health Project
37       United Community Development Corporation of NJ   Inc.   United CDC-NJ
38       Youth Outreach  Developments in Literacy        YOUR DIL

LOCATION:  Columbia Journalism School
Pulitzer World Room, third floor
116th Street & Broadway, NYC 10027
#1 train to 116th St/Columbia University stop
By cab: "116th St & Broadway, Columbia"
Walk around to the Journalism School entrance (Jefferson statue in front)

ATTIRE: Business casual or desi casual.

WEATHER: Current forecast - Partly Sunny (see latest)

Questions: desiorgs@gmail.com

SATURDAY PLAN: As for Saturday, in addition to hearing from Poonam
Prasad, the leading fundraising consulant of South Asian origin, we are
going to learn from each other through two specific panels and facilitated
brainstorming sessions. We will send you home with concrete ideas for
fundraising, PR and marketing and plans for three technology platforms: a
website that has the most pertinent info for the widest set of groups; a
shared calendar that dozens of groups can use for PLANNING; and a
low-volume listserv that connects us all. Other ideas might evolve as
well.

NO DESI STRETCH TIME: In order to maximize the time we have together,
please note that breakfast will be served at 8:30 and the program will
begin promptly at 9 a.m. - no "desi stretch time," please. We will be done
by 2 p.m., after lunch (see other logistics below).

We are all excited about this (despite the approaching Northeast snow
storm), but look forward to seeing most of you on Saturday and
reporting back to the rest of you early next week.


Pulitzer World Room, third floor
116th Street & Broadway, NYC 10027
#1 train to 116th St/Columbia University stop
By cab: "116th St & Broadway, Columbia"
Walk around to the Journalism School entrance (Jefferson statue in front)

ATTIRE: Business casual or desi casual.


WEATHER: Current forecast - Partly Sunny (see latest)

PARKING: See list of garages, the one on 114th & Amsterdam is closest.

To register your interest (even if you cannot make the event), please fill in the web-based form at
http://fs19.formsite.com/desiorgs/launch/