Madeira Consorcio

87 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 11.3.2107

Support for the Foundation 

As mentioned before, the Foundation relies on private funding only. The stock market is providing less income than before but another point is that the judge in charge of the Court of Families and Minors is of the opinion that children should be given to foster parents,

The Foundation has been very quiet about their work so far, but times change and more funds are needed so the Foundation needs to show more face. From a website and handouts via Diario ads up to TV interviews , everything is possible. The management team needs to decide how far they want to go with public exposure.

The Foundation is fully compliant with the law. Social Security made a full check up.   Transparency and compliance are the essential for fundraising efforts.

D & S have a good example of how it should be done with http://www.refugio.pt/ (nice website – clean, simple and welcoming), a well-known entity in the Algarve for just the cases the Foundation is caring for as well (“emergência infantil”).

We shall help the Foundation with marketing efforts, to strengthen the base for ongoing fundraising. D proposed the 0.5% Tax Donation avenue. Private citizens can donate this amount to a charity of their choice, with no cost to themselves, Accounting companies can even set this up as a default option, informing their clients that if they do not say otherwise, the accounting can set up their donation automatically.

Fir this to work, word needs to get out that the Foundation is asking for this help. This can be done be email to all contacts and former alumni. The request for help can also go out via A5 handouts, with an appealing text in (not too complicated) Portuguese, citing the Foundation’s NIF number.
U.prepared a text and showed it to the Team. The Portuguese has to be fixed and the text polished and improved. M will do this with his Team as soon as possible (Tax declarations will be delivered as of April 1^st), then we’ll receive the final text. U will deliver prints , E. & Gr can take the handouts to the cinema in Ponta do Sol, etc.

D suggested that the Foundation tries to set up a list of former students to draw them in for support. They might want to keep in touch with each other as they, after all, all, grew up together.

He also suggested asking former students for an annual donation, it can be small but it would strengthen their sense of belonging. Another way is via estate planning: donors can help by bequeathing houses or funds after their demise.

Special projects can be used to attract donations as well. Esaid that an “institution” (no better word for it yet) can expect support from a community when it offer something to this community, e.g. theatre plays, concerts , Christmas tree lighting on the grounds, etc. (the group was not enthusiastic about Christmas plays, though) .

 Web site upgrade

U has received the access codes to the existing website  and worked  on the background to improve things. She will acquire some photos of children, and S.Z. could provide photos of the home and hopefully the staff, to add them to the website. We also need the WORD originals of the annual report 2016, there is good material in there to fill the pages. (The Foundation has a good team, this should be emphasized as well.)

U will look at a PayPal Donate button (other option: MBNet) to suggest donations. This can be set up with a 10€ minimum as PayPal takes a cut for the payments, albeit on a lower rate for an IPSS.

In our time, with more and more angst ruling the people, it is important to strengthen the ties in the community so that people contact and get to know each other. Fear cannot take hold so much if you know your neighbor and community.

The Bread Project:

E met with G.V. who is interested in the gluten-free-bread as he cannot produce it in his two (or more?) bakeries. E gave him a sample and received a very good feedback.

We discussed the price, D was skeptical if the price is not too high. R.V:  has the experience, he is often educating the clients on nutrition and value and he says that the price is not too high, compared with the bland quality of industrial gluten-free bread, and that he can “sell” the price to his clients.

We also discussed the possible production of the grains on the island. At the moment, they can be bought from Italy (Tuscany) , Austria and the US.

E received some originals , he can have them planted here but the yield will not better, and the cost would be the same (around 6€/kg). Planting them on Madeira would be sustainable, creating work, helping the community… great idea, but is has to be kept for the future.