14 Apr #InspiringFundraising: Meet Usha Menon
We are excited to invite you to join us for #InspiringFundraising – a new series of deep-dive interviews with inspirational fundraising leaders from around the world – to meet and hear from them about how they got to where they are today.
In our first interview we meet with Singapore based Usha Menon, who has been a driving force for fundraising in the region, including in recent years in China.
For many years Usha has been a key figure at the International Fundraising Conference in the Netherlands as well as former Chair of the Resource Alliance. Today she runs her own consulting agency serving the social good/social impact sector.
Click here to watch the full deep-dive video (30 minutes)
“It is ‘the donor’ who inspires me. That they give to the causes that they want to be part of. That actuality to me is inspirational”
Daryl:
Hi Usha, many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by me for Daryl Upsall International both in writing and by Zoom. We have known each other as friends and colleagues for over 25 years, but please introduce yourself.
Usha:
I am based in Singapore and am a trusted advisor to world-shaping organisations in the areas of governance, leadership and fundraising with over 33 years of experience the nonprofit sector. I founded Usha Menon Management Consultancy (Asia) to help me translate my passion for a strong, well governed and effective for-impact sector in Asia and beyond.
Daryl:
When and how did your career start in the nonprofit sector? Please tell us more about those early years?
Usha:
In fact, I started, like so many people in our sector as a volunteer, firstly at Community Chest which led to me then being employed by them and in no time, I was being headhunted by Habitat for Humanity as Regional Director for the Asia Pacific Region and asked to set up their Singapore office and also manage their operations in 26 countries in the region.
There is an article in the media that tells the full story for your readers here if they are interested.
Daryl:
What was the biggest challenge you faced when you began working in the sector and started with fundraising? Was Singapore civil society and fundraising very well developed when you started out?
Usha:
Back in the 80s much of the fundraising across most of Asia meant ‘aid’ from ‘developed’ countries and Grant writing was the main methodology. Specific to Singapore – it was already one of the Asian Tigers in the 1980s (along with Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan). Hence local fundraising was the norm -however very dependent on ‘special events’ like golf, galas and A-thons.
My foray into fundraising was through regular giving/payroll giving methodology which was the main-stay of the United Way fundraising which the Community Chest of Singapore was then a member of.
While the payroll-giving methodology was well developed in the USA through the United Way system, and there were resources available on the ‘how to’ – the biggest challenge was adapting the procedures to meet local employee sensibilities and corporate cultures.
Daryl:
Who and what causes inspired you in those early years? Did you have a mentor or someone you turned to for support and advice in those days?
Usha:
Strategic and systematic fundraising was new to the market and hence everyone around were ‘feeling their way through’ – the staff, Board and volunteers of the various charities. Which also meant that I had to hone my own skills by watching various decision maker’s behaviours and donor reactions – to figure out what could work and how to make it work.
The lack of local resources also made me look beyond to try and learn and adapt to my local needs.
Daryl:
Is there one piece of advice you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career in the sector?
Usha:
I wish someone had told me how much ‘fun’ fundraising is – where you get to give individuals and decision makers a chance to make a difference in the lives of the people, policies and planet. I sort of had to figure it out myself. Having done so, 33 years into it, I still wakeup excited by this possibility.
Daryl:
Who or what inspires you in your work today, and why?
Usha:
It is not one specific name –it really is ‘the donor’ who inspires me.
That despite receiving many mails, emails, calls, posts – an individual takes time and effort to read your letter, email, post, take the call of appeal, decide to join the effort, make the decision on the amount and the method, then make the effort to fill in all the details for the donation payment (whatever the method- cash, cheque, digital, credit card etc) … all this just because you reached out and they believe in you.
How touching and inspiring it that! To think each day millions of such individuals are somewhere on this planet taking all these steps in response to the causes that they want to be part of. That actuality to me is inspirational.
Daryl:
I think when I first met you in the early 1990s at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) in Holland you were working for the Singapore Community Chest, before moving on to Habitat for Humanity International Asia Pacific.
The IFC and the Resource Alliance has been a big part of your career, including Chairing the Resource Alliance Board 2004-2007.
These days you describe yourself as “Shaping the world through social purpose organisations in Asia and beyond” and Usha Menon Management Consultancy working with nonprofit and social purpose organisations in Asia to strengthen skills, abilities, processes and resources.
Usha:
Indeed, what I need to offer to organisations these days is certainly far more than simply fundraising advice. Our services today include those described below.
Daryl:
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and respond to these questions.
Click here to watch the full deep-dive video (30 minutes)