PHILANTHROPIC ADVISORY SERVICES
Giving money away is easy – as simple as clicking the donate button on any of the thousands of causes vying for your attention – but informed and effective philanthropy can be a bewildering process: If you’re interested in understanding exactly where your money’s going, and want to know it’s making a real difference to the causes that matter most to you, we would love to help.
Amanaska works as an philanthropic advisory service to maximise the impact of every donation and ensure peace of mind for funders be they individuals, companies or private foundations.
Be it a one-off donation or a long term strategic giving program, by introducing you to exceptional not for profit organisations we aim to ensure that every gift is targetted to the right project where it will be used to implement measurable and lasting change.
BESPOKE SHORTLISTS OF PROPOSALS
Our success depends on tailoring our proposals to fit your interests and objectives. Every funder is unique and the first step in a fruitful partnership is for us to listen carefully and build up a solid understanding of what sort of work you wish your money to do.
Some funders have a clear geographical focus in mind, others may be passionate about a particular cause. The starting point might be as simple as understanding what makes you angry about the world or what it is that started you thinking about charitable giving in the first place.
How much you wish to give and over what period of time are important factors to clarify in the longer term but defining what you want your funding to be used to achieve is the cornerstone to any successful strategy.
With a clear understanding of your objectives and a strategy in place we can start putting together a carefully edited shortlist of selected proposals for you to consider.
QUALITY ASSURANCE & DUE DILIGENCE
All proposals are carefully vetted before being brought to a donor for consideration. We investigate each organisation carefully, spend time getting to know their track record, what challenges they are facing and what strategies they have in place to deal with issues should they arise. We also analyse their finances in depth before bringing any proposal to a donor on their behalf, ensuring that any request we recommend is robustly budgeted, realistic in its stated goals and offers value for money for you as a donor.
We identify outstanding NGOs and not for profits from around the world and are constantly adding to our portfolio of innovative and effective international projects.
Field visits in recent years have taken us to Africa, India, the Middle East, Kingston Jamaica, the Thai-Burmese border and the suburbs of Liverpool. We have helped people use their money to do the most extraordinary things, from sending bicycles to Ghana to putting young women through University in Zambia, from growing raspberries in Kosovo to building classrooms in Madagascar.
Please see the gallery of recent projects for examples of just some of the work we have helped others fund to date.
GRANT MANAGEMENT & IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Every grant is carried out under contract, with terms clearly defined so that the grantee understands their obligations before any funds are received.
Once a grantee receives initial funding, we then monitor the progress of the project closely and keep you informed, letting you know exactly what the impact of your donation has been over time.
Regular site visits – even to the most remote locations- are essential to ensure that funds are being used as intended.
In depth progress reports with a concise overview are presented in jargon-free language with statistical analysis alongside personal stories and photographs which bring the work to life. How impact is measured depends entirely in the nature of the work but it is of the utmost importance to us that every donor be fully informed of exactly what their your donation has been used to achieve.
Should any unexpected problems or delays arise we guarantee you will be kept informed and that your permission will be sought before any proposed changes to the project are implemented.
We generally use of biannual reporting structure, with in depth updates for donors at six month intervals but are flexible according to the particular nature of each project. An end of year impact assessment is prepared for each project detailing exactly what has been achieved since the funds were received by the grantee, so that you can see for yourself the tangible results of your generosity over time.
ANONYMOUS GIVING
We would love to help arrange for you to visit any project you choose, to meet the people on the ground whose lives your funding is helping to change. However detailed our reporting, there is no substitute for seeing for yourself the work your have helped fund in action.
Keeping donors in the loop is absolutely vital: The more informed you are about the outcomes of your generosity, the more personally involved you feel with the work being done with your funds, the more you will get out of giving.
However, key to why we started doing what we do is the fact that an increasing number of people want to be fully informed and engaged whilst carrying out their charitable work on an anonymous basis. Studies have shown than the percentage of charitable donations being made anonymously has risen sharply over the past few years, from an average of around five percent to something nearer fifteen. The rise is particularly apparent when it comes to larger donations, with a growing proportion of sizeable gifts being made by people who want no public acknowledgement of any kind and prefer instead to keep their personal details and their altruism private.
Some people choose to give anonymously for religious reasons whilst others may be concerned to keep their charitable work separate from social or family matters but by far the most common reason for choosing to give anonymously is the wish to avoid being deluged by unsolicited requests for further help.
Professional fundraising is a highly competitive industry and the contact details of anyone willing to give is understandably a valuable commodity but in the current climate the old saying that ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ can seem all too true: When a single gift can lead to a constant stream of unwanted emails, letters and telemarketing phone calls from fundraisers pushing for further donations, privacy is becoming an increasingly serious concern.
Whatever your reasons, should you be considering carrying out your charitable activities on an anonymous basis, we will always make it a priority to ensure that your details are not be shared with any third party, including the direct beneficiaries of your funding, unless you expressly wish to hear from them.
As an intermediary between funders and grantees we are able to manage your relations with beneficiaries to whatever degree you choose. We are happy to handle correspondence between donors and recipients either in whole or in part exactly as you wish so that you remain fully informed but in control of who has access to your personal details at all times.