Voluntary Contributions

One of the strategies used by development initiatives and projects to become more self-sustainable is to promote voluntary contributions.

Many initiatives benefit from voluntary contributions of money, labor, infrastructure, and so on, which can be provided either by their own beneficiaries or from people who share the project’s ideals and objectives and decide to take part. 

This support helps initiatives get more done with less investment of economic resources and, therefore, makes them less dependent on their sources of funding and more capable of implementing solutions that are comprehensive and relevant to their context. 

People who volunteer can spread their solidarity to more people still, encouraging them to participate. In addition, external volunteers can help an initiative improve its communication with supporters or collaborators and even create new collaborations with other organizations, which is to say that volunteers can function as bridge builders because of their knowledge, language skills, personal relationships, etc.

Some initiatives create incentives to promote volunteer work or contributions by systematizing their project’s messages, objectives and results in order to clearly and transparently convey how everyone can participate, and what kind of impact each contribution could have. Others put together events or campaigns on social media, or partner with schools or companies to organize student or corporate programs to attract volunteers. Still others design participation and co-management dynamics with the communities they work with (such as rotating administrations, participatory diagnoses, etc.), all of which helps them identify and make the most of the resources beneficiaries are willing to share. And in order to maintain collaborations, still others organize ceremonies to thank and recognize the support of voluntary contributors or show their appreciation on their websites and social media.