To get you started here are some questions we have already been asked:
How would you describe your business model?
We think this sums us up: netroots
n. A grassroots movement that uses the Internet to communicate, organize, and raise money: http://www.wordspy.com/words/netroots.asp
What is Childs i Foundation’s admission policy?
Our admission policy is very simple:
Firstly, will the child in question suffer if we do not act and take the child into our care? Secondly, is it in the best interest of the child to be taken into our care?
Child’s i Foundation will only take children into their care if there is no other option and no family member able to look after the child. Every child belongs in their loving and caring family and Child’s i Foundation will never take a child away from the family.
Childs i Foundation’s admission policy is governed by State legislation and can only accept children that have been brought to the Home by either the Ugandan social services or the police.
How will you protect the rights of the children Child’s i cares for?
Our adviser in Uganda Norah Owaraga recently posted a poignant message sent to her by her friend on our Facebook group wall.
Norah: “A dear friend had this to say when they read that I was part of the Child’s i core team as an advisor:”
Friend: “I guess this needs my congratulations. Herewith, warmly and heartily! I hope you will never stop surprising me!”
Friend: “I often have double feelings with this type of projects. On the one hand these children need and deserve our particular attention, on the other hand there is always this element of charity involved. Charity is fine, as long as it does not overrule the mere fact that these projects deal with rights, children’s rights and children’s dignity. I’m sure you agree with this and I trust that you are the guardian for this in the team.”
Norah: It is my hope that it is our collective (the core team, supporters and all members) responsibility to be the guardians of the rights of all children in general and those for whom we will have the gift of their presence in the Child’s i home and our individual homes …
We are privileged to have Norah on our team as our adviser in Uganda and from the very outset of this project we have been working with Mark Williams Thomas, a child protection expert to safeguard the rights of our children.
The relationship between the website and the rights of a child needs careful and delicate handling to ensure the interactivity of the project is not too intrusive for our children, staff or volunteers. In our Child Protection Policy we have clear protocols about key issues such as confidentiality and strict editorial guidelines on what we can and cannot put up on our website.
In terms of content of the films the main thrust of the videos footage we create will be the running of the Home, the volunteers and the progress on the projects so supporters can see where their money is going and who is helping collectively.
Child’s i fully accept that it is not just the core teams responsibility but all the volunteers, supporters indeed it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of the child is always paramount.
What does the ‘i’ stand for in Child’s i Foundation?
The ‘i’ stands for ‘interactive’.
We want supporters to interact with the charity and are really keen for us to have a dialogue, a two-way conversation. The key to the success of this charity is people actually interacting and collaborating together to work towards a goal of building a babies home in Uganda. We want supporters to give time, love, money, their thoughts and suggestions on the website, helping us with our to do list and in return we promise to keep supporters updated every step of the way with blog posts, videos and photos.
What is your online marketing strategy?
The early days … our digital strategist, Kirsty Stephenson spoke to Howard Lake of Fundraising.co.uk. Kirsty explains how the new charity is focusing on social media (web 2.0) to secure and develop supporters.
To clarify, what is web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is an overused term but it helps gets our message across to those people “in the know”. If you don’t know then there is no better place to begin than youtube and wikipedia.
The long and short of it is, web 2.0 has given us the tools that encourage and allow collaboration on the web. Blogs, video and photo sharing, twittering and commenting all enable our charity to become connected with the world. It means you can talk to us, we can talk to you, we can all talk to each other, we become a community and we make this promise a reality.
Is web 2.0 the same as “open source”?
It’s not exactly the same thing but the sentiment is similar. Again wikipedia can help with the definition of open source. But for our charity, by using open source software wherever and whenever possible, it means we use only a minimum amount of the money raised by our community on our online marketing and communication tools.
For example, we have built our website using WordPress.com and our mailing database uses Google Docs.
Sometimes this might mean we are restricted by the tools and will need bespoke development for fabulous new ideas. If you would like to volunteer any of your design and/or development skills, please do get in touch.
email: design@childsifoundation.org
Any tools or applications you do develop for our charity can of course be shared with others.
