Challenging your problem-solving skills to accept failure
“Little” Makes A Big Difference In Wording To Ask For Donations
So. these past two weeks we got a project where we had to raise funds for Edhi Foundation by Amal Academy, in which we were implementing our problem-solving skills in a real word experience. So in the first week, our circle decided to first approach people individually for donations, and as a result, we were all rejected mostly. By sharing on social media nobody answered our texts or they were being rude for no reason. No doubt it was really depressing and frustrating to straight-up getting rejected but this taught us how to be patient in the most crucial times and how we can never give up.
The story of Edhi Sahab really touched my heart; how he used to collect funds on roads and created Edhi Foundation. How his belief in humanity saved many lives.
This challenge helped me to realize that accepting failure is not necessarily a bad thing, you can actually learn a lot from it. This the motivation that kept me from not giving up and I approached my friends and family and also organizations but sadly didn't get positive responses from them. Also, came across some ex-Amal fellows whose response was not positive but it was in a very decent manner. It felt really nice to get such a response,
Well then in this week I managed to raise funds through my relatives and family and I felt really proud that I could make some difference with the help of other people in some lives.
Now below are the reflections of my fellow mates who were a great help in our circle fundraising
Asadullah Shaikh:
- Collecting funds for a social cause is not always an easy job unless you work for an NGO. As soon as we're given this task, I posted a story on Instagram and Facebook for donations. The response was not so overwhelming, many people just saw the story and a couple of them reacted but didn’t donate, particularly due to lack of trust and verification.
2. Since the universities were closed due to the pandemic and Ramazan so we were not able to collect them in a group. We individually posted stories on social media accounts and some of my circle mates were able to collect for this noble cause. We also collaborated with circle 4 so it was an online collective effort of fundraising. Collecting funds in a group could have made a difference if the universities were open.
3. The challenges we faced were that this was obvious that we were not able to collect the funds physically due to the pandemic and the government has once again imposed a lockdown so we couldn’t get out of our homes more often. Secondly, we tried to reach & contact organizations and NGOs but they responded that they are short of funds themselves for the iftar drives.
We overcame these challenges by the word of mouth to our very close friends and relatives. I reached out to my university friends and cousins and convinced them to donate as much as they like to so I was able to collect two thousand rupees collectively.
4. This experience helped me to understand how Abdul Sattar Edhi sb must have felt devastated when he was collecting funds for his organization for the sake of poor people who could not give anything in return except prayers. I thought Pakistani people are the most generous but little did I know that we need to show a lot of effort to be able to collect them. You need a strong convincing power which was lacking in us. This experience helped us to understand that success is never guaranteed and to get the results, one needs to embrace change and step out of the comfort zone.
Ikhlaque Ahmed:
I am not satisfied with my experience of collecting funds due to several reasons.
1. I was already in touch with some donors regarding some other social cause. And, all the donors on my list had contributed to that cause. So I could not ask them again for this thing.
2. I tried to reach out to new people for this cause but some said they already have donated while others say, they will donate in the future.
Considering the pandemic and lockdown, I reached out to people individually and most of the time getting in touch with them online.
People were not willing to donate. And most of them said, “We will donate ourselves on our own schedule. Thanks for your concern.” After this challenging task, I get to realize and appreciate the efforts of all these humanitarian people like Abdul Sattar Edhi, Mother Teresa, and so on. I salute all the humanitarians for their patience, passion, and struggle.
This experience made me realize that I need to work really hard next time and accept this failure and learn from it.
Syeda Anum Fatima:
a. It was my first time to ask for funds at a social level so the experience was quite different. Having the issue of covid-19 people were doubtful for donating at my end.
b. We collected funds individually which was a bit difficult comparatively if we could do it in a group.
c. Challenges were only to ask people in these times of lockdown situation for amounts. It’s just they responded politely whether the answer is yes or no.
d. It helped me a lot not just accepting failure but gaining more confidence and a sense of helping as increased immensely which I can feel in myself.
Mohammad Salman Sheikh:
It was totally a new experience for me. I have collected funds before for any social cause. This activity has developed a sense of responsibility that the people in our society need our help and we should try our best to help them.
I collected the funds individually and I think it is different in a way that you rely on yourself and get out of your comfort zone.
The challenges I faced were that the people are not taking much interest as this activity was done during the month of Ramadan people already donated their money and many people have to support people in their close circles.
Since it was a two-week-long project. From the first week, I started asking people in my circle but didn’t get any funds but I kept on trying till the deadline. The failure from having no donation from the week didn’t make me lose hope at all.
Khadija Naz:
It was my first experience collecting funds for a social cause. It was quite tough for me to collect funds as I never did it before. But after collecting funds I feel more content and satisfied.
We collected individually as well as in groups.
I posted Edhi fund pictures on my status but no one replied so I contacted them. Most people were not showing interest to give funds. We have faced little trouble in convincing people that their money will be invested in the right cause. Furthermore, when I have asked few people to donate so they have issues in showing the amount of money as well as some people already donate their respective in their relatives and neighborhood so they refuse to donate
This was a learning experience, We have failed when people didn’t respond to us but we never gave up and tried again and again via different platforms like contacting friends, family, and through Whatsapp status. As most people didn’t reply to messages so somehow I feel disappointed but then I realized that you have to be able to accept failure to get better.
Abdullah Bin Afzal:
It was a good experience, though challenging but make me realize the obstacles and difficulties which Edhi Sahab faced while collecting donations in the initial days.
b)We collected the funds by circle’s mutual planning via digital campaigning and reaching to a couple of organizations and then gathered the whole amount collected, together.
c)Initially when I posted on social media i.e.instagram and Facebook for donations, not even a single person responded but yesterday when I told 2 of my friends whom I luckily met physically, about this donation campaign, I finally got a positive response and they happily donated for this cause.
d)As I was campaigning with a passion that it is all for a noble cause that is “humanity”.It keeps me motivated and passionate even after the most disappointing results of digital campaigns. I accepted those initial results with a whole heart while learning from that experience which ultimately helped me. I have posted the snapshot for the digital campaign.
This was a great lesson for all of us taught by Edhi Sahab that whatever happens we should keep calm and be positive always and help whoever is in need. May his soul rest in peace.
