From the 15th to the 18th of February 2018, our Master PMC – Project Management for International Cooperation, Euro-Project Management and Local Development – and Master FRAME – Fundraising Management in the NGOS, Business Administration, Marketing, Communication, Social Media, Campaigns – fellows attended the workshop on Management & Non-Profit Business Administration.
The workshop was held in Rome in our Polo Didattico centre and led by five excellent professionals and lecturers: Filippo Montesi (Head of Evaluation at Human Foundation Onlus), Eugenio La Mesa (Professor at John Cabot University and co-founder and Chairman at Cure Thalassemia), Michele Forbicioni (Chairman at XPARK network), Cristian Gavarini (HQ Finance Officer at INTERSOS), and Stefano Oltolini (Head of Communication and Fundraising at COOPI).
The first day was dedicated to an introduction to “THEORY OF CHANGE: Institutional requirements, strategic planning – building, vision and mission of Nonprofit Organizations”. The students had a first contact with Strategic Planning, Strategic Model, SWOT Analysis and Generation of Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals, learning how this Theory is used in the Nonprofit Sector. The main output of this first lecture was the understanding of the fundamental importance of the Theory of Change to generate a real Social Change.
On the second day, the morning was spent on “PROJECT FINANCING FOR THE SOCIAL START-UP”, exploring the financial supply plan. This workshop focused on how to manage the financial parameters and understand how to design the funding mix for the start-up of a project.
In the afternoon, the lecture was focused on the introduction on how to set up a “STARTUP AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Business Model Canvas as international standard”. Fellows learnt the main issues and risks about startup companies and services and how they can approach entrepreneurial initiatives.
On the third day, the workshop about “FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT” was dedicated to exploring the main phases of building an income statement, as well as the main parameters and factors of a project’s sustainability: break-even point, cash flow, net present value. In the afternoon, the lecturer introduced the differences between restricted and unrestricted funds, and the day finished with a Business Analysis group exercise.
The fourth day was dedicated to the workshop on: “TRUST FUNDRAISING. Working with Grant-Making Foundations”. The first part of the day was focused on going through the terminology about what is a Trust and Grant-Making Foundation, as well as the presentation of the current scenario of the major Foundations in the world. In the afternoon, a laboratory about how to work with Foundations was launched, during which the students learnt the 5 phases of the Foundation Partnership Cycle Management in a practical case of study.
At the end of the workshops, student were satisfied, particularly happy about the opportunity they had to practically apply the tools and standards learnt during the lectures.
The objective achieved in this series of workshops was to give students an overall understanding on how to create a project using a logical framework (through Theory of Change or Canvas), as well as which tools are needed to turn a project into reality (through Business plan).
