Project assistance completion report : voluntary sector development project

The project was revised in 1987; major new purposes were to establish an Emergency Relief Fund and make CVSS/UWJ a financially viable, fundraising entity. A final external evaluation noted the project's strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, CVSS/UWJ: (1) developed an extensive network of volunteers to conduct most professional and fundraising activites; (2) created a board of prestigious, active, and mutually cooperative members; (3) generated a positive public view of the United Way in Jamaica; (4) made substantial subgrants of A.I.D. funds to PVO's for SP's benefiting the poor and monitored these SP's extensively; and (5) improved strategic planning. in the area of fund-raising. Despite Hurricane Hugo, CVSS/UWJ's 1988 fundraising campaign created a new record, enlisting J$8.2 million against a target of J$4.5 million. Local fundraising grew impressively in terms of number of givers and average unit contributions. Collections are expected to total 90% of pledges. As of 12/89, pledges for the 1989 campaign had reached 101% of target. CVSS/UWJ was also successful in handling two hurricane- related grants for emergency rehabilitation. Major shortfalls were as follows. (1) It is unlikely that the PVO activities being supported will by financially self- sustaining, and many will probably not be sustainable even at the end of A.I.D. support. (2) None of the PVO's assisted have developed a capacity to obtain funding from abroad. (3) CVSS/UWJ fundraising and programs are still heavily concentrated in metropolitan Kingston, with almost no attention being paid to the eastern parishes and only weak programs in the central and western regions. In addition, cost consciousness resulted in staff reduction to an insufficient size, many of the administrative improvements suggested by the 1986 external evaluation were not implemented, and impact evaluation was not effectively carried out. Also, the CVSS-UWJ relationship has not been smooth nor is it yet settled. Several lessons were learned. (1) It may be unwise to attempt to superimpose a U.S. institutional model (i.e., that of the United Way) on a local institution, which is the outgrowth of a different social and cultural environment. (2) Focusing on a PVO support agency may hinder new cooperative relations with existing PVO's. (3) As a central PVO support agency grows, it needs to develop a more sophisticated management information system. (4) PVO's need to address the development and use of overhead rates in order to assure that a core facility remains in place which can expand and contract on an "as needed" basis. (5) PVO's should carry out marketing and public relations activities. (6) PVO's need to link local efforts to foreign resource.