The Project
The nonprofit hadn’t created an annual report for two years and wanted to break that streak. Serendipity Healthcare Foundation aimed to be as transparent as possible and provide their stakeholders with all the information about their activities. This accountability they knew would keep their donors from across the world, updated about their progress and the impact they have made on their beneficiaries. They also send these annual reports to the communities they have worked with to let them know how far they have come and to allow them to provide their inputs and feedback on the direction they are headed in.
The Journey
Athira Sathyan, Credit Manager at Anz Support Services Pty Ltd applied for the project and was chosen to volunteer with Serendipity Healthcare Foundation. Samirah Faruk, the executive director of the nonprofit, was the project coordinator for this annual report writing project. Athira got in touch with Samirah via email at first and they introduced themselves. Samirah also gave Athira an overview of SHF to give her an understanding of the organization. They agreed to meet virtually via Google meet and set up an agenda on how often they would meet along with the duration of their meetings. This way they were able to set up goals and targets for their project and have an estimated timeline for their work to be completed.
Samirah then gave Athira access to all relevant documents that could help her in writing the annual report. This included financial reports, pictures, donor information, and links to the website and their various social media accounts. All this information was more than enough for Athira to get started and she began working right away.
Athira had worked with nonprofit organizations prior to Serendipity and felt very connected to their cause and organization. Her experience enabled her to understand with clarity what the nonprofit expected from her and she was able to give them an annual report that they could use in multiple ways. The nonprofit has a staff of three who also reviewed her work before the report was finalized.
Challenges
Athira fell sick during the project and needed some time off. To Samirah, Athira felt like a member of Serendipity as they had formed a good relationship. Samirah remarked, “Athira was one of us, more like a sister.” She understood the importance of good health and gave Athira some much-needed time off to recover. This caused a slight delay in the timeline of completing the project but Athira didn’t give up and made sure she completed the project.
Nigeria also has very bad internet connectivity, which on occasion was a challenge to the project’s progress, but despite these challenges, the project was completed and the nonprofit couldn’t be happier.
Project’s Impact
The nonprofit’s annual report was a good source of information and content for them. They posted their report on their social media pages and their website. This helped them attract donors and they received a large amount of funding for their cause. Businesses that were interested in supporting their cause gave generously. This has helped their mission progress and they have been able to reach out to more beneficiaries.
