Starting & Sponsoring a Support Group By DR. ISABEL MELGAR, PSYCHOLOGIST DR. CHUCHIE QUEVEDO, CANCER CRUSADERS MARIAN QUEBRAL, VENTURE FOR FUND RAISING Moderated by: DR. RACHEL ROSARIO

DR. RACHEL ROSARIO (RR): Good morning. On behalf of Icanserve, I welcome you again to Silver Linings. This is a session on how to start and sustain a support group. We wanted to bring Willie Revillame here sana as co-host kaya lang busy daw siya sa Wowowee.

One of the most important aspects of responding to the needs of cancer survivors is the forming of support groups. The importance of friends and families as we try to heal cannot be overemphasized. They provide strength, friendships, nurturing and love – all of which are important in our journey towards healing. So here with us today are three remarkable persons who have made tremendous efforts in their respective fields and communities. We also have here with us wonderful friends who would participate in the panel discussion and share their personal experiences in support giving. O mga VIP’s ito at saka mga experts in starting a support group.

We’ll welcome our panelists first. Mel Ortega, Pearl Imperial, and Cindy Albert. You may stand up to be recognized.. Thank you for coming. And now we would like to begin this session by calling on Dr. Isabel Melgar. Dr. Melgar is former coordinator of the Cancer Patients forum at St. Luke’s for over 10 years. She’s a faculty member of the Psychology Department in Ateneo University, and President of the Kapisanan ng may K, based in East Avenue Medical Center. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dr. Melgar.

(applause)

DR. ISABEL MELGAR (IM): Magandang umaga, mga kabaro. At mga empowered women and men na nandito. Palakpakan natin ang mga lalaki na nandito kasi ibig sabihin nandito sila to support us. Although meron ding mga men na may breast cancer, kakaunti nga lang sila.

First of all, maraming salamat kay Kara at sa kanyang mga ka-co-organizers dito sa imbitasyon na ito at nagagalak ako na marami ng narating itong organization nina Kara since the time that she was first diagnosed. Ang topic ko po ngayon ay Paano Mag-uumpisa ng isang support group. Yung experience ko po as a support group organizer ay medyo kakaiba, sapagkat yung unang support group na itinatag ay itinatag sa isang ospital. Hindi ito sa labas ng ospital. At ito ay ginawa namin nung ako po ay nag-aaral ilang isang estudyante ng Psychology sa Ateneo. Dahil noon po ang St. Luke’s may nakikita kayong bonggang advertisement na itatatag daw nila ang Cancer Center sa St. Luke’s. Sino ho ang pasyente ng St. Luke’s dito? When the Cancer Center was organized, they very proud in saying that they will have something different from what the other hospitals have.

And so after one year, they gave me the chance. Sige, paandarin mo yan. Sabi ko, o sige, papaandarin ko. Anong itatawag natin? Ang iniisip ko, ay katulad ng mga labels, katulad nito, ICanServe, CanSurvive.. Siyempre ang mga bosing, ay medical ang orientasyon. Kaya sabi nila, hindi, itawag na lang nating Patients’ Forum. So napaka-clinical, napaka-generic, napaka-impersonal. Wala , talagang pang-ospital. So, ako naman, I have that need to set it up. And so, ang ginawa namin, binigyan namin ng invitation lahat – LAHAT ng pwedeng pumunta. Ito yung mga both men and women of the Cancer center. Ang dumating – sa awa na Diyos, ang dumating ay puro babae. Trese sila. Ang imbitasyon, umabot ng isang daan. So, what does it tell about the state of a support group being in the consciousness of Filipinos? Yung organized support group, I think, in hindsight ay malayo sa kaisipan ng isang tao noon. Wala pa yung mga Christian support groups, wala pa yung mga Bible study groups, siguro na very healing. Kaya nung pumunta yung 13 women, nagalak ako. Sabi ko noon, hindi bale, magkita kita tayo ulit two weeks after. Two weeks after, ang dumating, walo. Sabi ko, naku delikado na ito, sabi kong ganon. Nanganganib talaga. Puro babae pa rin. So ano kaya, paano kaya ang kiliti ng mga lalaki na may cancer? So yun palaging nasa isip ko, kasi gusto ko talaga, sa totoo lang, mas kailangan ng lalaki ang support group. Kasi hindi nae-express. Typically a man would find it hard to express himself. Maybe it’s culturally influenced. Nasa kultura natin yan eh. In fact kultura na ng mundo yan eh, ng mga lalaki in general.

And so what I did was set up something where the men can respond. My first crack at being something helpful to our patients then was to set up both groups and to launch a newspaper. And which I did. Nagput-up ako ng newsletter, send it to patients who were being served by different hospitals. Tinulungan ako ng Glaxo, nakiusap ako sa Glaxo. Alam ninyo ang nangyari? For several years of that newsletter, yung letter to the editor, dahil ako po yung editor, puro galing sa lalaki. Ang hahaba, they wrote long letters. Letters of frustration, of pain. And these came from men. Sa sabi ko, ba, this is some insight to me. Ang lalaki, ayaw humarap. Ayaw humarap sa mga grupo. Pero hinaharap pa rin niya ang problema through other means. Through writing. Which is an insight to me.

Now, what helped in setting up a support group? I believe before we can even talk about the mechanics and organization of the group, we must look at what we want out of the group. Ano bang suporta talaga ang kailangan natin as a patient?

Ang sabi dito, Different Groups, Different Strokes. Maraming klaseng support na pwede nating ibigay. There’s such thing as listening support, emotional support, educational support, social support, spiritual support and financial support. I called the aforementioned, the Grid of Love, responding to a grid or quadrant of needs. There is a lot that the group can do, because the needs of someone who is seriously ill are dealing with a broad range of issues where the personal intersects with the medical issues. Alam ninyo naman kung gaano ka-powerful ang support groups Think of your own experiences. Who were there? Who was your support network.

The body-mind link has been empirically shown in that kasi ang pinaka-essence ng support group is that you are being loved. And I think that’s the one, it is love that helps someone to go on and to have hope. And it also helps someone to be sane in critical times.

And so in fact when we begin to answer questions, Paano ba magset-up ng grupo? Hindi mahirap. Alam ninyo, dalawa lang kayo, grupo na kayo. You don’t have even to come up with throngs of people. Dahil dalawa, tatlo, apat, may support group. That’s a support group already. And you know that the driving force behind bonding with another is a natural force , that’s a natural human need and it’s based on people who need help when in critical situation. However what we need to be aware of is our power as healers. How a support group can positively affect the emotional, social, physical, spiritual life of a person who is navigating a critical phase of her life. Eto we can reflect on these questions ourselves. This is probably what Dr. Spiegel had said, that group session – kayo lang, kita kita kayo, gimmick kayo, is in itself therapeutic. Why? Because in a group, you are allowing each one to express and share a common sentiment, a common problem. And, this was way back in 1993 when they found a very good scientific evidence that indeed support can lengthen the life of a breast cancer patient by one and a half years. And Dr. Spiegel published a book about this. I hope you can get that – Beyond Limits. Ito yung ginawa sa Stanford University. Nakuha ko ito sa National Bookstore. Noon ay mga P200. Pero ngayon wala na yan, kasi 1994 pa yan lumabas.

Ngayon, if it lengthens life for 1 ½ years, I think ang talagang importanteng kailangang alamin eh, ano ba ang nasa group support? Ano ba ang nasa grupo that makes the life of a patient more livable? What lengthens the life of a patient? The topmost answer of this Stanford team of psychiatrists was that participating in a group is therapy. It’s therapeutic because it allows for expression. And because expression in itself is therapeutic.

Pero Dr Spiegel also – and later on even the psychologists who made researches on this like Bernie Siegel – they found that support groups need not always be happy, joy club. Yung country club style na kailangan lahat masaya. Siguro we should be aware of the fact that kaya nga maganda ang support group kasi doon mo nahihingahan ang sama ng loob, kung ano ang niloloob. Ngayon kung ang support group ay sinasabing huwag na yan, huwag kang...be happy, think positive.. the poor person is losing that opportunity to ventilate with people who should understand him or her. Imagine families normally, yung pamilya natin, they normally shelf aside this issue of cancer. Ikaw rin naman you don’t want to stress the family. Or even your friends to talk about your own cancer. Now where do you turn to? The support group of cancer patients. So as a support group, let’s have that, let’s take away that myth that in order to cope well, you have to be happy all the time.

So what I’m saying, in setting up a support group, iba-iba yan. No hard and fast rule. The basic ingredients are these:

The basic ingredient is that you CARE. May pagmamalasakit ka. And you have LOVE to share. Yun lang eh. It’s not the infrastructure, hindi yung, hindi pera. It’s not even money that can set it up or get it going. Hindi naman yon eh. It’s the spirit that keeps it alive.

Ngayon, the issue of how can we maintain it? As Kuble Ross said, as long as there is cancer in this world, there is always a need for support groups. Hindi yan problema. And don’t forget, as my mention had said at Ateneo, Fr. Bulatao – self-awareness should be there before being aware of others’ needs. Take care of yourself first. You might forget taking care of yourself by serving others. And you know, cancer has lessons to teach us. If you’re hardheaded, if you’re denying this change in lifestyle that we should be doing, it will teach us a lesson. So be vigilant and at the same time, be kind to yourself. And I believe that is something that we should carry with us when we’re done with this session.

I’d like to – I think I’ve finished up my 10 minutes – I’d like to end my talk with a high note… you know, in 1994 I organized a play, Sense of Tumor, it was played by all cancer patients, 80% of which were breast cancer patients. Nag-practice sila, trinain sila ng Cultural Center of the Philippines naka-swero. Nagpupunta sila sa practice nagre-read ng script ng naka-swero. Many of them were terminal, many of them were terminal when we got them. But until the playdate at the Insular Life, they hanged on. They hanged on. And it’s amazing. I did not document it because I want to get into the flow of things. I don’t want to be there as a social scientist looking at the effect of this kind of program on our patients. But then it just tells us that when people want to hang on, when people believe in something, it can work. Even all the things that we have been discussing about Tamoxifen, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, if you don’t believe in it, there are limits to it.

I’m glad that I’m back, because I’ve also been busy taking care of my mother who died of lung cancer and a sister with breast cancer, and myself with a breast tumor. It is good to know that time never stood still when I was away. I left St. Luke’s in 2000, the group is still there. There are now, I’ve heard, that not 8, not 10, sometimes it goes up to 80, 100 people, and amazing you know . That means I don’t even have to worry about my absence. My absence is not important. So now that I’m back, I took a leave from Kapisanan ng May K, for a number of years, and we celebrated our 11th year this year with yours truly as the new president.

And so I would like to leave with these little bits of this information. One at a time, don’t overwhelm yourself. Get some training. I think it’s important if you organize yourself, you take it upon yourself to educate. If you want to do counseling, meron naman hong short seminars on how to do counseling with your fellow patients. And then – of course, as I said, I want to be emphatic about this – alagaan ho ninyo ang sarili ninyo. Don’t forget yourself. And yes, we never give up.

Thank you very much.

(RR): I would like to introduce the next speaker. I always get reminded of the kalachuchi flower when I think about her. She’s a breast cancer survivor for 21 years. Junior sa kin. Mother of four – two girls and two boys. Ano bang sikreto para 2 boys 2 girls? A grandmother of two kids and hospital volunteer at Rizal Memorial in Pasig. President din po siya ng Cancer Crusaders, a 15-year old support group at Manila Doctors. Please welcome Ms. Chuchi Quevedo.

DR. CHUCHIE QUEVEDO (CQ): Thank you very much. I would like to greet the organizers of this first ever national breast cancer forum. I’m really very impressed, kasi I met Kara when she was first diagnosed just like Dr. Melgar, and ang galing talaga, I’m so impressed. She invited me here to share with you my experiences on how I was able to cope with my own breast cancer by merely getting involved with several mutual support groups.

Forming the group seemed easy in the beginning. Noong first meeting namin, we were about 20. So it was a very big group. Ages varied from 20 to 60 and it was also a mixed group of men and women. Some came in crutches, others came in hats and bandannas. Some had their chemo patches on. Yung mga nagche-chemo naturally on the days that they felt weak, would be absent. And those who lived far also found it convenient to miss attendance sometimes. Others were too busy with housework and too busy to take care of the kids. And others simply suffered from meeting fatigue or lack of interest. In other words, the attendance slowly dropped. Yun yung sinasabi ni Dr. Melgar na marami in the beginning, and then pababa ng pababa. This despite the fact that the Philippine Cancer Society did the work for us, they did all the calling, they provided us with free merienda, they gave us giveaways, they invited interesting resource speakers but unfortunately, after sometime also the PCS ran out of budget and the program had to be revised. I think now it is totally scrapped.

So for me naman, fortunately I had a new oncologist in the person of Dr. Rey Joson of Manila Doctors Hospital who was also starting another group called the Cancer Crusaders Club. This was about 1988 actually 17 years ago na pala. In the beginning, our activity was limited to only once a year, yung annual Christmas party. But even if it was once year, it was always a big celebration and it was a hit. Because Dr. Joson and wife would invite TV personalities and they really spent time preparing for the affair. After some time the group became more organized with the help of Dra. Dancel. I think the secrets are having a strong core group, and then we tried to make our meetings more regular and then of course we have the support of the Manila Doctors Hospital and we tried to make our programs varied and audience-friendly. Examples, we invite resource speakers every quarter. We have invited Ricky Reyes who talked on good grooming, si Dr. Dancel taught us more about what cancer is about, Dr. Ruaro talked about menopause, basta maraming maraming mga speakers and then this coming October we are going to have ballroom dancing instruction. During summer, we go out to Los Banos every summer because we have a member who has a place there, and we do lots of singing and swimming. And then every first Sunday of December we do our Grand Christmas party.

The Cancer Crusaders Club accepts members with all types of cancers, but we are also not spared from the challenge of dwindling attendance. On the financial aspect we see no need to raise funds because our activities are supported by Manila Doctors. And truth to tell, ayaw nung mga members namin ng mga nag-fufund raising because it really turns off some members when we start talking about fund raising, medyo nawawala na lalo ang attendance.

Meanwhile there’s another group I joined which I have to mention because I draw a lot of inspiration from it. It is called the Sinag Hospital Volunteers Foundation. Although this group does not cater to cancer patients only, I encounter a lot of breast cancer patients in my work, and I find that they seem enthusiastic to talk about their concerns with me. It was established in 1987 with just 12 volunteers. We now have grown to over 400. And we are serving 11 DOH hospitals WE have many members who are deeply committed to render genuine service without expecting anything in return.

While in Sinag and assigned to Rizal Medical Center, I was witness in the formation of yet another support group called CanSurvive. I saw some of them here also. Under Divina Esteban, it was established sometime in 1993 and it is still very active to this day even after Dr. Esteban has retired. Just like the Cancer Crusaders Club, the secret is the regularity of meetings, varied activities, support from the hospital authorities, and a strong core group.

What have I gained from all these? More than words could say, I feel whole again. I have gained a lot of self-confidence. I am no longer afraid of the unknown because I know more about cancer now. And I am able to accept my own mortality. I have experience many times over the joy of loving and giving and I enjoyed the satisfaction of knowing that I continue to make a difference.

Thank you for listening.

(APPLAUSE)

(RR): Our next speaker is the Executive Director of Venture for Fund Raising, pioneer in fund raising and trained at the Fund Raising School in India and the US. And she managed the largest non-profit direct mail campaign in the Philippines, with over a million letters sent annually, raising more than 85 million pesos in less than four years. Formerly the Resource Development Officer of the UNICEF in the Philippines and she initiated the survey of the Nature of Gift-Giving Attitudes in the Philippines. She also authored The Fund Raisers Guide to Fund-Raising. Meron ba tayong libre nito? Baka bibigyan tayong lahat. Parang sa Oprah. She travels extensively around Asia, teaching non-profit organizations, the principles and success seeds of fund-raising. Please welcome Ms. Marianne Quebral.

MARIAN QUEBRAL (MQ): Good morning, Thank you for that introduction. I was worried after the previous speaker nasabi ko, parang masama ata ang pag-usapan ang fund-raising no. But unfortunately we have met many organizations that precisely have to deal with fund-raising kasi the best of intentions, the best of love, and the best of care may not be sufficient to run a support group. AT the end of the day, sometimes we are faced with how are we going to pay for merienda? How are we going to help other people in need of financial support? So my organization has actually started, was started in 1999 with the intention of helping non-profit organizations raise the resources you need so that you can achieve your missions.

So we asked Filipinos residing in Metro Manila across economic strata. Kasama ang mayaman, mahirap. We wanted to find out in the past 12 months, nagbibigay na ba kayo whether to church, a non-profit foundation, such as some of your support groups, or have you given to government? Wala na po tayong excuse hindi magfund raise because 93% said yes, they have given. Only 7% said hindi sila nagbigay in the past 12 months. So, if you are looking at 10 people, 9 will say, oo magbibigay ako. Very generous. So what is the lesson we learned? Filipinos give. Well over 90% of them give. Medyo we need to give them the opportunity to give. I have been fundraising for a number of years and one of the times I was waiting in my office remarkably with nothing to do, may tumawag. At sinabi niya, gusto kong magdonate sa UNICEF. Sabi ko, oh yes ma'am, you can fill up our business reply slip, you can just put your credit card number and then you can just fax it to us. Sabi nung babae, I don’t have a credit card.” “Ay, no problem ma’am. You can just write a check, make it payable to UNICEF and then put it in the business reply envelope and you don’t even have to worry about the stamp.” Sabi niya, “I don’t have a checking account.” “Ay wala hong problema ma’am. You can drive to our office, you can turn left on Adelantado, there is parking in the back, you don’t have to worry about it.” “ I don’t have a car. Paano ba pumunta dyan na nagjee-jeep?” So we gave her instructions and I waited for this woman. This woman was a sari-sari store owner who had received a letter from UNICEF asking them for a small donation. You might have received this letter, it says, “Why buy sampaguitas at 11 o’clock in the evening in the blinding rain?” Natanggap niya po iyon. And she said, “ Kasi hiningan ninyo ako eh.” Because you asked. Kaya siya nagbibigay. And so sabi ko, could it be that we are not able to ask people for money, or people are not willing to give because we have not asked. And we did a survey, and in fact, yes, majority of the people do not give because we do not ask. Nadadala tayo ng hiya. Parang ayaw nating humingi. Yes ma’am? (to audience, question inaudible).

The key really is, to get it to be easy for so people to give. I have seen many, meron pa ngang iba, please deposit in the nearest Land Bank office and then fax a copy of the deposit slip. Sabi siguro ng donor, sobra naman itong grupong to. Hiningan na ako ng pera, pinaalis pa ako sa bahay during office hours, pinahanap pa ako ng Land Bank branch, tapos hindi pa carbonized ang deposit slip sa Land Bank, so she has to fill it up 3 times. Tapos babalik pa siya maghahanap pa siya ng fax machine in order na ma-acknowledge yung gift. So it’s really important to give them all of the options, whether it is through credit card, etc. Just to make it easier for people to give because number 1, turn off yan. Yung inability ng mga tao.. they have money to give, pero ang hirap hirap nating makuha or maibigay yung pera. Another thing na magagawa natin, yung tipong we talk about chemotherapy costing how much? And so when we hear about that tapos yung sulat natin, sasabihin, any amount. Ano yon, is that 5 thousand? Is that 50 thousand? Is that 100 thousand? We have to tell people how much it is we need. And in fact, one of the most successful fund-raising strategies of UNICEF is if we say, your 500 pesos will buy 10 workbooks for 10 grade 7 students. Or that 750 pesos is enough to buy iodized salt for so many families in this community. So kung baga, you’re telling them a certain amount and they can physically imagine in their heads how they are going, how you are going to use the money.

I’m getting ahead of myself, I’m going back to the survey, because the next slide will show you, ano ba ang paborito ng Pinoy? What are the causes that they support? Unang-una diyan and I think it’s not surprising that children ang number one. If you have an organization that is dealing with children most likely it would not be difficult to raise money for that organization. The next is education. And the third is elderly and disabled, health and nutrition, and then finally, the youth. Nasaan kayo diyan? Nasa health and nutrition. SO you are, in fact, doon sa Top 5 causes that Filipinos give to. This is not the US, this is not the UK, this is the Philippines. These are Filipinos wanting to help out.

Next slide. Ano ba ang motivation for giving? The motivation for giving remains to be compassion. Madalas yung sulat natin, established in 1973, headed by our board chairman in the person of Dr so and so, dedicated to such and such, with SEC registration number 079... ganon di ba? Parang di tayo ma-enganyong magbigay.
My most successful letter for UNICEF started with “Why would you buy sampaguitas at 11 o’clock in the evening in the blinding rain” And the letter says, this is the question that I asked myself coming home one night when I heard a young girl tap at my window. She was freezing, her teeth were chattering because of the rain, and she was selling sampaguitas so that she can go back home and rest for the day. So that elicits compassion. Hindi ko naman sinsasabi na magpaawa kayo. It’s really to engage the person emotionally instead of dito – SEC registered, board chairman namin ito, they don’t care about that. They care about what it is you do.

What do they look for in an NGO or a support group? In fact, mahirap mag-fund raise kung hindi tayo organized. So they look or NGOs that are accountable, they look for non-profit organizations that are relevant to them, they look for organizations that have a profile, sino ang nakaupo sa board. At sino ba yung mga organizations na credible. And the longer your organization has existed, the more credible your organization becomes.

Next slide is going to show you. Bakit ba nagbibigay ang Pilipino sa non-profit organizations? This is where you fall no. And they give because you have a program. They will also give to you because genuine yung motive ninyo. Ms. Quevedo for example was talking about yung motivation nila for setting up a support group, yung genuine, yung hindi kayo kikita dito or hindi kayo yayaman. Inform them about the use of the money. Good reputation. And finally you help the needy help themselves. Hindi kayo dole-out. Because when you say, dole-out then it turns off some people.

This next slide is telling you what fund raising activities you should avoid dito sa Pilipinas. So yung nasa lower left hand corner, those were the activities you should avoid kasi hindi pa siya masyadong successful dito sa Pilipinas. These are text pledges and Internet fund-raising. Although UP-PGH had a remarkable success using the Internet generally nahihiya pa rin ang Pinoy, or natatakot pa rin ang Pinoy maglagay ng credit card information nila sa Internet. So what should you look at as a fund-raising strategy? You look at the upper left hand corner. Some of these involve, nabalitaan ba ninyo ang Children’s Hour? Children’s Hour was able to raise 30 million pesos in just 5 months. How did they do it? They asked people to donate 1 hour’s salary to children’s programs. I’m not sure this is something you can do wholesale kung baga. But maybe during Cancer Awareness Week kung meron man ganon. This maybe something you can encourage employers to do. Meron pa walk-in donation sa mga ospital for example, kung meron pang opisina yung inyong support group, pwede silang pumunta at mag-iwan ng kanilang donation. Sino bang may opisina sa inyo, I mean, yung support groups na may office or may residence? Meron ba? What about the rest, meron ba kayong… So may mga pumupunta ba doon just to give a donation? Wala? May tao ba doon all the time? Kasi minsan, natatakot ang mga taong pumasok kasi madilim, or yung operator na sumasagot, masungit. Hello. Eh walang tao dito, bukas na kayo bumalik. So it’s very important to prepare for mga tinatawag nating walk-in donations.

Solicitation by relatives, friends, buying products for a cause. Nakita niyo na ang mga UNICEF greeting cards for example, nakikita niyo ba yan? It’s September it’s the time of the year again when we start preparing for Christmas and UNICEF greeting cards are found in malls. Money that is traced to the sale of UNICEF greeting cards are plowed back to the organization so that they could fund the programs of UNICEF. So pwede ninyo rin gawin. Kilala niyo ang Salvation Army? Every malapit sa pasko may nakikita tayong mga naka-uniporme na nagriring ng bell no, tapos may red kettle.

Brother Benedict is one of the beloved brothers of De La Salle before he passed away. And he said in its opening letter, Before you think about buying a new car or a new cell phone, would you like to think about giving back to your alma mater? Na-konsyensya ang mga La Sallians. Kasi ang mga La Sallians mahilig magpalit ng telepono at mahilig din bumili ng kotse. Tapos Brother Benedict also didn’t want to have the problem of paano ba ibibigay yung donations. SO they accept American Express, they have Visa, they have MasterCard. You can go to De La Salle and you can phone De La Salle for them to pick up your donation. Para wala ng excuse na mahirap silang makapag-donate. So ito yung tinatawag nating direct mail.

First things first. The next slide is going to show you what you need to set up a fund-raising program. You need to be organized. Una, hindi tayo pwedeng in denial. Para ding you know, we have to accept that we need to raise money. Because if we don’t accept the need to fund raise, then it’s not going to be successful. Institutional policies, no. Saan kayo tatanggap ng pera, at saan kayo hindi tatanggap ng pera. UNICEF for example will not accept money from infant formula companies dahil meron silang program on breastfeeding, tobacco, arms manufacturers for obvious reasons, alcohol beverages, at saka mga companies that employ child labor. So UNICEF yan. Si Salvation Army, baliktad naman siya. Ang si Salvation Army yung policy niya, we will take money from the devil himself. And convert to good. Kayo, saan kayo? Hindi kayo pwede sa gitna.Yung ah, tatanggap tayo from Marlboro pero hindi tayo tatanggap kay Phillip kasi menthol yun eh. Hindi pwedeng ganon. So kailangang one side kayo. Yes Ma’am? Child Hope(?) Asia they have policies also that they restrict receiving money from restricted products. Yun ang pagkaalam ko. So yun yung mga tinatawag nating policies.

And then you cannot fund-raise for everything, kaya kailangang may tinatawag tayong priorities. Ano ba ang uunahin natin? Yung support group ba, yung opisina ba? Or yung awareness building ba? It cannot be lahat . Parang you’re giving them 20 different choices. Kailangan meron tayong flavor of the month. Tapos yun ang magiging focus ng fund-raising natin. And finally we cannot raise money unless we spend money. Para din yan lotto. Hindi tayo mananalo sa lotto hanggat hindi tayo bumili ng ticket. The same is true for fund-raising, if you invest zero, do not expect to raise millions. But again, if you don’t need one million, bakit tayo magre-raise ng one million?

Next slide. You need to have a lot of things in fund-raising, some of which you are now familiar with. You need leadership, you need board involvement, you need volunteers, and then you also need staff para gawin ang fund-raising.

I leave you with the next slide, which is some tips on fund-raising. It’s not about the money. If you’re thinking money, you will fail. It’s about raising friends. It is finding people who share the same values as you, and then taking steps to manage that relationship. People will not give money to the Philippine Cancer Society. They are going to give to people who believe in the Philippine Cancer Society. You need to give a face, a human face to the donation process. Organizations need money to raise money, as I mentioned earlier. Fund raising is a team effort. And finally, diversify your fund-raising strategies to enable you to become financially sustainable. Huwag lang kayo mag-rely sa Pfizer, or huwag lang kayo mag-rely sa isang source. Sana marami ang pinanggagalingan ng pera ninyo.

I am so happy that the previous speaker talked about joy of giving, because this is what we stand for. Venture for Fund-raising is all about teaching the joy of giving. Enjoy your workshop today, and if you are interested in purchasing The Fund-raiser’s Guide to Fund-raising, it is available in the IcanServe booth and one of my colleagues will be happy to entertain your questions.

Thank you very much.

(Q1): In our case we have a support group in Tacloban City and our Cancer Society is not at all active, and if we are wanting to raise money, we were told by them that we would not be allowed to unless we were registered with SEC. What is your suggestion that we do in order to have a fund-raising effect if the society is not active , we try to register with them. But they finally after 1 year gave us our money back. So what is your recommendation?

(MQ): You’re not registered with SEC as a support group? No. When you are not registered with the SEC, it becomes limiting in that you cannot accept money from corporations perhaps that want to give it to established and certified organizations. Now that doesn’t stop you from doing fund-raising from people who are close to you, or people who are known to you, people who are familiar to you. However, dito ang donor fatigue nag-uumpisa. When we tap people who know us and whom we know, the chances of us going back to them repeatedly becomes the usual thing. O we’re going to have a raffle, we go to our friends. We’re going to have a special event, we go to the same friends. We’re going to have a marathon, we go to the same friends. Pretty soon the friends feel, can’t you find anyone else? That is the benefit of registering. Because it opens up doors for you that otherwise would not have been open if you are to rely on your small circle of friends. So am not sure if that answers your question.

(Q2): I have one more question if there’s time. Is there an organization that we could partner with in order to accomplish some of our goals, like for example, we’re wanting to start some kind of referral system. We have no oncologist in Tacloban. So we want to have some referral system so people can be screened, this kind of thing. The funds will be connected to the overall interest of the cancer Society. SO like for example, could we network with Silver Linings and have their name, then when we raise funds for that, it could be for a networking situation there. Is that possible?

(MQ): I don’t know of any, off-hand, however if Silver Linings for example sets up a web page, and they link people thru the simple blue-underlined word, then it becomes easier for people to start connecting. Unfortunately, that comes with your personal contacts as well, putting a system in place so that you can effectively network. It’s not going to happen out of the goodness or graciousness of anyone’s heart. IT has to be that you dedicate some time and some resources to just get it done. When you have done that then you will see that it becomes easier to network. Although of course there are questions about fall-out in registration and participation, etc. To have a unit or to have a network that is available and easily accessible, it facilitates the networking process. Maybe some of the people from the, who would like to answer for your concern on oncologist from Tacloban.

(CQ): I think there’s a group here downstairs in the Asian Hospital Group. I understand the Philippine Oncology Society or something they’re involved in the workshop today. So maybe you can go to the Rosal Room. So that you can link up with them. I hope that’s of help.

(RR): Okay thank you very much Marge. It might also help that since Tacloban would be nearest to Cebu, then you can probably link up with some of the hospitals there. The Vicente Sotto Memorial Hospital I think has a Cancer Center under Dr. Steven Siguan.