In a world that seems to get smaller all the time, we’re all too aware of those less fortunate around the globe and in our own backyards. But the recurring question of how we can even begin to help is a daunting one.

Kumaran Nadesan had been tossing around this question ever since he’d had a life-changing experience volunteering in Sri Lanka. This and his inclination not to celebrate his birthday led to his unique plans for ringing in his 30^th. What started out as a small fundraiser with the support of his family, friends, and colleagues led to USD 10,976 or LKR 1.25M being raised to support the work of Visions Global Empowerment and the Church of the American Ceylon Mission (CACM).

TC met with Kumaran to find out how he was able to turn his birthday into such a successful fundraiser. Read our interview below!

TamilCulture: What inspired your birthday wish?

Kumaran Nadesan: In 2003, I spent a few weeks volunteering as an English language instructor at a technical institute in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka where students who had completed Grade 12 were being trained for careers in the technical workforce. It was the first time I returned to Sri Lanka without my family in tow and that volunteer experience had a profound impact on me.

Listening to their personal stories of hardship made their determination to get a higher education all the more poignant. My experiences from that summer continue to inform any kind of Sri Lanka-related initiatives that I participate in.

When the tragedy of May 2009 unfolded, I think many jumped into action while some of us were numbed into silence. By organizing this fundraiser, I was hoping to unpack some of the guilt of my inaction at that critical time.

TC: How did you decide which organizations you wanted to fundraise for?

KN: In early November, I heard my friend Darshan Ambalavanar, from CACM, speak in Toronto about the ongoing social developmental needs in the North and East of Sri Lanka. Darshan’s presentation piqued my interest in wanting to do some sort of a fundraiser before the year ended.

I specifically wanted to raise funds for programs that helped women and children because they are often the most vulnerable groups in any conflict but also because they represent the best chance that Sri Lanka has to break the cycle of violence and build a truly meaningful and lasting peace.

Although I did not know how or where to start, in one of those funny “coincidences” I came to know about Visions Global Empowerment (Visions) when I stumbled across the feature that TamilCulture had written about the organization at around the same time. I was drawn to Visions for several reasons.

Visions was directly working with grassroots organizations in the war-affected regions of Sri Lanka and its approach to dealing with the issues were practical and supported by evidence-based research in education. They were also sending students, recent graduates and young professionals as interns to work in the field. And finally, I found out that one of its main local partners in Sri Lanka was CACM which effectively sealed the deal for me.

TC: How did you raise the funds?

KN: Once I decided on Visions, organizing the fundraiser itself proved to be quite straightforward. It took me only a week from the time when I first heard Darshan speak to when I launched the appeal to family, friends and colleagues.

It was done entirely online through Razoo, making it easy and convenient for anyone to donate using a credit card or an electronic money transfer. I cast my net wide but staggered the appeal so that a limited number of family, friends and colleagues donated first to create the momentum.

I then promoted it to a wider audience through my channels on various social networks including Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.  This helped to grow and sustain the momentum until the target was reached.

TC: Did you encounter any unexpected challenges in fundraising?

KN: I must confess that I was first slightly concerned that the fundraising target might be high but that concern vanished pretty quickly when the donations started flowing in from day one.

The only other challenge I had was to remain accessible to my donors and prospective donors during the fundraising period because I was travelling extensively through India and Sri Lanka at that time.

I can tell you some funny stories of me dodging crazy motorists, mounds of cow dung, and hordes of hawkers, to try and find an internet café in every city we visited in order to check up on the fundraiser, thank donors, address any questions or concerns of prospective donors, and virtually shake down as many people as I could for donations.

TC: What was the key success factor in fulfilling your birthday wish?

KN: There is no doubt in my mind that the donors were the absolute key success factor of the fundraiser and I really cannot emphasize this enough.

Following my appeal, each donor took time to read the story behind my birthday wish (and it was a long one – brevity is not the soul of my wit, unfortunately) and donate to the fundraiser. What felt like an impossible target on the first day came within reach as each donor gave selflessly.

It is not how much they gave but the fact that they gave which made the difference in the end, and sustained the momentum until the target was reached. After all, it wasn’t like this fundraiser was a movie screening where the donors got something extra out of it.

There were so many inspiring acts of charity such as:

• the anonymous donors, on Facebook and elsewhere, who generously contributed almost 20% of the funds;
• my sister, Narayani, who held her own Fudge4Charity micro-fundraiser to single-handedly raise almost 15% of the funds;
• Sanj, Vani, Aunty Yaso and my father who together brought in another 20% of the funds;
• my young cousin Anitha, who worked weekends to save up to buy holiday gifts but then decided to donate some of those savings;
• Ken and Priya who told their wedding guests to donate to the fundraiser in lieu of gifts;
• Sanju who was determined to find a matching corporate donor;
• my cousin Gaj, who not only made a generous donation but also succeeded in making me do this interview to encourage other fundraisers;
• and friends who had young families to care for and still others who, unfortunately, found themselves unemployed and still donated.

Ahilan Sinnarajah and Rama Selvarajah

Amanda and Percy Hsieh

Amarnath Amarasingam and Harshini Sriskanda

Amuthini and Jonathan Ham

Ananthan Sinnadurai

Andrea Methot

Andrew Samarasinha

Anu Yogeswaran and Rajkumar Subbiah

Anusha S.

Anusuya and Sinnathamby Nadesan

Bahi Kandavel

Baksaran Kugathasan and Narmatha Tharmaseelan

Charmaine Silva and Gunalan Nadarajah

Claudia and Remo Tucci

Deepa Jacob

Dylan Fernando

Easan and Saira Mohan

Gajanan Kuganesan

Gobikan Kathirgamanathan and Vipoositha Gnanethra

Jadhu and Shivanee Nadarajah

Jamuna Jeyakumar

Jeevitha Akilen

John Giang and Judy Chin

John Michael Poon

Kavitha Shanmugarajah and Ajenthan Pararajalingam

Keley Katona

Kubes Navaratnam

Kugan Thangavel

Kugapriyah Sundarampillai

Kumaran Nadesan and Ahalya Kumaran

Linda Elliott

Mahisha Thiru and Mahesh Abeywardene

Manpreet Jaiswal

Matangi Thillai

Matheepan Panchalingam and Kaya K. Nathan

Max Sagadewa

Meera Modha

Michael Paramathasan

Mohammed Iliyas

Nadeesh Jayasinghe

Nalini Manickavasagar

Nara Nadesan and Fudge4Charity Supporters

Nirogini Nalliah

Piragal Thiru

Prabhu Sundararajah and Kirthika Prabhu

Prasad Chandrakanthan and Sugee Anandakoppal

Prasanna Ketheeswaran

Prayalini Sathananthan

Premica Thambirajah

Priya Gopalakrishnan and Ken Thasan

Rajithan and Anitha Ithayalingam

Rajkumar Subramaniam

Ramana and Rama Indrakumar

Ravivarma Raveenthran and Annette Selvanayagam

Rojana and Ken Kuganesan

Roshan Fernando

Sancha Mahalingam and Aingaran Thirunadarajah

Sanj Selvarajah

Sanju Balasunderam

Shangami Rajahrajaswaran

Shanthabavani and Somaskanther Kanther

Shree-sai and Anil Parmanand

Siva Arunthavanathan

Sivayogam Selvarajah

Stephen Shedletzky

Steve and Jena Hayward

Suba Thambithurai

Sudan Ponnuchamy

Sugumar Vivekanandasothy and Kasthurie Sundarampillai

Suhanya Ketheeswaran

Sujan and Ruwani Fernando

Sukaneya Subramaniam and Suresh Moorthy

Sukeevan Kailayapathy

Sumi Shanmuganathan

Tharsini Sivathasan

Thaves Ponnampalam

Thayaharan Navaratnam

Thevaker Athithan

Thevaky and Ampalavanar Ketheeswaran

Thrishantha Nanayakkara

Thusha Vigneswaran

V. Shankar

Vaksala Subramaniyam

Vani Gunabalasubramaniam

Vicky Kyriakou

Vijeetha Raviraj

Vipushitha Siripathy

Yasmin Sallay

Yaso Sinnadurai

+ anonymous donors

TC: How will the funds raised be utilized?

KN: Visions has indicated that the funds will be allocated as follows:

• $4,400 will be used to meet operational costs for one year for two new after-school programs in Kilinochchi which will be managed by CACM. Schools in the North and East of Sri Lanka continue to face severe shortages of teachers, educational materials, and basic infrastructure such as classrooms and washrooms. For many students, these after-school programs are crucial and without which they would be at high risk of dropping out of regular school.

• $2,640 will be used to provide bicycles to 22 children in Vakarai, Batticaloa, making it possible for them to go to school. Due to the lengthy distance from school and the prohibitive cost of a bicycle, many students in these areas stop attending school or do so irregularly. These are the kinds of practical solutions that Visions provides which attracted me to the organization.

• $3,168 will be used to support youth leadership training programs for war-affected youth in Jaffna and the Vanni. These programs are conducted with the support of the well-known Third Eye theatre group, which uses drama, painting, poetry, songs and games to explore themes such as communications, leadership, time management, gender equity, and team building.

• Visions has also guaranteed that only the remaining 7% of the funds ($768) will be used to meet administrative costs which is quite low when compared to other organizations.

—Nive Thambithurai, Editor (Entertainment, Spotlight)