In 2013, annual giving in Pakistan was recorded at Rs. 300 billion. The issue we faced was that this philanthropy was leaving behind no record or visible impact. The setback to the non-profit sector was immense as we are at the vanguard of leading the effort for a progressive society. Together, a social enterprise initiative, has made an effort over the last 18 years for institutionalization of giving – ensuring maximum benefit to the deserving at the right time and scale. A venture capitalist model was created by Together for non-profit sustainability and optimal beneficiary reach in Pakistan. Our purpose is to share this model, as it is replicable and customizable especially in underdeveloped and Third World countries. The model that we started has been successfully replicated in five major metropolitan cities of Pakistan. With financial and intellectual investment, we have partnered with more than 35 non-profits.
In Pakistan from 2002 to 2016, the cumulative funding of 35 philanthropic foundations and nonprofit organizations supported by Together increased from Rs. 18 million to Rs. 3 billion, benefiting more than 1.5 million people. Our plan is to present and share the success of our model in Pakistan’s second largest and most populated city, Lahore, which has 7 million people. We hope to not only share a detailed story of our efforts that lead to the successful fundraising paradigm in not one but five major cities of Pakistan, but we have also invited a board member of one of our partner nonprofit organizations. The idea is to share their experiences and impressions of this effort, first hand.