Milan Šveřepa marks 10 years at Inclusion Europe. This is his post number 2.
For a 10-years reflection, I think it’s more useful to talk about failure than to do the usual look-at-all-the-great-things-I’ve-done.
“Failure” is a big, heavy word. I’m tempted to say “challenge” instead. But after so many years and so many attempts, I’d only be lying to myself.
So here it is: I still don’t know how to turn Inclusion Europe into a fundraising organisation.
By that I mean: How do we raise money that doesn’t come from EU grants? How do we become relevant and interesting to private donors and other funders?
Don’t get me wrong. We are very grateful for the EU funding we’ve received over the years. We wouldn’t be where we are without it.
But there is a lot of work to do before Europe ends the segregation of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
And that work is best done by the best lobbyists there are: self-advocates and family members, telling decision-makers directly what’s wrong and what needs to change.
That’s where fundraising comes in.
Ending segregation takes money
There’s only so much participation, so many meetings and trainings we can organise with EU grants. But we need self-advocates and family members in every meeting, all the time. And for that, they need support, training, travel and much more.
That takes money.
And I still don’t know how to ask for it.
So now you know my biggest failure. Feel free to use it against me.
Milan Šveřepa, Chief Executive, Inclusion Europe
Milan marks 10 years at Inclusion Europe:
