Choosing who to fund

From the beginning, we decided that the Linda Norgrove Foundation should concentrate on funding small schemes that would provide visibility of the benefits, appeal to donors and be easier for us to monitor.

Over the past 10 years we have worked with many charities and now have a much better idea of what to look out for.

There’s a balance to be struck between small, amateurish well-meaning organisations run by enthusiasts and the larger, more professional, organisations.

Over the past 10 years we have worked with many charities and now have a much better idea of what to look out for.

Because we are focused on low overheads, we don’t fund projects that include flights or wages for international staff. These costs are totally out of scale with those of the Afghans they’re trying to help.

But the other end of the spectrum might involve locally run Afghan organisations that struggle to supply meaningful accounts and reports. Because corruption is sadly widespread in Afghanistan, this isn’t something we can tolerate.

Small is beautiful

So we try and navigate a middle ground, funding small organisations that have committed staff in the country, have their own strong focus, and deliver. And then we stick with them.

Organisations like the Afghan Children’s Circus, run by an inspiring European couple living in Kabul who just live for the children they support, who believe so whole-heartedly in giving kids a good time and improving individual lives in Afghanistan.

Like Nove Onlus, an Italian charity behind the Pink Shuttle bus project to provide women with safe public transport around Kabul. They absolutely believe in improving women’s status and are driven to achieve this.

Or small Afghan organisations like the staff of Gawharshad School in Kabul. Earlier this year, with their school closed because of coronavirus, they decided to help disadvantaged families and widows affected by the pandemic by delivering food parcels and fuel.

Then there are the women’s beekeeping cooperatives in rural areas who have managed to achieve so much for so many rural families with relatively small amounts of money.

But sometimes there’s no getting away from larger charities. You have to be large and professional to provide open heart surgery. So we we navigate this by giving ‘restricted’ funding to the French Children’s Hospital in Kabul for operations for those children most in need.

Funding these organisations year on year allows us to build close trusting relationships ensuring reduced administration for us.

Funding these organisations year on year allows us to build close trusting relationships ensuring reduced administration for us. This is essential because we have no UK staff and limited time ourselves.

Satisfaction of helping individuals

One advantage we have is the agility and flexibility to give small scale funding very quickly.

When a recent graduate from our scholarship programme lost a brother, killed by a car bomb, we sent a lump sum to tide the family over until they were in a better position.

When we heard that one of the students sponsored by the Foundation was suffering from black jaundice and couldn’t pay for the treatment, we did.

And although we don’t usually pay for the living costs of our scholarship students, when one lost her family funding we helped out.

Because we’re so far away, we have to have confidence that we know exactly how our money has been spent.

Because we’re small, we can do this, and it gives us enormous satisfaction. The Foundation’s mission is to help women and children affected by the war and this is the satisfying bit – helping individuals. We’re happy leaving development of the nation’s governance etc to larger, better qualified players.

When funding stops

Inevitably, there are times when we stop funding projects, for different reasons.

For many years we funded the Window of Hope disabled children’s home. When we started, the situation was pretty desperate for the children but, seven years on, a new funding base had mushroomed in the US which could maintain the home without our help.

More recently, a school in a disadvantaged area of Kabul, for which we were the main funder for many years, had to close when we withdrew our support. It wasn’t an easy decision to make – a decision made in a comfy office in Lewis resulting in children back on the street and nine staff unemployed in Afghanistan.

But the financial reporting was a mess and our trust disappeared when irregularities were investigated closely. Because we’re so far away, we have to have confidence that we know exactly how our money has been spent and that what we’re told is the whole truth.

Ensuring minimal costs

Our main focus now is our student scholarship scheme. Here, we have certainty that all the funds are used properly. We help the women, we help future generations, and good stories for our newsletters help our fundraising. There are no other charities involved, which gets us closer to the action, and it all works fine providing we have good staff in Kabul; and we have great staff.

While we now tend to fund the same things year on year and have lost, to some extent, the excitement of the first few years, we have kept the ability to react quickly when faced with a particular need.

We still manage to fund many projects with a minimum of fuss, paperwork and administrative stress. This ensures minimal costs, something we see as an essential to maintain our steady and currently healthy income stream.