FRCCF wants to Find Romanian Sponsors for Needy Children

Romanian Foundation for Children, Community and Family (FRCCF) sent 375 letters to lawyers from Cluj asking them to support needy children enrolled in the programs of FRCCF. This campaign follows another one from last year when FRCCF sent similar letters to businessmen and representatives of local public institutions.

FRCCF wants to find in Romania sponsors for the children enrolled in its programs as by 2010 the British partner will slowly cut back the financial support it is currently granting.

The one-to-one sponsorship system that the Foundation would like to start using in Romania as well consists in one sponsor supporting one FRCCF-assisted child. The minimum amount needed to support a child, so that he/she can benefit from tutoring, homework support, psychological counselling, special education teaching, medical exams and he/she can take part in leisure activities (arts clubs, trips, movie watching, etc.), is of 60 RON per month. FRCCF already uses this sponsorship system but most of the sponsors are British and they are directly contacted by the partner organisation EveryChild, FRCCF's main supporter.

Each envelope sent to a number of 375 lawyers contains a letter asking for support, a leaflet explaining the sponsorship system, a sign-up form with an FRCCF self-addressed stamped envelope for the response and a craft item made by the children at the arts clubs of the FRCCF community centres .

FRCCF first used this fundraising method which is extremely popular in the West – direct mail – in the autumn of last year. Generally, the direct mail response rate in Western countries is around 3%.

The Foundation sent the first 150 letters to businessmen and representatives of public institutions from Cluj and Bucharest . Ten people have responded to the campaign so far, among them Emil Boc – Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Alin Tise – Prefect of Cluj County, Marius Nicoara – President of the Cluj County Council and Raimonda Boian - Cluj-Napoca Town Hall Spokesperson. All of them lived up to their promise and continue to support the children enrolled in the FRCCF programs.