Liquid Ideas donate brains instead of bucks
By Brian Milroy
Australian companies can be very generous when it comes to giving money for a good cause. Yet, these days, money is not the only way corporate Australia is choosing to support its chosen causes. Today, companies often encourage their staff to take active roles to help a cause operate or achieve a particular goal. For example, take the relationship between Australian not-for-profit organisation Food Water Shelter Inc (FWS) and one of its corporate sponsors Liquid Ideas. Liquid Ideas is an Australian public relations (PR) company providing a range of consulting services to the food, drink and travel industries.
You wouldn't think a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on building eco-friendly children's villages with health, education and social facilities for orphans in developing countries would have a lot in common with a slick, fast-paced PR company situated in Alexandria. Well, think again.
Liquid Ideas has gone all out in its decision to support the newly formed FWS. Is the support financial? Not so much – but that doesn't mean it hasn't sent the dollars rolling into the FWS coffers. By making a huge contribution with a gift of their time, organisational support and corporate contacts, Liquid Ideas has made a luminous difference to the bottom line of FWS.
And it's a bottom line that needed an injection. To complete the building of their first eco-friendly children's village (named Kesho Leo which is Kiswahili for "tomorrow, today!") in Tanzania, East Africa, FWS has estimated it requires $250,000. Liquid Ideas' staff has been instrumental in helping FWS raise $77,000 of the $150,000 FWS has raised to date. How did Liquid Ideas do it?
"By being hands on about their input," said Stuart Gregor, CEO of Liquid Ideas. Stuart and the Liquid Ideas' team were quick to lend FWS a hand when they heard FWS was planning to host a fundraiser in Sydney recently. "I like to do my bit for a good cause so when I heard FWS was planning to host a fundraiser themed to the exotic Maasai tribes in East Africa, I called Rebecka [FWS President], who I once worked with, to see how the Liquid Ideas team might help. I knew we'd be able to use our contacts to get a pretty sizeable crowd to the event, that we'd be able to pull a few celebrities and get some great prizes for the auction FWS was planning to host."
"And that's exactly what Liquid Ideas did," said Rebecka. "I had a small team of volunteers helping out with this event, but as soon as we got five fabulous Liquid Ideas' employees – Emilie Bachet, Rowena Fitzgerald, Sally Lewis, Stuart Gregor and Chris Morrison – on FWS's events management team, things started to really roll .
"Suddenly we went from talking about auction prizes that involved a weekend away in the Blue Mountains to a 3-course dinner for 10, hosted in your own home by Danny Lusso, formerly of famed restaurant L'Unico, and wine-matched by 2007 sommelier of the year Chris Morrison! We saw a prize of Be a Good Food Guide Reviewer for the night appear from thin air and then suddenly we had Triple A golf weekend packages to auction – Liquid Ideas' support in finding us great prizes to auction off for princely sums was invaluable."
But it didn't end there. "Liquid Ideas nailed an absolutely out-of-this world venue for FWS," explained Rebecka, "We'd never had got a foot in the door at The Argyle, in The Rocks, Sydney, if it weren't for Liquid Ideas. They even secured Australian singer-songwriter Diana Anaid as the night's entertainment – not to mention Stuart getting up on the night as our auctioneer!"
"All those hours the Liquid Ideas spent on the phone, calling in favours and stretching their corporate friendships made a direct impact on raising the $77,000 on the night," said Rebecka. "There are some things money can't buy and Liquid Idea proved it to us. We could never have 'bought' the relationships they've created with other corporates and individuals – and it was those relationships that helped create a successful fundraiser for FWS. But the best thing of all, of course, is that Liquid Ideas has committed to supporting us like this again, in the future. I can't tell you the relief that floods through 'my fundraising bones', when I think of that promise!"
What about the funds? Where to from here? It's FWS policy to spend 20% on its operating costs (this is low because FWS is run entirely by volunteers) and a hefty 80% direct to cause. So, yes, the majority of funds will be spent on rainwater tanks and timber for the early learning education room, communal kitchen and huge dining hall. When the remaining funds come in (no doubt with the help of Liquid Ideas), they will go towards building accommodation huts for the 16 house-mums. These are African single mothers who are looking for employment and will each care for their own children and a few orphans.
FWS is the result of a collaboration among five Australian women who became great friends while volunteering at schools in Tanzania in 2003. Each had travelled under their own steam to Africa and were on individual assignments when they met. Three of the women were working as teachers, one as a counselor and the fifth as a sponsorship coordinator.
At the end of their volunteering assignments the five women – Shona Arneil (Qld), Kelsey Wilson (Vic), and Rebecka Delforce, Edwina Hammond and Anne O'Donoghue (all three from NSW) – returned to Australia and did not meet up again for about a year. When they did meet, they realised they were 'all of the same mind'. That was, they were all keen to get back to Tanzania and continue what they had started. Unknown to each other, Rebecka had already registered FWS as a not-for-profit organisation and Kelsey had been looking into buying an orphanage in Tanzania. "Even though we hadn't seen each other for about a year, it was as though we were all working to the same end," Kelsey said.
"The name Food Water Shelter comes from the American psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs which sets out basic needs required by humans. The first rung on the ladder deals with the need for food, water and shelter," Rebecka said. "Without this first rung, a person is unable to rise through the other four rungs which deal with the needs of safety, love, self-esteem and individual potential. It is FWS' idea to go into communities in developing countries and give them everything we possibly can in terms of those first three needs, and then everything else after."
"It's just this kind of rhetoric that attracted the Liquid Ideas' team," said Stuart. "I've got a few girls in our office – they're Angelina Jolie 'wannabes' – just like Rebecka. So really, FWS is the perfect project for us to support – they're a fun, young team, fairly hip as far as these things go, so it feels like a good fit. And if you manage to give a few African kids an opportunity in life, all the better ."
Also interesting to Stuart is the eco-friendly nature of the projects. "I'm a big supporter of environmental issues – well, isn't everyone these days? FWS has a great environmental strategy and is building eco-friendly structures and establishing permaculture gardens at Kesho Leo. They're also setting up some terrific water harvesting ideas, which I think is a topic any Australian can relate to."
Indeed Australia has recently felt the impact of low supplies of water, but developing countries are constantly battling for freshwater. "The planning of the Kesho Leo children's village has included multiple ways of maximising water efficiency," Stuart explained. "The FWS team is even working to build an underground water tank that uses old car tyres – which are everywhere in Tanzania. It's all outlined on their website – but I get my updates from their free monthly newsletter Gimme Shelter. It's good to read where the FWS team on the ground in Tanzania are at, and to know that they're doing what they're doing, in part, because of our help."
More information
- Visit the Food Water Shelter website
- Visit the Liquid Ideas website
- Read an article about Food Water Shelter published in Volunteer Life, Issue 6
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