A global perspective series: database management and grant processing in Pernambuco, Brazil

Dear Diary,

For the fourth installment in this series, we are learning from fundraiser and salesforce specialist in Brazil, Kainen Bell. Over the past three years, Kainen Bell has lived and worked in Brazil for a community-based nonprofit called love.fútbol. Love.fútbol works with communities worldwide to create safe spaces for kids to play by building community driven multi-sports fields. Aside from serving in the role of Grants and Salesforce database specialist, Kainen will soon begin his doctoral studies in Information Science at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, with the goal to reduce the digital divide for historically marginalized populations in Brazil and the United States. 

Q: Aside from the notable ways that fundraising assists in sustainability, how else does it impact your organization’s work?

Kainen: To carry out our projects, we fundraise largely through corporate sponsorships and grant applications. Fundraising in this capacity has allowed us to expand our impact to different parts of the world where children lack safe spaces to play. We first began in Guatemala in 2006 and later made a HQ in Brazil. In recent years we have been able to reach communities and youth in Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Tanzania, The United States, The Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, to name a few. 

Individual fundraising is also important to our organization and was extremely important last year when COVID-19 emerged. All of our global communities were impacted, and we were able to quickly fundraise $73,000, which was a combination of individual donations and funding from our corporate partners to support local COVID Relief campaigns. We supported over 28,000 community members in 7 different countries with food baskets, face masks, and other hygiene equipment. We also fundraised locally in Brazil via Whatsapp where we shipped emergency food baskets directly to communities in need. 

Fundraising from individuals has also been important for us, and has helped to form new relationships with new community partners. Some donors have close ties to community-based organizations or sports clubs that are perfect matches for alliances, and often will facilitate introductions. In some cases, we work with these groups to apply for grants together or approach a corporate sponsor together. 

Q: Can you describe the overall nonprofit landscape in Brazil, and the grant application process?

Kainen: Traditional philanthropy is challenging in Brazil because there is a historical mistrust of public entities and fear of corruption, so individuals are not as likely to donate unless they have a personal relationship with the organization or have a very personal request.

In relation to grants, we adopt a mixed strategy in Brazil, consisting of funding projects through traditional grant applications, as well as the Sports Incentive Law. The latter refers to a statewide and national law that allows companies to fund sports projects related to leisure, education, and high performance, via reducing their income taxes. The type of tax, percentage of the investment, and the rules, vary according to the law. Love.fútbol has funded two projects through the State Sports Incentive Law in Pernambuco. At the moment, three more projects await final approvals. 

Q: Are there any database management challenges unique to Pernambuco that would also resonate with everyone around the world?

Kainen: I believe that one of the main challenges related to database management in Brazil is access to information for small and medium nonprofits about available databases, as well as training on how to use them. Nonprofits worldwide face challenges of low staff capacity – they lack time to be trained on how to use the database or how to manage databases in conjunction with the many other roles that they play. In addition, finding a skilled professional to work is expensive, so you end up being reliant upon the free time of part-time volunteers. Due to this knowledge gap and lack of capacity, many small organizations use excel to store their donor and organization data. 

At love.futbol we use Salesforce, and a challenge we have in the City is a limited number of people use Salesforce. This makes it difficult to seek consulting support or even expand our team in Brazil. All of our volunteers and assistance related to Salesforce has been from the US. Many of the high performing platforms or database management tools, like Salesforce, are US-based and are limited in Portuguese, and most online help guides are in English which can be a challenge for individuals with limited English proficiencies. In addition, due to the Pandemic, many nonprofits have limited finances and downsized, they cannot afford to hire a database manager. 

Q: How do you stay informed on new fundraising trends locally, and around the world? What are the local and global resources that you utilize?

Kainen: I subscribe to a variety of newsletters about fundraising trends and grant applications that have opened. Locally in Brazil I follow Prosas and GIFE and for news about grants in the US, I use CANDID and Network for Good. For grants related to the Sports for Development field I use The Aspen Institute, and Beyond Sport. My other sources of information related to fundraising trends and grants come from word of mouth ranging from my work colleagues, board members, and friends.

Many thanks to you, Kainen, for sharing your experiences and insight.

Until next time, June 15th!