Interview by Simply Giving

A sharing of a blog post from Simply Giving. Thank you for all the help ^^

"For this post, we’d like to feature an extraordinary team of women who went all out to create that extra boost and “wow” that causes need to get the word out. And they had all the hearts and love to donate more than just money….

Here’s what Shamaine Ho, has to say about it all. Who says miracles don’t happen for first-time fundraisers?

First of all, I must say a big thank you to Simply Giving for giving me big help from the very beginning. Your help has certainly given me a big boost by believing in what I’m doing 

As a greenhorn in charity and fundraising campaigning, I have so much to learn. I truly appreciate Simply Giving in featuring our campaign. I believe that this act of sharing and learning from each other will surely create a happier community 

1. Is this your first time running a fundraising campaign?
   Yes 
2. How did you hear about Simply Giving and MAKNA?
   I knew about MAKNA for a long time but they never caught my attention until I made a visit to the University Hospital(UH) Welfare department, the officer shared with me that UH welfare will refer their cancer patients to MAKNA when the hospital runs out of funds to help their patients. Then, when I met up with MAKNA, Vem shared with me about SimplyGiving.com, so…when I went home I set up my first simplygiving.com page 
3. What prompted you to fundraise? What was your personal motivation for this?
   The idea just came during an afternoon at a cafe after a cup of coffee, it was a light pulp idea :p Frankly I still can’t really recall how the idea arrived, I think I was asking what else I can do to help other than what I am doing now. Maybe a timeline of events will help 
   • The idea to go bald came
   • Then the date, Mar 8th was selected because of Woman’s Day
   • Then I decided on the number of ladies. Initially I was thinking of 8 ladies fof Mar 8th 
   • Next, I created Facebook event
   • Proposed to Winnie Loo, from A Cut Above, about the idea.
   • After Winnie’s confirmation, I started talking to all related parties.
4. How did you get your friends to donate? What methods/tools/channels did you use?
   I leveraged on social media platforms like a Facebook page, my own blog and simplygiving.com. Looking back, if there was better planning and more awareness, the donations could be a lot more 
5. On a scale of 1 (easy) to 10 (very difficult), how would you rate your fundraising journey so far?
   • Reaching the media and public is tough – 8
   • Getting resources & help – 3
   • Reaching the donation target – 5 (would be so much easier if the reach is good)
   • Getting Corporate to donate a big sum – 10
6. What will you do after your current milestone to get more funds?
   Do face to face pleas 
7. Did you learn anything from this interesting fundraising project?
   Yes, a lot  I’ve learnt soooooo much. Anything is possible when you gather the right people for the right cause. Big hearts are in each one of us and will appear when given a platform to give and share 
8. What are 3 tips you would leave for other fundraisers such as yourself?
   - Be true and sincere to what we do, what others say or think does not matter
   - Ask for help when needed, we can’t be good in everything but someone out there is good at what he/she does and is more than willing to help 
   - Can’t think of 3 :p
9. What did you like about using Simply Giving?
   Fast, simple and easy…except the part where Anonymous donors can’t be disclosed  (kidding) I understood and accepted it.
10. Lastly, would you fundraise again?
    Yes, I hope I can do it again on Mar 8th 2013  if yes, this time there will be better planning involved.

A Last Note: Shamaine and her team managed to raised a total number of RM77,000++ donations at the time of this post. Most of her funds were donated offline. But you can help her reach her goal of RM150,000 by donating online here."