DPM Mutambara on UZ fundraising drive

By Arthur Mutambara

The past decade has witnessed strong economic growth for many countries of Africa, which has created tremendous amounts of wealth for African entrepreneurs and leading to the emergency of a stable and urban based middle class on the continent.

Considerable wealth has been created in such sectors as telecommunications, mining, construction and banking, among others. Many Africans have also scaled global organizational heights, achieving considerable economic status in the process. Indeed there are now many billionaires on the continent.

The Diaspora also has many African millionaires. While the continent has always had a deep-rooted culture of giving, this operates mainly at the family and community levels. There is a dearth of formal African philanthropy in the form of corporate, private and community foundations.

As such, very few of Africa’s newly rich and those influential positions give back to wider causes beyond their families and immediate communities. In the context of initiatives such as NEPAD and the African Renaissance, formal African philanthropy should be encouraged and nurtured.

In Zimbabwe we are aggressively pursuing this principle of Africans giving back to their own institutions starting with the University of Zimbabwe where we are developing a strategic and sustainable fundraising framework which we are launching through a fundraising dinner.

Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, will be the Guest of Honour at this fundraising dinner. The dinner is being organized by UZ alumni, the University of Zimbabwe and the Private Sector. It will be held at 7:00pm on Saturday the 28th of April, 2012 in the UZ’s Great Hall.

While serving the objective of raising funds to meet the UZ’s current needs, this event is also designed to nucleate the spirit of giving among the UZ graduates and Zimbabweans in general.

We expect an attendance of 650 at the dinner. The price for attending the dinner is US$200 for individuals and $2000 for corporate tables. Beyond attending the dinner, we are recommending that every UZ graduate makes a minimum contribution of $100 to the ongoing fundraising programme.

Once launched, this dinner will become an annual event to be organized and run by the Fund Raising Committee, and all UZ graduates will be encouraged to make regular annual contributions to the fund raising programme.

A bona fide and transparent mechanism for collecting and managing these contributions will be established. A new account will be established into which all contributions will be deposited. A committee comprising prominent alumni will oversee the operations of the account and supervise the disbursement of funds for use in the various projects.

We aim to raise US$10 million at the dinner event and US$20 million by the end of 2012 through the ongoing activities of the fundraising committee. These funds will go towards meeting part of the UZ’s US$70 million requirement for capital projects, which are outlined in the UZ’s Fundraising Handbook.

They comprise twenty specific initiatives including the development of state of –the- art geo-technology laboratories that process large volumes of earth observation data; establishment of a technology resource centre and business advisory services, refurbishment of medical and other laboratories; construction of a female student hostel; construction of a world class Graduate School of Management; replacement of old furniture in the University library; providing support (scholarships and other forms of assistance) to disadvantaged and special needs students and the capitalization of an endowment fund.

A fundraising committee comprising of influential alumni as well as key people from within the University has been set up to manage the fund raising programme. Additionally, several alumni who are now resident abroad have been identified to serve as ambassadors for the University in this fundraising drive.

Although the efforts are alumni driven, support is also being sought from non-alumni members of the private sector, civic society, Diaspora and the public sector. Donations and contributions can take any of the following forms:

• Funds for capital projects (buildings and equipment)

• Building materials (bricks, roofing, plumbing, etc)

• Funds for scholarships (corporate and individual donor scholarships and endowed scholarships)

• Equipment (computers, laboratory equipment, motor vehicles, etc)

• International exchange programs and staff development fellowships

• Endowed research positions and professorships

• Corporate adoption of classrooms and laboratories

• Other donations in kind such as books and building materials.

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Hon. Professor Arthur G.O. Mutambara, MP

Deputy Prime Minister, Republic of Zimbabawe and Patron of the University of Zimbabwe Fund Raising Programme