# Demonstrate impact in language donors understand, says Resource Alliance’s Neelam Makhijani

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/08/12/demonstrate-impact-language-donors-understand-says-resource-alliance039s-neelam-makhijani/
- Published: 2013-08-12T10:13:52+01:00
- Author: Guest Blogger

Fundraisers are failing to demonstrate the impact of their organisation’s work in
a language that donors understand.

This is the view of Neelam Makhijani, chief executive of the Resource Alliance, 
who made the statement during an interview with UK Fundraising.

She urged fundraisers to think hard about the impact they achieve, and to find ways
of articulating these results to donors in an accessible and easily understandable
way – which means working more closely with programme staff.

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“All too often if you ask programme people to put together a concept paper they 
will use technical language that is difficult to understand,” she said. “There is
a language barrier that needs to be resolved. Fundraisers need to ensure that they
translate this into a language that they understand and that the donor will understand.”

She also urged charities to use social media to demonstrate the “why” of their work
rather than just raising their profile through “what” they do. “These tools can 
be used effectively to highlight the impact of what fundraisers do,” she said. "
However, it’s important to ensure they are used proportionately alongside other 
fundraising tools."

Impact is to be the principal theme at the Resource Alliance’s flagship event, the
[International Fundraising Congress](http://www.resource-alliance.org/ifc) (IFC).
Delegates to the 2013 event in October will include more than 900 fundraisers from
more than 58 countries worldwide.

 * **[Global Awards for Fundraising announced at IFC 2013](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/10/17/global-awards-fundraising-announced-ifc-2013/)**(
   17 October 2013)
 * **[Session proposals sought for 2014 International Fundraising Congress](https://fundraising.co.uk/2013/11/01/session-proposals-sought-2014-international-fundraising-congress/)**(
   1 November 2013)
 * **[Neelam Makhijani to step down as Resource Alliance CEO](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/03/18/neelam-makhijani-step-resource-alliance-ceo/)**(
   18 March 2014)