Last Thursday, May 5th, we were afforded a priceless opportunity to network with entrepreneurs from over 50 nonprofits ranging from the smallest grassroots effort to those with budgets nearing 3+ million dollars. The common denominator we all shared was the Segal Family Foundation (SFF) www.segalfamilyfoundation.org. Barry Segal, founding father and patriarch of SFF, himself a highly successful and renowned businessman, has had the vision and desire to benefit humanity by investing his wealth and resources in charitable organizations whose efforts are in keeping with his foundation’s mission. This mission is: “to find our niche where we can help deserving people and improve the quality of their life…perpetually. Our foundation tends to focus on Sub Saharan Africa where parts of the continent have not benefited from the modernization that has happened throughout the world. We would like to find areas where we can help, whether it be in education, jobs, economy, health, sports, or most important, birth control.”
In an effort to fulfill the SFF mission and their commitment, the SFF board of directors invited us to “learn, participate, and network” at a 12 hour annual working meeting with other invitees from all over the world who have varying charitable interests. It was a privilege to meet every like-minded person in attendance. We mingled and lunched with people who, like Barbara Bush of Global Health Corps www.ghcorps.org is mobilizing a youthful group of emerging leaders to Elizabeth Scharpf of Sustainable Health Enterprises www.SHEinnovates.com which jumpstarts sustainable businesses to improve the quality of life to Twesige Jackson Kaguri www.nyakaschool.org who authored the book, The Price of Stones, which explains his enormous efforts to build a school for AIDS orphans in his remote village in southwestern Uganda. No one in attendance was unapproachable and all of us were willing to share advice and experiences both positive and negative. This was “collaboration” at its best!
To say that this opportunity to network was a “valuable experience” for us would be a vast understatement. The knowledge in fundraising, economic development, health and community outreach that we gained from this meeting has increased our focus, confidence and knowledge base exponentially. It has caused us to redouble our efforts to ensure that the faith you, our donors and supporters, place in us makes a difference in the lives of those we serve.
We have repeatedly said that while financial support is a cornerstone to our success, the in-kind services, emotional encouragement and expertise of our supporters is every bit as important. This networking occasion was the opportunity we originally sought with our initial meeting with Barry, Dolly, Martin Segal and Andy Bryant. They did not disappoint us. The details and the contacts we now have as well as continued promised guidance from SFF are immeasurable and we will make every effort to use this information wisely. We are anxious to revisit the Limpopo Province community this July and prepare for our renewed efforts. Thank you for remaining HFL’s staunch supporters and “Stay Tuned!”
