VPC has been working with Miracle Missions for some time now with the intention to develop a formal partnership and include it as a VPC endorsed projects.

About Miracle Missions:

Miracle Missions Trust is a non-profit organisation who is at the forefront of nation building and community transformation in Zimbabwe. They do this by identifying critical community needs in vulnerable communities and then coordinating and networking the people, organisations and resources capable of meeting that need. Through networking and relationships, they identify who does what best, connect those people and organisations, and then coordinate all efforts to meet required needs.

Believing that the key to the future lies in moving away from donor dependency toward self empowerment, they have adopted a smart-aid approach. This has allowed them to use their network of contacts to accurately identify genuine community need and community-based projects.

Projects currently being run include:

Orphans: food, shelter, health and education
Prisons: clothing, training, anti-corruption and primary care
Community leadership and empowerment programs.
Nation Building: agriculture (Foundations for Farming), education and training.
Emergency relief: food, clothing, health, shelter and counselling.

The organisation is run by Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans.

A Partnership with the Venture Philanthropy Company (VPC)

Miracle Missions approached VPC to discuss the creation of a partnership between the two organisations in late 2009. They sought this engagement having seen the benefits VPC could provide through the development of a business plan that would allow a roll out of programs in the most efficient manner. The also saw the value of an endorsement from VPC for increased levels of credibility and transparency when reporting to donors and philanthropists. In addition they understood the fundraising benefits via access to donors through VPC’s network of philanthropic and business contacts.

For VPC, Miracle Missions meets the organisation criteria sought. They are a highly effective organisation having significant impact on the ground in both community transformation and nation building in Zimbabwe. They are open to adopting business approaches to their work to ensure maximum transparency and efficacy of all work done. They have minimal overheads and are committed to ensuring a high proportion of all funds raised reached the people who require them on the ground.

The way forward

A partnership agreement between Miracle Missions and VPC has been drafted. The two organisations are now seeking initial donations in order to fund the development of a full business plan and strategic planning session.

This funding will initially be sought via a presentation to the business leaders of the Business and Communication Alliance in Zimbabwe. Miracle Missions is already a partner of the Alliance but one which we believe other Alliance members are currently not deriving potential value from. This unrealised value is through access to a ready made Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.

By providing financial support to Miracle Missions, Alliance members will have access to all reporting and marketing materials undertaken for and by Miracle Missions. Given all reporting, facilitating and arrangement will be undertaken by the Miracle Missions – VPC partnership, alliance members will have a CSR program but will save significantly on administrative time and cost. In addition, they can be safe in knowledge that they are contributing to the re-building of Zimbabwe (nation building) and their minimal investment will have a large impact (economies of scale) given a number of businesses will be contributing.

This will provide businesses the marketing, investing and reporting benefits of a CSR program when liaising with consumers and investors alike – something which is increasingly required from sophisticated investors and consumers world wide.