Development officers in our Conference left their meeting in Cambodia with renewed spirits and a fresh understanding of their work. Meeting together and sharing both successes and challenges had helped them realize that they are engaged in a common effort to support the mission not only of their own Province, but that of the Society in Asia Pacific and the world.  Fr Jorge Serrano SJ, Assistant Treasurer for Development Resources in Rome, had challenged them not to focus only on raising money, but rather on winning committed partners for the common mission.

The Jesuits from development offices in Australia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Malaysia-Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam had gathered in Siem Reap from February 9 to 12 for the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific’s Development Officers Meeting.  They were joined by Fr Serrano and JCAP Socius and Treasurer Fr Eric Velandria SJ.

Much of the four-day meeting was spent on gathering information on best practices and insights in the following areas:

• Development of fundraising plans backed up by appropriate budgets assuring both financial transparency and precise knowledge of the cost of fundraising strategies and campaigns
• Appropriate ways of acknowledging grants and donations
• Strategies on how to communicate the mission of the development office to other Jesuits, including scholastics, and how to enlist them to support the work of the development office
• Planning for succession from one development officer to the next to assure continuity of approach

“Through our sharing of information and discussions we realized the great wealth and diversity of experience and know-how present in the group and how important it is for the success of our work that we both learn from and support one another,” said Fr Herbert Schneider SJ, Executive Director of the Philippine Jesuit Aid Association, and the meeting’s coordinator.

On the third day of the meeting, they visited the Xavier Jesuit School Project in Sisophon, which is about a two-hour drive away from Siem Reap. This is a major education undertaking of the Jesuit Cambodian Mission. After going to the site, the group received a thorough briefing on the project including the educational approach envisioned. As development officers, it was impossible not to see that realizing the plans will involve major fundraising.

The meeting ended with planning for next year’s meeting, which they hope to have in Vietnam or Indonesia. To enhance their capabilities as development officers, they want to focus on the following topics among others: possible training in the use of social media for fundraising and increasing their ability to meet challenges through appropriate case studies.