Meet the Author and Photo Exhibition Report

Background

The Indonesian chapter of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF)-ASEAN Fellowship alumni held on Oct. 1 a public  fundraiser for the alumni scholarship program in Pati, Central Java, which began in 2006.

The fundraiser was conducted via a Meeting the Authors and Photo Exhibition as the alumni expected to collect fund from friends to donate their money to the alumni scholarship programs by purchasing tickets and photographs from the alumni.

The alumni scholarship program has now financed 55 promising students from needy families in Purwosari and Tlogorejo villages, Pati, Central Java, three of them now are studying at the second year of senior high school. Every year, the scholarship program adds at least five new beneficiaries. When the scholarship program kicked off in 2006, the alumni only spent Rp 10 million a year, but now the amount of the scholarship expense has reached Rp 40 million and it continues to increase due to the rising number of beneficiaries and higher education from the beneficiaries.

The public fundraiser was only one of many ways to broaden the network of donors for the scholarship program.

The Event
The event was delayed 30 minutes from 7 p.m. to 7.30 p.m as rain and traffic jam forced most guests came late to the event. Guests continued to stream to the event until 8 p.m. with the manual counting showing the number of guests reaching about 100 people but the scholarship brochures at the registration table being taken reaching about 120 guests.

Meet the author began with an opening speech from Singapore International Foundation (SIF) director for International Networking Matthew Lee, followed by an introduction of Ahmad Fuadi, the author of a best seller novel titled Negeri 5 Menara (The Nation of 5 Towers) and Ubaidillah Nugraha, the author of four management and financial books including Reksa Dana (Mutual Funds).

The discussion heated up as guests were curious on how Fuadi wrote his experience studying in a modern Islamic boarding school  into a novel and sold more than 140,000 copies in nine months. Ubai, now a director of Trimegah Securitas also gave tips on how to write more than one book during his busy schedule.

The photographs sales and auction led by top architect Ridwan Kamil followed with a total of around 25 of 34 photos being sold.

The outcome
– Visitors: 100-120 based on manual counting and brochure distributed
– Donation, tickets, book and photograph sales: Rp 30 million
– The unity of the Alumni members
– An offer from the Jakarta Post to hold a joint similar event with them – to be followed up by Iwan
– Alumni from Senior High School SMA 1 Pati have expressed an interest to participate in the scholarship program  – to be followed up by Iwan
– Raising confidence of the alumni members about the values of their photographs – please have a look at the facebook status of each photographer participating in the event such as Ridwan Kamil, Dedi Junaedi
– More exposure to the name of Singapore International Foundation (SIF) Fellowship Indonesian alumni/Yayasan SIF Peduli

Expenses reached Rp 12,794,900, which is covered by SIF Singapore

Organizing Committee

Coordinators: Moch. N. Kurniawan and Ubaidillah Nugraha