Economic Growth Vietnam Project #4982

Skilled Volunteers Help Empower Vietnam Nonprofits

by LIN Center for Community Development

Project Report | Jul 22, 2016
Thank you for your support!

By Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc | Director of Programs

NPOs and volunteers meet and connect in CPI event

Dear Donors,

The LIN Center for Community Development would like to express our gratitude for your contributions toward our project titled Skilled Volunteers Help Empower Vietnam Nonprofits on GlobalGiving.org. With your support, we made a difference in the community by implementing three programs that address the project’s objectives:

1. Community Partnership Initiative: An annual, theme-based program that matches companies and skilled professionals in HCMC to local not-for-profit organization (NPO).

Outputs: LIN’s Community Partnership Initiative engaged 125 skilled professionals from 60 different companies to improve communications, fundraising, HR management and other professional skills for 36 different nonprofit organizations.
Outcome: 36 NPOs, like Ceporer Hoc Mon and Happier, were able to strengthen their capacity to better serve their beneficiaries. The impact of the project was clearly demonstrated by both participating NPOs and volunteer mentors. For example, Ceporer Hoc Mon, an NPO supporting underpriviledged children, winner of the first CPI, and Happier, an NPO providing psychological support to child patients, winner of the second CPI, both reported gaining more public attention and financial support thanks to having a new brand identity and communication strategy coming out of the partnership. On the other hand, volunteer mentors reported having better understanding of the causes and the hard work of organizations addressing those causes. ProSelf, a company participated in CPI on HR management, extended their pro bono work for another year at their NPO partner after the project ended, offering the much needed support to strengthen the organization that provides education and training to visually impaired youth.

2. BlueBees.org website: LIN launched and now operates the first (and only) web based platform in Vietnam that connects skilled volunteers to short-term volunteer opportunities with local not- for-profit organizations.

Outputs: 144 nonprofits and 727 skilled volunteers are registered & 213 volunteer opportunities have been advertised through the website.
Outcome: Smaller nonprofits, like VAVA Cu Chi, a nonprofit supporting victims of agent orange and dioxin, can easily access an impressive database of skilled volunteers to support their work. VAVA Cu Chi was in need of a consultant to develop their program for special education for their beneficiaries. After posting their request on the site, they were able to find a volunteer consultant to help them develop the cirriculum.

3. Mandala Night: Since 2015, LIN hosts regular networking events to raise awareness about skilled volunteerism and to faciliate networking among like-minded people.

Outputs: 7 events held, attracting nearly 700 people in total.
Outcome:Raised awareness about corporate employee engagement programs, helped orient skilled professionals to the realities of volunteering and connected nonprofits to skilled volunteers. At a Mandala Night event in 24 May 2016, Ms. Huong Truong, CEO of the Minh A Company, was introduced to the Thien An Shelter, which provides vocational training for visually impaired adults. Her company now employs 2 of Thien An Shelter’s past beneficiaries. Watch a video interview of one of her current employees and staff talking about the mutual satisfaction with the arrangement. Include hyperlink: http://jobforblind.com/cong-viec/nguoi-khiem-thi-trong-xuong-lam-thu-bong-74.html

In an effort to streamline our resources and strategic approach, the LIN Team decided to close the Skilled Volunteerism Help Empower Vietnam Nonprofits project on GlobalGiving.org and we would like to ask you to transfer your recurring donations, or continue to support our work through another project on Global Giving: Build A Home for Vietnam NPOs. This project is a consolidated fund that supports LIN’s efforts to accelerate the capacity of nonprofit leaders to address the needs in our community while connecting them to skilled professionals and organizations that share their desire to improve the quality of life for all people in HCMC. We believe that this is the best path after analysis of the current landscape and we hope you will continue to work with us.

We encourage you to learn more about the exciting vision behind Build A Home for Vietnam NPOs:

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/lin-new-year-lights-campaign-bild-a-home-for-npos/

As always, we thank you for your contributions and appreciate your continued support. Progress and development in our community would not be possible without your generosity. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach me, or one of my colleagues at LIN.

Sincerely,

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc

Director of Programs

Volunteers and NPOs speed dating at Mandala Night

Links:

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Jun 14, 2016
How a company nurtures an NPO through employee volunteering: A story from Horizon Capital

By Phuc Le | Volunteer Service Coordinator

Employee volunteering: A case by Horizon Capital

Three staff of Horizon Capital Group joined LIN's Board of Directors and provided critical help to LIN in terms of human resources, finance, legal advice, strategy and so on.

Ms. Ngo Thi Van Nga, representing Horizon Capital Group and Mr. Pham Truong Son, representing LIN, shared their respective experiences with cross-sector collaboration along with over 100 participants at a Mandala Night event hosted by LIN in Ho Chi Minh City in March 2016.

Four key experiences were mentioned:

*How can volunteers balance their career and their volunteer work?

Skilled volunteers can manage their personal work by a job description listing tasks to be done and days needed to complete them. Mr. Son said that he and Horizon's finance team agreed to meet on the last day of every month, with a volunteer present to collect and help LIN with financial management.
A skilled volunteer will always prioritize his/her office job, with volunteer work following in 'out of office hours' or free time. Once a clear commitment is made, volunteers and NPOs can easily cooperate.

*What is the motivation for businesses and volunteers to keep supporting an NPO like LIN?

From her perspective, Ms Nga said it was because they would like to see the development of LIN. In the early days, LIN only had one staff. Now there are 8 full-time employees. In the beginning, LIN needed help across the board and engaged many Horizon staff. Now that LIN is six years old, we engage the Horizon team on a more ad hoc basis, as needed. Horizon was happy to see LIN develop, "It is like you see your bird can fly alone after being taught".
In addition, Mr. Son said the more effective support NPOs received, the better reputation enterprises and volunteers can get. This is what NPOs bring to volunteers and to companies through this kind of coordination.

*Is it better when a business supports only one NPO rather than many NPOs at the same time?

The response to this question was that, it is better to focus on supporting the sustainable development of a particular organization. Once an NPO is stable, the business can seek out other organizations to support, if desired. A business cannot support all NPOs so it is essential to encourage the connectivity experience between businesses and NPOs allowing social issues to be addressed more comprehensively.

*Ms. Yen, from ICS clarified the benefits to NPOs of having support from the business sector:

"In the early days, ICS's employees were not professional which is why we did not know how to work with sponsors. For instance, we did not know that sponsors' logos had to appear at the beginning of the program... When LIN connected ICS with a communications agency, their skilled volunteers made it clear to us how to approach donors as well as how to share our information with partners in a way that could build lasting relationships.

In my opinion, businesses need to consider whether their support can make changes. This is why NPOs should share more information with businesses to make them understand the situation better and so that they may get more motivation out of their volunteer experience."

Links:

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Mar 18, 2016
Results - Community Partnership Initiative 2015

By Ms. Le Thi Thanh Phuc | Volunteer Coordinator

With over 187 nonprofit partners in and near Ho Chi Minh City, many are seeking assistance and support to build their capacity in different areas (e.g., communications, fundraising, strategic planning and financial management). By 2013, LIN began an annual survey of our NPO partners, which allows us to observe trends and identify gaps in capacity. One area where a capacity gap became apparent, both through the analysis of 2014 survey report as well as feedback from participants in the Community Partnership Initiative 2014, was human resources management in nonprofits.

The Community Partnership Initiative 2015 (CPI 2015) focused on addressing the HR management challenges of 10 nonprofit organizations. Each nonprofit was matched with a company team or a team of 3 to 4 skilled professionals. Throughout the CPI 2015 program, which started in May 2015 and lasted until November, the LIN team checked-in with participating nonprofits and their respective corporate/volunteer teams. We collected weekly reports from Partners, to track and assess progress towards the milestones and overall objectives.

After the conclusion ceremony and recognition event, the LIN team sent out a feedback form to all program participants, Among the 10 nonprofits that started CPI in May, nine made it to the end of the program, eight responded to LIN’s survey with the following feedback:

100% said they were pleased with the program and deliverables and
70% said the corporate/volunteer teams considerably improved human resources management in their nonprofit!

When asked what the nonprofit liked most about CPI 2015, the representative of Thien Tam Huong Vocational Training Center for People with Disabilities shared the following: “The professionalism and commitment of the company in terms of: - action planning – plan implementation – skills exchange – objective feedback and expertise!”

LIN also carried out 1-1 meetings with more than half of the participating nonprofits and nine of the corporate volunteers in order to collect more detailed feedback on the program and areas for improvement.

Summary Results:

CPI 2015 attracted a total of 61 skilled volunteers who played the roles of mentors, trainers and/or advisors to the 9 nonprofit organizations, contributing well over 1,600 volunteer hours.

Upon completion of the program, 90% of participant NPOs have a written action plan for their Human Resources management, detailing the vision and activities for the next few years.

50% NPOs defined their organizational structure and developed tasks for function departments.

All of the NPOs now have job descriptions documented for every existing post in the organization.

50% of the NPOs completed their recruitment system and process with training and induction included. They now have specific objectives and criteria for recruitment, with an emphasis on the organizations' core values.

30% of the NPOs now have a management of productivity system built and documented.

Upon completion of the program, four HR pro bono teams decided to continue their partnership with their NPO partners for 2016.

Nonprofit Testimonial:

“Huong is a wonderful expert both in terms of skills and commitment, she is so much determined and diligent in advising Change. After the mentoring, the most amazing thing left in me was not about having detailed guidelines but how to think, the way to work, the way to analyse in order to find out the ultimate root of a problem and thus having a suitable solution in that certain situation.

I am so much grateful to Huong, Nhung and Operation Smiles in Hanoi for creating much great environment for me to learn. I am thankful to Thao for her connection, encouragement as well as valuable sharing of administration experience.

I am thankful to Phuc and LIN for this amazing matching program. I hope that NGOs like CHANGE will have more opportunities to join such meaningful program”

-Ms. Ngoc Huynh, Operation Manager – CHANGE

http://vietnamcauses.org/npo/index/center-of-hands-on-actions-and-networking-for-growth-and-environment-change

Links:

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