Dear friends of LIN,
Allow me to share some good news at LIN in the past few months.
In the aftermath of Covid-19 in late 2021, millions of Vietnamese families and children were left in tremendously grave situations - income loss, start lack of access to online classrooms, severe social isolation leading to alarming level of mental illness, children orphaned by Covid, etc. From December 2021, LIN embarked on a journey to help Covid-19 hit children stay in school, attempting at reducing stress and worrisome behaviors. Together with Intel Company, LIN launched a campaign called "Do something wonderful". In June, we were able to wrap up a remarkable amount of VND 300 million which went into 45 scholarships for children of the Ho Chi Minh city based social protection Thao Dan center. "Do something wonderful" successfully called on the contribution of more than 70 individual donors through their product purchase with Intel, dozens of online influencers who leverage their influence to make this campaign go viral.
One takeaway for us at LIN is that at times when many individuals stand united against the deprivation and marginalization of a group of less priviledged people in our society, they are in to form a force for positive meaningful change that sometimes they are not even aware of. How powerful that is! The further we reflected on the approach of individual philanthropy, the more we realize that the idea behind "the journey of an individual philanthropist" is still very much needed to highlight that every single act of kindness, every single effort for philanthropy does not go to waste. Steadfastness and persistence is indeed, sometimes what it takes for "one swallow to make a summer".
The campaign was happily finalized. The results left each of us at LIN Center a sense of gratitude and appreciation for our donors and contributors who joined in for our cause and putting trust in what we do. That said, our journey continues on, and hopefully, so does yours.
Let's strive together for positive impacts!
Thank you.
Loan Nguyen
Links:
Dear friends of LIN,
As the old saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. So does the pathway to grow social impacts. LIN believes the difficult tasks of social change begin with an individual recognizing that they have the capability to contribute to sustainable development. On the Journey of philanthropy, the first stride one will take is to be aware that giving is not limited to a few affluent with financial assets, but is, instead, extended to each and every one with time, skills, knowledge, etc. to offer. LIN packs all our knowledge, insight and experience of philanthropy, community philanthropy and the nonprofits of Vietnam into what we call the Giving Well training Workshop.
On 23 April 2022, LIN conducted a Giving Well session to 25 female members of the Women Empowerment Club in Ho Chi Minh city. The training session delivered both theories and practical tools and group work to support participants to not only understand what philanthropy and its principles are about, but also to start engaging in baby steps to kick start their philanthropic journey. As a training point, we focused on the diverse ways of giving to the audience so as to gradually drive out the stereotypes that philanthropy is for the well-off, and ultimately to encourage more people to do good.
As a major nonprofit network facilitator in southern provinces of Vietnam, LIN has more than a few real-life stories of how communities are being tranformed to share and discuss, inviting workshop participants to think further of the groups of vulnerable people and the cause they would like to show support for. Majority of the Giving Well participants expressed a positive attitude to the new learnings, giving us greater momentum to achieve our mission for philanthropy in Vietnam.
To see each single step taken bringing the change we aspire for, no matter how small it is, LIN understands that every contribution from our donors plays a crucial role. Over a decade into establishing and operating in Vietnam, LIN is grateful for your continuous support to help build a dynamic ecosystem of community philanthropy and philanthropy.
Thank you.
Warm regards,
Loan Nguyen
Dear valued supporters,
2021 has highlighted the special deed of giving due to the fourth yet biggest wave of Covid-19 in Vietnam. We at LIN hope you are safe and healthy to keep joining hands for supporting the vulnerable groups like always. One particular example of our joint force is the result of the most recent Giving Tuesday campaign on GlobalGiving. Thanks to you - our valued donors, we successfully fundraised 304,024,000 VND ($13,384.25) within 24 hours of the campaign. Without further ado, let's have a glance back at our year of 2021.
First and foremost, we have together overcome the year 2021 spectacularly. The Covid-19 Response Community Fund 2nd and 3rd round raised almost 1.5 billion VND ($65,000). The extra mile we go in the third round is providing the Fundraising strengthening program for the nonprofits receiving the grants so that the impact would be prolonged. On a different note, the campaign “Tay Nam Chat Tay" (Joining Hands) with the initial idea of information sharing, successfully acted as the ‘matchmaker' between more than 120 nonprofits who were in need and philanthropists who were willing to contribute.
Secondly, the community's resilience has been proven to be astounding on multiple levels. When the pandemic hit, the ability to adapt to survive and thrive evolved. We were no longer bewildered by the sudden change of situation and shifted all activities to fit in by approaching the targeted audience on the right channels. For instance, our Annual Cross-sector Conference 2021 was held completely virtual for the first time, yet attracted nearly 400 participants in 2 days of events. Part of the reason could be the diversity and abundance in the cast of speakers from the cross sectors. Even though the networking event was supposed to be in person, this time around was hosted on a brand new platform, Gather.town. Unexpectedly, everyone stayed until the end to find the perfect partnership.
Looking back to the last quarter of 2021, many individuals and giving circles have reached out to us. They wish to join forces with LIN to further support our community post lockdown despite the absence of offline events. However, the current inquiry and advisory process are time-consuming for meetings and information gathering. In 2022, we decided to upgrade our philanthropy advisory service by transferring the background information and initial surveys onto the website. Thus, each individual can discover the journey on their own as well as set out a better vision and expectation for giving once we get in touch.
At the same time, we are also updating data on trends, needs, and the capacity of our donors. This work will help LIN approach more accurately, deeply, and effectively with individual philanthropists who have been and will work with LIN in allocating resources to communities in need.
In addition, we are working on building a reserve fund that helps LIN better respond to unforeseen events in the future. One of the programs receiving support from our donors is the monthly auction event called Fundraising Dinner, which is expected to launch this January.
2021 is by far not the best year as we’d hoped, but the most significant milestone for each of us to sit down and reflect on. The only constant in life is the change, and the only thing holding the whole community to strike through tough times is solidarity. By joining hands, we could achieve much more. The uncertainty of the future urges us to unite and we look forward to your continual companion in 2022.
Cheers to health, happiness, and prosperity in 2022!
With gratitude,
Thao Lam
Executive Director
Links:
Dear friends and supporters,
An eventful period has been undergoing here at LIN since our last reaching out last May. Hence today, we are excited to catch you up with some news about the achievements we just have got lately.
Together with our partners and thanks to your contribution, we had managed to organize a complete virtual 5th Annual Cross-Sector Conference last August 26th and 27th. The Conference initiated by LIN Center aims to promote partnerships and cooperation between businesses, (I)NGOs, NPOs, government, and individual philanthropists striving for sustainable development in Vietnam. Against all odds, over 230 leaders from all sectors had gathered to learn, share, and discuss the idea of creating impact beyond boundaries. It is also the first time we had sign language in the event to increase accessibility for our participants.
The Conference covered three main stages of a trust-based partnership journey: Vision, Engagement, and Learning & Impact via inspiring speeches, profound panel discussions, and creative skills workshops. Representatives from the business and nonprofit sectors shared their experience, skills, and insights while doing social impact and community development to promote trust-based partnership models based on real-life stories during the Covid-19 pandemic.
From human rights, climate change to food insecurity, and more, the Conference had gone far from the Covid-19 fear to appreciate our inner force in doing good. Then question each person how to keep that force resilient for the unknown future. Participants had discovered how to walk the talk while learning to manage projects among stakeholders, strategically utilize and mobilize networks, and develop creative communication when promoting social impact messages.
Although we know many points worth mentioned still unfolded, and complete cyberspace for the networking event was difficult for some participants to stay connected and interact with, we are grateful for all the other fruitful feedbacks. From our LIN team and organizers, we heard about participants who got emotional as they felt so uplifted by the inspirational sharings from the speakers. Moreover, it is thrilling to see people having small talks and share contacts at the networking event we built on Gather.town platform. Many participants had reported their successful connections with new potential partners.
Amidst the pandemic, positive energy is the light worth spreading, and we are pleased to see it happen at the Conference. Covid-19 caused us serious consequences, yet it also motivated businesses, philanthropists, and nonprofits to build trust-based partnerships for the sake of the community. Eventually, we realize that the sooner we join hands, the brighter impact on our community.
From the bottom of our hearts, we know the event could not come to life without your financial contribution over the period. Thanks to your support, the organizer team could run the virtual Conference confidently with proper technical equipment. Thank you for being a philanthropist and choosing to walk by our side on this giving-well journey.
Let's continue to spread the positive energy around you and stay tuned for more good news from us in the next three months. But first, please be safe!
With gratitude,
Thao Lam
Executive Director
Links:
Dear friends and supporters,
I hope you are doing well and safe wherever you may be at the moment.
At LIN, we believe in strategic philanthropy needs to be built from knowledge, understanding, empathy and real life practices with continuing improvement. In fact, philanthropy and volunteering has a long-standing history in Vietnam. While the young generations are passionate and eager to contribute their part in the community, given limited awareness about local nonprofit community and philanthropy, they find it challenging to know how or where to start their own giving journey, how best to invest in local nonprofit organizations to grow and become resilient in a long term, as well as contribute to sustainable development in Vietnam.
Therefore, after months of planning, last month in April, we managed to organize successfully our very first "Giving Well University Tour 2021 - Invest in the Future" program which took place from 17 March to 17 April to raise awareness of Vietnamese students about the local nonprofit community and giving well in Vietnam. The tour targeted to help 400 students from LIN's four partner universities including Fulbright University Vietnam, Ton Duc Thang University, University of Economic & Finance, Hoa Sen University to access the knowledge about the local nonprofits, social impact, as well as provide tools and skills for the students to get involved and play an active role in creating positive changes in the community.
We feel overwhelmed with the great interests of the students in philanthropy and nonprofit sector, more than 90% the students answered our survey said that they will continue their journey in practicing Philanthropy, this truly made our heart filled with hope and happiness. The students were very engaged with many meaningful sharing of their own exprience and great questions about how they can make their journey more impactful, they truly shared what in their heart and mind, not only their concerns, but also challenges and hopes.
And on 17th April, a NPO Fair was also organized to help more than 250 students had a chance to learn more about NPO sectors with combined high panel discussions and thematic workshops from Career in NGO sector, Gender Equality, Environment, Immigrant and Inclusion & Diversity to Education. This event was a great opportunity for the students to connect directly with more than 14 different nonprofits based in the South in order to start practicing their philanthropy in a meaningful way. A short summary video of the NPO Fair was published on our page here and a full report was also conducted after the program for your further reading.
We obviously could haven't done this without your support and generousity. Please stay tuned with many more exciting updates from us in the next report, in the meantime, if you want to see frequent updates about our activities in 2021, you can check out our fanpage here https://www.facebook.com/LINCenter and please don't forget to help to spread a word about LIN and our work to your friends and network, we really appreciate your help as always!
Please take care and stay safe!
With gratitude,
Vo Ngoc Tuyen (Kelly)
Head of Philanthropy Services
Links:
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