"The Journey of an Individual Philanthropist"

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:

• LIN IN A YEAR OF RESILIENCE & REFLECTION