Build Home for Vietnam NPOs

Earlier this year, LIN launched the NPO Young Leaders Circle to facilitate peer mentorship and support to the leaders of developing, grassroots nonprofit organizations. Members of LIN's NPO Young Leaders Circle were encouraged to join LIN's Annual Narrow the Gap Community Event: Take Action for the Environment, which took place on 26 September 2015 at the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities.  Each member was given the following three objectives:

1. Make at least ten new relationships that they did not have previously;
2. Share five things they learned or experienced during the event; and
3. Introduce their organization/project to at least three people at the event.

After the event, Ms. Phun Cam Linh, representative of Smile Group and a member of the NPO Young Leaders Circle, shared her experiences with the LIN team and other members:

"During my time at LIN's Narrow the Gap Event, I not only visited the booths of LIN's partners but I also learned about the three project finalists and many other activities of supporting partners and event sponsors.

By being asked to look more carefully at these events, I could see that behind these activities are various ideas about communication that can be useful for my own organization and others. For me, participating in this event gave me an opportunity to learn and know more about different ways of communicating, building the reputation and offering a unique impression of an organization to the community and to various participants.

People used many well-known ways of communicating, such as: brochures, banners, posters, uniform T-shirts, business cards, and more...   In addition, there were creative forms of communication that some people and organizations used to demonstrate effectiveness and spread their image.

For example, look at the way two corporate sponsors spread messages:

• Lois Garden – Besides their booth for teaching gardening and selling plants, they also hosted a photo booth that displayed many plants and engaged people to come take pictures and make a commitment to protect the environment. The booth provided a lovely background that was suitable to the event's theme of environment. And it was a subtle way to make people aware of their garden and leave an impression. Below the plans, there was a simple banner, "We are LOIS GARDEN".  For every person that posted a photo of themselve in the both, their friends would see this message and may be attracted to come to LOIS GARDEN.
• Prudential – Prudential company sponsored the photo booth as well.  [For every photo taken in the booth and shared on Facebook, Prudential agreed to donate money to the Narrow the Gap Fund for the Environment.] This was made clear in the way the sponsor applied Prudential stickers to each of the environmental actions people could choose to hold up in their photo as a way of making a commitment to protect the environment. By the stickers on the messages and by the Facebook campaign, the company could promote its branch and activities supporting the community.

Beside the corporate sponsors, I could see how nonprofit organizations' communicate, especially the three finalists for a grant. For example:

• ECO Vietnam Group – This nonprofit made great use of its human resources, in particular their volunteers, who walked around wearing bright yellow T-shirts and some of whom wore a small board with colorful pictures and messages to request support. The actions attracted people's attention. Besides, they also communicated with people through real stories, products and examples. This kind of communication was impressive, and gave them a significant advantage to attract people's first impression and create curiousity to learn more about the organization.
• Deaf Community of HCMC (DCOH) – Similar to ECO Vietnam Group, DCOH had all of its team and members wearing a uniform with the logo of the organization on it.  They also engaged their members to giving out cards and creating a painting by people's fingerprints.  In addition, DCOH members put stickers with their logo on it onto the shirts of event guests, which was an effective way for the deaf community members to communicate that they wanted their votes. 

And there were many other organizations communicating in their own way.

LIN's Narrow the Gap Community Event provided a diverse environment for meeting and connecting people working in many fields who are all similarly concerned about the "Environment". At the event, people could meet friends (new and old); learn about environment and vote for the best project to support this year.  The event also gave me a good idea about the diversity of communication methods. I wonder, which communication method does your organization apply to communicate information and leave a unique impression?"

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The NPO Young Leaders Circle was launched in May 2015 with 15 members from LIN's NPO partners. Nine members are female and all members are between the ages of 21 to 35 with the average age of 26 years old. 15 members were divided into four groups and made responsible for one of four activities: (1) Communications, (2) External Networking, (3) Peer Sharing and (4) Training.  LIN coordinates the events and helps each team plan and execute elevent activities per year.  The next activity of the NPO Young Leader's Circle is a peer sharing, which will take place on October 24, 2015 at LIN Community Center. During the meeting, young leaders will have an opportunity to exchange experiences and challenges they are facing in their work. 

Links:

• Video Highlights of Narrow the Gap Community Event