Narrow The Gap - Crossed paths for social impacts

Dear valued supporters,

On 26th October, Narrow The Gap Community Day was successfully organized to select 3 outstanding projects which were awarded with a grant of up to 150,000,000 VND per project, for Round 2, 2019. Click here to read more about three projects.

After almost 1 month of open online voting from the public and community there had been a total of 9,358 votes received. This Round of Narrow the Gap had 6 finalist community development projects that are solving diverse issues relating to education, gender, green energy and people living with a disability. At the event, representatives of 6 organizations had the opportunity to pitch their projects and discuss details directly with attendees and the Grant Allocation Committee. Many realistic questions related to the project were raised enthusiastically by the audience.

We sat down with two selected projects to learn about their journey with Narrow The Gap, and what impacts the program has on their projects & community.

Sy, CEO of Frogleap, one of three projects which received grants this Round, shared with us:

"In 2016, a member of Frogsleap introduced us to the LIN Center (LIN) where she was working. The first support we had from LIN was a warehouse to store our program materials, and Frogsleap gradually became more and more connected with LIN's activities;, taking part in Narrow The Gap program 3 times, joining annual networking events or trainings for nonprofits from 2016-2019. We came to significantly appreciate the term "local people addresses local's needs" from all the trainings & connections with other nonprofit organizations and businesses organized by LIN. This message was then often mentioned in our team discussions about how to choose the right way for running our organization or volunteering, so far increasing the belief and motivation of team members in volunteering until now. This is the reason for Frogsleap to keep trying in our ways to voluntarily support the community until now."

Ms Mong from PFLAG, another project selected to receive the grant this Round told us:

"In 2017, I started to engage with LIN's Narrow The Gap program, hoping to find more funding for our activities. This is the first social project that my organization ever wrote a proposal for. I learned a lot from the program's training sessions about writing proposals. It made me realized that I was not so good at writing projects and social programs, thanks to trainings provided by Narrow The Gap, I have improved a lot. It helps me become more confident in thinking, testing my abilities and the most great encouragement is enabling my positive thinking "Never give up, there will be better luck next time."

In 2019, at the beginning, I still wasn't decided whether to participate or not because I felt that I was not good enough and that my internal organization was still not ready. But after I've joined LIN's Impact Accelerator program, I learned and gained the energy, I decided to write a project to find more funding for the organization.

When the project got selected, everyone in our community is very happy, with all the support & encouragement. The thinking of every individual in the group has changed to be more positive, more diligent, more active and more united. My organization puts away all the individual interests to unite & focus on the project. My team received a lot of support and connection from Narrow The Gap. We were able to organize more activities for the community thanks to the connections with other organizations."

We also asked one of Grant Allocation Commitee members for Narrow The Gap, Round 2, Mr Son from KPMG Vietnam (one of our key partners & sponsors for Narrow The Gap), what he thinks about the program, he said:

"The Community Event is very useful for the community to better understand what social projects are dealing with, and have a more comprehensive view of funding coming from the community, from donors. How to help specific projects. Also, it is an opportunity for sponsors and businesses to identify the aspects that they are capable of supporting such as professional knowledge, finance, and in kind support; creating conditions for them to have the opportunity to interact and connect with social organizations. 6 projects have their strengths and challenges. For this year, the ability to write project proposals and presentations of organizations is quite equal, the access issues are also very diverse.”

This is our last report of 2019, one year has been gone with many different emotions, everyday we are happy, touched, inspired and encouraged by many amazing people in the community such as yourself. We definitely could not have come this far without your donation support. Thanks to you, we were able to provide a total of 9 grants to local nonprofits who working restlessly to address local issues in Vietnam and improve the lives of many underprivileaged communities in 2019.

Please stay tuned for more exciting updates about our upcoming plans and activities of Narrow The Gap 2020 with the theme "Planet" following the aspiration of 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. We hope you continue to accompany us on this journey!

For more information and real time updates from Narrow The Gap, please follow our page at https://www.facebook.com/NarrowTheGapProgram/

If you have any questions about Narrow the Gap, please feel free to contact me at kelly.vo@linvn.org.

In the meantime, we wish you a meaningful & joyful holiday season with your loved ones!

Sincerely,

Vo Ngoc Tuyen (Kelly)

Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Links:

• About Narrow The Gap 2020