Skilled Volunteers Help Empower Vietnam Nonprofits

For the past three years, LIN engaged skilled volunteers to help draft our annual report. In addition to supporting our team with an essential task, having an outsider's perspective on our work has proven to be invaluable to LIN for two reasons. Firstly, we are learning how to better explain our work to key stakeholders. The second benefit is to have an unbiased person supporting the process of reflection and evaluation of our work and our outcomes. This past year, we were fortunate to meet Ms. Le Thuy Linh whose professional experience and personal interests suggested a perfect fit for the task of writing up LIN's 2013 annual report.

In this interview, Linh shares her tips to create an annual report that is both professional and eye-catching.

How did you get to help LIN write its Annual Report?

Linh: I had known about LIN for a while before I registered to volunteer for this organization. During a discussion with Ms. Dana Doan, my supervisor at LIN, I was asked if I could help to write the LIN 2013 Annual Report. I thought this would offer the best opportunity to gain an overall understanding about an organization, since I would have the opportunity to talk to not only LIN staff but also its beneficiaries and partners. Because my background was in market research, I was particularly interested in this project which would enable me to apply my analysis and presentation skills.

How long did it take for you to complete the report? What did you have to do?

Linh: The first step was to compile all data into an internal report, followed by drafting the content  for the official report. The entire LIN team especially Ms. Dana Doan, contributed to the content through discussions and interviews. Since the target was a short report that delivers the most essential information about LIN, I spent quite a lot of time to select data and plan the draft.

However, it was the presentation of the report that was most time-consuming. I am very critical when it comes to presentation. I am not skilled in graphic designing, therefore, I tried to read many annual reports by other organizations to learn from their layout and design. I spent quite a lot of time going back and forth with different layouts and designs, as well as selecting photos from LIN’s database and editing them in Instagram. My boyfriend is a designer so he also volunteered to help me with the design. I spent a total of one month on the report.

In your opinion, how important is the annual report for an NPO?

Linh: The Annual Report is a tool to share information about the organization and its activities and achievements. It is an effective way to archive data and helps the staff to gain an overall picture of the work of the organization and set their targets for the coming year. For not-for-profit organizations, the Annual Report has another important function: the opportunity to inform the donors and the community about their work, raise the awareness and indirectly call for action or rally support for a causes that the NPOs are advocating.

What skills are required of a volunteer to write an Annual Report for an NPO?

Linh: First, the volunteer must be interested in reading and learning about the NPO he/she is supporting. Second is the ability to analyze and select data, however, the most important skill is storytelling. The volunteer should be able to pick the right information to create the plot and use visuals to present the story in the most compelling way.

Thank you!

“We are proud of this report!”

"The LIN team learned a great deal from Linh during the three months that she worked with us. She always prepared for meetings and asked great questions. One of the first things she did was to explain her proposed approach and suggested timeline, which helped to set our expectations and ensured that we would be prepared with the information she needed to complete the report. She engaged easily with the LIN team and spoke with several of our stakeholders, making a deliberate and sincere effort to understand our work.

Opening up Linh's first draft of the annual report was an awesome experience. She accomplished something we had   always wanted to do but did not know how to do ourselves. The format and design of the annual report managed to tell the story of LIN's work in 2013, using data and visuals in a meaningful and effective way. We are so proud of the report that Linh created for LIN and truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from her."   

- Ms. Dana Doan, LIN’s Consultant

Click here for LIN’s 2013 Annual Report

(Read more about LIN's Volunteer projects from our Volunteer Newsletter at: http://www.linvn.org/cms/upload/FCKFile/file/Newsletters/Volunteer%20Newsletter%20Q1_EN.pdf)

Links:

• More on Volunteer Projects on LIN Volunteer Newsletters

• 292 volunteers contributed their skills to the community via LIN in 2013, generating more than 10,000 volunteer hours, valued more than 240,000 USD.
• Skills contributed: Communications, Marketing, Financial management, Proposal writing, Fundraising, Translating, Legal consulting, etc.
• Beneficiaries: 50 local NPOs in Ho Chi Minh City, including LIN

More than 80 people came to LIN Volunteer Day, an event held on 7 December, 2013 to appreciate LIN volunteers who made substantial contribution to the community in HCMC and announce the result of the LIN Volunteer Stories Contest.

The event was organized on the occasion of International Volunteer Day, with the topic: “The impact of skill-based volunteers”.

In her presentation about LIN Volunteer Services in 2013, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Truc, LIN’s Volunteer Coordinator, said LIN could not be where they were without the help of hundreds of amazing volunteers. “LIN is a not-for-profit organization with a very small team of staff. We could not do what we did this year without the wonderful support from hundreds of volunteers. Their contribution is tremendous to LIN and I would like to thank each and every volunteer who has been helping us!”

In 2013, LIN facilitated and worked with 292 volunteers who generated more than 10,000 volunteer hours to the community, valued more than 240,000 USD. 93 skilled volunteers were matched with local NPOs to mentor NPO staff on various skill sets and support NPOs in skill-based tasks. The skills contributed by these volunteers included communications, marketing, fiancial management, proposal writing, fundraising, translating, legal consulting, etc. Another 31 experts volunteered to lead a workshop or provide one-on-one consultation with NPO staff on organizational management topics. Another 168 volunteers provided direct support to LIN during the year 2013.

The impact of skill-based volunteers was highlighted in the speech of Mr. Mai Bao Trung, manager of Nhan Ai Social work club. In 2013, the volunteer group was matched with a team of employees from MindCaster PR agency who mentored Nhan Ai members on communications skills, and Mr. Nguyen Quy Duc who produced a video clip for Nhan Ai, pro bono. “Skilled volunteers like Ms. Nghi, Ms. Giang from MindCaster and Mr. Duc are invaluable to NPOs like us,” Trung said. “Their experience and expertise enable us to improve our capacity in areas that we are still very weak. I hope there will be more skilled volunteers to help local NPOs like us so that we could do our work better and serve the community better.”

At the event, Ms. Tran Thi Kim Chung, UN Volunteers (UNV) program officer, said that UNV aimed to promote volunteerism for sustainability around the world, therefore UNV supported LIN and its Volunteer Stories Contest to raise the awareness about volunteerism, especially skill-based volunteerism. “We wish to continue to support LIN and the volunteers in many activities to leverage their voluntary contributions and inspire people to act,” she said.

During the Volunteer Stories Contest Award Ceremony, LIN announced the result and presented awards to the best authors. A book of 16 selected stories will be issued in early 2014.

LIN Volunteer Day and LIN Volunteer Stories Contest 2013 were generously sponsored by Irish Aid and Intel, with in-kind sponsorship from ACET, Yoga Living, Yves Rocher, UNV, Zalora, Scott & Bình’s, Au Parc, Sweet & Sour, Wrap & Roll and Coca Cola.

Links:

• Please visit our website for more details.