NONPROFIT
CIVIL SOCIETY
CSR
Philanthropy
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Insights & inspiration for social innovation
12 Financing Asia’s Sustainable Future
Edition 14 | OCT-DEC 2015 |
20 Rethinking Youth’s Role in a Post-2015 World
36 The New Sustainability at Intel
/AsianNGO | www.asianngo.org | US$10
ISSN 2312-0924
64 A Guide to Social Enterprises in Asia
Technology fuels the rapidly developing knowledge economy, generating opportunities, seeding innovation, and creating sustainable economic empowerment. Each of us has the right to explore possibilities powered by information and technology access. Now, more than ever, those possibilities are within reach. Because when one person is empowered by technology, there is a ripple effect that expands opportunities for families, communities, and nations.
When we bring the power of technology to every person on Earth, we connect people to their potential.
Together, we can create a better future. Learn more at: intel.com/innovate
Copyright Š 2015 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
table of contents 4 Publisher’s Note
Social Enterprises
7 Punchline
interviews
8 News Roundup 10 Events Roundup
Nonprofit & Civil Society interviews
55 Social Investments, ‘Blended’ Returns 60 Putting Malaysian SEs on the Fast Track Commentary
58 4 Attitudes that Need to Change to Grow Asian SEs
12 Financing Asia’s Sustainable Future 20 Rethinking Youth’s Role in a Post-2015 World
64 A Guide to Social Enterprises in Asia
Commentary
66 5 Ways to Finance Social Enterprise
17 Invigorate Asia-Pacific Growth by Tapping Youth Potential
67 Building a Team with Super-Skills & Complementarity
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Can an Established Nonprofit Still Be Innovative?
68 REPORT
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Hiring & Retaining Talent for Your Nonprofit
26
What You Should Know About Donor-Centric Fundraising
interviews
Making Smarter Decisions When Selecting Technology
Commentary
28 30
Your 5 Steps for Efficient Project Planning
31
Best Practices in Nonprofit & University Partnerships REPORT
34
philanthropy 70 Looking to the Future
73 Trends in Philanthropy in the Arab Region 74 Measuring & Improving Social Impacts 76 7 Questions to Ask When Reading Program Evaluations 78 Best Practices of Savvy Donors
CSR
80 REPORT
36 The New Sustainability at Intel
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Reviews
Commentary
84
Classifieds
interviews
41 Creating Shared Value in Asia 43 Recruiting CSR-competent Leaders 45 What is the Best Way to Measure the Effectiveness of CSR Programs? 46 Sustainability Reporting in Asia 49 5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Nonprofit Partner 50 5 Ways to Improve Stakeholder Engagement 52 REPORT
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www.asianngo.org
featured interviews
Financing Asia’s Sustainable Future
Bambang Susantono, Vice-President for Sustainable Development & Knowledge Management at Asian Development Bank Page 12
The New Sustainability at Intel
Dr. Anjan Ghosh, Regional Director-Corporate Affairs for Asia-Pacific & Japan at Intel Page 36
featured contributors
/AsianNGO
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar UN Under-SecretaryGeneral & Executive Secretary UNESCAP Page 17
Richard Welford Chair and Co-Founder CSR Asia Page 41
Ted Levinson Senior Director of Lending RSF Social Finance Page 58
Naila Farouky CEO & Executive Director Arab Foundations Forum Page 73
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publisher’s note Insights & inspiration for social innovation
A New Beginning Dear readers and supporters,
Sreenivas Narayanan Publisher & CEO, AsianNGO
We are extremely pleased to present to you the completely revamped and revitalized version of AsianNGO. Two years ago, we began the journey to serve the civil society and nonprofit community of Asia with the most relevant and meaningful information. Whilst we feel we fulfilled the mission, we also learnt a lot during this process. We received valuable feedback from you, our readers, some which supported and encouraged our approach and some which probed us to introspect and revisit our assumptions.
In the process, we realized that there is a considerable convergence happening in the social space that needed to be addressed; hence we bring to you the new and improved AsianNGO Magazine, with an updated look, substantial increase in content and a quarterly distribution. The convergence has led us to address the important sectors leading social innovation worldwide—Nonprofit & Civil Society, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Social Enterprises and Philanthropy. The content is designed in such a way that it stays relevant to you at any given time. Contributors from across the world have shared their expertise and experience to enrich your knowledge. To reflect the new approach, we have revamped the tagline to “Insights & Inspiration for Social Innovation.” This is indeed a new beginning in many ways and is in time with the release of the SDGs. We believe that the future of development impact will be guided by these new goals. We will also bring to you very soon the revitalized portal of AsianNGO which promises to link the civil society with funds, partnerships and learning.
CEO & Publisher Sreenivas Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Johanna Morden Senior Editor Karthikeyan Subburaman Development Director Robert Ferguson Partnerships Manager Olga Babina Partnerships Associate Nicole Razo Research and Editorial Associates Ashley Venerable Veda Bongalos Kristine Cassandra Azcona Web Administrator Chris Daria Creative Associate Jessica Pantalla Creative Director Kelvin Tee Multimedia Artists Kevin Dizon Kim Gasthin Joseph Emil Lontoc For Subscriptions: subscribe@asianngo.org For Contributions: contribute@asianngo.org For Partnerships: partner@asianngo.org For Sponsorships & Advertising: advertise@asianngo.org For General Enquiry: info@asianngo.org
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PHOTO CREDITS Flickr www.flickr.com Photo Stock Exchange www.sxc.hu Istock Photos www.istockphoto.com AsianNGO is a publication of Asian Development Media, with address in 21B, Kwong Fat Hong Bldg No.1, Ramsey St. Central, Hong Kong 1226. The print edition of AsianNGO is released on a quarterly basis. Opinions expressed in this magazine are solely those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by Asian Development Media. For more of AsianNGO and its database of grants, partners, learning assets and events, visit www.asianngo.org.
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BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO FIGHT POVERTY
©VSO/Allison Joyce
Talented people doing extraordinary things are at the heart of VSO. We bring people together to create transformational change in some of the world’s poorest communities. We are looking for development professionals to join VSO in Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan and elsewhere in Asia. Learn more and apply at vsointernational.org/careers 6
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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PUNCHLINE
A doctor, a lawyer, and a fundraiser arrive at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter tells them they each get one wish before entering Heaven. The doctor asks for a million dollars, St. Peter grants the wish, and the doctor enters Heaven. This generosity did not go unnoticed by the lawyer, who proceeds to ask for a billion dollars. St. Peter grants his wish, and the lawyer enters Heaven. Then St. Peter asks the fundraiser what she would like. She quickly replies, “If it’s not too much trouble, could I please get the business cards of the two people who entered heaven just ahead of me?”
How many board members does it take to change a light bulb? It totally depends on the composition and skill set of your board. If there is an electrician or handyman on the board, it only requires one. But if there’s a founder on board, the founder will probably insist that the old bulb is perfectly good and there is no need to change it, so you’ll need a second member to create a diversion. And if your board operates by consensus, you’re going to need everyone to participate in order to change the darn bulb.
Source
A development director goes to a very devout donor and asks that he give what he can as God directs. The donor says, “Give me a minute while I pray about this,” and goes off into a corner to pray. He comes back and says, “God has told me to give US$2,000.” The development director says, “May I pray for a moment as well?” and goes to same corner and prays. After five minutes she returns and says, “God wants to talk with you again.”
If they had worked in nonprofit... “Better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and confirm that you didn’t do the assigned readings before the strategic planning retreat.” Abraham Lincoln “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist while still achieving milestones and outcomes as required by certain funders and policy-makers.” Pablo Picasso “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 foundations and individual donors whose priorities don’t align with my organization’s.” Thomas Edison
Vu Le, www.nonprofitwithballs.com; Carol Friedman, www.friedmanconsulting.blogspot.com
/AsianNGO
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news Roundup New Development Bank The New Development Bank, formerly known as the BRICS Development Bank, was launched in Shanghai, China. With over US$100 billion in capital, the new bank founded by the world’s emerging economic giants—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—caters to the funding needs of infrastructure and development projects, mainly in its member countries. For the capital, China pledged US$41 billion to the NDB, making it the biggest shareholder with voting rights at 39.5 percent. Brazil, India and Russia will each supply US$18 billion, while South Africa will contribute US$5 billion. NDB’s first loan is expected to come in April 2016 and will be issued in the Chinese Renminbi.
Sustainable Development Goals GOAL 1 GOAL 2 GOAL 3 GOAL 4 GOAL 5 GOAL 6 GOAL 7 GOAL 8
GOAL 9 GOAL 10 GOAL 11 GOAL 12 GOAL 13 GOAL 14 GOAL 15
An Indian First President An Indian national, NDP President Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the former CEO of ICICI Bank and chair of Infosys Limited, India’s secondlargest IT services company.
GOAL 16
GOAL 17
End poverty in all its forms everywhere End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Reduce inequality within and among countries Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development
Gates Foundation partners with IDB The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank partnered to combat extreme poverty in the Islamic world, unveiling a new sharia-compliant fund worth US$2.5 billion. The collaboration brought forth a new US$500 million grant facility, called The Lives & Livelihoods Fund, that targets improvements in primary healthcare, disease control, smallholder
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agriculture and basic rural infrastructure in IDB member countries, particularly in low-income countries. The facility is funded with US$2 billion from the IDB and will back poverty-focused programs over a five-year span. Bill Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, will contribute up to US$400 million, while US$100 million will be provided by IDB shareholders.
“We hope to be able to commence operations in early 2016,” said Dr. Ahmad Mohamed Ali, Chair of IDB Group.
www.asianngo.org
World Population Germany’s new Asian aid policy
7.3 billion World Population in 2015
ASEAN strengthens ties with UK, EU In a first, UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia to bolster UK’s economic ties with Southeast Asia. Cameron pledged to step up UK’s economic engagement with ASEAN through cooperation in infrastructure development and e-commerce, among other areas. UK is set to appoint a special envoy for trade to facilitate trade and investment relations between UK and ASEAN. ASEAN-EU Partnership At the 23rd ASEAN-EU Senior Officials’ Meeting held in Brussels, Belgium, ASEAN and EU agreed upon a Strategic Partnership underpinned by political and security cooperation. Discussions were held on topics of mutual interest for the two regions, such as human-trafficking, business, trade and investment, enhanced capacity on mediation and reconciliation, climate change, environment, disaster management, maritime security, cooperation on trans-national crime and counter-terrorism, and connectivity.
/AsianNGO
4.4 billion people live in Asia,
60%
of global population.
Among the 10 largest nations in the world,
5 are in Asia: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia & Pakistan
in 7 WILL years india OVERTAKE CHINA as the world’s most populous country
by 2050
there will be 5.2 billion people living in Asia Source: 2015 World Population Prospects Report, UN ESA
Germany unveiled its new aid priorities for Asia. These include global partnerships and regional cooperation; vocational training, sustainable and social economic development, and employment; climate and biodiversity; assisting refugees; human rights, participation and the capacity of state institutions; improving structures and living conditions in cities, and; health and social protection systems. “Asia is facing the tremendous challenge of getting onto a sustainable growth path which will include all people whilst still being environmentally friendly,” said German Development Minister Gerd Müller.
Addis Ababa Action Agenda The 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia concluded with a new framework adopted by 193 UN member states that will set the direction for future global development financing. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda will help align finance flows— domestic and international, public and private—with economic, social and environmental priorities. Countries reaffirmed their commitment to up official development assistance, particularly for least developed countries, pledging to increase South-South cooperation.
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Events Roundup
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Hanoi, Vietnam | July 2 The Disaster Preparedness Forum is an event by CSR Asia and Prudence Foundation providing practical tools on implementing responsible business engagement for disaster preparedness and management.
2.
New Delhi, India | July 15 The 3rd National Conference on the Business Case for Sustainable CSR Interventions seeks to align Indian CSR with national development goals and programs, and promote renewable energy-based CSR Interventions.
3.
Colombo, Sri Lanka | July 20-22 The 2nd Annual International Conference on Arts and Humanities is a platform for knowledge exchange and innovation-sharing on emerging areas in the arts and humanities.
4.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | August 20 The South-East Asia Summit brings together the region’s opinion leaders to discuss the upcoming ASEAN integrated economic community and other pressing issues in Southeast Asia.
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Manila, Philippines | August 24-27 Forum 2015: The Global Forum on Research and Innovation for Health aims to identify solutions to the world’s unmet health needs through research and innovation.
Manila, Philippines | August 12-14 The Asian Development Bank, ASSIST Asia and Plan International partners to hold the 3rd annual Asian Youth Forum to gather youth leaders and development partners around boosting civic engagement and participation of youth.
5.
6.
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New Delhi, India | August 24-27 The International Workshop on Resource Mobilization Asia is an intensive workshop for fundraising professionals focused on sustainable fundraising and resource mobilization techniques.
www.asianngo.org
Upcoming Events
Social Capital Markets Conference October 6-9 San Francisco, USA CSR Asia Summit October 7-8 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2.
6th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum October 19-21 Jakarta, Indonesia
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8. 3.
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1. 5. 9.
International Fundraising Conference October 20-23 Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands Asia Clean Energy Summit October 27-28 Singapore, Singapore BSR Conference November 3-5 San Francisco, USA 2nd CSR Seoul Initiative Conference November 12 Seoul, South Korea
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Pathum Thani, Thailand | August 24-September 4 The Asian Institute of Technology conducts the Professional Development Course on Community-Based Financial Inclusion and Microfinance to give participants a holistic perspective of financial inclusion and microfinance.
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Singapore, Singapore | August 26 The annual Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards honor organizations and companies that are committed to environmental excellence and protection.
/AsianNGO
International Disaster and Crisis Management Seminar November 16-19 Dubai, UAE AIDEX 2015 November 18-19 Brussels, Belgium 3rd Anti-Corruption Compliance Asia-Pacific Summit December 9-11 Hong Kong, China
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Financing Asia’s Sustainable Future An interview with the new Vice-President for Sustainable Development & Knowledge Management at Asian Development Bank
T
he world is on the cusp of a new era. While the Millennium Development Goals have succeeded in halving poverty rates across the globe, its successor—the Sustainable Development Goals—will set forth on an important mission to eradicate poverty once and for all when it takes effect in 2016. With 17 goals and 169 targets, the SDGs make an ambitious and challenging plan. The Asian Development Bank estimates that financing the SDGs in Asia and the Pacific could cost more than US$1 trillion per year. This comes as traditional funding sources, such as official development assistance, are at a slow hike. In 2013, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that ODA to the region stood at a mere US$27 billion. How will this financing gap be filled? The key lies in harnessing all sources of financing, says Bambang Susantono, new Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development at ADB, in his first-ever interview after assuming the post in July. How are you finding your first few months at ADB? It has been an exciting time for me, transitioning from delivering services to 250 million people in Indonesia to now facilitating some 4.4 billion people in the wider Asia and the Pacific region. Serving those numbers varies in terms of differences in geography, needs, culture and socio-economic conditions. While quite a challenge, I’m continuously learning and gaining more understanding about the unique situation in the region, in order to do more for those who need the services of ADB. I’m taking this rare opportunity to serve even more people across the globe, from the standpoint of working in a financial institution. You joined the ADB at a momentous time, as the world faces a new set of development goals—the Sustainable Development Goals. How will the SDGs potentially impact ADB operations? ADB’s key priorities under our Strategy 2020 Midterm Review are consistent with the SDGs. We are in fact thinking beyond 2020 to develop a longer-term strategy, as the SDGs will end in 2030. For instance, what kind of challenges are we going to face until 2030, given the vast change in global and regional outlooks from the last decade? We now have climate change issues, alongside social, political and cultural issues, which will have to be addressed from a collective standpoint.
PROFILE Bambang Susantono is the former Vice-Minister for Transportation in Indonesia. He served as the President of Indonesia Intelligent Transport Society; Vice-President of East Asia Society of Transportation Studies based in Tokyo, Japan; and a member of the Board of Trustees of the SouthSouthNorth Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Infrastructure Planning from the University of California Berkeley.
I’m very optimistic that the ADB will go along these dimensions. This year, there are three milestone events that will shape the future of development financing and partnerships. First was the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa. Next, the formal announcement of the SDGs in New York and, lastly, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in December. /AsianNGO
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NonProfit & Civil Society
interview
interview
Speaking of partnerships, do you see it becoming more important in the coming years?
ADB’s annual disbursements are continuously rising, alongside other MDBs. Why is this the case?
I believe so. Given the current challenges in this fast-evolving world—in which, on one hand technological innovations are allowing us to connect from anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second but, on the other, we still find people living below the poverty line. These two trajectories have to be tackled at the same time from a collective standpoint to ensure sustainable and inclusive growth.
With the enormous demand for development financing worldwide, more and more development institutions are trying to scale up their financial capacity while at the same time tapping into other possible sources such as the private sector. Leveraging these sources is key to fulfilling the demand for various types of development financing. This is one role that we at ADB would like to strengthen in the future— to continue to help coordinate international action for regional challenges, while catalyzing private investment.
ADB is keen to continue collaborating with NGOs and CSOs. These organizations are important because they can become knowledge hubs for other stakeholders. For instance, in introducing new types of applied technology such as micro hydro to rural areas, these organizations can give perspectives from the field about stakeholders’ experience in using the technology. We at ADB can then use this knowledge to share with our other stakeholders worldwide, and improve stakeholder engagement in our projects.
ADB will be able to raise more funds with the recent merger of our Asian Development Fund with our Ordinary Capital Resources balance sheet. Once it becomes effective in 2017, this will boost ADB’s capacity to lend to our developing member countries to as high as US$20 billion—50 percent more than the current level.
NonProfit & Civil Society
Why are we also seeing an upsurge in climate financing? Climate change mitigation and adaptation is broadening in terms of programming and needs on the ground. Asia requires at least US$40 billion annually for climate change adaptation alone. In 2010, developed countries set a goal of providing US$100 billion annually for developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change from 2020 onwards. But according to Climate Policy Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to low-carbon development, only US$34 billion was forthcoming in 2013, so there is still a gap here. We should act together because climate change is everybody’s concern. Ideally, we must integrate climate financing and development financing. People still see these as two diverging roads but in the years to come, climate and development issues will converge more and more. You’re known for your work in transportation and infrastructure development. What will you bring from this background? Throughout my professional life, I sought to carry out what I called people-centered infrastructure development, a concept that aims to incorporate all stakeholders in the development process—from the early stage of planning and programming up to the operation and maintenance stages to enable a more inclusive process. This was my platform in Indonesia, which I aspire to bring into my new role. /AsianNGO
For transportation, my priority was ‘livable transport,’ which puts the needs of people front and center while also taking into consideration the social, economic, and environmental outcomes of the sector. It’s also an inclusive concept in the sense that there’s increased stakeholder involvement, as well as a balance between economic efficiency and equity dimensions to uphold fairness, justice and similar pursuits. That’s why I count many friends among NGOs, civil society and the academic community, because those concepts are widely viewed as a common platform for development. What improvements will you seek to make within ADB? As part of the ADB management under the leadership of President Takehiko Nakao, I aim to promote ADB’s ‘Finance ++’ initiative of combining the bank’s own finance with other funding resources through partnerships, and providing knowledge facilitation and sharing to maximize development effectiveness. We have two ‘pluses.’ First is knowledge, and second is co-financing. Why? Because the needs in the region are so large that it’s impossible for one multilateral development bank like ADB to tackle them alone. We have to mobilize resources not only from other public sources, but also from the private sector as well as civil society. This is the platform that I would like to promote throughout my term here at ADB.
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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The Green Revolution Revolutionhas hasbegun. begun. The second second Green Overcoming and hunger hunger demands demands Overcoming poverty poverty and that of the the solution. solution. that rice rice be be part part of
www.irri.org/gr2 www.irri.org/gr2
NonProfit & Civil Society
commentary
Invigorate Asia-Pacific Growth by
Photo: ESCAP
Tapping Youth Potential
The energy, enthusiasm and expertise of Asia-Pacific youth are among our most valuable and productive regional assets. Tapping this potential, by empowering and harnessing the vitality of new ideas, talents and inspiration is critical for sustainable growth and development. Our region is home to more than 717 million young women and men. Yet, in spite of their numbers and potential, young people are too often excluded from the economic, social and political mainstream—denied the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to shared regional prosperity. What about the challenges of youth diversity? Half of the region’s young people live in South and South-West Asia alone, while in East and North-East Asia youth numbers have been declining for almost a decade. Different demographics require different policy responses, but one common denominator remains: the importance of investing more strategically in youth. /AsianNGO
More than 80 million young people are unemployed, and many more are underemployed across our region. While total Asia-Pacific unemployment is lower than in other regions, young people are more often unemployed than adults, with youth unemployment as high as 20 percent in several countries. In 15 Asia-Pacific nations, young people are as much as seven times less likely to be employed than adults.
AUTHOR Dr. Shamshad Akhtar
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is a United Nations UnderSecretary-General and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
We must change this–now. At the 2015 crossroads between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the new sustainable development goals (SDGs), we have a unique opportunity to place youth squarely at the center of global and regional development, AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Photo: Klienne Eco
which is why several of the proposed SDGs explicitly target youth, in relation to education, decent work and climate change.
When the UN conducted the My World survey to shape the post-2015 agenda, youth in all our subregions shared the same primary concern: ‘a good education.’ In second place, across the board, was ‘better job opportunities.’ While most Asia-Pacific countries have achieved the MDG on access to primary education, young people increasingly face obstacles in transitioning from school to work, with education outcomes poorly-matched to modern labor market demands.
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This is why the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), together with several partners of the UN family and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is conducting the firstever regional UN report on youth, to be launched later this year. Its preliminary findings underscore the harsh reality for millions of young people in our region: exclusion from productive employment, lack of affordable health care services and limited access to skills-based education, in combination with the struggle to secure decent jobs. We are supporting our member States to improve the school-to-work transition, proposing new policy options and best practices to address the urgent needs of youth, while also analyzing the linkages between youth exclusion and social unrest.
We must therefore increase attention to secondary and tertiary education, as well as vocational training. Despite generally being better educated than older generations, many young people fail to find decent work–or any work at all–owing to a lack of opportunities, skills, contacts, financial resources and transportation.
There are no short-term solutions. Leaders have a crucial role to play as we lay the foundations for good policies and strong institutions. We must together raise public spending on education, improve the quality and governance of education, ensure better alignment between training and jobs, and find new ways to harness the entrepreneurial spirit and creative talents of young people.
Youth who are not engaged in training, education or formal employment total 62 percent in Asia and the Pacific, a figure expected to rise. The mismatch between the skills of young people and market demands can easily cause young people to feel discouraged and excluded, leading to a downward of poverty and, potentially, social unrest.
With political commitment, stronger partnerships between governments and key stakeholders, as well as the strategic support of financial institutions and development banks, such as the ADB, we can secure the inclusive and prosperous future we want for all, with an engaged, enthusiastic and energetic youth population.
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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NonProfit & Civil Society
Can an Established Nonprofit Still Be
Innovative? by Joseph Amodeo
Today’s philanthropic environment encourages nonprofits to be more innovative than ever before, with an increasing focus on measuring impact. This push to stimulate the development of creative solutions to addressing the needs of the community challenges nonprofits to constantly reconsider their program models. Being ‘innovative’ does not mean deserting an organization’s history, but rather leveraging what’s been done to achieve new and greater impact. Established nonprofits often have the staff and resources to take risks and pilot new programs or approaches, but how can they take the leap toward being innovative? Establish a culture of innovation Nonprofit leaders need to let staff, clients and external constituents know that they value innovation. This will empower individuals to think critically and creatively about the agency and its programs. Define the need Development staff should work with program staff, leaders, clients, and external constituents to identify pressing needs and service gaps within the agency’s scope. Nonprofits should be willing to question the effectiveness of their existing program models and consider potential complementary areas of impact. /AsianNGO
Brainstorm Development staff must then work collaboratively with program staff to host a series of brainstorming sessions to ascertain solutions to the identified issues. Often, an organization is already home to innovative thinkers who just need the freedom to exercise their entrepreneurial spirit.
A culture of innovation is necessary to constantly push an organization forward. Once established, it will enable staff to move from developing innovative approaches to achieving impact knowing that they are supported by their organization’s leadership.
Draft the concept
Nonprofits need to be laboratories for piloting new and creative approaches to living out their missions and serving their communities, in the same way that for-profit companies aim to remain relevant by updating their products and services while also developing new ones.
Drawing on institutional knowledge, research, contemporary literature and other sources, the ‘innovation team’ should put together a concept paper that captures the proposed innovation’s activities, goals and objectives. This initial document can then be shared with stakeholders who may be interested in supporting the project. Pilot the innovation Once a proposed model is developed, and if resources allow, it should be tested. In many cases, the test will provide potential funders with the early impact data they need to assess whether the project is a viable investment.
AUTHOR Joseph Amodeo is the Director of Development and Strategy for Quality Services for the Autism Community, a nonprofit that supports children and adults with autism in achieving greater independence and realizing their full potential. joseph.amodeo@gmail.com @josephamodeo
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interview
Rethinking Youth’s Role in a Post-2015 World 20
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
www.asianngo.org
A
sia-Pacific is home to 60 percent of the world’s youth, with a total of 717 million young people between the ages of 15 to 24 in the region, according to UN ESCAP. This hefty share of the world’s population poses vital questions in sustainable development and youth’s role in its progress. On the sidelines of the 3rd Asian Youth Forum in August, Ahmad Alhendawi, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, speaks about the prospects for Asia-Pacific’s youth, as well as opportunities in harnessing the region’s demographic contributions to accelerating economic growth, also known as the demographic dividend. Alhendawi, who in 2013 was appointed as the first-ever Envoy on Youth, hails from Jordan. How was your recent trip to Asia? I’ve been here several times, of course. This month of August we have a special focus on Asia, including India, Japan and the Philippines, as well as Jordan in the Middle East. As you know, Asia is home to more than 600 million people in the age bracket of 15 to 24. You have countries that are housing now the largest number of people, China and India. Clearly, when it comes working on youth issues and demographics, one has to prioritize Asia. We live in a very youthful world, with half of the world’s population under 45 years old. The Philippines is a good example, exactly mirroring the situation of the world somehow, where half of Filipinos are now below 45 years old. How optimistic are you about the future of Asia-Pacific’s youth? It’s a vast region that is home to diversity. I’m generally hopeful but one has to be mindful of the unique disparities that exist in Asia and the Pacific. You have a large region with varying economic and democratic structures. Talking in more general terms, this region has shown us that investing in the youth population is smart, and could help grow and boost economies. Let’s look at the Asian tigers, for instance—one lesson we can draw from the development of these countries, according to the World Bank, is investing in the demographic dividend. Now in the same region, we see other countries that seem to be a little more relaxed about the demographic opportunity, thinking that it happens automatically and that having this many young people leads to economic growth. But this requires some investments, and I would highlight two. You need to reduce the fertility rate and you need to create more job opportunities among youth. Teenage pregnancy and fertility rate are still quite high in some countries, and that’s counterproductive to achieving the demographic dividend. Second, it’s not only about offering jobs but also offering decent jobs. The issue is not only youth unemployment but also underemployment. We must ensure that investments in youth are not seasonal, but are instead a long-term state priority. Speaking of the future, what are your thoughts on the Sustainable Development Goals? Let’s put this in perspective. The Sustainable Development Goals, for me, is one of the boldest things that ever happened in human history. Never before have
/AsianNGO
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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NonProfit & Civil Society
interview
BACKGROUND
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Digibayanihan aims at improving the digital literacy and building digital empowerment and digital citizenship in the country. One of the ways to achieve this is through a national volunteering movement mobilizing champions to promote digital literacy and digital citizenship. The iniative will equip Filipinos with the critical skills to harness the power of technology to improve lives.
Promotional Campaign New topics and tools Multistakeholder Engagement Champions and multipliers enablement
BE A PARTNER FOR PROGRESS PROMOTE Bring DigiBayanihan into your employees and partners. Mara Garcia Partnership Manager (+632) 403-8668 loc. 525 maragarcia@asianngo.org
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AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
INTEGRATE Incorporate DigiBayanihan into your CSR and employee engagement initiative through trainings. Aira Rostrata Partnership Associate (+632) 403-8668 loc. 525 aira@asianngo.org
BENEFIT Grab the opportunity to help and avail these benefits.
acebook: DigiBayanihan
www.asianngo.org
Photo: UN Philippines
NonProfit & Civil Society
interview
whole nations come together with a commitment to completely eradicate extreme poverty and reverse climate change, alongside promoting shared economic prosperity and social development through development targets and indicators crafted in a way that we only have to implement it. Now, how will it change things?
Now we can’t think of youth as beneficiaries— that’s an old-fashioned, dated concept—and I’ll tell you why. Youth are too many in this world to cater for. You can’t cater for half of the world’s population, but what you can do smartly is to engage them in catering for themselves and for others. My hope could only be, when it comes to the implementation of the SDGs, that we change the narrative about how to engage people. We need youth to become partners in development. The question now is how to mainstream that in the implementation of the SDGs. That’s why the UN, through my office, is launching a youth gateway for the implementation of the SDGs, which will offer one gateway for young people to get involved around the world. When it comes to the implementation of the SDGs, how will you gain feedback from youth in terms of impact? There are many initiatives in the pipeline related to engaging youth, not only in the implementation phase, but also in evaluating and monitoring the SDGs. I’ll spare no effort to support all these initiatives because we have to encourage people to ques/AsianNGO
tion, and to push their political leaders to keep their countries on track. That’s a goal for CSOs and youth organizations—to immediately start working as implementers and as watchdogs to ensure that allocations, commitment and execution are there, as well as report on the progress we’ve been making. Without civil society’s participation and advocacy, without citizens’ engagement, we won’t be able to reach the base we want. As a leader among youth, what advice would you give to organizations struggling to attract and retain young talent in their workforce? To attract people we need to understand them, and not go in with our own assumptions about what they like and don’t like. For instance, if you’re in a market in the private sector and you offer a product that nobody’s buying, you’d immediately question a few things. How relevant is this product to consumers? How are you packaging and marketing this product? In short, you blame yourself for not matching the needs of people or for not making it appealing. I hope in the nonprofit and CSR space, we can learn this lesson. If we put out a product and young people don’t come, we have to challenge ourselves to make our work and our stories more appealing, while also leveraging on social media. We can’t keep doing things the analog way, while young people are going digital. In my opinion, many organizations are more comfortable with the way we do business, but we need to produce innovative ideas to get more people involved. For instance, my approach whenever we do something that doesn’t work well with youth is to immediately think of a way to make it better. If you offer them something cool, exciting and meaningful, they will come. AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Hiring & Retaining Talent for Your Nonprofit What you can learn from the for-profit sector by Bharathan Prahalad I am going back in time, and the year was 1998. I was lucky to clear the entrance exams at the Madras School of Social Work, an institution that had produced the majority of successful human resources professionals in South India.
Why would I reject a job offer at a nonprofit? Why should the HR of a nonprofit struggle to get me on board? The biggest challenge among nonprofits is attracting and retaining quality talent, and certainly not because of its scope of work.
My mind is moving forward now to the year 2000. Like many social work professionals from MSSW, I made the shift to the corporate sector. I was working at Satyam Computer Services, a highly valuable employer brand back then, heading talent acquisition for one of their business verticals.
Here are some points to consider when aiming to attract and retain quality talent for your nonprofit.
Today, I wonder whether or not I would have taken up a job as a HR professional at a nonprofit organization—and the answer is a clear NO. 24
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Core purpose & vision People don’t join an organization because it’s a corporate—people value the brand. Nonprofits have to create brand value, and translate the meaning and the real core purpose of their existence, and it has to be really powerful. A good vision statement that is within seven to 15 words and answers these two questions: Why does your business exist? Where do you want your business to go? The statement should be punchy, impactful and stays with people. www.asianngo.org
NonProfit & Civil Society
For an NGO that fights the breast cancer, for instance, it could be ‘Our vision is to cure the world of breast cancer’. Simple yet powerful, and helps in driving and motivating people across geographies despite challenges of time and distance. Approach to compensation
Most nonprofits are keen on doing more for society than for their employees. If you take care of your people, the business will take care of itself. Business approach Nonprofits are still a business. Money comes in and goes out, and a service is being provided—this is a business, and it needs serious business leaders to run it. A good and kind heart is a must but it can’t compromise the need for committed business leadership to ensure that the organization creates lasting value for all stakeholders. Approach to hiring talent You have to get committed individuals and it has to be a continuous search. I have been disappointed at the approach most nonprofits have towards hiring talent. They just want people who are quietly executing a task, while no one looks for serious aggressive doers. /AsianNGO
Photo: Singapore Management University
Money is important but people don’t check their salary in the ATM’s every day, plus one more important point: Money has to be shared among the employees first before you share it for a social cause. Salaries have to have incentives without which people could coast around without producing results.
Create a fun work culture It has to be a culture where people look forward to meeting their colleagues, not a place where everyone is searching for a better job and do this half heartedly until they move out. Fun at work is not just for employees of Google and Facebook, and the rest of the corporate world. Fun at work is for any business leader who realizes that employees are spending more time at work than at home. Nonprofits are still in every manner an organization—from conception to delivering business results. They are just a bit unselfish, that’s all. The faster that nonprofits realize that they need to create a compelling vision and brand, to attract and retain quality talent, the closer they are to becoming an employer of choice. People are constantly looking for inspiration, so nonprofits have a choice: Do they inspire and build value, or perspire and manage to survive?
Hire for tomorrow, don’t hire for today. AUTHOR Bharathan Prahalad is the head for HR—Asia Region at KLA-Tencor, a global leader in process control and yield management solutions. prahalad.bharathan@gmail.com bharathan-prahalad
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What You Should Know About Donor-Centric Fundraising by Usha Menon
A lot has been said about mission-focused and donor-centric fundraising. However in my 27 years in the nonprofit sector raising funds and advising on fundraising, I have found that there is more said than done related to these matters. For instance, I was called in by the Board of a health charity doing good work in the community, yet struggling to meet their fundraising requirements. I met with their fundraising team made up of the chair of the fundraising subcommittee, the executive director and three midlevel fundraising executives. At the meeting they expressed their disappointment that donors were not as forthcoming with their support due to the ‘economy’. They presented their fundraising calendar and the wide range of fundraising activities they undertake in a year. The team mentioned how busy they 26
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are every month either organizing a fundraising event or preparing the logistics for it. ‘We have been very busy’ said the Executive Director. That to me was a ‘red flag’. Often, fundraisers and their bosses succumb to the temptation of staying busy, even when it is counterproductive. I needed to ascertain whether or not their busy-ness was productive. I also needed to learn if the fundraising methodologies and activites that they had embarked on were donor-centric and mission-focused.
Donor-centric fundraising A relationship is possible only when the NGO knows who their supporter are and treats them as collaborators in addressing a need in the community. Not someone the NGO contacts only when they need donations. I outlined a fundraising activity positioning map in Figure 1, which provided me with an overview of the NGO’s overall fundraising efforts. It highlighted the organization’s fundraising activities, alignment to the mission, the level of donor relationship that each activity nurtures, net income (funds raised minus the cost www.asianngo.org
NonProfit & Civil Society
Case Scenario : NGO ABC - Fundraising Activity Positioning Map
Relations
High Donor
Low Donor Low Cause
Awareness
High Cause
Figure 1
of organizing the activity), and the trend of funds raised by the activity, compared to the previous years. The team had spent most time and effort on the low cause awareness and low donor relations quadrant made up of transactional activities that were logistically intensive. They indeed had made themselves ‘very busy’ doing ineffective and inefficient fundraising activities.
Donor-centric fundraising does not treat donations as a transaction. The contributions are developed as an extension of a relationship supporters have with the mission of the NGO that they support.
understood how their contributions impacted lives. Being busy is not the same as being successful soccer-playing sons, the analogy that explains it best is the action bias of goal-keepers. Taking the time to observe, reflect and explore a situation is often the better option. However, it looks and feels better to dive in the wrong direction and miss the ball than never to have moved. The action bias is usually an emotional reaction to the sense that we should do something, even when what we do is unproductive. Reflection and careful analysis of our activities help to overcome this bias for action. You must task yourself to be more reflective, analytical and deliberate about your fundraising.
AUTHOR In terms of performance, they focused on ineffective transactional fundraising that raised smaller amounts of net income, at the cost of high-mission focused and donor-centric activities. Meanwhile, committed donors’ contributions were motivated by the mission of the NGO, and because the donors
/AsianNGO
Usha Menon is the executive chair of Usha Menon Management Consultancy (Asia), an international training and consultancy service focused on shaping the world through social-impact organizations across Asia. contact@ushamenonasia.com @UshaMenon_Asia www.ushamenonasia.com
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Making Smarter Decisions When Selecting Technology by Jeff Forster
When nonprofits face a technology purchase, things can get heady. I’ve seen agencies that are level-headed and take measured steps in nearly everything get a little overwhelmed when greeting the new organizational change opportunity presented by a major technology purchase. To make a good IT decision, we need the discipline to ask all of the right questions.
What do we have? What do we need? What do we want? How much can we take on right now? What work will be involved to use what we get now? What options are available?
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Those who do the work day-to-day are the best people to step up and examine all of these questions in order to get the best tool possible within the constraints of time, money, and talent with which the organization is working. What do we have? We should start with a simple inventory of the number of machines, their operating systems, and the kind of networks the organization uses, if any. It also helps to gather as much information as possible about what we currently use to solve the problem at hand, how long we’ve used it, and how we came to use it in the first place. We must take stock of who will be using the new tools. Examining the users will help keep us from acquiring a solution without spelling out who is going to do the work to create a return on the investment. We should also rewrite job descriptions where we expect the composition of employees’ work to change when the new tool arrives. What do we need? Often what we have is the draft of a requirements list for its replacement. While the technology shopping expedition gets launched because of what is wrong with the current tool, we ignore what we like about it. We should start with a positive list of things we need.Beyond the status quo, there are requirements derived from our environment, our work processes, and our strategic objectives. www.asianngo.org
We must choose technology that can fit now and grow into our strategic priorities for impact, growth, replication, reinvention or even contraction.
Consider what else is going on in the life of the organization and to what extent it can absorb IT change. Sometimes, a short-term defined conflict would be best to avoid through planning, like a special event. At other times, an organization needs to focus on something for an indefinite period of time, like a leadership transition or a move. If staff have a lot of change to deal with already, it might be good to delay the IT change. What work will be involved to use what we get? We must approach the arrival of a new IT tool with a sober acknowledgment that people’s jobs may change in order to use it. That change tends to be distributed unevenly around the organization. It may hit front-line users or fiscal staff or managers more acutely, and our communications need to be clear and persistent. What options are available? Search out multiple options before getting attached to any one option. Outlining the criteria objectively will help to evaluate the options on a level playing field. To find options, ask the experts, and ask your peers. Seek out comprehensive guides that use objective criteria. Peers can sometimes reveal the truth about using the product day-to-day in a nonprofit environment that the marketing materials do not.
Photo: eGuidry
It’s tempting to hope that someone else can decide for us, but those most directly involved are able to say what’s needed.
What do we want? At the scale of many nonprofits, we’re often conscious of leaving items we want but do not strictly need on the table. We thrive by doing more with less. A technology investment has a shelf life, and during that shelf life, we have to live with it. We should articulate, therefore, what we really want before crossing it off the list as too difficult, time-consuming, or expensive. The want list may include mobile access speed and ease of workflows. A warning: we should not load up a new technology item with more expectations than it could possibly fulfill. For instance, installing video conferencing will not solve long-standing tensions between two offices that have never gotten along. /AsianNGO
A good decision should produce results for the mission, so measure your work before and after implementation so you can tell the return-on-investment story internally and externally. Measureable change will also help your organization prepare for the work involved in your next decision.
Source
NTEN: Nonprofit Technology Network
AUTHOR Jeff Forster is a senior consultant at the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. forster@rmu.edu jeffrey-forster
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NonProfit & Civil Society
How much can we take on right now?
NGO MANAGEMENT 101
Your 5 Steps for Efficient Project Planning From AsianNGO’s Learning Series
01
Create a sample, blank document that can be edited to be reused for every project, or serve as a visual pattern for any document. In any task there are corresponding documents either to guide the process or document the progress. A template makes it easier for you to start another process at any given time, with an already established visual guide for varying documents you may need along the way.
03
List Your Tasks
To make it easier to track your progress in each stage of the project, a checklist comes in very helpful. Make a comprehensive list of all the tasks of the project before building your project schedule. This includes not only the tasks related to the implementation and operation of the project, but also the ones that are related to the management of the ties, team meetings and evaluative sessions.
04
Allocate Adequate Resources
After determining the personnel and logistic framework for the project, divide the tasks according to skills, experience and preferences. If there is no suitable person available internally, consider tapping the services or partnerships from outside. Discuss at a team meeting and delegate the tasks to the rest of the team if needed.
05
02
Make Use of Templates
Structure Your Team’s Schedule
Streamline your team’s schedules by grouping similar tasks together and creating workstreams. Also create project phases, by determining where it is logical to end one group of tasks and start a new one.
Monitor Regularly
Updating the schedule with progress and results regularly is essential to not letting your project scheduling be overly time-consuming. It enables you to go about any unexpected turns and address them immediately without having the project derailed.
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www.asianngo.org
NonProfit & Civil Society
Best Practices in Nonprofit &
University Partnerships Nonprofit organizations and universities are in a position to both serve and benefit from partnerships serving the local and broader community. On the other hand, nonprofit-university partnerships carry some risks and can demand a significant amount of time, money and human resources. That’s why, early into the collaborative process, the terms of the partnership must be clearly defined. There has to be trust and healthy communication patterns between partners, and adequate accountability and evaluation to grow and improve collaborative processes. Creating the partnership Carefully choose a partner. Before commitments have been made, stakeholders must weigh the potential benefits and desired outcomes of the proposed partnership, as well as the human and financial resources necessary for the collaboration to be successful. Partnerships can carry significant risk and tend to demand exceptional conflict management from both sides.
/AsianNGO
Empower collaboration leaders. Once partners have agreed to work together, they must define the terms of the arrangement. Initially, leaders of the collaboration must be identified within each organization. Selected decision-makers should be respected and empowered by their own organization and trusted by the partner organization. Leaders will need to be skilled in conflict management, communication, and building consensus. Their first order of business will be to negotiate the terms of the proposed partnerships. Define the partnership. It’s vital to design a clear plan of action, which serves the interests of both parties and allows for adaptation throughout the course of the partnership.
Successful and sustainable partnerships often develop naturally over time, rather than in response to imminent programmatic or grant proposal deadlines. Clarify shared mission goals. Partners must decide upon the joint mission and goals intended through the collaboration. The resulting rationale should highlight a shared vision which includes objectives important
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www.asianngo.org
merger, partners may decide to make a more official commitment and draw up a legally binding contract.
Because most partnerships are not mergers, it’s essential to acknowledge and affirm autonomy and distinct roles for each partner.
Sustaining the partnership
Divide responsibilities. At the broad level, partners should assess and cultivate awareness of the various types of resources each organization brings to the collaboration. Based on this shared information, roles and responsibilities should be clearly delineated, distinguishing between individual and joint responsibilities. These structures should be organized with an appropriate balance of power and participation among members. Craft a memorandum of understanding. Once the basic building blocks of the partnership have been selected, it can be useful to establish of a formal written agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). An MOU should clearly and concisely outline the goals, expectations, and duties involved in the collaboration. In the case of a significant joint venture or
NonProfit & Civil Society
to both partners and lead to improved coordination of policies, programs, and service delivery, and, ultimately, better outcomes.
Build trust with the partner. The terms of the partnership should afford equal status to both partners and equal distribution of partnership benefits or gains, including credit for accomplishments. Commitment to support the arrangement should be expressed by senior level leaders in all participating organizations by the time the partnership is operational. Decision-making processes should incorporate all partners and be characterized by transparency, flexibility, and a spirit of cooperation. This requires that participants develop open lines of communication with key point people in each organization. Evaluate the partnership. It’s important to build accountability structures into a partnership plan in order to measure intended outcomes and identify areas in
Strategic Planning
Board Development
Executive Coaching
Facilitation
Human Resources
Partnerships are unlikely to succeed if participants do not trust their counterparts in the collaborating organization. Therefore, leaders should strive to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships characterized by respect, responsiveness, fairness, and genuineness. need of improvement. There should be regularly scheduled reviews, and clarification of each partner’s role in monitoring performance. Guided by the goal of continuously improving the partnership and its outcomes, a partnership can develop in ways that increase and expand the benefits of collaboration over time. Source
Hanover Research
AUTHOR
Marketing and PR Fund Development Financial Management /AsianNGO
Hanover Research is a global research and analytics firm that provides high quality, custom research through an annual, fixed-fee model for clients in the corporate, education, and healthcare sectors. www.hanoverresearch.com
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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REPORT
Where does humanitarian aid go? Source: The Business of Aid Report, Thomson Reuters Foundation
The 5 biggest NGOs in annual expenditure terms in 2014
NGOs spending the most on fundraising*
NGOs spending the least on fundraising*
Fundraising as percentage of overall expenditure
Fundraising as percentage of overall expenditure
World Vision International 2,670,000,000
Action Aid 17.40%
BRAC 0.00
Save the Children 1,900,000,000
Plan International 14.8%
Acted 0.09
MSF 1,312,173,525
MSF 13.82%
Direct Relief 0.31
Oxfam International 1,260,360,216
Christian Aid 13.55%
Global Communities 0.54
Plan International 969,860,540
World Vision International 11.54%
Norweigan Refugee Council 0.81
Figures in US$
*among organizations with revenues of more than US$150m
Biggest 5 NGOs & Fraud 0.03% Turnover on average
Figures in US$
$1M
$507,869
$340,828
World Vision International
Plan International
Oxfam US
Which NGOs employ the most women in senior positions? % women in senior positions
% men in senior positions
International Rescue Committee 70 30
Norwegian Refugee Council 60 40
Handicap International
Oxfam US
33 Care International 36
67
42 64
INTL Medical Corps 43
58
57
$257,670 Mercy Corps
$248,726 MSF
In 2014, 329 aid workers were victims of major attacks, some in Afghanistan & Pakistan. Aid Worker Security Report, Humanitarian Outcomes
*Data taken from the biggest 25 global humanitorian NGOs **All NGOs were asked for data on women in positions of CEO and immediately beneath the CEO Source: The Business of Aid Report, Thomson Reuters Foundation
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www.asianngo.org
$412,803,101 dollars raised 13%
increase in online revenue
13%
increase in number of gifts
20%
.08%
Average gift
One-tme:
$82
* Across 84 Nonprofits in 2014
$612
2,463,594,725 emails sent to
37,028,854
$40
subscribers
percentage of gifts from firsttime online donors
Monthly:
of online visitors made a donation
$22
For every 1,000 website visitors, nonprofits raised
For every 1,000 fundraising messages delivered, nonprofits raised Figures in US$
Source: Nonprofit Benchmarks Report, M+R & NTEN
Project Development aid flows until 2018
%
Countries with funding reporting requirements in Asia-Pacific
100 90 80
countries (%)
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Asia
43,331
44,903
45,356
Middle East
9,972
10,205
10,205
South and Central Asia
21,051
22,284
22,692
Far and East Asia
11,524
11,462
11,645
Asia, regional/multi-country
784
952
995
East Asia & Pacific
South Asia
All
No reporting Uniform reporting Size sensitive reporting Source: Rules to Give By: A Global Philanthropy Legal Environment Index, Nexus, McDermott Will & Emery, & Charities Aid Foundation
* In US$ millions. Source: Global Outlook on Aid, OECD
/AsianNGO
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NonProfit & Civil Society
How is nonprofit online fundraising & advocacy doing?
The New Sustainability at Intel 36
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
www.asianngo.org
CSR
interview
I
ntel is front and center in global corporate sustainability. The technology giant has deeply embedded corporate social responsibility into its company culture, reaping a multitude of awards to become a top-rated company in CSR with a supply chain that is ranked among the top five in the world.
Among its landmark CSR programs include education programs that are empowering students and teachers across the globe, such as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Intel has also distributed 50,000 Intel® Galileo Boards to inspire innovation and invention among universities worldwide. These are only a few of the noteworthy initiatives by the company. Intel is continuously driving its sustainability agenda forward. Dr. Anjan Ghosh, Intel Regional Director-Corporate Affairs for Asia-Pacific and Japan, tells us more about how the company is championing a fresh approach to philanthropy and corporate giving. What’s Intel’s unique approach to CSR? We’re committed to developing energy-efficient technology solutions that can be used to address major global problems while reducing our environmental impact. We also aim to empower people and broaden economic opportunity through education and technology access. Our CEO, Brian Krzanich, highlighted this CSR approach in his introduction to our most recent CSR report. Our approach is based on the belief that technology is fueling the knowledge economy and that it that creates possibilities for innovation, and sustainable economic empowerment. Our initiatives are based on the premise that we can only advance as a society, as a planet, and as a business when all people can reap the full benefits of the knowledge economy. What are your areas of focus in Asia and the Pacific? In addition to our volunteerism, corporate giving, transparency in corporate governance, and focus on our own operational footprint, we work with individual innovators, academia, organizations, and governments to foster market-creating innovation.
/AsianNGO
Photo: Intel
We seek to connect people to their potential and to bring the power of technology to every person in Asia-Pacific and beyond through our programs in K-12 and higher education, technology access and empowerment, and innovation and entrepreneurship. From an operational standpoint, approximately one-third of our total supplier spends last year were in Asia. As a result, a significant part of our global focus on supply chain management rests in the Asia-Pacific region. Our program priorities in the region are inclusion, education and innovation. AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Photo: Intel
interview
What’s the business case for CSR right now? We believe that our focus on corporate responsibility creates long-term value for Intel and our stakeholders. It helps us manage our business more effectively and identify ways to apply our technology and expertise to benefit the environment and society, which in turn helps us mitigate risks, reduce costs, protect brand value, and identify market opportunities. Designing products with improved energy-efficient performance helps us meet customer needs and identify market expansion opportunities, while improving energy efficiency in our operations helps us reduce our footprint and energy costs. Investing in training, diversity, benefits programs, and education helps us attract and retain a talented workforce. Meanwhile, inspiring innovation in the external ecosystem and driving inclusion contributes towards building successful societies, which are in turn good for business.
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As an example of new market opportunities aligned to our CSR initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, there are numerous programs designed to help foster technology innovation skills, particularly in the area of the Internet of Things, which help develop local talent, create new business opportunities, and grow the market for technology products and services. How do you ensure the best dollar value for your CSR programs? We assess the value of our programs based on scale, reach, and impact. While making a direct financial analysis is difficult, we gauge the quality and quantity of the partners that participate, the number of people we are able to reach in a meaningful way, and the human impact that our program have on the beneficiaries. We do periodic surveys to gather feedback on our programs and track the extent to which governments
www.asianngo.org
CSR
We believe that our focus on corporate responsibility creates long-term value for Intel and our stakeholders. It helps us manage our business more effectively and identify ways to apply our technology and expertise to benefit the environment and society, which in turn helps us mitigate risks, reduce costs, protect brand value, and identify market opportunities. What metrics do you use to select your partners on the ground? We collaborate with both global and local organizations on a variety of programs. The selection process looks into the overall alignment between the goals of Intel and the partner, reputation as well as the capability—including resources and reach—required to accomplish objectives. In some cases, we’ve worked with global partners like UNESCO and World Bank to create thought leadership forums in Asia on education. With USAID on a number of initiatives in the region, as well as WorldVision and Plan International. At a country level, we’ve partnered with a number of reputable organizations ranging from e-Kutir in India, ASSIST in the Philippines to KOFAC in Korea, to name a few. What are some innovative ways you get your staff engaged in CSR? At Intel, we find ways to cultivate a work environment in which engaged, energized employees can thrive on the job and in their communities. One of the ways that we engage employees on CSR is to empower them to follow their passion. We have a strong volunteering culture enabled through volunteering programs where employees can work on
/AsianNGO
Photo: Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
adopt and prioritize our programs. For example, in India, we created a program to teach digital literacy skills. From that beginning, with other partners joining in, this program has now become a national movement under the name ‘National Digital Literacy Mission’ where they have taken a national goal of making at least one person in every household in India digitally literate by 2020.
areas that matter to them personally. For instance, the Intel Involved Matching Grant program gives individuals or groups of employees the ability to do volunteer work for a designated nonprofit organization in areas they are passionate about. Intel matches their volunteer hours with a cash grant. Under the program, our employees have contributed more than 5 million hours of volunteer work since 2009. In another program, the Intel Involved Matching Seed Grant, employees can submit their project ideas for helping local organizations with budgets required and a sustainability plan. These employee submissions are judged and the winning projects or organizations receive grants to implement the project. In 2013, 18 grants in seven countries were funded. What will the future look like for CSR at Intel? The Asia-Pacific region has been on the forefront of Intel’s CSR efforts for quite some time. In the foreseeable future, inclusion and innovation will be the focus in the region. Governments are working to increase the design and innovation skills of students in order to create vibrant innovation economies. Intel has multiple programs supporting these efforts, from our donation of more than 10,000 Intel Galileo boards to more than 327 universities in 15 countries, to regional innovation contests like the Asia Innovation Summit in Taipei, to the creation of Innovation Labs at schools and universities across the region as well as country-specific initiatives to inspire and celebrate innovation. Intel also launched the She Will Connect program in sub-Saharan Africa last year, which is designed to help bridge the technology gender gap that exists in much of the developing world. We’re working to bring this program to Asia next year.
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www.asianngo.org
Creating Shared Value in
CSR
Commentary
Asia Photo: Nikki Victoriano
by Richard Welford
Asia may have been the fastest growing continent for the last two decades but it still faces huge challenges. It is still home to the majority of the world’s poor, it struggles to grow whilst protecting the environment and it has woefully inadequate health care provision.
AUTHOR
Economic growth has created a growing affluent middle class, but the benefits of that growth have not “trickled down� to the people at the base of the income pyramid. There is little doubt that the wealth that has been created by massive inward investment and the rapid growth of Asian multinational businesses has done much to alleviate the social needs associated with poverty, inequality and vulnerability. Philanthropic limitations The private sector has made an effort to improve the quality of life of those most in need. We have seen aid projects sponsored by companies that have made a tremendous difference. But the philanthropic approach adopted by many companies has its limitations. Philanthropy has often created a culture of dependency and has repeatedly failed to tackle the root causes of social prob/AsianNGO
Richard Welford Richard Welford is the Chair & Co-Founder of CSR Asia.
lems which are related to marginalized groups that have no access to the benefits of the market economy, possess poor skills sets and who are often deprived of basic human rights. We have realized that strategic community investment can bring about much greater benefits. Over the last decade companies have tried to engage with and invest in communities in a much more strategic way that emphasizes tangible benefits for the community and also benefits for the company in terms of brand, reputation and the local social license to operate. AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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A shared value approach Many companies are now extending this approach and examining ways in which they can leverage their own assets and expertise to create shared value. Such shared value creates positive change for communities and is commercially viable for companies. An approach that includes commercial activities in communities and along value chains that creates wealth, incomes and opportunities for poor and marginalized communities is now gaining momentum in Asia and elsewhere. The shared value approach has the potential to be sustainable because it responds to social needs through economically viable initiatives. Creating a shared value project is about considering three components and how they inter-relate. It is the combination of these three elements that provides for a potentially successful shared value initiative. 1. Identifying social needs in the communities where the business has interests or which form part of its value chain 2. Examining the assets and the expertise that the company can bring to help address social needs through new or expanded markets and value chains and, 3. Identifying the opportunities for the business to engage with profitable business opportunities that will address social needs.
Expertise, assets, economic opportunities and social needs are brought together to form innovative and exciting solutions to engage with the world’s remaining challenges. 42
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
The shared value concept is very much about finding creative ways to add new value. The shared value proposition has much going for it. The commercial nature of the engagement with poor communities may well be an easier sell to senior management than other approaches. If successful, shared value projects become self-sustaining because they live on in the marketplace. Moreover, if they are successful in one location they are easily replicable and scalable. For companies that are interested in exploring opportunities to create shared value both for communities and for their own businesses, there are a number of questions to ask: 1. What social needs exist in the communities where the business has an impact? 2. What assets, capabilities and expertise does the business have to begin to deal with those social needs? 3. Are there opportunities for the business to create commercially viable goods and services that can match business capabilities to a solution to overcoming social needs? 4. How can innovations along the value chain become a source of shared value? 5. How can the business cooperate with communities, other businesses, governments and strategic stakeholders, developing innovative partnerships to create shared value? 6. Are there any risks associated with a proposed shared value initiative and if so how could they be mitigated? 7. In the process of creating shared
value might there be unintended negative externalities that will have to be addressed?
8. How might a company begin to measure shared value creation?
9th Annual CSR Asia Summit 2015 7 - 8 Oct Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Strategic value creation; bringing shared value to business, community and society This year at the summit we have: Three Session Tracks: • Development Challenges • Human Resources and Workplaces • The Environment and Sustainability www.csr-asia.com/summit2015 www.asianngo.org
CSR
Recruiting CSR-Competent Leaders
6 Criteria for
CEO Succession & Planning by Coro Strandberg
Today’s corporate boards have a big responsibility. With 16 percent CEO turnover and retirements a top driver of CEO renewal, their task is to hire the leaders of tomorrow. These new leaders will face dramatic change. They will need to navigate the risks and opportunities of rapid population growth and all that comes with it, because by the year 2050, our planet will host 9 billion people. To steward a company through this changing terrain–and capitalize on the business benefits of doing so–companies will need CSR-competent leaders at the helm. As this is a recent business phenomenon, CEO succession planning and recruitment programs often fail to take CSR characteristics into account. To develop and attract leaders with CSR values and capabilities, both HR and recruitment committees will need to update CEO position profiles and succession plans with new CSR criteria.
commitment to, and belief in, the importance of CSR, so other leaders and all staff can become fully engaged in CSR implementation. In order to foster CSR buy-in and take-up, CEOs need to consistently reinforce the company’s CSR commitments and direction through their own actions and expectations of others. CEOs who only play lip service to CSR will breed a culture of cynicism and could engender a compromise of the company’s core values.
This guide compiles global insights into the top attributes that CEOs and their successors will need to protect and create shareholder value through the pursuit of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The following criteria are designed to complement–not displace–traditional business recruitment requirements. An ideal CSR position profile would include one or more of these CSR criteria.
02 Brand and reputation management Because society expects business to demonstrate good CSR management, it is important the CEO understands and models CSR attitudes, behaviors and competencies that are aligned with stakeholder values. Overlooking these leadership capacities may jeopardize the company’s brand and reputation. Research shows that many managers (43 percent) have been asked to do something against their organization’s values. To prevent this situation, it is important that the CEO models for other leaders and staff how to make decisions that take CSR into account.
01 Effective CSR implementation Research reveals that CEO leadership is a critical success factor for effective CSR implementation. Because CEOs set the ‘tone at the top’ they need to demonstrate a personal
Indeed academic research into the 2008 global financial crisis revealed that leadership and governance character failures contributed to the excessive build-up of leverage in financial markets and the subsequent meltdown. These
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AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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character flaws included overconfidence leading to excessive risk-taking behaviours; lack of transparency and in some cases, a lack of integrity; inattention to critical issues; lack of respect for individuals; and irresponsibility toward shareholders and the societies within which these organizations operated. CEOs with strong CSR values, alignment and capacity are less likely to have these character traits and less likely to put their organizations and society at risk.
03
Employee attraction, retention and engagement In a tight labor market, a strong CSRaligned leader can better attract and retain top staff. Research reveals that CSR is also one of the key factors in employee engagement. CSR can motivate employee loyalty and productivity where it exists, and can be a top threat to employee satisfaction where it is not supported. Workforce stability can be enhanced if the business demonstrates a strong CSR commitment in both word and deed. CEOs need to ‘walk the talk’ to set a role model for staff and overcome internal cynicism or doubt, especially for those staff whose training and background makes it difficult for them to appreciate the value and importance of CSR.
04 Changing CSR requirements CEOs need to understand that CSR is no longer the compliance, philanthropic and public relations exercise it once was. It is now a professional business discipline and board concern. Greater expectations, more public scrutiny and increased pressures heighten focus on how businesses make money, the impact they have on the communities they operate in, and the importance of creating longterm shared value. There are a number of CSR threats that threaten business viability, as identified by the World Economic Forum. In the future, companies will need to be more resilient in a volatile,
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uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. Although not necessarily a CSR expert, an astute CEO needs to understand CSR risks and respect their relevance to the company, its market, its communities and especially its customers. A CSR lens on business can foster innovation and opportunity creation, making CEO leadership and support for CSR innovation an important quality.
05
Today a CSR-capable CEO needs to understand, manage and optimize the material social, environmental and economic risks and opportunities of their business and those of its suppliers and customers. To ensure their business has the capacity and knowhow to compete in this new operating environment, the CEO needs an up-todate appreciation for the relevance of CSR to business success.
CEO as public face Increasingly the public expects companies to lead on issues related to prosperity and resilience in the communities and markets in which they operate. As companies become more visibly engaged, the CEO likely will become more engaged in the public dialogue on CSR matters that affect its operating environment. Having a CEO leader who can act as an effective spokesperson of the company’s social brand will both enhance its business and social goals.
06 Better decisions CEOs who possess CSR competencies can make and foster more effective decision-making within the organization. By applying a CSR perspective, their decisions and those they support are more openminded, holistic and long-term, benefiting the sustained success of the company. In fact, CSR competencies enhance and reinforce traditional business acumen and other desirable leadership traits, such as a long-term view, holistic decision-making, a risk management perspective and effective people leadership. CEOs with strong CSR capabilities are more effective leaders overall.
Source
Strandberg Consulting
AUTHOR Coro Strandberg is the principal of Strandberg Consulting, providing strategy advice to companies that seek to integrate social and environmental considerations into their business purpose, governance, operations and value chains. cstrandberg@shaw.ca @SustainOurWorld www.corostrandberg.com
www.asianngo.org
CSR
What is the best way to measure the effectiveness of CSR Programs? Companies of all sizes have corporate social responsibility programs, but how should they measure the input and outcome of these activities?
Think about the why before measuring how and what Dr. Debbie Haski-Laventhal, Senior Lecturer of Management & Faculty Leader of Corporate Citezenship | Macquarie University, Australia Over the last two decades, interest in CSR and sustainability has grown rapidly. Companies increasingly realize that practicing these principles is not only good for the community, but can also help in terms of reputation, employee engagement, consumer loyalty, and thus financial gain. We have seen an evolution in the approach to perceived responsibilities in a relatively short period of time. In the 1970s, Milton Friedman said a company’s only social responsibility was to make profit. By the 1990s, the understanding was that CSR could bring better profits, and the view now emerging is that it is a strategic consideration for creating shared value.
Social Progress Index could be a good reference for CSR measurement Dr. Terrill L. Frantz, Assistant Professor of Management and Director of Global Development | Peking University, China It may not be politically correct to say so, but according to a neo-liberal thinker, profit alone is the best metric for determining the success of an organization’s corporate social responsibility program. The rationale for this view is that profit is an aggregated measure covering all the constituent parts of the company’s activities–including CSR. A commercial organization’s purpose is to provide returns for the owners. In the long term, returns can only come from adherence to government laws and regulations. Therefore, this particular theory holds that if managers of a corporation decide to be more socially responsible–at the cost of profit–they are violating their fiduciary duty, and this should be corrected.
Measuring CSR is not always desirable Professor Kamel Mellahi, Professor of Strategic Management University University of Warwick, United Kingdom
For more information; Visit: www.csrseoul.net Email: josephine@csrseoul.net
CSR differs from any other corporate activity. It deals with issues like environmental pollution, child labor and product safety, which are often seen as outside the traditional boundaries of a business. Therefore, it is not easy to measure CSR performance by using traditional indicators such as return on investment. Effective measures of CSR must consider economic, social and environmental impact. And this is where it gets tricky because, to date, there is no effective means of capturing and comparing all the relevant data. Source
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Collect field data and Monitor operations
Sustainability Reporting in Asia Barriers & cha llenges to ov ercome by Francisco Roman Sustainability reporting has grown into something of an ‘industry’ with numerous entities—such as the Global Reporting Initiative, involved. In recent years, the industry has shown improved coverage and credentials.
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Still, there are barriers to growth that must be hurdled, especially where both sustainability and its reporting must motivate more organizations to pay more than just lip service to sustainability. Motivation starts with building awareness and ends with action. Asian context The family-owned and/or controlled firm is the dominant corporate form in the region and these firms are mainly reclusive, with privacy as a core value. Asian family firms still practice informal and often unwritten decision-making, and therefore tend to minimize formal reporting. Sustainability reporting is likely low in their priority list.
Of course, the counter-argument is that philanthropy does not sufficiently engage the organization and sustainability is therefore not part of the firm’s strategy or of its DNA—a desired outcome of sustainability reporting.
Today, philanthropy still predates sustainability and runs parallel to CSR initiatives. Both Asian and non-Asian families and firms usually incorporate a CSR unit and a foundation. The latter may be engaged in major initiatives that go unreported.
Related to philanthropy is the tendency towards ‘community’ SR that also predates CSR, which leads to initiatives on disaster relief, poverty alleviation, and assistance to enhance local infrastructure. These initiatives tend to be sporadic—they occur as the need arises and are project-based.
Among some Asian firms, there is a view that philanthropy is better than CSR because there are ‘no strings attached’ and the beneficiaries themselves decide programs and outcomes.
Reporting constraints Aside from these broad barriers, there are also some challenges specific to the reporting process itself.
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CSR
Reporting is relatively expensive in at least two ways: financially and organizationally. Firms may balk at the added cost. Additionally, the reporting requirements often require a dedicated, if small, unit within the organization to monitor and expand sustainability in the subject programs.
•
Reporting requires an implied commitment by the firm to sustain and to expand initiatives. Successful programs need to be scaled up and replicated within the firm and across other firms.
•
Reporting indicates continuous improvement. A firm, especially a large one with many stakeholders, will use its sustainability reports as added leverage in building stakeholder loyalty. With sustainability programs being subject to the rising expectations of beneficiaries, reporting for improvement may be regarded as an unwanted burden.
Photo: Asia Rising TV
•
Unintended consequences The act of reporting itself may create unintended outcomes. Let’s look at it through the lens of Behavioral Economics. First, it gives way to status quo bias. Once a program is in place, there is a tendency to keep it in place as long as it is moderately successful. Reporting becomes partly a game of numbers—programs, beneficiaries, expenditures, and so on. However, if a program seems unsuccessful, an anti-sunk cost bias may result. There is a tendency to keep it going in the hopes that it might be revived or revitalized—partly to avoid the embarrassment of reporting a failed initiative.
The description of the barriers may present an unresolved question. On one hand, there’s a drive for improvement. On the other, there’s a tendency to retain the status quo. The question, then, is to what extent does sustainability reporting reduce innovation in sustainability initiatives? For instance, any true innovation, as opposed to simple expansion or extension, implies the risk of failure. Firms may prefer not to report experimental initiatives until success is certain or proven. Incomplete reporting may be worse than not reporting at all.
AUTHOR Francisco Roman, DBA, is the executive director of the RVR Center for Corporate Social Responsibility and a professor at the W. SyCip Graduate School of Business at the Asian Institute of Management. froman@aim.edu rvr.aim.edu
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WE BELIEVE INVESTING IN STUDENTS WHO TAKE
ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION FOR OTHERS CREATES A BETTER WORLD FOR US ALL.
enactus.org
Enactus Phillippines half page Ad.indd 1
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8/26/15 1:59 PM
www.asianngo.org
CSR Photo: HubSpot
ones with strong and diverse leadership teams that support a broad network of individuals and other nonprofits. A wide range of funding sources—including grants, state or federal funding, corporate sponsors, and individual donors—indicates a well-run organization. The greater the diversity, the more opportunities there are to reach people in the community.
5 Questions To Ask When Choosing A Nonprofit Partner by Mina Chang Partnering with a nonprofit is a great way for companies to give back. Companies can leverage the nonprofit’s expertise in helping those in need while providing funding and marketing to boost the cause. Both organizations benefit from shared resources and joint philanthropic events that boost awareness and positive rapport in their communities. With countless charitable organizations and worthy causes, choosing a partner that suits your strengths and mission is essential. A company’s CEO may have a personal interest in supporting refugees from Myanmar, but that partnership will fall flat if it doesn’t resonate with the community. Businesses do well with partners that have missions they can tangibly support through employee service days, joint fundraisers, or promotions.
Aligning your core offering and mission with a nonprofit’s will amplify the benefits of the partnership. /AsianNGO
Here are a few important questions to ask when evaluating a potential partner: What’s its mission? The nonprofit’s goals and culture should complement those of the business. A women’s fashion boutique supporting a women’s shelter or a local food store providing meals to underprivileged kids are partnerships that make sense. Is there enthusiasm for the cause? Everyone involved should be passionate about the mission to maximize the partnership’s value. If a particular cause doesn’t excite employees, the relationship—and the potential benefits—will fall flat. How diverse is the nonprofit? The best partner organizations are
What percentage of donations goes to operations? The nonprofit should have a low percentage of costs associated with operational expenses, allowing the majority of funds raised to go to those in need. Operational allocations typically range between 10 and 20 percent of donations; anything more than that should be a red flag. Is the organization on the financial up-and-up? Audited financial statements with unqualified audit opinions provide clear insight into whether the nonprofit is financially stable. Successfully collaborating with a nonprofit partner boils down to four principles: integrity, passion, excellence, and commitment. Choosing one that possesses those traits, along with a shared mission, will poise your company to become a champion for social good in the community. A charitable partnership increases a company’s standing, boosts employee satisfaction, and leads to financial growth. Most importantly, it’s an act of altruism that leverages your resources to serve a cause bigger than your company. Source
SMBCEO.com
AUTHOR Mina Chang is the CEO and president of Linking the World, an international humanitarian aid organization with a focus on children, global awareness, and breaking the cycle of poverty around the world. info@linkingtheworld.org @MinaChang
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Photo: Ricoh
5 Ways to Improve Stakeholder Engagement by Josh Schow
Whether a company is dealing with brand management or environmental sustainability, managing the experiences, impressions, beliefs, and feelings of stakeholders can often mean the difference between success or failure in the marketplace. This principle is the driving thought behind initiatives of corporate social responsibility. Despite increasing discourse on CSR in the business community, implementation has been lacking. A report published by McKinsey found that CSR has largely failed to live up to expectations because it’s difficult to coordinate efforts effectively due to the engagement of multiple stakeholders. Effective strategic planning that intentionally involves external interests requires a strong commitment to engagement. Easier said than done While most organizations willingly pay lip service to CSR, most struggle with effective implementation. One McKinsey survey of 238 CFOs, investment professionals, and finance executives found that most of them believed that CSR initiatives provide financial as well as social benefits by increasing shareholder values in the long-term. However, in a separate survey, McKinsey found that of the 3,500 executive respondents, only one-third said their company proactively engaged regulators or other government officials. This situation is prevalent 50
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
among organizations today. There is a distinct cognitive disconnect between recognized value and implementation. Engaging with purpose How should companies remedy this disconnect in CSR planning? McKinsey explains that integrating engagement into strategy and operations will produce results. Ian Davis argues that CSR thinking itself limits corporate engagement and should be replaced by a notion of a corporate social contract wherein companies by necessity engage the communities around them. 1. Find your stakeholders As discussed above, your stakeholders are more than just your board members, your executives, and your customers. Stakeholders are also legal interest groups, communities, other corporations, and your individual employees. If an individual or group has an interest in your company or is affected by your company in any way, that individual or group is a stakeholder. To be sure, this definition of stakeholder is rather expansive, and it would be impossible for an organization to engage
every single stakeholder. Thus, companies need to develop tools for finding relevant stakeholders and then determine when and where to engage them. 2. Map out the process and strategy Every element of your business influences your stakeholders. Use these points of interest to integrate stakeholder involvement and leverage their insights. This model of CSR is different from the standard model because your company is not focused on building initiatives that promote an image of responsibility. Instead you are demonstrating responsibility within your business. Such a level of transparency helps reduce perceptions of propagandizing while generating stakeholder buy-in and valuation. In addition to including stakeholder engagement in your strategy and operations, it helps to map out a process for engagement. Find the best methods for quickly establishing stakeholder connections and maximizing their input. Ensure that communication is as symmetric as possible, focusing it on building relationships and fostering constructive, useful dialogue. www.asianngo.org
CSR
rics, your company will generate a de facto awareness among key internal stakeholders of expectations and the reality of engagement initiatives. Engagement, therefore, becomes a matter of personal investment to stakeholders.
Photo: Kailash Mittal
5. Continue engagement and interaction
3. Embed external engagement in your culture What about your company culture? In order for any strategy to succeed, you need to generate internal buy-in among your employees. You cannot be transparent with people outside your company if you are not transparent with people within your own organization. Remember that employees and executives are stakeholders, as well. Internal transparency in turn feeds into your understanding of external engagement. Does your organization practice engagement with day-to-day business? Have you built your culture around a model that promotes external communication? In a McKinsey article, the author noted that a common error in external engagement initiatives is assuming that external engagement is a propaganda exercise. By ‘engagement’ we do not mean sales pitches or glowing descriptions of a company’s virtuous attempts to help the community. Rather, the engagement process should be understood as a nego-
/AsianNGO
tiation process with powerful, intelligent operators. Embedding engagement in your company culture helps accomplish this objective. This means that every aspect of your business requires thoughtful assessment as to how the company contributes to society at large. 4. Establish performance measurements Once your company establishes a strategy and determined how to integrate it into every aspect of the business, you should build key performance indicators around these initiatives. Depending on the engagement, this might not be possible until the initiatives have been operational for a time. Eventually, however, all engagement initiatives should have established metrics. These metrics serve two purposes. First, they function as standard performance indicators that enable benchmarking and evaluate effectiveness of the initiatives. Second, they incentivize integration. By establishing met-
Once that initial contact is established or that one project is accomplished, the success can stifle further efforts to engage. When engagement is viewed as a project, it frequently becomes a secondary issue that is neglected. This situation is detrimental to long-term stability. In fact, sporadic engagement can become counterproductive for a company, because the company appears to be managing engagement when it is actually failing to connect. Thus the process of external engagement should not be cyclical, but continuous. Commitment among all internal company stakeholders is key here. Some people think CSR is dead. Don’t let that destroy opportunities for external engagement. Most authors will agree that engagement cannot be an issue of peripheral consideration, but must be an integrated component of the entire business process. Integrated assessment is a critical component of engagement. You cannot build strong external engagement models unless your house is in order.
Source
9Lenses.com
AUTHOR Josh Schow is an analyst at 9Lenses, an organizational intelligence platform uncovering employee insights that drive business strategy and optimization while engaging employees. josh.schow@9lenses.com
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REPORT
Giving in numbers Mix
Typical Breakdown
Foundation Cash
$34
$49
Direct Cash
All other corporate budgets
$17
Non Cash
(product, service, pro bono, and other contributions)
Causes
Global
Typical Breakdwon Top Spot
7 out of 10 companies gave to recipients abroad
2nd Highest
3rd Highest
29% 25% 15%
of Total Giving went to Education (Higher and K-12) went to Health and Social Service programs went to Community and Economic Development programs
Source: Giving in Numbers, CECP
CSR Index 2015
CSR demand at an all-time high
Business in the Community’s CR Index provides insight into how leading companies are driving responsible business practice. Six key trends have been indentified from submissions of participating companies this year.
New Leadership
99%
regularly discuss CR at board meetings (up from 65% in 2004)
75%
have included CR in employee development strategy and indivuals’ development plans
Global Trends
81%
have carried out formal risk and opportunity processes in the context of global mega-trends -up from 58% in 2014
91%
of global citizens expect companies to do more than make a profit, they believe companies need to act responsibly and address issues
52%
don’t believe companies are acting responsibly until they hear communications otherwise
Investor Decisions
82%
have taken environmental and social considerations into account when making coroprate investment decisions -up from 63% in 2014
85%
of responsible businesses calculate the financial value that CR brings, up from 65% in 2014
86%
believe if a company makes CSR commitments, they should be responsible for producing and communicating results Source: Global CSR Study, Cone Communications & Ebiquity
Source: CR Index, BITC
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www.asianngo.org
CSR
Top 10 Most Sustainable Companies In Asia
01 02 03 04
Surprising facts about CSR jobs
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Limited India Technology
What was the knowledge needed?
City Developments Limited (CDL) Singapore Real Estate Unilever Indonesia Tbk PT Indonesia Household & Personal Products
23%
PRs/Comms/Marketing
United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) Taiwan Technology
05
Lenovo Group Ltd. Hong Kong Technology
06
Wipro Ltd India Technology
07
LG Electronics, Inc. (LGE) South Korea Consumer Goods & Services
46%
44%
Environmental
Business Acumen
How many years of experience?
33%
Needs a master’s degree
Must have skills
90% 79%
Communication Interpersonal
08
Infosys Ltd. India Technology
09
HCL Technologies Ltd. India Technology
10
S-Oil Corp.t South Korea Energy
42% 40% 37%
Organizational Analytical Project Management
Source: Sustainability Ranking, Channel NewsAsia
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Job titles contain
56% “Sustainabality”
15% “Community”
12% “Corporate Social Responsibility”
Source: Bmeaningful
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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THE GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN & DEVELOPMENT AID EVENT
18 - 19 NOVEMBER, BRUSSELS
2015 18 - 19 NOVEMBER, BRUSSELS
I
social enterprises
interview
Social Investments, ‘Blended’ Returns
t started as a humorous one-liner, says David Galipeau of the United Nations’ first growth capital social impact venture fund, the United Nations Social Enterprise Facility (UNSEF). David Galipeau is the Global Chief of the United Nations Social Enterprise Facility (UNSEF), who pushed for the facility’s creation after two years of in-depth consultations with UN legal specialists, market and social impact investors, banks and social enterprise founders. What was once the subject of a conversation is now reality. UNSEF was launched in January as a new investing architecture that leverages the traditional development funding pathways of pooled grants with the private social impact debt, equity and quasi-equity investments to rear mid or late stage social enterprises in the Global South.
What brought you to UNSEF? Actually, the idea for UNSEF presented itself to me. I come from private sector having more than 20 years of experience in corporate strategy and business development, where the main priority is to open new markets. After that, I had the opportunity to be at the center of the first Internet dot.com market at around 2000. Here, I combined new Internet technology with my experience of scaling business models and created three Internet start-ups in Europe. Two were very successful, one was not.
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Photo: UNDP
Then I entered the UN domain, most recently as the Head of Innovation for UNDP in Asia-Pacific where, after 10 years I now understand large global as well as local development issues and the barriers to creating viable and sustainable solutions.
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interview
Why did you embark upon this one-of-a-kind facility? It started as a humorous one-liner. I was discussing with friends in Singapore who managed a very large Social Responsible Investment (SRI) fund and they had explained that their portfolio of investments was very stable and successful but they were looking at new opportunities. I had suggested investing in SEs where the cost-benefit relationship between social and economic returns was very positive while at the same time, very manageable with respect to risk. They said that their transaction costs would be too high to be profitable so I suggested I start a UN-based Private Equity (PE) firm. We all laughed. But then I started to do some research and found out that there was an underserved gap in the SRI market—scaling SEs, especially across borders. Investment requirements were in the US$1-8 million range—an area where traditional angel, seed and venture capital investors find too expensive and institutional investors and banks find the transaction costs too high. At the same time, I understood that if SEs don’t have the necessary financial ecosystem that caters to their needs, and the opportunity to scale, becoming sustainable and resilient are nil. Being based in Thailand, what do you think are the prospects for social enterprise in this side of the world? I have been travelling the Asia-Pacific region for the last five years, and I clearly see the region as the most opportune market. The levels of economic growth have been staggering and rapid. But this rapid growth has led to clear gaps in the markets—especially in the areas of social development, inclusiveness and public service delivery. These gaps are quickly being filled by local social entrepreneurs who see a huge opportunity to establish businesses, and jobs, that offer innovative products and services that create clear social value. Still, broad market challenges remain. Building sustainable SEs requires the mobilization, alignment and coordination of financial resources, policy frameworks and experiences of multiple stakeholders.
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How will UNSEF build on these prospects? What is very unique for UNSEF—and very beneficial to SEs looking to grow—is that UNSEF can access our UN global network of development experts on the ground in over 190 countries. These experts will be tapped to help SEs overcome barriers to scale as well as design new products and services. This has the potential to create new social impacts as well as additional income streams. Combining this unmatched advantage with the high level of investment and business development expertise of our partners, UNSEF will be a very strong platform to grow SEs nationally as well as internationally. By bringing the sectors together to synergize and leverage the use of grants, debt equity and expertise, we hope that UNSEF will mainstream SEs into the marketplace. Additionally, UNSEF creates a politically neutral investment environment that can depoliticize funds to invest in SEs focusing on sensitive areas of business—for example, HIV, gender or governance—and reduces corruption through promoting transparency. What advice would you have for organizations seeking to partner with UNSEF in the region?
First off, I believe ‘social’ enterprises are being penalized for the word ‘social’. I believe that SEs can take advantage of and leverage all the business opportunities that a pure for-profit enterprise can, including franchising, licensing IP and manufacturing processes—even targeting IPOs and MBOs as an approach to grow and flourish.
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In that light, the Asia-Pacific social impact investment market is still very disaggregated and immature, which means that there are huge opportunities if identified correctly. The seed and angel funds are available through local government support, venture capitals, foundations, philanthropists and crowdfunding platforms.
social enterprises
New ‘Internet of Things’ technologies will have a huge impact of society and if focused on the ‘citizen’ as well as the ‘consumer’, will also have huge economic potential for SEs.
These three goals represent a transition from a very traditional and close ended ‘project-based’ model to a more sustainable and open ended ‘economics-based’ development approach that leverages market dynamics to create social dividends.
UNSEF is looking to fill the gap associated with second-stage growth investments and we are in the process of selecting the national, regional and global partners that will be the most effective is achieving this. UNSEF will be very selective with whom it partners with and who it invests in, but if an organization would like to discuss how to become a partner— grants, debt, equity financing plus hands-on engagement—please don’t hesitate to contact us.
UNSEF is a global fund and we are initially looking to invest in Asia-Pacific SEs, but their expansion opportunities are global from the onset. As we create sub-funds at the national, regional and global levels, we will work together with our partners to focus on selected sectors. In general, UNSEF is looking at the following sectors that are very crucial in Asia-Pacific and beyond: Technology-enhanced products and services for underserved populations; ICT4Dev products and services; asset recovery including reuse and recycling; energy efficiency; technologies improving the sustainability of aging electricity, water and transportation infrastructure; sustainable agriculture and food safety; distributed and clean energy, and; water and waste water technologies and services. What is the end goal for UNSEF? Our investment levels will be in a range of up to US$ 20 million per selected SE, and UNSEF is now capitalizing our global and initial sub-funds. We are very close to finalizing a few negotiations and hope to initiate investments in late 2015. We envision this capitalization to grow where UNSEF will be a very large source of financial and technical recourses globally supporting our three main goals—to maintain a portfolio of successfully
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Photo: Ventures Africa
What are UNSEF’s current priorities?
SEs on growth tracks to achieve their graduating targets, to help establish the national and international financial and legislative ecosystems and frameworks where SEs can flourish, and to work with leading academic and research institutions to develop comprehensive models that support the monetization of social impact investments. These three goals represent a transition from a very traditional and close ended ‘project-based’ model to a more sustainable and open ended ‘economics-based’ development approach that leverages market dynamics to create social dividends. As an intermediary growth capital social impact fund, UNSEF is a partnership of the best UN social development experts, local and international business and growth experts and some of the most experienced public service offices to create a unique network that can identify high-potential SEs and efficiently provides them with exclusive access to an unparalleled business development curriculum to ensure the rapid growth of both social and economic returns—a blended approach that enables a true ‘blended return’.
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commentary
4 Attitudes that Need to Change to Grow Asian SEs Photo: Inc
by Ted Levinson
In many regards, Asia seems like the ideal environment for social enterprise to flourish, yet there are far fewer social enterprises and far less impact investing capital in the region than in markets such as East Africa, Latin America and North America. Asia certainly doesn’t lack a market need or opportunity. It’s home to the largest number of people living on less than US$2 a day as well as home to some of the world’s most valuable and threatened ecosystems. By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s middle class will call Asia home and their combined buying power and their rising expectations for education, healthcare, energy and a clean environment will open countless opportunities for entrepreneurs to use the power of business to meet these social and environmental demands. 58
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Nor is Asia without innovative ideas or the people capable of executing them. This year, 683 enterprises from 30 Asian countries competed in the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge—a 60 percent jump from 2014—confirming the broad and growing interest in this space. Further, Asian governments and institutions have made social enterprise a policy priority— from Malaysia’s Social Enterprise Blueprint, to the Asian Development Bank’s growing list of projects in the field and Asian Venture Philanthropy Network’s 222 members. There are four prevailing attitudes that need to change before social enterprise will flourish in Asia.
AUTHOR
Ted Levinson Ted Levinson is the Senior Director of Lending at RSF Social Finance and a 2014 Eisenhower Fellow.
Asia’s lagging status in the global social enterprise race is not an infrastructure problem—it’s an attitude problem. www.asianngo.org
A 2013 Nielsen global survey confirmed what many of us have known for a long time—Asians are the most brand-conscious consumers in the world. This love of labels extends far beyond Louis Vuitton bags and Nike shoes. It extends to young people and the cachet of working for a recognized multinational. Until working for a small, unproven enterprise garners the same prestige as a big bank or chemical company, social enterprises will be hampered by their inability to attract top talent. Failure will need to be embraced.
An architecture school can produce architects who can draw buildings, but without capital the skyscrapers won’t be built. It’s time for Asia’s best business minds to rise to the forefront.
Idolizing failure has always struck me as a misguided activity, but deploying market forces to address market failures—a succinct description of social enterprise as any—is an inherently risky proposition. The social stigma of failure will need to be reduced if we want to encourage the risk-taking required to make lasting change.
Tomorrow is too late.
Similarly, governments, the media and people in positions of power will need to more openly acknowledge the very problems social entrepreneurs aim to address. How can we expect to improve Beijing’s air quality, for example, when officials refuse to acknowledge the existence of a problem?
Asia’s quick ascendancy in wealth— there are now more Asian millionaires than in all of North America—only exacerbates this attitude. This view needs to be tempered with an equivalent sense of urgency around the social and environmental challenges facing the Asian continent.
Philanthropists will need to pursue their giving with the same gusto as their deal-making.
Big opportunities in social enterprise exist across Asia. Opportunities that can reverse deforestation in Indonesia, improve traffic in Bangkok and reduce agricultural waste throughout the Mekong delta.
Much of the growth in social enterprise globally can be attributed to a handful of people who have transferred their business savvy to philanthropy. These include Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, Richard Branson of Virgin fame and Tony Elumelu of United Bank for Africa. Asia has its share of social enterprise promoters, but these philanthropists are much more focused on providing social enterprise education rather than the risk capital needed to nurture this movement. /AsianNGO
social enterprises
Brand status will need to be replaced with results status.
Globally, making money is perceived as a young person’s game while giving it away is for late in life. This view seems even more pronounced in Asia where there is a prevailing sentiment that now is the moment to seize opportunities for fortune.
Telemedicine, employment for the developmentally disabled and off-grid energy alternatives all have the potential to make lasting change while generating profits. While the social enterprise field is less developed in Asia, perhaps that is exactly the environment that will attract the most creative and persistent changemakers to tackle the work ahead.
September Launch of project inspire inaugural crowdfunding campaign
November
The Grand Finals will be live streamed at projinspire.com
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Putting Malaysian SEs on the Fast Track 60
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www.asianngo.org
M
similar feats.
alaysia has set its sights on spurring the growth of its social enterprise sector, leading a growing list of Asian governments aiming for
Marking a historic moment in May, Malaysia announced its first Social Enterprise Blueprint, outlining a three-year strategic roadmap for incubating a strong social enterprise ecosystem and creating more impact-driven entrepreneurs in the country by the year 2018. The blueprint was hatched by the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Center, an institute created by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2013 to support the country’s budding social enterprise sector. Ehon Chan, Executive Director of Social Entrepreneurship at MaGIC, speaks with AsianNGO about fresh developments at the center. What’s new at MaGIC? We’re currently running the Magic Accelerator Program (MAP) from our campus in Cyberjaya until November. MAP is Malaysia’s first SE accelerator sourcing bold new ideas to improve lives and build a sustainable world. In July, we welcomed some 25 SEs in Malaysia and 77 startups from across ASEAN as MAP cohorts. We’ve also partnered with Stanford University to hold @Stanford, a two-week immersive innovation and entrepreneurship program at Stanford University and Silicon Valley in August, which helped 40 Malaysian entrepreneurs experience and gain valuable insights, build relationships with potential mentors and investors in Silicon Valley, and network with fellow entrepreneurs. These are only a few of the many ways we’re supporting an entrepreneurial community and enhance the startup ecosystem in Malaysia. As Malaysia’s first SE accelerator, what makes MAP ground-breaking? MAP is the largest accelerator program in ASEAN and it offers a cohesive knowledge-sharing platform to selected entrepreneurs from all around Malaysia and the ASEAN region.
/AsianNGO
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social enterprises
interview
Photo: MaGIC
interview
It also provides a good platform for entrepreneurs to build their business while leveraging on available tools, resources, experienced entrepreneurs, global mentors, corporate partners, regional investors and like-minded peers. MAP focuses on developing a community of social entrepreneurs who will be the catalyst to lead the growth of the social entrepreneurship movement in the country. These SEs will have access to 27 mentors, instructors and key influential figures to help them develop their SEs, including Mark Gilmour, head of Global Brand Development at the Virgin Group, and Yap Mun Ching, Executive Director of AirAsia Foundation. Each will receive a seed funding of RM30,000 (approximately US$7,100) to pilot their ideas. At the moment, MaGIC only supports Malaysian SEs. What plans are in place to extend its reach? MaGIC’s SE unit aspires to build a nurturing ecosystem by enabling infrastructure and support for SEs to thrive and succeed on a national and global level. We also seek to provide social entrepreneurs with the capability and financial support for them to pilot, scale and make Malaysia proud. Our initiatives and effort will be focused on Malaysia at this point, so that we can concentrate our invest62
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Each will receive a seed funding of RM30,000 (approximately US$7,100) to pilot their ideas. ment in building the movement. However, given that social entrepreneurship is relatively new in Malaysia and the region, we’re slowly building alliances to share best practices with other agencies in the region such as raiSE in Singapore, and Social Ventures Hong Kong on the Asia Social Innovation Award. We’re also looking to work with these partner agencies to help SEs in the region collaborate. Earlier this year, Malaysia announced an admirable goal to raise manifold the number of its SEs. Have you made some headway yet? We believe we’ve made some headway in our aim to create at least 1,000 successful SEs in the country in three years’ time. In Malaysia, the estimated existing 100 SEs are operating mostly in the areas of education, poverty, rural development, and environmental sustainability, employment for the marginalized, and at-risk youth. www.asianngo.org
social enterprises
Since the establishment of the MaGIC SE unit and the blueprint launch, we now have about 130 SEs in our database. A majority of these are self-identified SEs, so we’re in the midst of verifying their status. We passionately believe we can make Malaysia the regional leader for a people economy. The MaGIC SE team is working hard towards creating awareness and buy-in among stakeholders and up-skilling SEs through structured learning programs to equip their businesses to be investment-ready. Why are SEs important to a developed nation like Malaysia? One of the reasons social entrepreneurship has been receiving recognition is due to traditional sectors becoming outdated and ineffective. The government, which has been traditionally viewed as the primary supplier of public services or goods, is slowly moving towards a people-centric approach. Social entrepreneurship is becoming more significant and rapidly growing due to its ability to develop social innovations that are financially viable to private sector investors.
The SE sector continues to grow in momentum globally, due to its ability to both create economic wealth and also solve issues, which are deeply impactful to beneficiaries.
This approach means that more focus and resources are being allocated to deliver public services that are coherent with the public’s increasing demand for access and quality of service. SEs connect and synergize the traditional sectors in order to deliver economic, social, and environmental value for all stakeholders involved. What more is in store at MaGIC?
Photo: MaGIC
At the MaGIC SE unit, we’re positive and eager to collaborate with partners from the corporate and government sector, locally and internationally. We’ll continue to develop programs and initiatives that are in line with our new blueprint. We’ll focus more on the outreach activities to create awareness and educate the masses on the importance and relevance of social entrepreneurship. We’ll also work closely with the government to develop supportive policies, regulatory, tax and administrative frameworks policies for the growth as well as sustainability of social entrepreneurs. This includes carving out procurement contracts for social entrepreneurs in government agencies and ministries. This initiative will then include collaboration with the corporate sector. We’re also in talks with various venture funds and financial institutions on creating financial capital for SEs. Going forward, apart from working directly with social entrepreneurs, we’ll also be engaging with other partners to grow the larger ecosystem from supportive policy framework, advocating social procurement, building financial capital and more.
/AsianNGO
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A Guide to
Social
Enterprises in Asia by Dien S. Yuen
Social enterprises can take the form of a nonprofit or for-profit and vary in size and structure but what unites all SEs is their business approach to social change. Instead of maximizing profits, SEs apply market practices to maximizing impact and strive to optimize finances in support of their social or environmental missions. SEs form an integral role in a larger social innovation sector–they act as on-theground implementers of social solutions. Asian Context Early social entrepreneurs in Asia tended to be foreigners or returning patriates, but homegrown Asian social entrepreneurs are now more common. Some of the world’s largest and most well known SEs, like Grameen Bank and BRAC Enterprises, got their start in Asia. It is difficult to state the number of SEs there are in Asia since SEs are so diverse in their nature and scope of activities. Because of the relatively 64
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Photo: Joel Forte
Social enterprises have gained increased recognition for their ability to bring about fair and equitable social transformation. The unique model provides an additional mode of engagement for individuals and institutions interested in addressing social issues. recent introduction of the term, many organizations may not even self-identify as a social enterprise even though they function as one.
The types of issues that SEs address also depend on the needs and phase of each country’s unique development.
SE development at the country level is driven by a number of interrelated factors, but there are two that stand out in particular:
For instance, Japan may have an advanced economy, but it faces a rapidly aging population and needs to develop a more inclusive labor market if it is to retain its economic clout. Many Japanese SEs, therefore, focus on enabling more women to participate in the country’s workforce.
Vitality of a country’s civil society The strength of its nonprofit sector, the freedom of its people to act, the availability of resources that support citizen engagement, and more. The country’s business environment Encompassing its ease of doing business, the sophistication of its business culture, and the state of its infrastructure, among others. For example, the innovation sector in Mainland China has expanded rapidly but Chinese SEs still face a number of regulatory hurdles. In comparison, SE ecosystems in Singapore and Hong Kong benefit from greater regulatory and multi-sector support.
Resource-rich countries, like Indonesia and the Philippines, incubate many SEs that focus on environmental stewardship and management of a more inclusive value chain. Challenges ahead As Asia continues to undergo drastic social, demographic, and economic changes, SEs can play a role to ensure that future Asian growth is inclusive and sustainable. SEs reach underserved communities, linking them to products and services that enhance their quality of life and income generation ability. www.asianngo.org
Challenges 1. Funding Many Asian SEs continue to rely on personal funds or grants from Western foundations as major sources of their funding. While interest from Asian philanthropists is increasing, more education around how SEs work must be done. In addition, many Asian governments have yet to set up incentive structures that encourage local investment in SEs. 2. Lack of Awareness and Collaboration SEs must do a better job of engaging philanthropists, investors, and the general public in their work. Social entrepreneurs can also increase dialogue among one another in order to improve understanding and build upon each other’s efforts. 3. Regulatory Environments Most Asian countries have yet to develop regulations that keep up with the pace of SE growth. However, India and the Philippines are moving towards stronger policy support for SEs. 4. Sector Metrics While many success stories have emerged from the fields, the overall impact of SEs has yet to be quantified. With Asia being so diverse and with so much variance among SEs, it has been difficult developing a standard metrics system. However, benchmarking systems like IRIS and GIIRS are gaining wider adoption. 5. Capacity Building Many professionals are attracted to social entrepreneurship but increasing salary and organizational capacity will be critical for retaining talent in the sector. /AsianNGO
social enterprises
However, a number of issues must be addressed before SEs can become a part of mainstream Asian economies and societies.
ARE YOU A FUNDER? Philanthropists have an opportunity to nurture the social innovation sector in Asia. Philanthropists must study not just the SEs they are supporting, but also the issues that SEs seek to address. Below are some other ideas:
Technical Training & Staff Support As SEs move beyond proof of concept, they will need more resources to grow.
Mentoring & Networking Philanthropists can bring their knowledge, experience and connections to help social entreprenuers and SEs succeed
Funding Instruments & Support for Intermediaries Funders can work with SEs to select funding vehicles that is appropriate for their situation. You can also support intermediaries that promote participation in the social innovation sector– such as university programs and incubators.
Source
Kordant Philanthropy Advisors
AUTHOR Dien S. Yuen is founder and managing director of Kordant Philanthropy Advisors, a social venture firm dedicated to more effective, impactful and joyful philanthropy. dien@kordant.com @asiangiving www.kordant.com
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Show Me the Money:
5 Ways to Finance Social Enterprise by Karim Benammar
Venture capital seeks a tenfold return or more, it wants a seat on the board, and it demands a say in the direction and pace of progress. Often, it has the power to kick out the initial founders.
3. Impact investment. This is a new category of funding that adds social and environmental indicators to the usual financial indicators of profitability and return on investment.
In fact, for many start-ups, venture capital is not the answer. According to green entrepreneur and investor Noam Gressel, venture capital is a good solution only in very specific circumstances.
Some investment funds allocate part of their portfolio to impact investment, as do some large banks. While this represents only a small fraction of overall investment for these organizations, the available sums for start-ups are significant and rapidly growing.
It is the most expensive and riskiest money, and by design impatient. Venture capital works well for startups with technologies that require limited R&D and have low capital expenses. They need to have the potential to scale rapidly and produce outsized returns.
4. Get financing from your own profits. This is an obvious but overlooked category. As Gressel also argued, profit is a tool that allows you to make a broad impact, and gain market recognition that your services are necessary and attractive.
What kind of investment should social entrepreneurs be looking for? 1. Government grants and research grants. while these may have complicated application processes and strings attached, there are great opportunities for companies at the forefront of specific innovation sectors. 2. Philanthropic support. Wellknown and lesser-known private foundations fund promising social start-ups. The new charity is savvy: nowadays foundations require coherent and well thought-out business plans. Sometimes funding also comes in the form of competitions. 66
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A minimal viable product or service should be designed right from the start–social entrepreneurs are sometimes so focused on impact that profitability takes a back seat. Finance the projects rather than the company. 5. Partner with large companies. In order to scale faster, try using the client base of a strategic partner. You can partner with companies who give you a lot of support, much of it in-kind. Large companies are interested because they want to know what is out there, and they will help nurture your company without wanting a seat on the board or asking for a lot of financial return.
Photo: CANGO
Many start-ups dream of getting venture capital funding. Venture funding brings in not only the cash to pay operating expenses for a few years, but also the cachet of being a funded start-up in a competitive field. Unfortunately, like eager bands signing with a record label, we tend to forget the strings attached.
Social enterprises should be copying the strategic thinking of business entrepreneurs: they should ensure they have a value proposition that is truly compelling and a strategy for scalability. Social entrepreneurs can reframe the misfit with venture capital as an advantage: while tech entrepreneurs focus on venture capital, social entrepreneurs have access to a much broader range of funding opportunities. The goal is to find funding that is aligned with your social mission and impact.
Source
THNK.org
AUTHOR Karim Benammar is a philosopher and content developer at THNK, a school for creative leadership with a twofold mission to accelerate the development of creative leaders from across social, private and public sectors, and create innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing and inspiring challenges. karim.bennamar@thnk.org @KBenammar
www.asianngo.org
social enterprises
Building a Team with Super-Skills & Complementarity by Marina Kim
Who you choose to be on your team will define your success in life, in your work, in your relationships. Most of us tend to pick a team of people—or join a team—with similar backgrounds, or who we like working with, or who have similar strengths.
Photo: Global Event Management
While there is nothing wrong with that, surrounding yourself with completely uniform team members can stunt your professional growth. People who are just like you will not push you to see beyond your biases, grow new perspectives or help complement or expand your abilities. Help everyone on your team see their super-skills At least once a year, here at the Ashoka U team we do a ‘Gratitude Exercise’ where we answer a series of questions about each other in the mode of positive inquiry. Questions range from ‘Name this person’s super-skill’ or ‘What is the next area of growth or mastery for this person?’ The Gratitude Exercise is a phenomenal way to help everyone on your team feel valued and appreciated. We spend several hours investing in writing out peer-to-peer assessments of everyone on our team and sharing them in both verbal and written form. Value difference to strengthen the team Once you see unique skills on the team, through the gratitude exercise, or through 360 reviews, personality tests, among other ways, then you can leverage diversity as a strength. Here are four tips to leverage individual differences into a cohesive team: •
A united vision. Having a baseline value system and common goal is essential to bringing your team together. This should transcend your organization’s mission statement–it’s about a common belief system you all share.
•
Defer to the people who are best in certain situations. Our entire team is aware of each other’s content and skill expertise, allowing us to streamline our decision-making by relying on the ‘expert’ team-member to decisively and thoughtfully deal with it in an elegant and efficient fashion.
•
•
Don’t surround yourself with ‘Yes’. If you aren’t hearing ‘no’ from time to time or aren’t getting pushback on certain decisions, you aren’t surrounding yourself with the right team. Before making a key decision, run it by other team members and ask their opinion. Learn how to communicate across personality types. While it can be easy to remember that people have different skillsets and strengths, it can be harder to remember that our communication styles and preferences can also vary greatly. Having an honest conversation about people’s personality types can be extremely eye-opening and beneficial. /AsianNGO
Setting the tone and building a supportive culture In some organizations there is a hierarchy that ‘engineers’ are more valuable than the ‘marketing’ side of the house. The reality is that it takes many sets of skills to make a team or an organization work in a beautiful, collaborative manner. Reinforcing a culture of equal value and accountability will culminate in a highperforming team. While it takes a long journey to learn how to communicate with different styles, ensure the team values each other and makes decisions collaboratively, it can be done and it’s worth it for the significant impact that diversity brings to the quality and originality of the team’s work.
Source
Ashoka U
AUTHOR Marina Kim is a co-founder of Ashoka U, where she works to catalyze social innovation at college campuses around the world, and re-envision co-leadership and collaborative teams. ashokau@ashoka.org @marinakim www.ashokau.org
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Report
Social Entrepreneurs BY AGE
3%
21%
24%
35%
15% 2%
BY QUALIFICATION
40% Degree or postgraduate course
14%
11%
9%
Unknown
Professional qualification
Other
26% NVQ, CSE, GCSE or A Levels
Source: Survey of 1,000 social entrepreneurs, UnLtd www.unltd.org.uk
Unleashing the power of your not-for-profit CONNECTING UP PROVIDES A WIDE RANGE OF SERVICES TO GET YOUR NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATION CONNECTED.
Technology Donations • Technology Discounts • Workshops & Webinars • Connecting Up Conference • Supplier Directory • Not-for-Profit Directory
•
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Spotlight on Malaysian SEs Social startup barriers
Did you know that:
90%
Use their own money as a startup
AVERAGE TEAM SIZE
was funded by donations and grants
Funding shortage
2
Unable to recruit/ retain quality talent
3
Lack of physical infrastracture for community
4
Difficulty sourcing affortdable equality materials
5
Lack of motivation from addressable communities
6
Weak business model understanding and planning
7
Public’s misconception of social entrepreneurship
6 PEOPLE
GENDER OF FOUDNERS
1 OUT OF 3 ARE MALE
10%
1
AVE AGE OF TEAM MEMBERS
30 YEARS OLD
Source: Your Story www.yourstory.com
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AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
www.asianngo.org
Social Enterprise Sector Education Healthcare
36 23
23
Community Service
18
Handcraft
14
14
Environment
5
Women Welfare
social enterprises
Spotlight on Indian SEs
Innovation-driven Economies in Asia:
Australia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Qatar
Child Welfare -2014 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
In Percentage (%)
Investors look for
Who are Social Entrepreneurs?
23
Clarity of purpose
18
Commitment of entrepreneur
Globally, women play an active role in the social entreprise sector, even in regions where women traditionally don’t have business leadership opportunities.
5
Reach of impact *45% of the respondents are investors
Early stage social entrepreneurshipactivity by region
In Percentage (%)
Challenges
Percentage of the Adult Population
Rectuitment & Talent Development
27
Government Policy
14
Legal Employee Retention
9
Market Access for Product
9
Supply Chain Management
5
Access to Seed Funding
5
33%
Source: Your Story www.yourstory.com
/AsianNGO
50%
In Percentage (%)
18
Market Awareness
Entrepreneurs in Education sector face problem in Recruitment and Development
ASIA
23
1.6% 1.2% MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
Entrepreneurs in Community Service face problem because of Government Policy
1.8% .8%
Source: GOOD Business Social Enterprise hub AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Looking to the Future A post-2015 partnership platform for Philanthropy
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www.asianngo.org
philanthropy
interview
P
hilanthropy is primed to play a bigger role in global sustainability with the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, an ambitious set of agenda that will shape the face of international development cooperation for years to come. Already, philanthropists are gathering together to foster the sector’s heightened involvement in successfully implementing the SDGs. In a global first, the SDG Philanthropy Platform was launched in 2014 as a vehicle for strengthened partnership between philanthropists and their counterparts in post-2015 development advocacy, including civil society, international organizations, UN system, government and business. Here, we talk at length with a proponent of the platform, Lauren Bradford, Manager for Global Partnerships at Foundation Center. Let’s talk about the role of philanthropy within the framework of the SDGs. Philanthropy is one of the last sources of development funding that isn’t already earmarked, and is therefore a key fixture in the toolbox to achieving the SDGs. Philanthropy has a huge wealth of resources both in terms of capital and knowledge that can work towards the overall implementation and achievement of the SDGs. There are more than 200,000 foundations globally, with the largest 1,000 philanthropic foundations alone representing around US$25 billion annually in grant financing that supports poverty eradication and other aims like improved health and education, and positive environmental outcomes. Equally important is that the philanthropic sector is rapidly growing in number and size in emerging markets and in countries across the world, where more than 1,000 philanthropic entities already provide significant support through grants and operational programs.
Photo: SDG Philantrophy Platform and Country
What more can be done by the philanthropic sector? If we are serious about achieving the SDGs, we must begin by honoring and supporting a diversity of philanthropic interests, practices, and approaches. With this in mind, philanthropy can make the SDGs successful by working together as a collective voice, acting as a responsible and effective grant makers in terms of where and who to give funding to, use its expertise to ensure high quality implementation, develop partnerships and contribute to and improve the data context to measure progress against the SDG indicators and track financial flows. Philanthropy can work to improve its own financial and program data tracking processes and subsequently encourage others to do the same so we can ensure money and energy is being spent where and how it is needed most. I would like to call on philanthropists to improve their data tracking and collection techniques and subsequently share data to help all parties work toward achieving the SDGs. /AsianNGO
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Please tell us more about SDG Philanthropy Platform and its thrusts.
How did the SDG Philanthropy Platform come to fruition?
SDG Philanthropy Platform facilitates collaboration between philanthropy, government, the UN system and other sectors, with the aim of giving philanthropy a voice and improving its effectiveness in helping accomplishing the SDGs. The platform helps these actors see the value of philanthropy, and encourage philanthropists to better understand the larger ecosystems in which they operate in order to build more and improved partnerships.
SDG Philanthropy Platform was originally launched as the Post-2015 Partnership Platform for Philanthropy at the Ford Foundation during the UN General Assembly in 2014.
With enough support, the potential to improve the performance of philanthropy is enormous. For this reason, the platform aims to create enabling philanthropic environments, provide consultations, monitor country-level SDG progress, and organize meetings, workshops, trainings and events between partners. As of September, the platform also serves as a national clearinghouse to provide unprecedented amounts of information. What kind of information will be available to philanthropists? One initiative under the platform is SDGfunders.org, an online portal that maps philanthropic aid data internationally and nationally relative to the SDGs and the Millennium Development Goals. It will give insight into philanthropic data and information needs at the global, regional, and national levels, and contribute to a shared understanding of how data can support increased philanthropic effectiveness in addressing global development challenges. Eventually, it will encourage data sharing and collection efforts to aid in philanthropic decision-making. SDGfunders.org will be complemented by dedicated on-the-ground platform coordinators, who are supported at an international level. An initiative of this scale is unique and new to the philanthropic space.
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SDGfund
SDG SDG Philanthropy Platform
ers.org
Launching 24 Septem ber 2015!
Alongside representatives from the Foundation Center, United Nations Development Program and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors—supported by Hilton, Ford and MasterCard Foundations—I joined the project team in the early stages of designing the platform and SDGfunders.org. The platform is evolving every day and we are constantly re-shaping it based on the current development context and needs. For me, this is the exciting part of the work: That the operational structure and its partners allow this, and is one of the many value adds of philanthropy—we have the ability to move quickly, adapt and re-adapt as needed. At present, we are developing our expansion plan, which will include working in more countries, with more partners both on the ground and internationally, and at a deeper thematic level on many of the SDGs as well as data. How can foundations in Asia-Pacific get involved? There are a number of ways foundations in the region can get involved. The Indonesia platform has already launched and we invite Indonesian foundations and stakeholders to participate in the platform by working with us at the global level and with our national coordinator. We are also interested in launching the platform in other countries in the region and would love to hear from those whom would like to see this happen and support it on the ground. There are opportunities for foundations to fund this project, fund pilot country work, create a group of funders around a goal, work with us to understand the local data context, contribute data, become a promotional partner, submit an idea for a discussion, contribute to an existing discussion and the like. We are always happy of hear new ideas.
SDG
Philanthropy Platform SDG
Philanthropy Platform
The SDG Philanthropy Platform is a partnership of organizations that is facilitating a more active role for philanthropy in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Platform enables collaborations in the global development space and helps them improve global development outcomes as the world transitions from the MDGs to the SDGs. A key part of this initiative is the SDGfunders.org website, which enhances opportunity for collaboration across sectors through: l
Maps and dashboards of key funding data, including progress by SDG, country, and population group.
l
Lists of top funders and recipients working on specific goals.
l
A collection of literature, including case studies and interviews with global experts.
l
An online community that serves as a hub for discussions and knowledge sharing.
Visit SDGfunders.org today to explore and sign up for e-mail updates.
The SDG Philanthropy Platform and SDGfunders.org is proudly brought to you by:
www.asianngo.org
Trends in Philanthropy in the Arab Region Beyond a charity-based model by Naila Farouky In 2015, the landscape of philanthropy in the Arab region looks decidedly different than it did a mere four years ago. To be sure, the practice of philanthropy and charitable giving is not new to the region.
AUTHOR
Where does Arab philanthropy go from here? The Arab region gives, and it gives a lot. This is undisputed. The legacies of generosity, hospitality and focus on community are well documented, and well worth preserving. Where we need to focus some of our attention isn’t on the giving itself, but on the issues surrounding it. There is a noted surge in the more innovative approaches to philanthropy that are prevalent globally, and they have appeared and been successfully implemented in the Arab region. Venture philanthropy, crowdfunding and other forms of strategic philanthropy have emerged, and they are plentiful, to be sure. In the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’, and even prior to that, the proliferation of foundations in the region is difficult to ignore. /AsianNGO
Within the Arab context, the issues of accountability and transparency remain vague and unaddressed, mostly due to the fact that we have yet to determine the metrics by which they are defined within a local and regional context. However, in order for the Arab region’s philanthropic sector to count on a global stage, it must adopt and adapt the guiding principles of sound governance, of which accountability and transparency are paramount.
in fact, it is so deeply embedded in the culture and fabric of the various societies that make up the 22 country-strong region that it would be difficult to find a point in the region’s history when philanthropy was not widely practiced. However, the seemingly sudden surge of geo-political upheaval in the region in 2011, widely known as the ‘Arab Spring’ (although it appears to have a rather perennial momentum), essentially shocked the region into a new reality across all aspects of society, with the philanthropic sector certainly being no exception.
philanthropy
Commentary
Naila Farouky Naila Farouky is the CEO & Executive Director of the Arab Foundations Forum.
But it should also be noted that, in the Arab region, the definition of what constitutes a foundation has a relatively more nebulous meaning than elsewhere, and is not necessarily described by the western taxonomy of a strictly grantmaking entity. In many cases, foundations in the Arab region tend to be more of a hybrid between a grantmaking and a grant-seeking entity. This doesn’t diminish from the impact of these organizations, but it does make it somewhat more difficult to categorize them in a way that those outside the region would understand. The lack of data and inadequate mapping of the sector in the region makes it almost impossible to gather the most fundamental information on Arab philanthropy.Key questions here are: who is giving what? Where are they giving it? How much are they giving? And to whom they are giving? Such questions remain, for the most part, entirely unanswered at this time.
At this point, we metaphorically don’t count globally, in a way that is representative of the potential of this region, and that is largely due to the fact that we literally don’t count, in terms of getting data and measuring and owning our giving. We need actively to engage globally, in a way that highlights the uniqueness of the region, without setting it apart from the rest of the world. In the most basic sense, if the Arab region intends to have a seat at the table, and have an influential voice in the de- signing and creating of development programs and innovations that affect the global south, then we must come to the table with meaningful and constructive insights, of which we have no shortage. The potential of this region is immense, yet it remains largely untapped. The time has come for the Arab region to gather its resources, share its learning, advocate around meaningful change in the policies and laws that affect its citizens, and take stock of its standing in the global community, for which it can prove immeasurably useful. Source
2015 CIVICUS State of Civil Society Report
www.civicus.org
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Measuring & Improving
Social Impacts The new bottom line for the social sector
by Marc J. Epstein & Kristi Yuthas
You’re investing your money, your time, your reputation in worthwhile causes, but are you really making a difference? Organizations talk a lot about the work they do and number of lives affected, but are these people really better off? The pressure to answer these questions has never been greater, yet the confusing array of metrics and tools make it hard to get meaningful, actionable information. To address the problem head on, we interviewed measurement experts at more than 50 leading foundations, nonprofits, and social enterprises. The secrets we uncovered are summarized in the following five-step process that will help gain clarity about the impacts that matter most to you. From the Book, ‘Measuring and Improving Social Impacts: A Guide for Nonprofits, Companies, and Impact Investors’ by Marc J. Epstein & Kristi Yuthas. Step 1: What will you invest? In this step, you’ll first think about your investment goals. Why are you investing? What do you hope to accomplish through your invest-
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ment? Do you expect social returns alone, or do you want financial returns as well? Do you have other goals, such as strengthening relationships, building your brand, or reciprocating for benefits you have received? You’ll also have to consider what resources you are willing to invest in social change—your time, your money, your expertise, your network. Step 2: What problem will you address? Next, you’ll decide what kinds of problems you are interested in addressing, and whether you will focus on one issue or a portfolio of issues. You’ll consider which social and environmental causes are most important to you and how you can best serve beneficiaries using the resources you plan to invest. And you’ll consider the intervention approaches you wish to support, such as research, services, advocacy, or ecosystem support.
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How can you increase impact?
What problem will you address? Figure 1
How will you measure succes?
What steps will you take?
You’ll decide what types of organizations you’re interested in—social enterprises, nonprofits, corporations—as well as how you’ll structure your investment in that organization, whether as venture capital, equity, a loan, or a gift. You’ll also decide what role you want to play in the organizations in which you invest. Step 3: What steps will you take? Once you have identified your causes, you’ll plan for achieving the desired change. Social impacts flow from an organization’s mission and culture and can be created by the goods and services offered, by operations, and from passive investments. For desired social impacts you’ll develop a theory about which actions can create those impacts, and then generate a logic model or results chain that can show exactly how the organization’s actions and outputs are expected to result in positive impacts for stakeholders and the environment. Finally, you’ll map out your stakeholders and the effects your organization will have on them, taking particular care to ensure that the interventions you plan are both beneficial to and desired by beneficiaries. Step 4: How will you measure success? Performance measurement and management systems help you monitor how investments are creating social change. In this stage, you’ll consider the purpose of your measurement. Is it to learn how effective your work has been, to communicate expectations, or to satisfy investors’ accountability demands?
/AsianNGO
philanthropy
What will you invest?
You’ll also determine the kinds of measurement approaches that can provide the evidence you seek, whether investigation, analytics, or experiments. And you’ll make plans for developing a performance measurement system for gathering, analyzing, and using your performance data. Step 5: How can you increase impact? In this step, you’ll evaluate the dimensions of your performance measurement system—the metrics collected, the purpose served, and their relationships with your strategy—with the goal of improving your system to increase your impacts. Finally, you’ll consider strategies for growing your organization and its impact. These can include sources of innovation, ingredients needed for successful scaling, and opportunities for collaborating and sharing your capabilities in order to leverage your impact beyond your own organization. Working through these steps is not a one-time process. You’ll return to each question as you repeat the cycle to modify your actions and improve your performance.
Although budgets, fundraising, and efficiency are important, social impact is the new bottom line for the social sector. We believe that you can achieve dramatic social and environmental changes through more careful efforts at defining, measuring, and improving your social impacts. Source
McGraw Hill Education Asia
AUTHORS Marc J. Epstein is a research professor of management at Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University. epstein@rice.edu Kristi Yuthas is a Swigert Endowed Chair at Portland State University’s School of Business Administration. kristiy@sba.pdx.edu
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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7 Questions to Ask When Reading Program Evaluations ‘I have the report—now what?’ Program evaluations provide answers to a key question: ‘ Did this program work in a particular population and setting?’ For funders who haven’t been trained in reading evaluations, wading through such reports can be confusing and time-consuming. So, to get the most out of program evaluations, here are seven questions to ask when reading them: Photot: xceptionalwebinars.com
1) How objective are these findings? The most rigorous evaluations are conducted by neutral third parties. Data collected by an external group, but analyzed in-house, is less rigorous but still informative. At a minimum, the evaluation should include in-house data monitoring and analysis.
2) Were baseline measurements taken? Recording baseline characteristics of program participants and related comparison groups allows for a ‘before’ and ‘after’ picture. For example, what was the prevalence of malaria in a given community before a program was started, and what is that prevalence after the program? If baseline data is not available, regional data may also be used as a benchmark.
3) How strong is the comparison? Rigorous research design compares program participants to people in a control group, who have similar characteristics but do not receive the program. This allows evaluators to answer the question: ‘If all
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other factors are held constant except for participation in the program, what impact do I see among participants?’
4) Was the sample size appropriate? The size and composition of a sample helps determine what researchers call ‘statistical significance.’ Choice of sample size depends in part on the size of the effect
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If the effect size is large enough, even a small pilot of a dozen communities might be enough to help practitioners improve practice and determine whether the program is worth scaling up.
are likely to fall somewhere in the middle.
7) What evidence is there to suggest replicability? The more program implementations are measured in a diversity of sites with consistently positive results, the more confidence evaluators and funders can have that a program can be scaled up to new areas or groups.
5) How objective and meaningful are the measures used?
Remember, even if an evaluation doesn’t meet the most rigorous standards, it doesn’t mean that it still can’t be useful.
The most rigorous program evaluations measure out to ultimate impacts use both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and use surveys and indicators that have been externally assessed for their ability to measure the intended factor consistently across the affected populations.
Even evaluations that are less rigorous can provide helpful information to funders, such as the quality of services provided or whether the program, as designed, is consistently producing the intended outputs.
At a minimum, evaluations should measure project outputs and quality of services, as well as identify possible limitations or biases if only one evaluation exists.
6) Are the study assumptions reasonable? Many if not most studies are done in the absence of perfect or complete information.
The Smart Mobile Messenger for Enterprises
Many nonprofits often don’t have the resources—including dedicated funding, sufficient capacity, or existing data to build upon—to conduct such evaluations. If the program evaluation you seek doesn’t yet exist, perhaps it’s time to consider funding one.
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Researchers should be clear where assumptions were made, and indicate why the assumptions can be considered reasonable and reliable.
Chatlets
If different assumptions are both reasonable and likely to affect results, a good evaluation often includes a range, so that readers understand that actual results Chat Applets
This post is republished with the permission of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy. The Center is only responsible for the content of this post; all other content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the publisher.
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philanthropy
anticipated from the program, as well as who or what the program is meant to affect; the larger the effect size, the fewer communities or individuals are required for it to be found statistically significant.
Best Practices of Savvy Donors A checklist for donors Be Proactive in Your Giving Smart givers generally don’t give reactively in a knee-jerk fashion. They don’t respond to the first organization that appeals for help. They take the time to identify which causes are most important to their families and they are specific about the change they want to affect. For example, they don’t just support generic cancer charities, but instead have targeted goals for their giving, such as providing mammograms to at-risk women in their community.
Be Careful of Sound-Alike Names Uninformed donors are easily confused by charities that have strikingly similar names to others. Their names sound the same, but their performances are vastly different. Informed donors take the time to uncover the difference.
Check the Charity’s Commitment to Accountability & Transparency Seek metrics such as whether the charity used an objective process to determine their CEO’s salary, whether it has an effective governance structure, and whether it has a whistleblower policy. This data is critical because charities that follow good governance and transparency practices are less likely to engage in unethical or irresponsible activities.
Obtain Copies of its Financial Records Savvy donors know that the financial health of a charity is a strong indicator of the charity’s programmatic
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performance. They know that in most cause areas, the most efficient charities spend 75 percent or more of their budget on their programs and services and less than 25 percent on fundraising and administrative fees. However, they also understand that mid-to-large sized charities do require a strong infrastructure therefore a claim of zero fundraising or administrative fees is unlikely at best.
Review Executive Compensation Sophisticated donors realize that charities need to pay their top leaders a competitive salary in order to attract and retain the kind of talent needed to run a multi-million dollar organization and produce results. But they also don’t just take the CEO’s compensation at face value; they benchmark it against similar-sized organizations engaged in similar work and located in the same region of the country. Sophisticated donors also put the CEO’s salary into context by examining the overall performance of the organization.
Start a Dialogue to Investigate its Programmatic Results Although it takes some effort on their part to assess a charity’s programmatic impact, donors who are committed to advancing real change believe that it is worth their time. Before they make a contribution, they talk with the charity to learn about its accomplishments, goals and challenges. These donors are prepared to walk away from any charity that is unable or unwilling to participate in this type of conversation.
Concentrate Your Giving When it comes to financial investments, diversification is the key to reducing risk. The opposite is true for philanthropic investments. If you’ve really taken the time to identify a well-run charity that is engaged in a cause that you are passionate about, you should then feel confident in giving it a donation. Spreading your money among multiple organizations not only results in your mail box filling up with more appeals, it also diminishes the possibility of any of those groups bringing about substantive change as each charity is wasting part of your gift on processing expenses for that gift.
Share Your Intentions and Make a Long-Term Commitment Smart donors support their favorite charities for the long haul. They see themselves as a partner in the charity’s efforts to bring about change. They know that only with long-term, committed supporters can a charity be successful. And they don’t hesitate to tell the charity of their giving plans so that the organization knows it can rely on the donor and the charity doesn’t have to waste resources and harass the donor by sending numerous solicitations.
Source
Charity Navigator
www.charitynavigator.org
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philanthropy
Addressing the critical issues facing Asia in the 21st century South Asia is one of the most densely populated, water scarce regions in the world. In India, demand for water is greater than ever before with increasing urbanization, energy consumption, and food production. India draws most of its fresh water supply from large, internationally-shared river basins. The Asia Foundation is focused on convening multi-stakeholder and multi-country dialogues on shared rivers. Read our report:
STRENGTHENING TRANSPARENCY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION ON TRANSBOUNDARY RIVERS IN SOUTH ASIA
asiafoundation.org
/AsianNGO
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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report
70.5
70.4
64.6
63.2 59.5
59.2
57.2
57.4
52.3
51.9
47.7
Most Generous Countries in Asia-Pacific %
Top 3 Countries Comfortable in giving more than US$500
11.5%
New Zealand
Ranking of Charitable Causes across Asia-Pacific
53.2%
16%
8.7% Hong Kong
8.4% Australia
19.3%
16.9%
16.7%
16.7%
15.1%
Children Health/ Education Fund
Local Natural Disaster Relief
Serious Illness Fund
Poverty/ Starvation Alleviation Fund
Disablity Fund
Overall, more than half of Asia-Pacific cosumers donate to charity.
The Japanese are the least likely to donate to charity.
Across all markets, those who are 50-64 years old are more likely to donate than those 18-24 years old age group. The kiwis are the biggest givers in the region who are most likely to make individual donation of more than US$500 (11.5%).
Source: Charitable Giving in Asia-Pacific Report, Mastercard
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www.asianngo.org
67%
70% 67% 52%
49% 39%
Middle East
Top 5 Motivations
Asia
Health
Education
Religion
Social Change, Diversity and inclusion
51% Family/ relatives
Environment
Top 3 Causes Top 3 Causes
1
Sense of Duty
1 Health
2
Desire to give back to society
2 Environment
3
Alturistic desire to help others
3 Education
4
Religious faith
5
Personal experience with the philanthropic area of focus
39%
37%
26%
22%
22%
Philanthropy advisors/ agencies
External experts in the area of focus
Peer exchanges
Private banks
Family offices
Source: Individual Philanthropy Index, BNP Paribas Wealth Management
Global Philanthropy Legal Environment
Asia is home to most of the world’s richest Asia-Pacific overtakes North America HNW1 population by slim margin. Expected to overtake global HNWI wealth lead by end of 2015
#1
Asia-Pacific
22%
Africa
3%
4.69m Population US$15.82T Wealth
47%
HNWI1 are define as those having investable assets of US$20 million or more, exluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables.
Location of countries offering no tax incentives for individual or corporate donors
Source: Rules to Give By: A Global Philanthropy Legal Environment Index, Nexus, McDermott Will & Emery, & Charities Aid Foundation
Demand for philanthropy services among High-networth Individuals in Asia
21%
11%
Source: Global Wealth Manager’s Survey, Datamonitor Financial
Middle East
Asia Pacific
/AsianNGO
Asia
9%
600k Population US$2.28T Wealth
America Oceania
19% Middle East
Europe
Forecasted growth over the next two years
42%
Asia Pacific
AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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What are the causes we care about?
Reviews Book
How to Be Great at Doing Good: Why Results are What Count and How Smart Charity can Change the World By Nick Cooney Get ready to question everything you’ve been told about charity, and to find out how you can truly succeed at making the world a better place. Many of us donate to charitable causes, and millions more work or volunteer for non-profit organizations. Yet virtually none of us have been taught what it means to succeed at doing good, let alone how to do so. In short, we’ve never been encouraged to treat charity with the seriousness and rigor it deserves. How to Be Great at Doing Good is a complacency-shattering guidebook for
anyone who wants to actually change the world, whether as a donor, a volunteer, or a nonprofit staffer. Drawing on eye-opening studies in psychology and human behavior, surprising interviews with philanthropy professionals, and the author’s fifteen years of experience founding and managing top-rated non-profits, this book is an essential read for anyone who wants to be aware of their own blind spots and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of creating a better world. Source
www.amazon.com
A Proudly Filipino Cloud-Based Platform for Nonprofits Akubo takes its name from the iconic Filipino thatched hut, called ‘kubo,’ reflecting its goal of creating a space on the web where organizations—nonprofits, small businesses, associations and churches—can easily store and access their data, while working together virtually and seamlessly from anywhere in the world. Akubo is a cloud-based platform used to manage fundraising and sales, donations, tasks, event registrations, memberships and email campaigns in one place. Akubo is especially designed for small organizations so it’s affordable, easy to use and less complicated than other web products designed for larger organizations. It is also designed to be a turn-key database solution that can be made up and running quickly. As a web-based database, it can be used from any computer and by multiple users.
Empowering HK Charities
Source
www.akubo.com
There are thousands of charities across Hong Kong making a difference in their local communities every day. Charity leaders are often experts in their field of work but may need help in areas such as capacity building, developing sustainability, long term strategic planning and fundraising. With its mission to ‘serve those who serve,’ Asian Charity Services (ACS), established in 2007, aims to empower these organizations by providing pro bono business consulting services, training and solutions to Hong Kong-based charities so that they may operate more effectively and better benefit their communities.
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www.asiancharityservices.org AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
Its services are designed to enhance the leadership team of organizations that have been running for more than a year. While the majority of its nonprofit clients are based in Hong Kong, many of its clients run programs that impact lives across Asia. www.asianngo.org
A Canvas for Your World The world today is incredibly connected thanks to the internet and billions of mobile devices. As a result, people and organizations are increasingly deluged with information from many sources. It’s hard to manage everything we receive from others–whether it’s on chat apps, social media or email–let alone keep up with what we read, watch or listen to on our own on news media, blogs, radio, TV, magazines, books and more. It’s to solve this problem that Kanvz (http://kanvz. com) was created–a new, free social platform that makes it easy to create, share and rediscover captivating collections, stories and events, in collaboration with your family, friends, peers or supporters. With Kanvz, anyone can use simple posts - with links or uploaded content - to create engaging multimedia canvases that can be shared publicly or privately with whomever they want.
A Word from the CEO
We look forward to seeing NGOs unleash their own creativity using this platform and appreciate opportunities to partner with the NGO community in our beta phase. We invite AsianNGO readers to join Kanvz – use the special invite code asianngo at http:// kanvz.com to sign-up!
T. R. Ramachandran CEO of Kanvz
An innovative tool for NGOs The unique features of Kanvz will benefit the global NGO community greatly. While it takes passion, determination and dedication to be a successful NGO, NGOs continue to face some key challenges on the digital front: •
•
•
Content Creation & Organization: Keeping supporters engaged online requires compelling digital content and the ability to organize related content together in an elegant way Collaboration: Inefficient means of engaging with members, friends, volunteers, supporters or other NGO partners across the world to share and discuss projects, best practices, successes and failures, ideas and observations Reach: Reaching supporters on social media without paying to promote content
With Kanvz, NGOs can easily create or curate digital content of all kinds – such as: • •
Figure 1
Kanvz also has unique newsfeed options which opens the door to meaningfully improving the reach of a user’s content over time. Integration to Facebook and Twitter will be added in the coming weeks. Kanvz is currently in invite-only beta phase on the web and will soon release its first mobile app for iOS devices. /AsianNGO
• • • •
Summaries or collections tied to your own projects or learnings Aggregations of global best practices, success stories and information for day-to-day reference Multimedia albums and liveblogs from events Original articles, stories and blogs Newsletters Interviews, discussions and more
All of this content is created by organizing individual posts into canvases using a simple “Add Post” interface. NGOs can do any of this in collaborative fashion – by easily inviting their own members, volunteers, supporters or even partners in other organizations to participate in their canvases at any time. For example, Figure 1 shows portions of a canvas created by the Edi5 Foundation. AsianNGO | OCT-DEC 2015
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Classifieds Applications are invited for the University of Oxford MSc in Sustainable Urban Development for October 2016 entry. The MSc is a multi-disciplinary and globally-focused part-time course aimed at those tasked with providing vision and leadership for sustainable urban futures. Chris Thompson | sud@conted.ox.ac.uk | www.conted.ox.ac.uk/msud
The Aid and International Development Forum (AIDF) is the world-leading forum specializing in disaster relief, mobile for development, food security and water security. Katie Giorgadze, Events & Communications Manager | katieg@aidforum.org | www.aidforum.org
We are Mango, the only NGO dedicated to strengthening the financial management and accountability of other NGOs worldwide. Since 1999 we have trained more than 18,000 NGO professionals in over 80 countries, filled more than 500 job placements, and provided more than US$1 million of consultancy advice. enquiries@mango.org.uk | www.mango.org.uk
Asian Venture Philanthropy Network is building a cross-sector network bringing together the government, organizations and individuals from finance, business and the social sector. AVPN provides a platform that allows members to pool resources and expertise, access a wide range of resources related to venture philanthropy and strategic giving and develop shared learning and best practices. Patti Chu, Membership Services Manager | patti@avpn.asia | www.avpn.asia
Founded in 1993, CIVICUS is the only global network of civil society organisations and activists dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. info@civicus.org | civicus.org
As the only individual-based professional association bringing together all parts of the humanitarian sector, PHAP’s mission is to enhance the capacity of the global humanitarian community to respond effectively and professionally to current and future crises. Markus Forsberg, Membership and Communications Coordinator | mforsberg@phap.org | www.phap.org
NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network is the membership organization of nonprofit technology professionals. Our members share the common goal of helping nonprofits use all aspects of technology more effectively. Learn more about NTEN’s educational programs, local and online events, or membership. Steph Routh | stephanie@nten.org | www.nten.org
Doing Good Fellows was conceptualized to build a scalable model using people-power for social impact. It is an online impact-creation marketplace platform where professionals can bid for real-life social impact projects to donate their skills. Here, people can donate their expertise and networks to help social entrepreneurs/NGOs solve their toughest challenges. Sajid Shariff | sajid@doinggoodfellows. org, dgf-team@doinggoodfellows.org | www.doinggoodfellows.org
Gnucoop is an IT company with a long experience in software development and systems administration. Gnucoop dedicates a substantial part of their work on ICT4D activities, providing customized IT solutions and technical assistance to NGOs, UN Agencies and humanitarian aid organizations. Paola Fava, Business Developer | paola.fava@gnucoop.com | www.gnucoop.com
Claro KC offers training and technical assistance in support of acquisition & assistance (A & A) activities and strategies, project management, decision-making, conflict transformation, and wise use of resources to organizations for effective coordination and execution of international development programs. Jeffery Bell, Vice President | jeff@clarokc. net | www.clarokc.net
To promote your ogranization, products or services on AsianNGO, email us at info@asianngo.org.
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