2021 has come to an end and even it’s not the best year but the most significant milestone for LIN to reflect on and to be thankful for. We invite you to take time and enjoy our recap on remarkable achievements for such a year of resilience and solidarity of the non-profit community.
1. Covid-19 Response Community Fund – Phase 2 & 3: Furthering efforts for nonprofit sustainability during a pandemic.
From December 2020 to September 2021, LIN has launched 2 phases of the Covid-19 Response Community Fund, distributing roughyl VND 1,5 billion to 32 NPOs with each receiving approximately VND 50 million.
Unlike Phase 1 which focused on operational challenges, Phase 2, running from December 2020 to February 2021, supported a total of 21 NPOs on program implementation so they may be able to deliver services and conduct activities for beneficiaries without disruption. The total fund raised amounted to over VND 1 billion to go into the diverse causes of 21 grantees.
List of Phase 2’s grantees:
- She Will Be Strong
- Gõ LGBT HCMC
- The Social Worker Group for Happier
- Nhà Của Vui
- Ánh Dương Center
- Thảo Đàn Social Protection Center
- LGBTQ Tây Ninh
- Soc Trang Province Association of the Visually Impaired
- Breast Cancer Network Vietnam
- Can Tho City Association of People with Disabilities
- Thiên Ân Shelter
- Thiên Ân Primary school
- Đồng Tâm Cooperative Alliance
- Soc Trang Province Association of People with Disabilities
- Ánh Linh school
- Tình Thân network
- An Giang province Red Cross
- Nắng Mới Sign Language Interpretation Service
- Sơn Kỳ Children Shelter
- Social Protection center for Orphans of Khanh Hoi
- Vietnam Network Of Young Key Affected Populations
Amid the 4th wave of Covid-19 outbreak in Ho Chi Minh city and southern provinces, the Fund has quickly responded with a third phase calling for proposals that directly intervened in the combat against Covid and activities that focused on supporting the people affected by lockdown and the pandemic. Within over 2 months, from August to October 2021, an amount of over VND 470 million was mobilized from 4 companies, 30 individuals and the Irish Aid.
List of Phase 3 grantees:
- Volunteer Together as Community
- Nhân Ái Alliance
- The Soc Trang Association of the Visually Impaired
- Nắng Mới Sign Language Interpretation Service
- Niềm Tin Organization
- Vietnamese Association for Parents with Hearing Loss Children
- Capacity Building Support and Center for Women and Children
- Dong Nai Life Skills Club
- Cu Chi Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin
- Social Media Community Service
- Vu Vo Phuong Nam Community Serving Organization
2. Campaign “Join hands to support communities”: A little that goes a long way
In the memory of each of us back to the middle months of 2021, we might be shaken and distressed by the tremendous loss that the people of Ho Chi Minh city and many other southern provinces went through. Yet, it was in crisis that when the power of the communities came to thrive as we witnessed nothing less than a social and humanitarian movement of people from all classes and all backgrounds either putting themselves in the frontline in the combat against Covid-19 or giving to the cause. LIN did not stand outside the movement; we did what we could and what we had to as an organization promoting community philanthropy ecosystem. A campaign titled “Join hands to support communities” was launched to make verified information of NPOs and volunteer groups delivering emergency services to the people affected by lockdown and Covid-19 go viral on social media to call for donations to be directly contributed to such NPOs and groups.
In times of crisis, every bit of resource counts. Much to the bliss of an organization with a mission to build dynamic linkages among social groups for sustainable development, LIN saw the campaign yielding outcomes going beyond our expectations. From July to October 2021, 136 community activities were verified by LIN and permitted for social media posting with 110 having participated in the campaign and their information widely shared on LIN’s media pages. There have been 1,577,420 reach rates, 18,351 engagement rates and nearly 300 shares. Furthermore, as a result of the information shared on LIN’s social media and from our tracked recordings, at the least an amount of VND 677 million was successfully raised from 12 individuals and organizations to NPOs with their activities posted on LIN’s Facebook page. Additionally, 10 individuals reached out to LIN wishing to send support and got connected to 13 activities by NPOs. In a backdrop where lives are still being affected by Covid-19, LIN feels the need, and will continue, to take actions, even as small as the efforts could be, to support our communities through one of the most difficult times in the history of mankind.
3. Annual cross-sector Conference: Impact beyond boundaries
The Annual cross-sector Conference of 2021 was organized on 26 and 27 August. Co-hosted by the Vietnam Startup Foundation and MSD, the Conference of 2021 took on the themes of Vision and Engagement with the idea that Partnerships start with inspiring leaders and purpose and skills-focused workshops to build trust-based partnerships for Day 1 of the Conference. The event concept on Day 2 – Impact and Learning – brought participants to stories of partnerships forged in crises from Marija Ralic, Manager at Google.org, Mr. Nguyen Tuan Khoi, Founder and CEO at FoodBank Vietnam, or Mr. Chinoros Benjachavakul, Senior Vice president of C.P. Vietnam. The event is further highlighted with keynote speeches by inspirational leaders – Mr. Pham Duy Hieu (Vietnam Startup Foundation), or Mr. Do Duy Vi (Blue Dragon Foundation) along with the networking session participated by some 190 guests on the e-platform Gather.Town.
Despite being conducted during the 4th wave of Covid-19 in Vietnam, particularly in Ho Chi Minh city and the southern provinces, the Conference made impressive show-up rates, with 250 participants on Day 1 and 190 on Day 2. Noticeably, the registration rate of the nonprofit sector was recorded (55.1%) higher than the business and other sectors combined. Post-event survey also showed that the satisfaction level of guests about content and speakers at the event was high (generally above 90%) on Day 1 and relatively high (generally above 75%) on Day 2. LIN received positive comments on the organizing and contents at the Conference.
“All the sessions were very inspiring, with great storytelling. Workshop 3 was very insightful for communication. Maybe a clearer silver lining for keynote sessions, would be nice to have clearer takeaway messages [and] tangible advice.”
“I’ve got to say, I was skeptical about organizing a LIN conference 100% online. ‘Oh, it won’t be the same’, ‘something will be missing’, etc. But you managed to handle the 250+ participants very efficiently, with 3 workshops running simultaneously on Day 1, and getting the sign language live simultaneous translation to have an online conference as inclusive as possible. And all this with the strict lockdown in the background of everyone’s mind. Hats off and hands down to the organizing team for this engaging, passionate and authentic event. From my part as a speaker, organization was perfect from the prep sess to the going live workshop. Congrats!” – Denise Truong, Founder of TYDE Consultant
“The idea of connecting virtually has never been easy for all of us during the strict lockdown in Ho Chi Minh city (Vietnam), let alone talking about cross-sector collaboration. However, the LIN Center for Community Development’s Cross-sector conference 2021 brought us together for a constructive and multidisciplinary discussion. I enjoyed sharing and reconnecting with other people in the community so that we can keep each other motivated and accountable for our own causes. … A big shout out to the whole LIN team and participants in the conference and look forward to our gathering next year!” – Mr. Nguyen Tung Son, Chevening Scholar.
A majority of the participants left the Event with at least 1-2 potential partner connections from the event. More or less, the virtual platform did affect the connection rates as compared with last year.
Watch full all the discussion panels here: Impact Beyond Boundaries, Lam Ngoc Thao, LIN Center
4. Narrow the Gap Community Fund 2021
Beginning in April, promotional activities for Narrow the Gap of 2021 started with highlights of the 5 select SDGs including No poverty, Good health and wellbeing, Quality education, Clean water and Sanitation, and Climate action. The 2021 program tagline – “Cuộc sống đáng giá bao nhiêu?” (How much is a human life worth?) denoting that each giving, no matter how big or small, could make a difference and inviting the people to think of giving to the good causes that help build
decent living conditions for the lives of the underprivileged.
Grantee list:
| Award rate | SDG theme | Name of Project | Project owner | Project location |
| 1. Grantees (150mil VND) | Clean Water and Sanitation | Clean Water, An Urgent Problem In Coastal Areas | Ward Union and Woman’s Union at
Phong Điền Ward, Trần Văn Thời District, Cà Mau Province |
Cà Mau |
| Quality Education | Quality Education for Core Officers | DCOH | Tp Hồ Chí Minh | |
| No Poverty | Light Through The Forest | Frogsleap Foundation | Lâm Đồng |
| 1. Grantees (75mil VND) | Good Health and Well-being | Improve Community Awareness about Cancer | Y học Cộng đồng | Tp Hồ Chí Minh, Cần Thơ, Bình Dương |
| Quality Education | Career Orientation for Students with Hearing Impairment | Hear.Us.Now (H.U.N) | Tp Hồ Chí Minh | |
| Map Art – Experience, Share, Bond | MAP | Đồng Nai | ||
| No Poverty | Building A Post-harvest Processing (Drying, Cleaning, and Packaging) Facility to Raise The Values of Agricultural Products | RUDA Group | Lâm Đồng | |
| The Hope of Klong Trố | Đạ Nhinh Village 1 Community | Lâm Đồng | ||
| Designing and Planting Vineyards | Cần Thơ Association of People with Disabilities | Cần Thơ |
5. LIN’s Theory of Change & strategic plan 2021-2025
Over the year of 2020 and the first half of 2021, LIN sat down with our stakeholders to gather their opinions on the growth pathway for the Center. For the first time ever, we proudly introduce to our stakeholders LIN’s Theory of Change – a visualized representation of what LIN does and where LIN goes. The outcome to the many working sessions is the Strategic Plan 2021 – 2025, laying out the future direction for LIN over the next 5 years. Have a read at LIN’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025 for further detail here.
6. Giving Well University Tour
Aligning with LIN’s mission to promote community philanthropy awareness in the public, from March 2021 LIN conducted a campaign targeting university students from the Hoa Sen Uni, Ton Duc Thang Uni, the Ho Chi Minh city University of Economics and Finance and Fulbright Vietnam Uni. The campaign went on for 2 months and attracted over 350 students to attend. Conceptually, Giving Well University Tour – Invest in the future entails 2 stages:
- Stage 1 is designed to raise general understanding of philanthropy, sustainable development and the nonprofit community.
- Stage 2 is to initiate practicing philanthropy through supporting students to build up plans for their giving well journey and deeper engagement with philanthropy.
Over 6 days in March and April 2021, LIN team kicked off a series of workshops and NPO Fair with the participation of distinguished guest speakers to share with students their experience in the nonprofit sector and a number of social topics including addressing inequalities, diversity, climate change, etc. LIN and the organizing team were thrilled to see such a level of enthusiasm from the student audience who were actively engaged in discussions and expressing their concerns with the social issues that their generation comes to face with. When asked about their takeaways from the event, 72.3% of the respondents reported to have improved their knowledge of philanthropy while 76.4% indicated to have better awareness of the diverse ways of giving and 78.4% acknowledge that such understanding should complement their journey with philanthropy. What also excited LIN as the organizers was that 92% of the student participants in the survey indicated that they would seriously look to engage with philanthropic activities. The enthusiasm and high spirit of such young and fresh minds with so much potentiality and skills to offer to the great tasks of addressing social issues was perhaps the most successful outcome that LIN looks forward to in every of our awareness raising efforts.
The success of LIN’s Giving Well University Tour and the NPO Fair was additionally made possible due to our communication campaign running digitally. There were 463 click rates with 218 registrations and over 160 participants at the NPO Fair event. The Tour and NPO Fair was also featured on a number of major news and media outlets including Tuổi Trẻ, HTV, VnExpress, etc.
“I’ve understood charity and philanthropy. At the same time, I’ve arrived at some thoughts on ways to begin my philanthropy journey, and found answers to some of my questions for my philanthropic activities in the future.” – A sharing from a participating student from University of Economics & Finance of Ho Chi Minh city
“[I think] LIN could use more photos, create more media content for posting on Youtube to raise awareness about [this] program. You will reach a wider youth audience this way.” – A participating student from Hoa Sen University
7. NPO Talkshow series – YOU IMPACT CHANNEL
You Impact in general targets various segments of audiences including interested GenZ, young professionals and leaders of nonprofit organizations as well as those from the corporate sector engaged in CSR activities.
First to be kicked off on-air in December is the series of talk shows titled Philanthropy & Stories with co-host Thai Van Linh. The talk show particularly seeks to bring awareness of issues affecting our daily lives, ways to practice sustainable philanthropy through daily actions and the ongoing efforts done by local groups to address these issues. For the first episodes, You Impact features familiar local NPO names including Teach For Vietnam, Chir, DRD, ICS and Green Connect to talk about topics related to education, health, people with disabilities, LGBT, and climate change. LIN has partnered up with RICE Media & Content to support content production.
At the same time, prep works are underway for the launch of a podcast series on the You Impact channel. The podcast topics look at delivering information about the nonprofit sector with 3 aims: debunking myths about the nonprofit, encouraging people to get involved, and providing practical learning solutions for those looking for a career opportunity in the nonprofit. The podcast rolls out during January next year. Stay tuned!
8. T’is the season sale
LIN Online Shop is our new initiative to provide a unique and meaningful shopping experience. Any purchase from LIN Online Shop will contribute to our Fund pool which LIN uses to strengthen sustainable community development in Vietnam. We are expecting to launch our store on Lazada this December. By doing this, we all could practice philanthropy taking forms of in-kind donation, purchase, or simply word-of-mouth to spread the news so that the whole community will continue being supported through LIN.
