Community change leaders in Vietnam listen, inspire and nurture
When people who migrate from poor, rural Vietnamese villages to large cities require public services such as education or health care, few know they must first secure a local residency card. Until they obtain this document, they will need cash and/or a lot of patience to stand in long lines to obtain services, says Dana Doan, founder and strategic advisor at LIN Center for Community Development in Ho Chi Minh City. She says LIN strives to exemplify the words that compose its acronym: Listen, Inspire and Nurture.
Knowing how to maneuver Vietnam's multi-layered system to access basic public services is frustrating even for those who have means. For those who are poor and without the required residency status, it can seem impossible, she said.
"There is a housekeeper who moved to the city when she was just 7, encouraged by her family to find work and to send her earnings back home. She is now nearly 50 years old and missed an opportunity to attend school because she had to work. She also didn't know much about the system for accessing public services and never applied for the paperwork that would make her eligible to receive those services," Doan said. "People like this woman work hard but still struggle to get out of the poverty trap.”
Instead of simply shaking her head in disbelief at situations like these, Doan was motivated in 2007 to establish LIN, which was legally registered in 2009 to operate in the country's largest city and its surrounding areas. Doan reasoned that LIN could support nonprofits and philanthropists to better address local needs, such as providing vital information to migrants in need of basic public services. To achieve its goal, LIN set out to build the capacity of local nonprofits through small grants, technical assistance, peer exchanges and networking events.
Among other things, LIN:
- administers Narrow the Gap Community Fund, which collects and distributes local resources to address the most pressing needs in the greater Ho Chi Minh City region,
- provides sponsorship of Vietnam Causes, a website that offers nonprofits a no-cost central electronic site to post their website addresses, focus areas, current needs, events calendars, etc.,
- runs a program that matches volunteers with nonprofits in need of specific skills, which is now supported by BlueBees, a website connecting skilled professionals to volunteer opportunities that can be completed online;
- offers support services, including one-on-one pro bono consultations for individuals and businesses interested in strategic philanthropy.
LIN’s ability to engage thoughtfully and productively with local groups inspired staff at the South Africa-based Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF). A Mott grantee, GFCF has given three grants totaling $44,900 to strengthen LIN internally, help develop local philanthropy, and create LIN’s own grantmaking program. To date, LIN has made grants to many of its nearly 150 nonprofit partners for projects ranging from micro-credit training for poor women, to social interaction for sick children living at home or in the hospital, to environmental activities at a university campus.
The GFCF has partnered with LIN since the latter’s earliest days, making LIN one of GFCF’s first grants in Asia and its only partner in Vietnam to date. Both the GFCF and LIN have learned from each other, said Jenny Hodgson, GFCF’s executive director. In addition to being a grantee, LIN is a key member of the GFCF’s network, she said, and serves as a network leader in its creative use of social media to engage with residents and funders.
For example, in August 2014 LIN created a Facebook page campaign to secure 500 photographs of local residents raising their hands for education. In an effort to support LIN’s work, Kinh Do Corporation, Vietnam’s largest confectionary company, pledged the equivalent of $2.50 for each of the first 500 pictures posted to further LIN’s work. The money was raised quickly after more than 800 people posted photos online within 10 days — a testament to LIN, its network members, and the power of social media to raise awareness and funds.
“LIN innovates, tests, documents and adapts its programs — always learning,” Hodgson said. “Through its efforts both to strengthen local civil society groups and to encourage ordinary Vietnamese to learn about, get involved with, and support often complex issues on their doorstep, LIN plays an essential role in building trust and social capital in Ho Chi Minh City.”
While LIN welcomed GFCF's initial funding in 2008, especially because it was the organization's first grant from an international funder and provided a confidence boost, it also valued the opportunities to connect with GFCF's other grassroots funders worldwide, Doan said. Those international connections helped LIN realize it wasn't the only philanthropic organization working within a difficult legal context, she said. So, in addition to gaining financial support early on from the Vietnam-based Horizon Capital Group, LIN pressed on and secured additional funders. These included individuals and other corporations operating in Vietnam, plus non-Vietnam based nonprofit foundations such as Give2Asia, Global Giving and Irish Aid.
According to Doan, with more money coming in the door, funds can be directed to projects that do more than just provide short-term fixes to improve health, education and economic conditions for local residents.
"We want to tackle the root causes of problems facing our community by being thoughtful and more strategic, not simply charitable," Doan said. "We've helped a lot of organizations get stronger and more sustainable, but many, many others are not sure where the money is coming from to keep them going. So our work is not done."
Source: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-Foundation
http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-FoundationWhen
people who migrate from poor, rural Vietnamese villages to large cities
require public services such as education or health care, few know they
must first secure a local residency card. Until they obtain this
document, they will need cash and/or a lot of patience to stand in long
lines to obtain services, says Dana Doan, founder and strategic advisor at LIN Center for Community Development in Ho Chi Minh City. She says LIN strives to exemplify the words that compose its acronym: Listen, Inspire and Nurture.
Knowing how to maneuver Vietnam's multi-layered system to access
basic public services is frustrating even for those who have means. For
those who are poor and without the required residency status, it can
seem impossible, she said.
"There is a housekeeper who moved to the city when she was just 7, encouraged by her family to find work and to send her earnings back home. She is now nearly 50 years old and missed an opportunity to attend school because she had to work. She also didn't know much about the system for accessing public services and never applied for the paperwork that would make her eligible to receive those services," Doan said. "People like this woman work hard but still struggle to get out of the poverty trap.”
Instead of simply shaking her head in disbelief at situations like these, Doan was motivated in 2007 to establish LIN, which was legally registered in 2009 to operate in the country's largest city and its surrounding areas. Doan reasoned that LIN could support nonprofits and philanthropists to better address local needs, such as providing vital information to migrants in need of basic public services. To achieve its goal, LIN set out to build the capacity of local nonprofits through small grants, technical assistance, peer exchanges and networking events.
Among other things, LIN:
LIN’s ability to engage thoughtfully and productively with local groups inspired staff at the South Africa-based Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF).
A Mott grantee, GFCF has given three grants totaling $44,900 to
strengthen LIN internally, help develop local philanthropy, and create
LIN’s own grantmaking program. To date, LIN has made grants to many of
its nearly 150 nonprofit partners for projects ranging from micro-credit
training for poor women, to social interaction for sick children living
at home or in the hospital, to environmental activities at a university
campus.
The GFCF has partnered with LIN since the latter’s earliest days, making LIN one of GFCF’s first grants in Asia and its only partner in Vietnam to date. Both the GFCF and LIN have learned from each other, said Jenny Hodgson, GFCF’s executive director. In addition to being a grantee, LIN is a key member of the GFCF’s network, she said, and serves as a network leader in its creative use of social media to engage with residents and funders.
For example, in August 2014 LIN created a Facebook page campaign to secure 500 photographs of local residents raising their hands for education. In an effort to support LIN’s work, Kinh Do Corporation, Vietnam’s largest confectionary company, pledged the equivalent of $2.50 for each of the first 500 pictures posted to further LIN’s work. The money was raised quickly after more than 800 people posted photos online within 10 days — a testament to LIN, its network members, and the power of social media to raise awareness and funds.
“LIN innovates, tests, documents and adapts its programs — always learning,” Hodgson said. “Through its efforts both to strengthen local civil society groups and to encourage ordinary Vietnamese to learn about, get involved with, and support often complex issues on their doorstep, LIN plays an essential role in building trust and social capital in Ho Chi Minh City.”
While LIN welcomed GFCF's initial funding in 2008, especially because it was the organization's first grant from an international funder and provided a confidence boost, it also valued the opportunities to connect with GFCF's other grassroots funders worldwide, Doan said. Those international connections helped LIN realize it wasn't the only philanthropic organization working within a difficult legal context, she said. So, in addition to gaining financial support early on from the Vietnam-based Horizon Capital Group, LIN pressed on and secured additional funders. These included individuals and other corporations operating in Vietnam, plus non-Vietnam based nonprofit foundations such as Give2Asia, Global Giving and Irish Aid.
According to Doan, with more money coming in the door, funds can be directed to projects that do more than just provide short-term fixes to improve health, education and economic conditions for local residents.
"We want to tackle the root causes of problems facing our community by being thoughtful and more strategic, not simply charitable," Doan said. "We've helped a lot of organizations get stronger and more sustainable, but many, many others are not sure where the money is coming from to keep them going. So our work is not done."
- See more at: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-Foundation#sthash.Ap0azAXM.dpuf
 Dana Doan (right), executive director of the LIN Center for Community Development.
Photo courtesy of the LIN Center for Community Development
|
"There is a housekeeper who moved to the city when she was just 7, encouraged by her family to find work and to send her earnings back home. She is now nearly 50 years old and missed an opportunity to attend school because she had to work. She also didn't know much about the system for accessing public services and never applied for the paperwork that would make her eligible to receive those services," Doan said. "People like this woman work hard but still struggle to get out of the poverty trap.”
Instead of simply shaking her head in disbelief at situations like these, Doan was motivated in 2007 to establish LIN, which was legally registered in 2009 to operate in the country's largest city and its surrounding areas. Doan reasoned that LIN could support nonprofits and philanthropists to better address local needs, such as providing vital information to migrants in need of basic public services. To achieve its goal, LIN set out to build the capacity of local nonprofits through small grants, technical assistance, peer exchanges and networking events.
Among other things, LIN:
- administers Narrow the Gap Community Fund, which collects and distributes local resources to address the most pressing needs in the greater Ho Chi Minh City region,
- provides sponsorship of Vietnam Causes, a website that offers nonprofits a no-cost central electronic site to post their website addresses, focus areas, current needs, events calendars, etc.,
- runs a program that matches volunteers with nonprofits in need of specific skills, which is now supported by BlueBees, a website connecting skilled professionals to volunteer opportunities that can be completed online;
- offers support services, including one-on-one pro bono consultations for individuals and businesses interested in strategic philanthropy.
 The “Raise Your Hand For Education” social media campaign raised awareness and funds for LIN.
Photo courtesy of the LIN Center for Community Development
|
The GFCF has partnered with LIN since the latter’s earliest days, making LIN one of GFCF’s first grants in Asia and its only partner in Vietnam to date. Both the GFCF and LIN have learned from each other, said Jenny Hodgson, GFCF’s executive director. In addition to being a grantee, LIN is a key member of the GFCF’s network, she said, and serves as a network leader in its creative use of social media to engage with residents and funders.
For example, in August 2014 LIN created a Facebook page campaign to secure 500 photographs of local residents raising their hands for education. In an effort to support LIN’s work, Kinh Do Corporation, Vietnam’s largest confectionary company, pledged the equivalent of $2.50 for each of the first 500 pictures posted to further LIN’s work. The money was raised quickly after more than 800 people posted photos online within 10 days — a testament to LIN, its network members, and the power of social media to raise awareness and funds.
“LIN innovates, tests, documents and adapts its programs — always learning,” Hodgson said. “Through its efforts both to strengthen local civil society groups and to encourage ordinary Vietnamese to learn about, get involved with, and support often complex issues on their doorstep, LIN plays an essential role in building trust and social capital in Ho Chi Minh City.”
While LIN welcomed GFCF's initial funding in 2008, especially because it was the organization's first grant from an international funder and provided a confidence boost, it also valued the opportunities to connect with GFCF's other grassroots funders worldwide, Doan said. Those international connections helped LIN realize it wasn't the only philanthropic organization working within a difficult legal context, she said. So, in addition to gaining financial support early on from the Vietnam-based Horizon Capital Group, LIN pressed on and secured additional funders. These included individuals and other corporations operating in Vietnam, plus non-Vietnam based nonprofit foundations such as Give2Asia, Global Giving and Irish Aid.
According to Doan, with more money coming in the door, funds can be directed to projects that do more than just provide short-term fixes to improve health, education and economic conditions for local residents.
"We want to tackle the root causes of problems facing our community by being thoughtful and more strategic, not simply charitable," Doan said. "We've helped a lot of organizations get stronger and more sustainable, but many, many others are not sure where the money is coming from to keep them going. So our work is not done."
- See more at: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-Foundation#sthash.Ap0azAXM.dpuf
When
people who migrate from poor, rural Vietnamese villages to large cities
require public services such as education or health care, few know they
must first secure a local residency card. Until they obtain this
document, they will need cash and/or a lot of patience to stand in long
lines to obtain services, says Dana Doan, founder and strategic advisor at LIN Center for Community Development in Ho Chi Minh City. She says LIN strives to exemplify the words that compose its acronym: Listen, Inspire and Nurture.
Knowing how to maneuver Vietnam's multi-layered system to access
basic public services is frustrating even for those who have means. For
those who are poor and without the required residency status, it can
seem impossible, she said.
"There is a housekeeper who moved to the city when she was just 7, encouraged by her family to find work and to send her earnings back home. She is now nearly 50 years old and missed an opportunity to attend school because she had to work. She also didn't know much about the system for accessing public services and never applied for the paperwork that would make her eligible to receive those services," Doan said. "People like this woman work hard but still struggle to get out of the poverty trap.”
Instead of simply shaking her head in disbelief at situations like these, Doan was motivated in 2007 to establish LIN, which was legally registered in 2009 to operate in the country's largest city and its surrounding areas. Doan reasoned that LIN could support nonprofits and philanthropists to better address local needs, such as providing vital information to migrants in need of basic public services. To achieve its goal, LIN set out to build the capacity of local nonprofits through small grants, technical assistance, peer exchanges and networking events.
Among other things, LIN:
LIN’s ability to engage thoughtfully and productively with local groups inspired staff at the South Africa-based Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF).
A Mott grantee, GFCF has given three grants totaling $44,900 to
strengthen LIN internally, help develop local philanthropy, and create
LIN’s own grantmaking program. To date, LIN has made grants to many of
its nearly 150 nonprofit partners for projects ranging from micro-credit
training for poor women, to social interaction for sick children living
at home or in the hospital, to environmental activities at a university
campus.
The GFCF has partnered with LIN since the latter’s earliest days, making LIN one of GFCF’s first grants in Asia and its only partner in Vietnam to date. Both the GFCF and LIN have learned from each other, said Jenny Hodgson, GFCF’s executive director. In addition to being a grantee, LIN is a key member of the GFCF’s network, she said, and serves as a network leader in its creative use of social media to engage with residents and funders.
For example, in August 2014 LIN created a Facebook page campaign to secure 500 photographs of local residents raising their hands for education. In an effort to support LIN’s work, Kinh Do Corporation, Vietnam’s largest confectionary company, pledged the equivalent of $2.50 for each of the first 500 pictures posted to further LIN’s work. The money was raised quickly after more than 800 people posted photos online within 10 days — a testament to LIN, its network members, and the power of social media to raise awareness and funds.
“LIN innovates, tests, documents and adapts its programs — always learning,” Hodgson said. “Through its efforts both to strengthen local civil society groups and to encourage ordinary Vietnamese to learn about, get involved with, and support often complex issues on their doorstep, LIN plays an essential role in building trust and social capital in Ho Chi Minh City.”
While LIN welcomed GFCF's initial funding in 2008, especially because it was the organization's first grant from an international funder and provided a confidence boost, it also valued the opportunities to connect with GFCF's other grassroots funders worldwide, Doan said. Those international connections helped LIN realize it wasn't the only philanthropic organization working within a difficult legal context, she said. So, in addition to gaining financial support early on from the Vietnam-based Horizon Capital Group, LIN pressed on and secured additional funders. These included individuals and other corporations operating in Vietnam, plus non-Vietnam based nonprofit foundations such as Give2Asia, Global Giving and Irish Aid.
According to Doan, with more money coming in the door, funds can be directed to projects that do more than just provide short-term fixes to improve health, education and economic conditions for local residents.
"We want to tackle the root causes of problems facing our community by being thoughtful and more strategic, not simply charitable," Doan said. "We've helped a lot of organizations get stronger and more sustainable, but many, many others are not sure where the money is coming from to keep them going. So our work is not done."
- See more at: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-Foundation#sthash.Ap0azAXM.dpuf
|
Dana Doan (right), executive director of the LIN Center for Community Development.
Photo courtesy of the LIN Center for Community Development
|
"There is a housekeeper who moved to the city when she was just 7, encouraged by her family to find work and to send her earnings back home. She is now nearly 50 years old and missed an opportunity to attend school because she had to work. She also didn't know much about the system for accessing public services and never applied for the paperwork that would make her eligible to receive those services," Doan said. "People like this woman work hard but still struggle to get out of the poverty trap.”
Instead of simply shaking her head in disbelief at situations like these, Doan was motivated in 2007 to establish LIN, which was legally registered in 2009 to operate in the country's largest city and its surrounding areas. Doan reasoned that LIN could support nonprofits and philanthropists to better address local needs, such as providing vital information to migrants in need of basic public services. To achieve its goal, LIN set out to build the capacity of local nonprofits through small grants, technical assistance, peer exchanges and networking events.
Among other things, LIN:
- administers Narrow the Gap Community Fund, which collects and distributes local resources to address the most pressing needs in the greater Ho Chi Minh City region,
- provides sponsorship of Vietnam Causes, a website that offers nonprofits a no-cost central electronic site to post their website addresses, focus areas, current needs, events calendars, etc.,
- runs a program that matches volunteers with nonprofits in need of specific skills, which is now supported by BlueBees, a website connecting skilled professionals to volunteer opportunities that can be completed online;
- offers support services, including one-on-one pro bono consultations for individuals and businesses interested in strategic philanthropy.
|
The “Raise Your Hand For Education” social media campaign raised awareness and funds for LIN.
Photo courtesy of the LIN Center for Community Development
|
The GFCF has partnered with LIN since the latter’s earliest days, making LIN one of GFCF’s first grants in Asia and its only partner in Vietnam to date. Both the GFCF and LIN have learned from each other, said Jenny Hodgson, GFCF’s executive director. In addition to being a grantee, LIN is a key member of the GFCF’s network, she said, and serves as a network leader in its creative use of social media to engage with residents and funders.
For example, in August 2014 LIN created a Facebook page campaign to secure 500 photographs of local residents raising their hands for education. In an effort to support LIN’s work, Kinh Do Corporation, Vietnam’s largest confectionary company, pledged the equivalent of $2.50 for each of the first 500 pictures posted to further LIN’s work. The money was raised quickly after more than 800 people posted photos online within 10 days — a testament to LIN, its network members, and the power of social media to raise awareness and funds.
“LIN innovates, tests, documents and adapts its programs — always learning,” Hodgson said. “Through its efforts both to strengthen local civil society groups and to encourage ordinary Vietnamese to learn about, get involved with, and support often complex issues on their doorstep, LIN plays an essential role in building trust and social capital in Ho Chi Minh City.”
While LIN welcomed GFCF's initial funding in 2008, especially because it was the organization's first grant from an international funder and provided a confidence boost, it also valued the opportunities to connect with GFCF's other grassroots funders worldwide, Doan said. Those international connections helped LIN realize it wasn't the only philanthropic organization working within a difficult legal context, she said. So, in addition to gaining financial support early on from the Vietnam-based Horizon Capital Group, LIN pressed on and secured additional funders. These included individuals and other corporations operating in Vietnam, plus non-Vietnam based nonprofit foundations such as Give2Asia, Global Giving and Irish Aid.
According to Doan, with more money coming in the door, funds can be directed to projects that do more than just provide short-term fixes to improve health, education and economic conditions for local residents.
"We want to tackle the root causes of problems facing our community by being thoughtful and more strategic, not simply charitable," Doan said. "We've helped a lot of organizations get stronger and more sustainable, but many, many others are not sure where the money is coming from to keep them going. So our work is not done."
- See more at: http://www.mott.org/news/news/2015/20150513-LIN-Community-Foundation#sthash.Ap0azAXM.dpuf
