Category: NGO Data Validation

TechSoup Partners With Asian Venture Philanthropy Network In Facilitating High Impact Philanthropy Across Asia-Pacific

SAN FRANCISCO, March 9 2023: — TechSoup, a global nonprofit organization and global network, recently formalized a partnership with the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) based in Singapore. The collaboration marks the bridging of a critical intersection of philanthropy and the non-profit sector in an increasingly challenging post-pandemic period. 

A key feature of this partnership is AVPN’s use of TechSoup’s Global Validation Services. TechSoup offers a globally trusted vetting service used by hundreds of grantmakers to validate the eligibility of nonprofit organizations, and to date, has facilitated the vetting of more than 220,000 organizations across hundreds of different kinds of NGOs for the world’s largest and most respected philanthropic and socially responsible corporations. The utilization of this service will allow AVPN to validate the eligibility of nonprofit applicants for AVPN’s pooled philanthropic funds, providing a streamlined vetting service as AVPN continues to scale its philanthropic efforts. 

In addition, TechSoup will support AVPN in its efforts to expand its trust-based philanthropy framework throughout Asia Pacific, so that it may serve a progressively diversified social impact landscape. Leading the partnership from TechSoup is Elizabeth Liew, Global Strategic Partnerships & Project Development Manager, who serves on the AVPN Philanthropic Funds Advisory Board, lending 17 years cross-sector experience to advance AVPN’s capital mobilization and funding strategies. “TechSoup is pleased to partner with AVPN and looks forward to supporting impact organizations and funders in various capacities,” she said. 

“With our strategic alignment and mutual intent to increase access to funding for small to  medium-sized impact organizations, we are confident the partnership will continue to expand trust-based philanthropy in Asia-Pacific,” she added. 

This partnership also welcomes TechSoup as AVPN’s newest addition to AVPN’s 600+ member network, comprising a diverse group of social impact investors,  global foundations, family foundations, private equity ventures, government entities, and bilateral agencies who are invested in transforming the social impact landscape in Asia-Pacific. Through this partnership, TechSoup and AVPN are aiming to address funding gaps faced by impact organizations across Asia and thereby mobilize more capital towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

About AVPN 

AVPN is the world’s largest network of Social Investors in Asia, with over 600+ diverse members across 33 markets. Their mission is to close the SDG gaps in Asia, by enabling their members to increase the flow of financial, human, and intellectual capital towards impact. Through sharing knowledge and innovating collaborations between policy makers, family offices, foundations, and the private sector, AVPN improves the effectiveness of capital deployed; bringing to bear the local field needs, regional expertise, and policy insights.

NGO Connection Day 2018 in Taiwan

Every year, we tour in different cities in Taiwan to explore new ICT innovation and trends with local nonprofits. These events are co-sponsored by the local Microsoft office in Taiwan.

In 2018, we successfully conducted 3 events: “Office 365 Advanced Training for NPOs” in Taipei and Kaohsiung cities,  and “Basic Data Analysis for NPOs” in Taipei. We had total of 155 attendees from 109 NPOs joining together. These included attendees of varying professions such as including IT professionals, administrative staff, and social workers to name a few. This time around, we invited participants to bring their own laptops and divided them into different groups so that they may learn and discuss in a collaborative nature.

For the Office 365 events in Taipei and Kaohsiung, we focused on helping the attendees learn to discover more about Office 365’s various services, such as SharePoint, Power App and Flow. In addition, we also invited NPO partners to share their own experiences in implementing the solution and their future vision of enhancing organizational management and data accumulation.

On the other hand, in the “Basic Data Analysis for NPOs” event, we focused on giving participants a general idea of how they may use Power BI Desktop to do the data cleaning, analysis, and visualization through its charts and graphs. In addition, participants were also taught how Power BI integrates with Office 365 suites for advanced collaboration and data management.

For more details, please visit TechSoup Taiwan’s blog.

The Road to Reforming Human Rights in Malaysia

Growing up in Malaysia, we were used to seeing workers, both local and foreigners being exploited – long hours, low wages, no breaks, cramped living quarters, unsafe working conditions – all common sights when I was growing up.

Fast forward 20 years : in 2016, Malaysia, an almost developed-status country was ranked Tier 2 Watchlist of the Trafficked Persons Report.

Many of the issues still exist, exacerbated by the rapid economic developments of the country that call for an indefinite supply for migrant laborers. As part of its efforts to eliminate human trafficking in the country, the Malaysian government has been working with various civil society groups, engaging in stakeholder consultations to develop reforms, and improve its anti-trafficking laws and enforcement systems.

At the end of July, Project Liber8 a human trafficking awareness non-profit organized Advoc8 Hack, the country’s first ever national hackathon that aimed to develop technology solutions to help raise awareness on human trafficking issues in Malaysia.

IMG20170728212321

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was invited to be on the panel of mentors and preliminary judges for the hackathon. Amidst the sea of coders and developers, UI/UX designers, and people who lived and breathed computer language, I was among the few who brought nonprofit experience to the participants.

Having worked on both a personal and professional capacity with migrants, refugees and trafficked persons, and nonprofits in the sector, I shared practical knowledge and lessons, my experiences with these communities and the likelihood of adoption based on my interactions with them.

Some teams had great ideas, but rated lower on the practical side. I probed them on impact measurement,  parameters of their features, effectiveness based on hypothetical scenarios, potential challenges, helped them organize their thought process and map their ideas so they could see which areas needed more refining.

Mentoring a team – mapping their thought processes, identifying challenges and ‘blind spots’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same team (above) is shortlisted in the top 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another group I mentored

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a first in many ways – first time for TechSoup Asia-Pacific participating in a rights-related event in the region, first for us in presenting our work to the tech community on a national scale, and first for me as a mentor in a tech event.

TechSoup Asia-Pacific has also been invited to be part of the advisory board to help develop the winning team’s idea. Supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs, it is hope that the solution derived from the hackathon will contribute towards the goal of elimination of human trafficking in the country.

Vietnamcauses.org

The Lin Center created Vietnamcauses.org to facilitate two-way information sharing among the philanthropic community and local nonprofit initiatives they support. The VietnamCauses online mobile platform invites Vietnam nonprofits to post their organizational information and ask for needed support, while prospective donors and volunteers can use the site to search for a local nonprofit by name, cause and location and access information that can help them to make an informed giving decision.