Happy 2015 to everyone! It’s still January and so much to look forward to – we have the annual conference, which is slightly earlier this year – from 20th to 23rd April 2015. It will be 4 full days packed with a special members-only day, 2 main conference days, and one day set aside for members who want to host special fringe events around the conference. Read more about the additional ways that you can leverage on our conference in the newsletter.
If you have not noticed yet, the member services team has grown and Patti Chu and Clive Ye joined us in the last quarter of 2014, both bringing with them varied experience in the social investing sector as grant-makers and also active supporters of social enterprises.When asked about what they hope to achieve at AVPN, Patti explained that she would like to “learn from the members, have a deeper understanding of the challenges facing the philanthropic/social investment sector in Asia, and help to grow the practices of venture philanthropy in Asia”. Similarly, Clive expressed that he is looking for “a better understanding of venture philanthropy/social investing movement in Asia and eventually launch a career in this space!”
The community is very much about each of us giving back, and the team here is very passionate about this. We believe in what we are doing, and in order to achieve the mission of bringing more resources into the social sector, we need you to do your part too! You are a piece of the wider jigsaw that makes this eco-system. We are here to help and we are keen to hear from you – on what support you need, what is missing and how we can all get there together. After being operational for just over 3 years, we are looking to strengthen our existing relationships, build on our network, and work on developing our markets in the Asian countries that we have not been able to focus on previously.With the new team, we have built up our services with our new member orientation call (ping us if you would like one of these calls), more regular events like the monthly “Friday sessions”, and revamped our website so you can have more functionality in connecting to others through your sector interests and also in getting the right resources! Drop any of us an email if you would like to learn more.Happy New Year again, and here’s looking to great things in 2015!
Stacey
Membership Services Director
