Category: Blog

‘Go Far, Go Together’: Credit Suisse on Collaboration

5 min read

Liza Green believes in collaboration. “Collaboration has always seemed to me the best way to amplify impact”, states Credit Suisse’s Head of Corporate Citizenship and Foundations APAC, who over-sees the regional grant making and impact for the company’s philanthropy portfolio.

10 Opportunities to Build Resilience to Climate, COVID and Economic Crises in Asia

3 min read

In June, a forest community in northern Thailand was awarded the prestigious Equator Prize by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). With some support from RECOFTC and our partners, the Wetland Forest Conservation Group of the village Boon Rueang convinced the government to conserve the largest wetland forest in the Ing River basin rather than develop a special economic zone. Since that momentous achievement, made through advocacy and dialogue, the Group has pioneered a community forestry model that is successfully protecting biodiversity, storing carbon, providing food and livelihoods, and enabling the community to preserve its identity and culture. This model even helped the community successfully weather the COVID-19 pandemic.

100&Change Proposals From Asia Illustrate Bold, Innovative Ideas Worthy of Large Investment

4 min read

Some might see 100&Change as a peculiarly American enterprise – brash and a little loud: An award of US $100 million for the proposal that solves any problem anywhere in the world. Can this model translate well to other social challenges? To answer this, it may be useful to explain how 100&Change and other Lever for Change competitions are distinctive in the field of philanthropy.

3 takeaways from Taipei’s ‘smart city’ solutions: how one country can learn from another

5 min read

Taiwan is driving the creation of a smart city by enabling entrepreneurs and startups to use technology to solve Taipei’s pressing issues, and investing in innovative solutions that exhibit a ‘proof of concept model’. We have much to learn from Taiwan by nurturing innovation in the startup ecosystem and harnessing citizen participation for positive impact.

3 Tips for Funders Finding the Right Investees

4 min read

At the scenic Jeju Island, we curated a group of social purpose organisations that are providing a diverse range of solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental concerns. These solutions are at different stages of funding and provided investment opportunities for funders of varying types and interests.

3 Tips to Maximize Your Impact When Networking at a Conference

4 min read

I have a confession: I enjoy small talk. Yes, it’s true. Maybe it’s because I’m an extrovert or maybe it’s just because I like to talk about myself. Regardless of the reason, I get excited about attending conferences in order to meet my fellow attendees, and over the years, I’ve picked up a few tips about how to be intentional and impactful in my networking. From June 25th to 28th, I had the opportunity to apply some of these lessons that I’ve learnt during the AVPN Annual Conference held in Singapore. I will like to share three of these lessons with you.

3 Ways to Build a Nutritionally Self-Reliant India

3 Ways to Build a Nutritionally Self-Reliant India

4 min read

India is still home to one-third of the stunted children in the world, and has the highest number of wasted children globally. Stunting impairs cognitive potential and productivity, and wasting, which implies extremely low weight-for-height, is a serious condition that threatens the child’s ability to survive and thrive.

3 Ways to Nurture Young Solution-Makers for Key Urban Issues

3 Ways to Nurture Young Solution-Makers for Key Urban Issues

4 min read

When cities grow rapidly, residents often find that they have few opportunities to decide what they want for their cities. City officials are also challenged to meet increasing demands for decent housing, basic services, transport, employment, crime prevention and urban environmental preservation.

3 Ways to Support Indian Women Entrepreneurs for the Future

3 Ways to Support Indian Women Entrepreneurs for the Future

6 min read

Let’s start with the statistics: India is home to close to 18% of the world’s population and 50% of it is female. Currently, only 39% of Indian women are formally employed, compared to 81% of Indian men. Less than 20% of women are entrepreneurs and of those that are, only 9% sit at the helm of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the social sector.

3 กลยุทธ์สำหรับการวัดผลกระทบทางสังคมให้ประสบผลสำเร็จ

เมื่อปลายเดือนพฤศจิกายนที่ผ่านมา เครือข่ายนักลงทุนเพื่อสังคมแห่งเอเชีย (Asian Venture Philanthropy Network: AVPN) ได้จัดการการอบรมการวัดผลกระทบทางสังคม โดยร่วมมือกับ Social Venture International (องค์กรวัดคุณค่าทางสังคม) และ Dasra (องค์กรการกุศลที่สร้างความเปลี่ยนแปลงทางสังคม) ที่เมืองเดลี ประเทศอินเดีย

4 Reasons Why Grantmakers Need Feedback to Create Meaningful Change

4 min read

It’s hard to imagine a for-profit company that does not incorporate customer feedback into its business model. Whether it’s Apple smoothing out glitches in a software update based on user experience or hotel staff responding to comments posted on TripAdvisor, customer reviews are integral to a company’s success and in turn enhance those customers’ engagement and empowerment.  

4 Steps to Integrate Impact and Financial Data Within Your Portfolio

4 Steps to Integrate Impact and Financial Data Within Your Portfolio

5 min read

Only 9% of family offices interviewed in a recent 2020 UBS survey indicated that they currently employ impact investing practices, while 14% stated that they plan to incorporate the social investment approach into their investment strategies in the next five years. This is in stark contrast to exclusion-based investments which currently comprise the highest proportion of family office portfolio management strategies at 30%.

5 Best Quotes Heard at #AVPN2019

4 min read

Although AVPN Conference 2019 is over, the discussions and partnerships it inspired have just begun. During the Conference plenary sessions, delegates heard from influential experts who shared their experiences overcoming roadblocks, achieving milestones and pursuing future progress. Here are five key takeaways for philanthropists looking to achieve deeper impact in their work.

5 Insights on Social Investment in Asia

3 min read

The AVPN ‘Social investment landscape in Asia’ Report has been shortlisted as the ‘Best Thought Leadership’ by the 2017 Sustainable Investment Awards.

Across 14 Asian markets, social investors can identify high-impact opportunities and challenges to strategically invest into the social sector.

5 Key Tips to Harness Collective Philanthropic Impact in Asia

5 min read

Whether I am speaking with a small social purpose organisation just embarking on its impact journey or leaders of long-established foundations, we always circle back to the same conundrum: how do we allocate limited resources, like philanthropic capital, most effectively so that we do not compromise on one choice over another? Especially, as making a choice often means to allocate to some in lieu of others.

5 key ways to fund the most challenging areas in India’s sustainable livelihoods

4 min read

India’s impressive economic growth has left behind 70 million people who are struggling to access stable and sustainable livelihoods in the rural areas. Despite interventions, most solutions face a lack of relevant support. To gain a holistic picture of the funding landscape in India’s Sustainable Livelihoods sector, AVPN took a deep dive to understand the gaps, challenges, and opportunities.

5 Lessons on Developing Difficult Partnerships

4 min read

As the AVPN 2019 conference was underway, news reports were coming in of over a hundred children dying in Muzaffarnagar, in Bihar, India. Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) was identified as the root cause, with the children showing symptoms of seizures and severe disorientation. Upon investigation, a team from the Indian Medical Association found that malnutrition “contributed substantially” to the epidemic. The numbers are telling – almost 48% of children under five in the state are stunted, which is among the highest in India.

5 reasons why Myanmar is so attractive to social investors

4 min read

The 10-year period between 2007 and 2017 saw Myanmar secure the second highest number of impact investment deals in Southeast Asia. Interestingly enough, the country also had the lowest impact investment capital in the region. This suggests that, despite limited capital, there remains a growing interest in social investment within the country.

5 trends catalysing mainstream sustainable finance in Asia

4 min read

Despite the dramatic growth in sustainable finance mechanisms in recent years, Asia has yet to realise its full potential and continues to lag behind the US and Europe. While the market for green bonds has grown globally from $87 billion in 2016 to $167 billion in 2018, only 2 Asian countries – China and India – were included in the top 10 countries based on cumulative green bond issuance.

5 trends in the Chinese social enterprise landscape for investors to stay in touch with the ground

5 min read

China Charity Fair, a non-profit organization established in 2012 under the guidance of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, has been certifying social enterprises (SEs) since 2015. Over the past 4 years, a total of 234 SEs have been certified out of 1,351 applicants, showing a strong year to year growth: 7 SEs certified out of 67 applicants in 2015, 16 certified out of 154 applicants in 2016, 106 certified out of 510 applicants in 2017, and 109 certified out of 620 applicants in 2018.

5 Trends Indicating the Philippines Is Ripe for EdTech Investment

4 min read

With a population of 100 million and a $330+ billion GDP growing at 6 percent per year, the Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Amidst its growth, the developing nation, like others in Southeast Asia, still faces significant challenges, particularly affecting its youth. These challenges include access to relevant, quality education, and paths to sustainable careers.

5 Ways Impact Investors Are Funding the UN SDGs in Asia

Future of Impact Investing & Gender Lens Investing

4 min read

Impact investors are fueling solutions to the systemic challenges framed by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — and they include Asian investments that catalyze solutions to social and environmental problems, finds a new report from Toniic, the global action community for deeper impact investing.

5 Ways Software Enhances Effective Grantmaking and Increases Social Impact

5 Ways Software Enhances Effective Grantmaking and Increases Social Impact

5 min read

Are you feeling the overwhelming pressure of administrational tasks, as opposed to activities contributing to your organisation’s purpose, such as making an impact on your community? It’s a common occurrence in grant management. This can make it difficult to know what impact you are making and how you can do things more effectively.

5 Ways to Facilitate Better Discussions in the Development Ecosystem

4 min read

To co-create solutions for the development ecosystem, workshops, panels, and sectoral discussions are important platforms to bring together actors and share knowledge. We work in a space where challenges are vast, but solutions are niche, so having stakeholders with unique perspectives was never more crucial.

6 Business Principles Applicable to Philanthropy

4 min read

For most new philanthropists, making the transition from the corporate world to philanthropy can be intimidating. At first, it seems like they are opposing worlds with starkly contrasting objectives: one is motivated by profits while the other by creating positive social impact. I have realized, however, that the core skillsets of business are essential to making philanthropy more efficient and effective.

6 Hotspots for Social Impact in Asia: Key Trends and Players

4 min read

Inclusive Business (IB) is a novel concept in Asia, but highly relevant. Aiming to catalyse social impact in a financially viable way, it provides opportunities for private and public sector players to work alongside communities at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) to enable sustainable livelihoods for all.