October will see the 3rd annual AVPN Roadshow travelling to the cities of Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. The theme for this year’s roadshow is ‘Mobilising Human Capital’, a timely reminder of the importance of organisations’ most valuable assets. The effective unlocking and utilisation of human capital through the use of skilled volunteers in social purpose organisations is particularly important in times such as these wherein there are significant economic constraints that organisations—both for profit and non-profit alike—are faced with.
The workshops and roundtables at the roadshow will be led by Fiona Halton, Chief Executive of Pilotlight, an organisation that espouses a unique method enabling business leaders to work with charities despite busy schedules and time constraints. AVPN News spoke to Fiona about the upcoming roadshow, what she hopes to achieve through this Asian trip; and the Pilotlight model.
“Most of all I hope that the sharing of our experiences will show participants how bringing business and charities together can be transformational – for both,” Fiona said, adding that “participants will really see the opportunities and I hope be inspired.”
The road show will comprise of a mix of roundtables for members and workshops and seminars for CSR professionals and those looking to best leverage on their commercial expertise for social good. In these “we will look at ways to make the giving of business skills effective; how the giving can benefit not only charities but also business professionals and how we can measure the effect”, Fiona explained.
Pilotlight was established with the aim of addressing the needs of small charities and social enterprises that have the expertise in their area of social work but not the time and skills to develop their own infrastructure. Fiona explained that although many business leaders like to help out, time constraints prevent them from offering professional help. Thus, Pilotlight helps mobilise skilled volunteers and has helped more than 350 charities and social enterprises achieve higher efficacy through senior business volunteers.
Fiona added that the Road Show would be a useful exercise in the exchange of information and allow participants to know more about Pilotlight’s volunteer matching model. Pilotlight puts teams of senior business people into small charities over the period of a year and through a managed process they coach the charities in business skills. “Each charity and social enterprise has a dedicated Pilotlight project manager who co-ordinates and facilitates the process,” she says. One benefit of this is that time-poor business people can give two to three hours a month around their diaries knowing their giving will be effective.
On the objectives of the roadshow, Fiona spoke about the importance of creating a community of philanthropists in Asia. This community would comprise of business leaders who may otherwise not have indulged in some form of social giving owing to time constraints they are faced with. She added that the roadshow will be an excellent platform for an exchange of ideas relating to the most efficient ways of mobilising skilled volunteers.
The dates of the Road Show are as follows:
The Road Show is by invite only, for corporate social responsibility professionals and business leaders who are interested to contribute their efforts through skilled volunteerism. To find out more on each event, please visit: /events/avpn-events/
For an exclusive invite, please contact: [email protected]
To learn more about Pilotlight, please visit: http://www.pilotlight.org.uk/
The National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre is a partner of the Road Show.
