The recently-passed Companies Act 2013 requires companies with a net worth of rupees 500 crore or more to spend at least 2% of their average net profits on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This Act reflects the government’s commitment to improve corporate governance as companies are expected to do more than just make a profit these days.
One way your organization can meet the requirements of this new Act is to leverage your principal asset – human capital. Find out more about how your organization can unlock and utilize this asset to not only help you comply to the new Act, but to advance capacity-building of Social Purpose Organisations (SPOs) in this invite-only workshop in Mumbai on 15 October 2013.
Key issues to be discussed will include:
- How to make a convincing business case to employers?
- What SPO needs can be effectively met by skilled volunteers?
- How to meet the personal and career development needs of the volunteers?
- What engagement structures between skilled volunteers and SPOs work well in India and overseas?
- Assessing impact – how to produce substantial value for the SPO?
This workshop will be facilitated by Patsian Low, Director of Philanthropy at Singapore’s National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center and Fiona Halton, Chair of Pilotlight UK will be the international workshop leader. Pilotlight is an intermediary focussed on mobilizing skilled volunteers; they currently work with 280 corporate clients and as of 2012, have impacted 3335 SPOs in the UK.
Patsian and Fiona will be joined by local workshop leaders Vidya Shah (EdelGive), Priya Naik (Samhita Social Ventures), Vijaya Balaji (Toolbox India) and Manas Ratha (Dasra), who will help stimulate active discussion with their perspectives.
To provide for a more productive dialogue at the workshop, we have invited participants representing the following function/roles: SPOs, skilled volunteers, CSR managers, intermediaries facilitating volunteer matching, social investors. Capacity for this workshop is limited to 30 persons.
All participants to the workshop are by invitation. Please register your interest to participate via email to Chelsea Chen ([email protected]) if you would like to join us for the workshop.
Date: 15 October 2013
Workshop Fee: Free
Venue: Lotus Boardroom. Edelweiss House. Off C.S.T Road, Kalina, Mumbai 400 098
Venue Partner
| Workshop Program | |
| 12.30hrs | Workshop Registration opens |
| 13.00 – 14.15hrs | Introduction by AVPN and by partnersSetting the Stage – local workshop leaders to provide context behind the challenges of mobilizing human capitalThe Pilotlight Model – Fiona to review the PilotLight model, addressing questions along the way |
| 14.15 – 14.45hrs | Networking break |
| 14.45 – 16.00hrs | Breakout discussion to review the key issue areas related to mobilizing human capital effectivelyReporting back and close |
About Fiona Halton
Fiona Halton is Chair of Pilotlight and the creator of Pilotlighting – a unique method that enables business leaders to work effectively with charities so that they increase impact. The model also creates a community of philanthropists. Fiona has a track record in establishing and running new organisations. She set up British Film Year which won the British Sales and Marketing Award and was runner-up for Veuve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year. Fiona was part of the team that ran the first Comic Relief which raised more than £13 million. She was acting director of TimeBank and took it to launch – it is now an established, BBC-supported campaign, inspiring a new generation of volunteers.
About Patsian Low
Patsian is Director of the Philanthropy division in the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC). She is privileged to work with a passionate team to provide programmes that promote and engage philanthropy from different donor sectors in Singapore. Some initiatives include the online philanthropy platform www.sggives.org, independent charity analyst reports from the ICAn programme, a quarterly Funders Roundtable, among others. Patsian also regularly facilitates a module on Assessing Social Impact in the executive course for nonprofit leaders, iLEAP, at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation.
About Vidya Shah
Vidya is CEO of EdelGive Foundation, which provides grant-based support to 20 non-profits working in the areas of education, livelihoods and women empowerment all over India. In addition, EdelGive also provides non-financial support to its investees by engaging Edelweiss’ employees who work on building the capacities of non-profits and their leaders in the areas of technology, strategic and financial planning and human resources.
About Vijaya Balaji
Vijaya is Executive Director of Toolbox India. 
Vijaya began her career in the Treasury and Finance Division of Kodak India Limited and later, became a Theory of Knowledge Coordinator with an international school in Mumbai. Vijaya joined Toolbox India in 2011 and been managing it to develop a skills-based volunteering pro bono model. To date, Toolbox has worked with Mumbai-based non-profit organizations on nearly 30 projects.
About Manas Ratha
Manas is a Director at Dasra. At Dasra, Manas helps shape the overall development and growth of the organization. Earlier, he spent four years with investment bank Avendus Capital in Mumbai, advising on mergers, acquisitions and raising capital for high growth businesses from private equity investors. There, he gained deep insight into strategies and leadership styles that translate into scalable, impactful and valuable enterprises.
About Priya Naik
Priya Naik is founder and joint managing director of Samhita Social Ventures. Previously she co-founded the Spark Group, an education company that delivered affordable education to low-income communities, and worked as a researcher at the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Priya has also worked with the International Finance Corporation in Africa and with Arthur Andersen in India.
About Pilotlight
Pilotlight was set up to address the needs of small charities and social enterprises who have the expertise to support their beneficiaries but do not have, and could not afford to buy, the time and skills to develop their own infrastructure. In a survey of small charities, Pilotlight found that only four per cent said they received effective professional help. Pilotlight then surveyed leading business people and found various barriers, such as being time-poor, which prevented them from offering their professional help. Pilotlight then trialled several models of professional skills-giving and arrived at one that overcame those barriers. More info at: http://www.pilotlight.org.uk/
Roadshow Partner
The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) is the national body in Singapore that promotes and develops volunteerism and philanthropy, functioning as a first-stop centre, catalyst and networking agency to foster the giving spirit in Singapore, whether of time, money or in kind. The Philanthropy in Asia (PIA) Summit aims to promote and deepen knowledge that advances effective and sustainable philanthropy in Asia’s social space. More info at: http://www.nvpc.org.sg/
Readings for the workshop:
