Unrestricted Funding (UF) has always been a crucial component of NGOs operations in Hong Kong. The city remains one of the most expensive in the world in terms of cost of living, and nonprofits survive by relying on increasingly competitive fundraising streams.
AI
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Age of Information or Age of Incapacitation?
The current generation is too steeped in online games and social media that they don’t bother to read books or long-form articles anymore, especially non-fiction and science-based ones. When they need to write something for school, they Google or rely on ChatGPT to do the job for them.
Fundraising
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Suckers for CSR
Despite comprising a mere 2% of any company’s annual budget, CSR funding exerts an inordinate amount of influence on NGOs. Every effort is made by them to develop partnerships with big corporations in the hope of catching tiny morsels from meagre donation pots.
Hong Kong
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Sinicizing the NGO Workforce in Hong Kong
The city once lauded for its embrace of diversity and cosmopolitanism, even branded by its first Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa as “Asia’s World City”, has been slowly but palpably easing out non-Chinese professionals from the NGO sector. This Sinicization process among nonprofits began after the end of the 2019…
Fundraising
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The Case for Multi-Year Grants
Even disregarding the politics behind it, the acquiescence of many NGO leaders to this Sinicization trend is already contributing to the erosion of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that used to be the hallmark of Hong Kong’s hiring ethos.
AI
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Confessions of an AI Skeptic
Investors are excited about AI for the biggest potential it holds: automation and labor cost-cutting. The prospect of increasing profits through workforce redundancy is always something that whips up bubble-making frenzy among venture capitalists.
Operations
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Corporatizing Nonprofits: A Caveat
Balancing between the need for corporate efficiency in NGO operations and preserving its humane culture (its “soul”, as some would have it) can be tricky. One does not preclude the other, but too much of either can undermine a nonprofit’s strategic goals.
Development Issues
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Filipinos Have Grit, Not Just Resilience
Resilience is often mistaken for grit, which focuses on long-term plans and goal attainment. The former delves on surviving the present, not on creating the future. One cannot even look at forward trajectories when preoccupied with the moment.
Fundraising
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Fundraising for NGOs
Fundraisers are definitely an added cost, and for proven ones, quite expensive. But having someone deal with the complexities of fundraising allows the NGO leaders and program staff to be more effective in delivering their nonprofit’s core mission.