Funders and non-profits work together to address community needs
Attending NVPC’s Level Up series helps non-profit professionals find new ways to solve problems and achieve better outcomes
Uma Venkatraman
NON-PROFIT organisations sometimes run into challenges that they are unable to overcome on their own.
In an ever-changing environment, there is a need to plan for longer-term and intentional collaboration as well as introduce new ways of approaching problems and finding solutions. The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s (NVPC) Level Up series aims to address these issues.
A part of the broader Design for Community Action suite of programmes, Level Up comprises a series of topical masterclasses for non-profits led by corporate skills-based volunteers.
These masterclasses aim to help non-profits bridge the skills gaps through community-based peer learning and peer sharing with partners. Non-profit professionals can learn new skills such as storytelling or digital skills that enable them to address the gaps within their organisations.
“Tapping the knowledge and expertise of external subject-matter experts through partnerships enables non-profits to strengthen programme rigour and enhance deliverables,” said Anil Kiran Nair, assistant manager for Community Matters at NVPC.
The Level Up series engages community leaders, corporate partners and funders to adopt a spirit of collaboration within the community space, to create greater impact and value for stakeholders.
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The sessions are run by NVPC’s Community Matters team, along with representatives from external funding teams. In the November run of the series, the Community Matters team at NVPC worked with funders who support and fund sporting, tech-enablement and sustainability initiatives within the community to conduct grant-proposal-writing workshops.
The workshops incorporated elements of human-centred design, to help participating organisations co-create and refine programme ideas so that they are aligned with the requirements of different funds/grants.
During the three-hour session, participants presented their ideas to the attendees, sharing key concepts of their pitch. The feedback they received helped them to refine and improve their ideas.
Reach Community Services Society social worker Nina Catrina, one of the participants, was at the workshop to conceptualise an idea for a youth sports programme, for which the social services agency was seeking funding.
Catrina found the session useful. She said: “It allowed us to gather feedback from our peers, while also providing an opportunity to see what other community partners are doing for the community.”
Nair said: “We’ve long since held the belief that greater collaboration between community partners and funders can lead to better outcomes for the broader community, and it’s heartening to be able to watch this process in action.”
The objectives of the sessions were two-fold. The first was to make the external grant management/disbursement teams more accessible to non-profit applicants. This gave them the opportunity to meet funders and get input on how to make their applications more effective.
It also provided participants a platform, through which they could meet other potential applicants and collaborate on ideas, ask questions and clarify doubts, and understand initiatives that are already taking place within the space.
The second objective was to provide an opportunity for community building by deepening relationships and understanding among the business, groundups (self-organised groups that voluntarily carry out a non-profit initiative to positively impact society) and charity communities; and by understanding more about other applicants, what they do, and to leverage each other’s strengths.
Nair said: “We find that co-creation and collaboration among the funder, corporate and non-profit communities can help to level up initiatives and lead to better outcomes on the ground.”
The ongoing series had an earlier run in July, and there are plans for more such sessions early next year.
Community Matters aims to nurture communities of purpose through mutual learning and collaboration. If you represent the corporate or private funder community and would like to find out more about how you can work towards supporting communities of good, visit: https://cityofgood.sg/community-matters/ or reach out to us at community@nvpc.org.sg.
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