NGO Training
Preparing NGO leaders to meet ongoing challenges

How We Serve NGOs

We help NGOs to be more capable and give better service to beneficiaries by providing free management training workshops and consulting services. We are dedicated to serving NGO leaders, those who serve.

NGOs experience high demand for their services but have limited resources. How do you grow your organization to make a sizeable impact? What new skills can you and your team acquire to be more effective, efficient and sustainable?

We offer a variety of workshops with expert trainers and skilled volunteers – all at no charge. We prepare today’s NGO leaders to meet ongoing challenges and make a greater impact in their communities.

Through more than 900 sessions, ACS has served more than 700 NGOs. We have trained and supported more than 2,000 NGO leaders representing a broad range of social causes across Hong Kong and Asia.

NGO Appreciation

Stories

An Interview with ACS Volunteer Lilian Lui

August 4, 2021

Lilian began her ACS journey in May 2019 when she returned to Hong Kong after decades of working overseas. She stepped down from a full-time corporate role to pursue a few interests she had always wanted to do in life, including volunteering. . Taking on some volunteer work is one of them and she is glad to have found the opportunity at ACS.

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Testimonials

“Our participation in the ACS strategic planning process gave all of us the time to think and reflect on the macro issues facing our organization. This was a welcome respite from the day-to-day activities we are so involved with. Having volunteers from the commercial sector to work with us provided insights that not only added value to the process but also have given us linkages for future networking. ”
James R. Murray
James R. MurrayChief Executive Officer, Plan International Hong Kong
"Coming fresh from a corporate environment, this gives me foundation resources to create a more structured charity. It came at a good time as it can only have helped the restructure/ transformation".
Claudia Schlesinger
Claudia SchlesingerCEO, Enlighten- Action for Epilepsy

FAQs

Asian Charity Services defines Capacity Building as actions taken to create a positive impact on the organizational capacity and members of the nonprofits, thereby improving the overall effectiveness of how the nonprofit delivers its services and how it impacts the community.

ACS provides pro-bono, project-based training specifically for the leadership team of nonprofits. Current core programs offered include Strategic Planning, Board Governance and  Fundraising. All projects are based on a pre-designed curriculum. We currently do not provide individually-customized consulting services.

See our Programs 

ACS programs are not designed for newly set-up nonprofits that have been in operation less than one year. Our programs are developed to empower nonprofit leaders to work through common strategic and organizational challenges. High impact nonprofits prepared to evaluate and tackle such internal as well as external challenges may have need of ACS services.

ACS works specifically with the leadership team of NGOs. As such, executive directors, board members, as well as key senior staff are invited to participate in the workshops.

We aim to work with small to medium sized nonprofits that are making real and recognizable impact in the local communities through the programs they offer. Our ACS training programs are NOT designed for start-up organizations, but rather, they are for organizations that are going through an inflection point in their growth: for example, organizations may be looking to breakthrough long-standing challenges or to renew their strategic focus. Nonprofits are also selected based on factors such as their overall track record, their readiness to change and the leadership team’s overall engagement level.

Here is an estimation of the time you need to commit to our training series.

Engage: 6-20 hours over 9-week depending on whether on not your NGO moves ahead with the program.

Sprint: 1 hour orientation + 9 hours on Hackathon day.

Ignite: 2 hours topical orientation + 4 hours seminar execution.

Ascend: 12-18 hours over 5-8 weeks.

The ACS curriculum is strategic in its tone, and does require participants to familiarize themselves with basic strategy and business concepts throughout the training process. Generally speaking, we require both the executive director and the board members to approve, and be fully committed to, the training process. In addition to sending four participants from the leadership team to the three 3-hour workshops, nonprofits are advised to schedule internal meetings in between the workshops to discuss and synthesize the workshop outcomes, as well as to resolve strategic development issues. The process is recognizably intensive, yet highly rewarding.
ACS’ priority is to bring about a renewed way of thinking and perceiving to the leadership team of a nonprofit on how to build it up. The training and consultancy are designed to be a catalyst to trigger transformation, ACS does not provide support to nonprofits to implement their plans, however, ACS volunteer consultants may, at their option, choose to continue to support strategy implementation.
Asian Charity Services will schedule for our volunteer consultants to visit with nonprofits six months after the completion of the workshops to assess how well the nonprofits are implementing their plans.
The ACS curriculum is developed as a train-by-doing model to enable nonprofits’ leaders to tackle organizational challenges in a structured and systematic process. This discipline of planning and problem solving is a learned skill which ACS aims to impart to the leadership of nonprofits through the use of the internally developed ACS curricula as well as through the invaluable input of ACS volunteer consultants with business know-how and professional expertise.
Participation in ACS workshops often builds up significant momentum within the leadership team of nonprofits and board members generally become much more engaged in supporting the organization’s development as a result. Some have observed a greater degree of alignment in their mission and strategic direction, which impacts how the team would more effectively implement programs and plans. The insights and reflections generated through the joint discussion with volunteer consultants from the corporate sector lead the nonprofits’ leadership teams to rethink their positioning and to re-focus their strategy to maximize impact.

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