FAQs for NGOs
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.
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.
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.
FAQs for volunteers
Each ACS project comprises a) a mini-consulting project and b) a series of training workshops.
For the mini-consulting project, two to three interviews will need to be completed by each volunteer consultant, and a final report prepared. A time commitment of no more than 9 hours over a 3- week period is required for the mini-consulting project.
For the training workshops, ACS volunteer consultants are expected to attend all three 3-hour sessions. Including the time required to prepare for the workshops and to complete research assignments, total number of hours to be contributed would amount to approximately 18 hours over a 4- to 6- week period.
As Asian Charity Services aims to uphold the professionalism and standards of our services provided to the leadership teams of nonprofits, we ask that the volunteer consultants view the projects they sign up for with a high degree of commitment in terms of their attendance and consulting support work.
Asian Charity Service provides a detailed workshop package for our volunteer consultants. Project brief, charity background information, sample curriculum templates, as well as reference readings are always duly provided.
The ACS workshops are conducted using a specially designed curriculum which provides a clear roadmap for volunteer consultants to walk through the strategic discussions.
To help the volunteer consultants become familiarized with the ACS process and the curriculum, we run general briefings for our volunteer consultants, as well as basic one-on-one facilitator coaching.
Asian Charity Services regularly recruits volunteers from the corporate sector, and we give careful consideration to many factors throughout the selection process. In addition to accepting only applicants with at least five years’ work experience, we tend to involve applicants who are available for all three workshops.
We also carefully analyze the needs of the charity clients and assess the types of volunteer consultants that would be the best match. Relevant functional skills, years of work experience, industry and education background, and language proficiency are a few of the key selection criteria.
A volunteer consultant’s commitment is in completing the specific ACS project, which ends with the completion of the workshops. However, volunteer consultants do have the option to continue supporting the charity clients on their own as they deem agreeable.
This volunteer activity will no longer be part of an ACS project and the amount of volunteering time is subject to the individual’s arrangement with the nonprofit. There had been incidences when past ACS volunteer consultants went on to continue volunteering and even to become board members of the charity clients whom they had served.
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