How to Scale Impact of Charitable Causes Through Online Learning
Since the outbreak began several charities have had to think about how to increase their reach and keep their local presence through virtual means.
The charity sector is not one of the sectors that's famous for being an early adopter of new technology though, according to Thrive For Good's international Executive Director James Woller. "Charities are more conventional and conservative in their efforts to scale. The Thrive team had to adopt an alternative approach in order to go ahead, which meant taking a risk and offering virtual training ," he explains.
The introduction of online learning has enabled this organization to increase its reach. "Before the introduction of online learning, we had impacted more than 30,000 individuals. Now, we're impacting close to 80k. The number of communities we've reached grew from 550 and close to 800. seven countries, to 47 as well as expanding to countries we never could have dreamed of." says Woller.
Another organization that has had to come up with new ideas to keep up with the challenges posed by covid-19 has been Vayu Global Health Foundation. Prior to the pandemic, Burke was traveling every couple of weeks to teach medical experts in person. Because traveling was not feasible so the Vayu team designed a course to do virtual training for everyone around the globe.
"We exclusively use it for education purposes," says Vayu's executive director Thomas Burke. "Without the platform, our work would have come to a halt due to the spread of the pandemic ."
We spoke with the Thrive For Good's James Woller and Vayu Global Health Foundations' Thomas Burke to find out more about how they were able to expand their reach in an uncertain moment in the world. We learned that they were able do so in two ways by teaching on the internet as well as looking at the charitable space from an asymmetrical perspective. The following is the way they grew the impact of their charity work:
1. Online teaching
Thrive For Good
The world's population is dwindling to two billion and they don't receive the nutrients they need. Thrive For Good provides individuals and communities around the world with tools to sustainably cultivate natural, healthy foods that are suitable for life by training both those who want to learn how to cultivate food for themselves and their family and partner organizations who can implement the Thrive's principles into their own programmes. The organization generates close to one million Canadian dollars per month of food in their community gardens based on 50 cents per meal.
Through partnerships in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia, Woller says they could not have gotten their message across the globe without the development of online courses.
Online learning has not only helped the organization scale, it's additionally made it simpler to overcome the obstacles posed by covid-19. "Just this morning I had a phone call with a partner in Uganda which is a place where the boundaries are closed and movements are completely restricted... It's going to be extremely difficult to arrange someone in person to train this moment. That's where online learning helps ."
Woller states that their company has saved a lot of money by relocating to the internet. "We're saving thousands of dollars through using . If we had to deliver a physical training session with Thrive to each of our participant's group over the course of a month and then it wouldn't be possible to expand in the manner we've done," he says.
Vayu Global Health
Thomas Burke, emergency doctor as well as a faculty member of the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, runs both branches of his company : Vayu Global Health Foundation and Vayu Global Health Innovations.
The Vayu Global Health Foundations is a charitable trust that focuses on finding and supporting innovative solutions with a high impact that can be transformative for maternal, newborn, and the health of children. Its Vayu Global Health Innovations arm of the company is a public benefit corporation, meaning they're signed with the World Health Organization as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and are fully committed to global good and community.
In Vayu, they've created medical equipment that can help ease CPAP that Burke states is among the highest killers of youngsters under the age of five. The breathing device needed for treating this disease has the ability to reduce deaths by 66 percent. As most respiratory devices require power, they're expensive to be used in countries that are poor. The Vayu team developed a device for $300 -- a fraction of the price of the gold-standard CPAP device worth $12,000 -- that has the same features. It does not require power or bioengineering and is therefore easy for those with limited resources to use. With the help of this device, people are equipped to instruct local medical professionals on how to use the device.
Since the CPAP training has been extremely successful, they're now developing another course to teach medical professionals how to use their latest device, called the oxygen blend. It's normally priced at $1,200 but they've made the same product for only $50 to help children suffering from pneumonia or having difficulty breathing.
Not only does the virtual platform make it possible to expand the reach of people it also helps to standardize the instruction for medical devices. "We are able to have master instructors across the world however, it's not enough. This training helps us improve the quality of our teaching methods along with testing. It is on the way to our students," he says.
2. Utilizing a progressive lense
Thrive For Good
Woller claims that traditional methods isn't always the best way to increase the impact of charitable causes. "The very nature of a charity's existence is built upon donations and charitable contributions. The traditional relationship between donors or philanthropists and the organization that runs the program poses some issues as it relates to scaling" He explains. "Donors do not necessarily wish to see their money going towards technological advancements... It's their preference to rather see their money go towards programmes... But through the development of capacities through technology, things are able to scale ."
The company's innovations have come from taking a look at companies that are already focused on organic farming as well as nutrition, and further increasing their efforts. "We didn't have to double the budget in order to make a double impact. We've changed from a B2C to a B2B model. We would like to imagine our products as Java in your computer; We don't need to be Dell or Apple. We can white label what we offer. This is a new approach within the charity space. ."
They've managed to increase the scale of their activities since launching online, Woller explains. "We have been recently approached by an organization in India with a number of training centers, 18,000 people employed and community members, and millions of people who benefit. They contacted us with their concern about the food security situation in India along with the crisis of covid-19, and asked us to move all of their training through Thrive. That's scale."
Woller strongly believes in the value of charitable organizations exploring new ideas and taking risk. For them, their online learning was an experiment that produced great rewards. "I think a couple of instances of creativity in the area of charity is needed. Making an impact requires taking risks. I'm glad that we made the decision to try online learning," He states.
While Woller admits that risk taking could be daunting but he is of the opinion that results can often be surprising and are a natural element of the entrepreneurial experience. Woller says "Ninety percent of all businesses fail, but entrepreneurs keep moving forward ."
Vayu Global Health
The Vayu Global Health Innovations Model is built on the development of a robust income base to become self-sufficient and increase their efforts without relying on donations. "This is an unusual model for charitable organizations," he says.
With an advanced lens, they've been able to deliver online training. They're now able to access a much broader population than if they were to solely rely on in-person training. "We are able to think larger with regard to across-populations and systems of care much more easily than the demonstration programs that ."
In the case of online learning, Burke believes that the result is only as effective as the effort you're putting into. "You need to be aware of the fact that it's not trivial to produce high-quality educational content," he says. "Teaching involves some kind of fun as you attempt to attract the attention of your viewers. This shouldn't be just about giving information. You need to have fun and be imaginative. the time of your life. ."
Burke also advises that charities work with locals within the communities they're teaching when creating their materials. "It's an excellent idea that charities collaborate on projects with locals rather than having an Americanized instrument that is trying to carry over the Atlantic. I doubt that it will succeed," he says.
To summarize, creating an online course can be a significant move in the realm of charitable giving and can greatly boost an organization's ability to scale. Taking risks, being innovative and thinking out of the box can also help an organization increase its influence and reach.