What can be done to increase the impact of Charitable Causes Through Online Learning
Since the outbreak first began, several charities have had to consider ways to expand their reach and ensure their presence in the local community through online channels.
The charity sector is not one of the sectors that's well-known for being a pioneering adopter of new technology though According to Thrive For Good's Executive Director for the international region, James Woller. "Charities tend to be more traditional and cautious in their attempts to expand. The Thrive team was forced to choose an alternate strategy to succeed, which meant the risk of offering virtual training ," He explains.
The advent of online education has helped this company to increase the reach of its organization. "Before the advent of online learning, we had affected more than 30,000 people. Today, we're affecting around 80k. The communities that we've helped has grown from 550 to 800. Seven countries have been reached, and now 47 and growing to places we thought of." Woller says.
Another organization that has required new ideas to keep up with the challenges posed by covid-19 is Vayu Global Health Foundation. Before the outbreak, Burke was traveling every few weeks to instruct medical experts face-to-face. As traveling wasn't feasible, therefore the Vayu team designed a course to do virtual training to everyone in the world.
"We only utilize it to help educate," says Vayu's executive director Thomas Burke. "Without the platform, our work would have come to an halt due to the spread of the pandemic ."
We talked with The Thrive For Good's James Woller and Vayu Global Health Foundations' Thomas Burke to find out details about how they were able to expand their reach in an uncertain time in the world. We discovered that they could do this through two methods: instructing online in addition to taking a look at the charity space through an asymmetrical lens. Here's how they grew the impact of their work in the field:
1. Online teaching
Thrive For Good
The global population is declining to 2 billion people and the majority of them don't get enough nutrients. Thrive For Good provides individuals and their communities all over the world with a set of tools for sustainable cultivation organic, nutritious foods that are suitable for the modern world. The organization trains people who wish to learn how to cultivate the food they need for themselves as well as their families and partners who are able to incorporate the principles of Thrive into their own programmes. The group produces close to 1 million Canadian dollars per month of food in their community gardens based on fifty cents for each meal.
Through collaborations in Europe, South America, Africa as well as Asia, Woller says they couldn't have been able to spread their message to all corners of the globe without the advent of online classes.
Learning online hasn't just improved the scale of organizations, it's additionally made it simpler to overcome the obstacles posed by covid-19. "Just this morning I had the pleasure of chatting with a partner from Uganda where there is an area in which the borders are stifled and movements are completely restricted... It's going to be extremely difficult to arrange someone in the moment to be trained in. This is why online education can be helpful ."
Woller states that their company has saved a lot of cash by moving onto the internet. "We're making hundreds of dollars using . If we had to deliver an exercise session using Thrive for each participant's group during the course of one month, it would be impossible to scale up in the way that we have," he says.
Vayu Global Health
Thomas Burke, emergency doctor in addition to a faculty member of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, manages both the branches of his firm : Vayu Global Health Foundation and Vayu Global Health Innovations.
The Vayu Global Health Foundations is a trust for charitable purposes that concentrates on finding and supporting new solutions that have a large impact, which can have a transformative effect for newborns, mothers, and child health. Its Vayu Global Health Innovations arm of the business is a public benefit company that means they're registered with the World Health Organization as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and are fully committed to the global community and good.
In Vayu, they've created medical devices that assist in relieving CPAP that Burke states is among the most deadly diseases of children who are younger than 5. The breathing apparatus needed for treating this disease can reduce deaths by up to 66 percent. Because most respiratory devices use energy, they're not able for use in countries with poor. The Vayu team developed the device at $300just a tiny fraction of the cost of the standard CPAP device worth $12,000 -- that has the same attributes. It does not require the use of power or bioengineering, and makes it easy for people who have limited resources to utilize. With the help of this device, people can instruct the local medical personnel regarding how to operate the device.
Because the CPAP training has been extremely successful, they're now developing another course to teach medical professionals how to use their most recent device,"the oxygen blend. It's usually priced at $1,200 however they've created the product for only $50 for children who suffer from pneumonia or having difficulty breathing.
The virtual platform allow to expand the reach of people it also helps to improve the standardization of instruction on medical devices. "We can be master instructors around all over the world, however it's not enough. The training we receive helps us to improve the quality of our teaching techniques along with testing. We are bringing this training to students." He states.
2. Utilizing a progressive lense
Thrive For Good
Woller claims that traditional methods aren't always the most effective way to improve the effect of charitable causes. "The essence of a charitable organization's existence is dependent on donations and charitable contributions. The traditional relationship between donors or philanthropists as well as the entity that oversees the program has some challenges in relation to the scale of the program" He explains. "Donors do not necessarily wish to see their funds go toward technological advances... It's their preference to rather have their money used for initiatives... However, with the advancement of capacities through technology it is possible to grow ."
The company's innovative ideas have resulted from looking at the companies already dedicated to organic agriculture as well as nutrition, and further increasing the efforts. "We did not have to increase the budget in order to have a two-fold impact. We've changed from a B2C model to a B2B model. We would like to imagine our products as Java on your PC. We don't need to be Dell and Apple. We can white label what we provide. It's a novel way of working in the world of charity. ."
They've succeeded in increasing the scope of their work since launching online, Woller explains. "We have been recently called by an organization from India with a number of training facilities, over 18,000 employed as well as community members and millions of individuals that benefit from. They contacted us with concerns about the current food security situation in India along with the crisis of covid-19. They also asked us to move all their training to The Thrive. That's scale."
Woller is convinced of the value of charitable organizations looking for new ways to do things and taking a risk. The online education was an experiment that yielded a lot of rewards. "I think a couple of examples of innovation within the field of charitable work is required. Making an impact requires taking chances. We are glad we took the choice to experiment with online learning." He states.
However, Woller admits that risk taking could be daunting but his belief is that outcomes can be astonishing and an inevitable part of the entrepreneurial process. Woller says "Ninety percent of businesses fail, yet entrepreneurs continue moving forward ."
Vayu Global Health
Vayu Global Health Innovations Model Vayu Global Health Innovations Model relies upon the creation of a strong source of income to be independent and to increase their work with no reliance on donations. "This is not a typical type of model that is used by charitable organizations," he says.
Through the use of a sophisticated lens they've been able to deliver online classes. Now, they can reach more people than if they were to exclusively rely on classroom training. "We are able to look at the bigger picture with regards to across-populations and systems of care significantly more readily than demonstrative programs which ."
In the case of online learning, Burke believes that the outcome is as efficient as the work you put into. "You need to be aware of the fact that it's not simple to make quality educational material," he declares. "Teaching involves some kind of fun as you attempt to attract your audience's attention. The focus shouldn't only be on providing information. The key is to have fun and think out of the box. The time to have fun of your life. ."
Burke recommends that charitable organizations work with locals within the community they're teaching in when creating their materials. "It's an ideal concept that charities collaborate on projects with locals, rather than using an Americanized instrument trying to carry over the Atlantic. I doubt that it will succeed," he says.
For a summary, making an online course can be an important step in the realm of giving to charities and will improve the ability of a company to scale. Making a risk, being creative and thinking outside the box can also aid an organization in increasing its reach and influence.
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