VA Milestone

Interim Evaluation of the "Zhanxin Project”: VA was invited to conduct an interim evaluation of the "Zhanxin Project - Promotion of Integrated Employment of IDD Population" for Rongairongle. The evaluation analyzed the design, implementation and management of the program, summarized the achievements and challenges, and made recommendations for the future development.

WWF Communication Training Program: VA was invited to conduct team communication training for WWF. VA designed the training content according to the needs of WWF staff and improved the internal and external communication skills of all staff through conceptual explanations, group contacts, and Q&A sessions.

Project Management Workshop for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): VA was invited to conduct a project management workshop for NRDC. The workshop provided training on project management concepts, project design, implementation, summary, and evaluation to enhance the team's project management skills.

Five-year strategic planning for Le'an Foundation in Shandong Province: VA conducted the 2023~2027 strategic planning for Le'an Foundation. VA focused on the organization and division of the company's and the foundation's businesses, the path of influence expansion, the design of public welfare organization structure, etc., and clarified the core strategy and strategic roadmap of key business areas.

Tencent SSV Social Emergency Response Study: In December 2022, VA conducted a study on the reasonable and effective interval of emergency volunteer density for Tencent's SSV Social Emergency Response System.Through industry research, modeling, field observation and simulation testing, VA deduced the reasonable density interval of volunteer allocation to provide reference for future volunteer training and expansion efforts.

China Population Welfare Foundation 5-year Strategic Planning：In September 2022, VA conducted 5-year strategic planning for CPWF. Based on analysis of the current development situation and external environment scanning, the project focuses on strategic planning, brand project designing, professional orgranisation building, and implementation roadmap.

Review of the "Sunshine School Meals" program: In September 2022, VA was invited to conduct a holistic review of the "Sunshine School Meals" program, a joint project between the Prudential Foundation and the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF), to summarize the successful experience of the program and serve as a reference for Prudential's support to improve the nutrition of underprivileged children in other countries and regions, as well as to promote the health and development of children around the world.

Shenzhen Bay Laboratory Foundation Strategic Positioning：In August 2022, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory Foundation invited VA to conduct a strategic positioning project. Benchmarking medical health foundations at home and abroad to summarise implications for the foundation, including strategic position, program planning, and roadmap.

Jiahe Vocational Training and Mentoring Programme Strategic Planning: In August 2022, VA was invited by the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation to provide strategic planning services for the Jiahe Programme: a vocational training and mentoring programme operated by the Shanghai K Charitable Foundation. The programme provides free vocational (hospitality-related) and life skills training, as well as living support to vulnerable youth in China, helping them become independent mentally and financially. VA analyzed the history and status quo of the programme, collected feedbacks and opinions from beneficiaries, programme partners and other stakeholders, and researched on recent development and best practices in both for-profit and non-profit vocational education in China. Based on these research and analysis, VA provided sound suggestions to the programme and the team.

A Family-led European Foundation Landscape Analysis on Dual Carbon：In June 2022, VA helped a family-led European foundation carry out a landscape study on how Chinese foundations and the Chinese representative office of international organisations tackle climate change and contribute to the country's dual carbon strategy. Through understanding those organisations' priorities, approaches, gaps, and needs, VA provided suggestions for the foundation and its peers on the grant-making strategy and climate change ecosystem building in China.

WWF China CBD Advocacy Project Final Review: In March 2022, VA was invited by WWF China to conduct a final review on CBD Advocacy Project. The Project was thoroughly assessed from three perspectives: project design, implementation and management, project output. Based on findings and lessons learned, VA also made recommendations for future design, executive and management.

One Foundation Handwashing Project Evaluation: VA has been conducting an evaluation for the year of 2021 of the Handwashing Project during Dec. 2021 to Jun. 2022. In order to provide recommendations for the project’s upgrade, this assessment aims to evaluate the outcome of the project and identify key factors that affect children’s handwashing habit cultivation.

Business plan optimization for C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Beijing office: in November 2021, VA was invited by C40 Beijing office to assist in completing and finalizing its 2022-2024 regional business plan, so as to better advance its strategic agenda over the next three years in China.

Vanke Foundation Five-year Strategy Review: VA has been reviewing last strategic cycle (2018-2022) of Vanke Foundation from Oct. 2021 to Jun. 2022, covering implementation and outcome of three key topics: Community Waste Management, Community Development and Environmental Protection, to identify problems and learn from lessons to plan for next strategic cycle better.

Marketing Startegy for Beijing Arbitration Commission: in August 2021, VA was invited to develop the marketing strategy for Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center (BAC/BIAC) for 2020-2024. By securing high-end cases in segmented financial markets, BAC would win the long-term trust of customers, as well as maintain and further improve their competitiveness and leading position in the field of arbitration.

Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation System Design for a Foundation From the Field of Sustainable Energy Development: in August 2021, VA was invited by the foundation to design a monitoring, reporting and evaluation system, including the principles, structure and application of the system. In order to better respond to changes in the environmental policies and donors' requirements, assist in program management, and support management team's decision-making and organizational strategic adjustments

Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) Five-year Strategy Review: In July 2021, VA was invited by EMF to conduct a five-year strategy review (2018-2022) of EMF’s China Program. VA also reviewed the Program’s internal operations and the recent major changes to the external environment where it operates in order to help the Program transits into a representative office and advance its strategic agenda.

Strategic Planning for WWF Beijing Office: in June 2021, VA was invited by WWF Beijing office to provide strategic planning service, through analysis on the challenges and opportunities of conservation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area from a strategic level, and to come up with suggestions on development of regional conservation program. In order to embrace the period of ecological civilization construction and fit with the national strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

Nike CSR Strategy Scanning Research: in May 2021, VA was invited to conduct a CSR scan for the Nike CSR department and provide a demonstration on the necessity of the establishment of a foundation. As well as carrying out analysis on the latest trends in CSR field by scanning the structure and focus areas of other foreign-owned enterprises' approaches of carrying out philanthropy in China.

Post-epidemic Capacity Building Program for WWF China and SEE: in April 2021, VA was invited by WWF China and SEE to provide strategic training service for its post-epidemic capacity building program. The training aims to empower 17 NGOs in marine protection to understand the importance and necessity of strategy, as well as drafting their own organizational strategic framework through 1.5-day of methodology and tools learning, practice and discussion.

Tsinghua University-Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship: in April 2021, Robin Zhang, founding partner of Venture Avenue, was invited to give a course, Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, at Tsinghua University for the fourth consecutive year. This year, the course cooperated with Professor Gao Jian from School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, and supported by Tsinghua X-lab. The course adopted an innovative approach by a two-day intense schedule that combines knowledge teaching with Hackathon practice, in order to better inspire and empower students to understand how social innovation tackle with real social issues and how to create effective and sustainable business solutions.

In March 2021, VA was invited to provide five-year strategic planning service for Chinese Red Cross Foundation. By analyzing CRCF’s social environment, advantages and disadvantages, along with determining its 2035 and 2050 long-term goal and position for the 14th Five-Year Plan period, VA will provide five-year strategies, approaches and strategic support for CRCF.

In December 2020, VA was invited to evaluate Smart Eating and Clean Commuting project of GoalBlue. This evaluation aims to assess the current achievements of those projects, summarize the success factors and lessons learned during implementation process, and then provide recommendations for the projects designing and implementation in future.

In November 2020, VA was invited by Paradise International Foundation to provide five-year strategy planning service for Marine conservation pillar - Blue Initiative Fund, aiming to clarify development direction and objectives for the next five years, including theory of change, strategic activities, etc.

In October 2020, VA was invited by UNICEF China to support the development of its high-level policy strategy. The project is to develop a comprehensive high-level policy advocacy strategy through mapping the pathways for high-level policy advocacy and suggesting high-level policy advocacy objectives, and to improve the capacity and effectiveness of staff’s engagement in high-level policy advocacy efforts.

In October 2020, VA was invited by Vanke Foundation to provide strategic planning on the topic of “Reducing Food Loss and Waste” to enable the foundation further expand its influence through the newly established impact fund.

In Sept 2020, VA Founder Robin Zhang was invited to provide an online webinar to NPI university on the role and value of social enterprises in residential communities. In his sharing, Robin provided strategic suggestions for Chinese social enterprises to realize commercial and social values in the communities.

In Sept 2020, Ms. Huang Jing, Principal of Venture Avenue was invited to attend the online session of Renmin University of China Social Entrepreneur and Social Innovation Forum, and participated in thematic discussion around “Social Enterprise and Community Development”. Ms. Huang also shared her insight at the forum: property service companies adopting the mechanism of trust is still in its infancy stage, and its development requires policy support, public promotion and tracking studies of existing cases.

In Sept 2020, VA Founder Robin Zhang was invited to attend the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), and participated in the roundtable discussion about “China’s professional volunteer service development” in the forum of “Humanitarian Relief and Volunteer Service in the Post-Epidemic Era”. In the discussion, Robin highlighted three key observations: first, more empirical studies of the social and economic value of volunteer service are needed; second, a professional platform to organize and coordinate professional volunteers needs to be established; and third, a set of rules and regulations should be drawn up regarding professional volunteers’ selection, training, registration, knowledge management and so on.

In August 2020, VA was invited by Shell China Social Investment (SI) team to evaluate its five core SI programs and the overall SI portfolio. This assessment aimed at understanding the impact of the SI programs, reviewing program process, assessing the achievement of program goals and portfolio performance, identifying key issues to be addressed by the future Shell China SI strategy as well as providing recommendations on SI strategy and program selection.

In July 2020, VA is invited to evaluate the “Joint Philanthropy” project, one of One Foundation’s innovative funding projects started in 2017. Focusing on the project’s effectiveness, this evaluation analyzes “Joint Philanthropy” project from several aspects: its achievements, lessons learned, and challenges in project design as well as through the implementation. The evaluation will provide One Foundation with professional suggestions regarding its funding strategies in the next stage.

Following the 5-year strategic planning in 2019, VA recently partners with BAC/BIAC again to start a market strategy project since June. This project will focus on BAC’s traditional areas of strength and key emerging markets, analyze market segments, and provide strategic suggestions.

In June 2020, VA was invited by One Foundation to provide evaluation of its “Children Service Center” project. The evaluation aims to provide an overview of how the project was conducted during 2018-2020 and its impact, as well as to provide recommendations to project development in the future.

In June 2020, VA was invited by WWF China to develop a toolkit for its conservation project interim evaluation, as well as support evaluation pilots. The project aims to develop an evaluation toolkit with high applicability and practicability and support the team to complete pilot in two programs.

Marketing Strategy for Beijing Arbitration Commission: in May 2020, VA was invited to develop the marketing strategy for Beijing Arbitration Commission/Beijing International Arbitration Center (BAC/BIAC) for 2020-2024. By securing high-end cases in segmented markets, BAC would win the long-term trust of customers, as well as maintain and further improve their competitiveness and leading position in the field of arbitration.

In February 2020, VA was invited to carry out the research project of social enterprises in cooperation with Star of Social Innovation. Through the case study of social enterprises in Chengdu, it aims to analyze the different modes of social enterprises participating in community development, especially the "community-based social enterprises", and put forward relevant policy suggestions for the sound development of social enterprises.

In March 2020, VA was invited to review the past project funding portfolio for Guangdong Harmony Community Foundation, provide planning suggestions for its strategic development in the next four years, and further clarify the foundation’s funding strategy and development goals. Furthermore, VA and the foundation reached a long-term strategic partnership, so as to enhance implementation of the new strategy.

In February 2020, VA was invited to carry out the research project of social enterprises in cooperation with Star of Social Innovation. Through the case study of social enterprises in Chengdu, it aims to analyze the different modes of social enterprises participating in community development, especially the "community-based social enterprises", and put forward relevant policy suggestions for the sound development of social enterprises.

In December 2019, VA was invited by Sany Foundation to support strategic planning of its rural vitalization flagship project, to clarify its core objectives and key initiatives as well as to provide guidance for further implementation in Daotong village.

In December 2019, VA was invited by China Social Assistance Foundation to provide five-year strategic planning service, aiming at defining the foundation's strategic position, formulating strategic objectives, implementation road-map, and organizational structure, etc.

In November 2019, VA was invited by Laoniu Brother & Sister Foundation to support its new strategic planning, aiming to clarify development direction and objective for the next five years, including focus areas and key project design, etc..

During October 16th to 17th, VA founder Robin Zhang was invited to attend the China Social Enterprise and Impact Investment Forum 2019 Annual Convention in Chengdu. He also gave a speech at the sub-forum “Social Enterprise Development and Regional Practices with Innovation”.

In September 2019, VA has gone through the first ten-year journey. In the past ten years, VA has implemented a range of projects, from the independent evaluation of Wenchuan earthquake relief projects, strategic planning of China's top ten public foundations, to the local practice of joining hands with China's high potential social enterprises and China's impact investment. VA has made a breakthrough in China's philanthropy sector and polished the sword of philanthropic effectiveness. On the 10th anniversary, VA developed a manual to review and share its observation and learning. Please click here to review the manual.

In September 2019, VA was invited by Vanke Foundation to evaluate its flagship program. This evaluation aims to consolidate project outputs and outcomes that have been achieved so far and impact on beneficiaries as well as partners. Besides, the evaluation is intended to deep dive on lessons learned and provide recommendations for project improvement. Key findings of the evaluation will be disclosed on the “Community Waste Management Forum” planned on November 19th to 20th in Chengdu.

In July and September 2019, VA was invited by Nike to conduct workshops to share new CSR trends in China with specific focus on engaging GenZ, the business-embedded CSR efforts of big domestic brands, and cases of leading CSR practitioners with their best practices.

In September 2019, VA was invited by Sany Foundation to provide evaluation of its “E Action” grant scheme. The evaluation aims to provide an overview of how “E Action” was conducted and its impact, to understand the progress, outcome and areas of improvement of each grantee, and to provide recommendations to grant scheme design in the future.

In July 2019, VA was invited by Ellen MacArthur Foundation to support its operations set-up in China, conducting in-depth feasibility study and designing a road map for Foundation’s registration of a representative office (RO) in the mainland China, and providing guidance and assistance throughout its RO registration application process.

In July 2019, VA was invited by Vanke Foundation to support five-year strategic planning of its community development project, aiming to answer three key questions: Why is community development important? What are the key issues in community development? How can Vanke Foundation be engaged in community development?

In June 2019, VA was invited by the newly established Fujian Province Pink Power Women and Children Empowerment Foundation to help develop its five-year strategic plan, aiming at clearly defining its focus area and strategic development direction, formulating strategic objectives and supporting pillars, as well as supporting the design of its core project.

Chengdu government was the first to promulgate policies for social enterprises (SEs) certification and incubation. In May 2019, VA was invited by Chengdu SEs Service Platform to provide strategic and management consulting service to 12 SEs. Through one-to-one consulting sessions, VA helped SEs to better identify pain points and challenges against sustainable and scalable development, as well as to brainstorm on business model improvement and strategic planning.

VA was invited by CI China to develop a three-year Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) Program strategy by clearly defining the organization’s strategic position in BRI and designing the program strategies, which will provide strategic support for the long-term development of CI China and contribute to the implementation of the green BRI.

VA was invited to carry out a quantitative study of ultra-high net worth individuals or families funded by Laoniu Brother & Sister Foundation in China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). By understanding the current situation of Chinese family philanthropy,  it hope to promote the development of Chinese family philanthropy, and assist Chinese philanthropists participate in philanthropy more effectively.

VA was invited by Hanmeilin Art Foundation to provide strategic planning service, aiming to answer key questions: What’s the strategic position of the Foundation? What’s the strategy for area focus and core programs in short term and long term? What are the supporting management strategy and organizational structure?

VA was engaged by Beijing International Arbitration Center (BIAC) to provide strategic planning service, with specific focus on 2 key questions: what is BIAC's strategic positioning and focus? How to build up BIAC's competitiveness and improve its governance and management? To find out the answer, VA conducted research and analysis on the development of domestic and international arbitration industry, the market trends, and best practices of leading international arbitration centers.

VA was invited by WWF China to help develop its new five-year strategic plan, aiming at clearly defining its strategic position, formulating strategic objectives, strategic support and implementation roadmap.

VA was invited to conduct impact evaluation of a children’s vision care education program again after one-year evaluation support in 2016.

The course ‘Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship’ designed and instructed by VA team kicked off once again at Tsinghua University, aiming to provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at Tsinghua to understand philanthropy sector, and how social enterprises tackle social challenges with a business approach.

VA was engaged by WWF China for their 2020 strategy review, including comprehensive assessment of strategy design, implementation process and performance as well as analysis of WWF-China’s operating environment.

By the end of 2018, Horae registered as a new company. Horae is the first internal incubated project and after one-year of preparation under VA, the project grew into an official business. Horae is established by Cherry Zhu, ex Principal of Venture Avenue. While she has been working in the field of commercial consulting in the past seven years, she was highly interested in and devoted herself to the investigation of spiritual foundation for mankind, that is, a question of how to build long-term impact by working on the “human” factor. Horae will provide consulting service on organizational development, culture and value transformation, executive coaching and leadership training, etc.

VA started to work with a renowned pharmaceutical company to facilitate its new product launch in rare disease area, introducing more innovative therapies as well as hopes to patients in China.

VA was invited by China Foundation Forum to discuss how foundations can drive the development of the philanthropy sector at the parallel forum “Pick the Decade – Social Transition and Foundations in China”.

VA provided a 1-day workshop for an After-Sales team in a luxury automobile company. We used games to help team connect at an in-depth personal-level, understood team vision, and finally used WeValue to find team values.

On Aug. and Sep. 2018, VA was invited by a expo industry leader for a 3-day management value workshop, helping 20+ management members to go through a deep-diving journey on body, mind and soul, then a exploration of personal mission, an investigation of team shared mission and a crystallization of common values.

VA was engaged by China Children and Teenagers' Foundation to provide strategic planning service, intended to answer three key questions: What's the Foundation's mission, vision and value? How to improve the governance and management of the Foundation? How to optimize and develop its programs.

Venture Avenue welcomed a high-level delegation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Shanghai. After a brief introduction of the business, we exchanged initial ideas on promoting the application of the Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs that FAO serves as the “custodian”) in civil sector.

On June 2018, VA was invited by an Ed-Tech innovator to lead a 4-day workshop on value and strategy. Using WeValue is the main tool, the workshop included all staff into the plenary discussion. Everyone contributed to the crystallization of the shared value/mission/vision, based on which the company upgrade its strategy. A gamified all-staff strategy communication was done for clarification and alignment.

Invited by Hui Ruoqi, the Olympic Champion, VA kicked off a strategic planning service for Hui Ruoqi Women’s Volleyball Development Fund. The project aims at answering three key questions: What’s the Fund’s mission, vision and value? What are the strategic focuses and flagship programs? What’s the implementation strategy?

VA was engaged by China Population Welfare Foundation to provide strategic planning, focusing on three key questions: What’s the strategic position of the Foundation? What’s the strategy for area focus and core programs? What are the supporting fundraising strategy and organizational structure?

VA was engaged by Laoniu Foundation for a comprehensive culture strategy. While further digging into the core values of the Foundation and its projects, we will review the status quo of organizational branding and personnel competencies and come up with strategic recommendations, thus creating a comprehensive cultural strategy that carries the gene of Laoniu Foundation.

Venture Avenue was commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to conduct a feasibility study of establishing an Inner Mongolia Inclusive Business Fund (IBF). Through analyzing the condition of local poor and low-income population, the development of Inclusive Business in Inner Mongolia, etc., the project aims to provide ADB with a series of recommendations including the IBF industry selection, fund modalities and capital deployment strategy. We are continuously supporting ADB to explore how businesses can participate in poverty alleviation more effectively in China.

Social Innovation Hub, co-founded by Venture Avenue and Tsinghua x-lab, has launched a new elective course, Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, at Tsinghua University. The course will provide undergraduate and graduate students at Tsinghua University the opportunities to understand how social enterprises tackle social challenges and how to create effective business models for social enterprises.

Since February 2018, Venture Avenue has started the China entry feasibility study for Magic Bus, an NGO based in India dedicated to improving education for underprivileged youths. The study focuses on discovering the most urgent needs for education for rural youths or migrant children in urban areas as well as positioning Magic Bus’s offerings in China.

VA was invited by Inner Mongolia Red Cross to evaluate impact and sustainability of one of its key projects “Brightness Action”.

VA was engaged by Vanke Foundation to provide 5-year strategic planning, focusing on three key questions: How to narrow down strategic focus in order to maximize resource utilization and impact? What are the strategic goals to achieve in five years? What’s the implementation roadmap?

Venture Avenue is advising Rare Conservation, a US-based foundation focusing on sustainable and biodiversity conservation, on how to launch an impact investing fund focusing on sustainable farming in China.

Venture Avenue was engaged by Laoniu Foundation for an organizational culture construction project to crystalize and disseminate its institutional values. The first major objective is to reinforce the team’s understanding of their mission, vision, culture and value, which contributes to clarified and consolidated values. The second objective is to enhance staff’s collective identity on their values via fully addressed communication and collision of ideas. The methodology of this project is based on WeValue sponsored by EU, which enables precise statement, equal dialogue, common language and systematic utilization.

Venture Avenue is working with the Asian Development Bank to finalize the first inclusive business scoping study in China.

Tsinghua x-lab·Social Innovation Hub launched a social innovation hackathon with hundreds of participants. The hackathon was co-hosted with the First Sound to help more low-income children with hearing disability have access to cochlear implant surgeries and recover hearing.

Venture Avenue has partnered with to Dulwich International Schools Foundation (DISF) UK to launch its entity in China and is responsible for its year-round operation. DISF in China is servicing all Dulwich China campuses by creating new volunteer and internship opportunities in the social impact space for their students. Venture Avenue will lead DISF China’s first 99 Tencent Philanthropy Day campaign.

This January, Venture Avenue and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) co-organized a winter camp for children of key clients at SCB. The event is aimed at improving their understanding of philanthropy, and encouraging them to practice philanthropic ideas into daily life.

In January 2017, Venture Avenue (VA) was invited as a guest speaker at the Asia Private Bank and Family Office Summit in Hong Kong. The VA team shared the experience of impact investment since 2012, and discussed with the participating Family Offices about how to use innovative methods to advance the development of China social enterprises.

Since 2016, Venture Avenue was honored to be appointed as a consultant to Asian Development Bank (ADB) in China. Since then, we have been actively supporting ADB to explore effectives ways with business in poverty alleviation in China. As the pilot project continues in Shanxi, it has visited and identified more than ten private companies with inclusive business potential, which will receive additional assistance to advance the inclusive business model.

VA was engaged by a Beijing-based foundation to conduct a one-year impact evaluation of a children’s vision care education program. The program is designed to cultivate children’s sense and behavior for vision care, hence reduce the ratio of myopia.

Since 2016, Venture Avenue was honored to be appointed as a consultant to Asian Development Bank (ADB) in China. Since then, we have been actively supporting ADB to explore effectives ways with business in poverty alleviation in China. As the pilot project continues in Shanxi, it has visited and identified more than ten private companies with inclusive business potential, which will receive additional assistance to advance the inclusive business model.

Until mid-September 2016, the First Sound project co-founded by Venture Avenue and China Women’s Development Foundation has already established its implementation network in Shandong Province. The project team has finished screening of 80+ potential beneficiaries, visited 11 of them, and confirmed 9 children to be eligible. Four of the children have received cochlear implant, and 3 of them have started their 1-year language training program.

In July 2016, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) appointed Venture Avenue as one of the consults in China to undertake the first-of-its-kind landscaping study on how inclusive businesses operate in China and how to leverage businesses to effectively alleviate poverty in China.

Invited by a renowned domestic public-raising foundation in March 2016, Venture Avenue provided feasibility study and overall design for a family charity product. The project aims to popularize the concept of family charity and enrich people’s way of doing charity by exploring and advancing the cutting-edge idea. In May, Venture Avenue was invited again to provide execution service for project’s kick-off and early-stage operation, services include project management, detailed product design, establish cooperative partnership, promotion strategy design and execution, etc.

Venture Avenue was engaged by a leading international sportswear brand to consolidate their experiences of implementing Active School Project and compile a resource book. The project aims to enable kids to enjoy physical exercises before, mid and after classes.

The third Social Investment Platform initiated by the British Council and several social investors ended successfully. After discreet screening, Yu Venture Philanthropy nominated three social enterprises to be its potential investee. They are Ricedonate, Carbonstop, and Yixiu Academy.

Co-founded with China Women’s Development Foundation, the First Sound is VA’s first attempt in carrying out a long-term program that aims to help children between 0-6 years old with severe hearing difficulties in China, and raise public awareness for this issue. VA engages in both the designing and implementation stage of the program, which plans to be nationwide after establishing its networks in 3 core provinces in 2016.

VA was invited to conduct strategic planning for Guangdong Harmony Foundation (GHF), a community foundation that provides support for grassroots NGOs in the Pearl River Delta. VA carried out an independent social impact assessment for GHF’s work in the past 6 years. Suggestions regarding GHF’s positioning and fundraising strategies were offered after a series of stakeholder interviews and analysis of the organization’s internal and external environment.

Invited by the Lao Niu Foundation (LNF), VA started an independent evaluation on the performance and impact of five major projects. Based on the evaluation results, VA will provide recommendation on project sustainability. In addition, VA will help LNF enhance its project evaluation scheme and strengthen team capacity to conduct internal evaluation in the future.

“Social Innovation Hub”, which was initiated by Mr. Yongguang Xu, Yu Venture Philanthropy and other 7 social investment institutions, partnered with Tsinghua x-lab to co-launch the “Tsinghua x-lab · Social Innovation Hub”. The mission is to cultivate future social entrepreneurs who tackle social problems with business solutions, to advance social enterprise scale-up via close working relationships, and ultimately, to close income gap in China and foster a favorable environment for sustainable development.

VA was engaged by Shenzhen Foundation of International Exchange and Cooperation (SFIEC) to conduct strategic planning. Registered in December 2014, SFIEC is the only private foundation in Shenzhen led by the government to promote international exchange and cooperation. VA will provide recommendation on SFIEC’s development in the next three years with need assessment, data analysis, benchmark study, target setting, and roadmap.

VA entered an agreement with Like Fund to provide a one-year strategic consulting service. Like Fund is a young social venture that uses internet to “make good happen”.

Venture Avenue was engaged by a leading international sportswear brand to provide a one-year CSR project support. In partnership with a leading domestic foundation, the company launched an innovation CSR program, which aspires to connect public interests in sports and philanthropy leveraging sports app and social media. Such connection was expected to strengthen the bond between philanthropic sports fans and the two brands, and promote a more active lifestyle.

Venture Avenue was invited by a leading public foundation in China to provide a two-day strategic planning workshop to its management and staff. VA team gave an introduction of what is strategic planning and how to do strategic planning with case examples. The team also guided workshop participants to discuss groups around topics such as mission, core value, strategic choice, strategy implementation, etc.

Venture Avenue was invited by a well-known public foundation in China to provide consultancy for its project-based organizational structure changes. The services included bottleneck identification, structure adjustment, process optimization and strategic recommendations, to fully address the needs of GONGO de-institutionalization reform and empower its continuous development.

Venture Avenue was engaged by NPI (Non-Profit Incubation) to join 2014 China Social Franchising Workshop. The workshop aspired to help Chinese social enterprises develop replication strategy and understand the issues that these organizations were facing in the replication process.

Yu Venture Philanthropy partnered with the British Council again and the other 8 social investors as well as capacity building organizations to launch the second social investment platform (RMB10 million in total). This is to meet the demand of the rapid development of Chinese social enterprises and advance their growth.

Upon the completion of East Asia Social Investment Scoping Study Phase I, VA continued with Phase II starting from September, commissioned by an international organization. The study analyzed social investment and their ecosystems in East Asia, deep-dived into the key challenges faced by social investors, and mapped out how a regional platform can potentially address those challenges.

Jointly with the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, VA started a strategic planning project for Lao Niu Foundation. In the three months followed, the joint team researched the philanthropic markets in China, Southeast Asia and Africa and provide recommendations based on internal interviews, needs analysis, partner interviews, branding strategy and international best practice benchmarking. This is a milestone for VA in providing professional service for family foundations.

Invited by an international organization, VA completed a scoping study of social investment in nine countries and regions including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, etc. The study focuses on understanding the overall landscape of social investment in East Asia region and the key challenges. VA further analyzed the value of potentially launching a regional social investment platform and provided preliminary recommendations on the business model for this platform and how to get it started.

Commissioned by the Cultural and Education Section of the British Council, VA has completed interim evaluation of its 2012-2015 Connecting Classrooms program. The program is a global education program that includes school partnerships, professional development for teachers and policy dialogue. By embedding an international dimension into the classrooms, the program aims to cultivate global citizenship among the young generation.

VA was engaged by a leading multinational financial institution to assess its community project portfolio and provide recommendations on how to optimize the portfolio. Also, VA designed a China CSR strategy for this company based on portfolio analysis, new investment area research, CSR benchmarking, and competitor analysis.

Core members from the Investment Committee of Yu Venture Philanthropy (Yu VP) have selected 8 social enterprises with high potential and shared vision from a competitive pool of over 200 social enterprises. At the boot camp in early November, Yu VP is going to provide them with training on topics like strategy, finance, and presentation skills and with one-on-one in-depth mentoring. Then each social enterprise will pitch their respective business plans, and only 2 of them can enter the next phase and receive two months of consulting service. The consulting service is intended to futher improve the capacity of the 2 social enterpises. Finally, one of them will receive investment early next year.

Xinhu-Yu Venture Philanthropy Fund, together with other 5 social investment funds, partnered with the British Council to set up the first social investment platform in China (9 million RMB in total). This is to meet the demand of the rapid development of Chinese social enterprises and advance their growth.

Venture Avenue was invited by British Council to conduct a research among over 800 trainees of its 2009-2013 “Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” project to understand the status quo of the social enterprise sector in China and trainees’ feedback towards the project. The research report will be delivered in early September.

Robin and Gracia were invited by Rende Foundation to conduct strategic planning training for 4 charity foundations in Shanghai. The workshop covered strategic planning fundamentals, and also involved in individual practices following a 4-step approach.

Invited by British Council, VA started final evaluation of 17 Tencent-BC We Love Award winners. The evaluation covers the following factors: project output and social impact, efficiency of grant spending, management efficiency, and efficiency of online fundraising.

VA completed baseline evaluation on 8British Council E-Idea Award winners of 2011 and 2012. Clinical reports including action-driven recommendations were also provided. Based on VA’s baseline analysis, 4 “higher-potential” social enterprises will be selected. In July, VA will conduct field workshops to streamline their key bottleneck issues.

Robin Zhang was invited to join Daimler’s field trip to Sichuan Shifang Elementary School and Yaan Giant Panda Home. Robin presented his evaluation findings to Mr. Ulrich Walker, Chairman of Daimler Northeast Asia, and Ms. Yan Wang, Vice President of Daimler.

Michael Tong as co-founder of Yu Venture Philanthropy, attended the first Social Enterprise and Social Investment Forum organized by Social Enterprise Research Center. As a guest speaker, Michael's speech covered how social capital can catalyze social innovation, and how to build the business cycle for social entrepreneurship.

Invited by British Council and Diageo, Robin Zhang spoke at the news conference in Beijing to summarize social impact of British Council’s “further training” which is part of the “Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” project, as well as the “Phoenix” Project co-launched by British Council and Venture Avenue in 2011. More than 30 media attended the news conference including People’s Daily, Beijing TV, etc.

Robin met Mr. Vernon Ellis, global Chair of British Council in Beijing. Robin shared Venture Avenue's observations over China’s overall civil sector landscape, and key enablers for social enterprise sector to scale up.

Xinhu-Yu Venture Philanthropy Fund officially launched in Tianjin. Xinhu-Yu was jointly founded by Xinhu Group, Amity Foundation and Yu VP, with an initial funding of RMB 10 million. The fund is committed to scale up social enterprises through angel funding and consultancy. We are honored to have Mr. Xu Yongguang join our board of directors as chairman.

VA started impact evaluation on “Chang Qing Volunteer Teaching” project for China Social Entrepreneur Foundation. In additional to project outcome and efficiency, we will focus on the positive impact on local community and the society. The evaluation is expected to complete in early December.

VA completed due diligence on 14 candidates of One Foundation 2012 Transparency Grants. We have provided assessment based on candidates’ governance, project management, financial management and transparency.

Robin Zhang was invited to speak at British Council International Partner Network Symposium at Yangon, Myanmar. Robin’s speech focused on the the landscape of China’s social enterprise sector, as well as opportunities and challenges of impact investing in China.

VA kicked off 5-year strategic planning for one of the top-5 public foundations in China. In 2 months, VA will set fund raising target and design a series of fund raising initiatives for the foundation’s core projects. VA will also develop the organizational structure, management processes and tools for the foundation.

Invited by UBS, Robin Zhang spoke at “UBS Asia Art of Giving” forum on impact investing, addressing 200+ ultra net worth individuals all over the world. Robin’s speech covers the subject of impact investing’s landscape in China, what can be learned from global best practice, and what can’t given China's uniqueness.

Invited by British Council, Robin Zhang attended the China - UK video conference on the subject of impact investing. Robin has reviewed the opportunities and challenges facing impact investing in China, and exchanged perspectives with social entrepreneurs and impact investors in the UK.

VA conducted final evaluation on 12 winning Social Enterprises of British Council’s “Skills to Social Entrepreneurs” 2010-2011 award scheme. Narada Foundation, China Social Entrepreneur Foundation and More Love Foundation are the sponsors of this program in China. In this year’s evaluation, VA has adopted systematic efficiency KPIs in additional to traditional “input-activities-output-outcome” framework.

VA was invited by China Foundation Center to develop business plan for its “China Foundation Training Center” project. VA will conduct financial feasibility study, formulate investment plan, and provide on-going support in investor engagement.

VA formed partnership with a leading automobile company to provide CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) services. Our services include up-front CSR strategy and on-going operational support.

VA was invited by British Council to provide training for more than 130 social entrepreneurs on strategic planning and financial management. Based on previous evaluation experiences on more than 30 BC “Skill for Social Entrepreneurs” award-winners, our training covered common issues and challenges in strategic planning that many social entrepreneurs in china are facing today. VA also provided practical tools and advices, which were well received by social entrepreneurs.

VA was invited by Fuping Development Institute to formulate business plan for its Eco Agriculture project. The business plan covers market study, entry strategy, high-level operation plan and financial feasibility study.

VA launched the first local RMB Venture Philanthropy Fund in China – Yu Fund. Yu Fund was initiated by 5 VA board members. Through angle social investment and operational consultancy, Yu Fund will support the highest potential social entrepreneurs and achieve explosive social impact.

VA was invited by the British Council and Diageo to start a one-year consulting service for 5 high-potential social enterprises.The consulting service included strategic planning,action Planning,continuous monitoring and other customized services.

Robin Zhang was invited by Fuping Development Institute and Ford Foundation to speak on Ford Foundation’s International Conference on Pathways to Higher Education.

VA successfully completed the 5-year strategic planning for Beijing Ministry of Civil Affairs CPF project - this is VA's first breakthrough in government service sector.

VA started monitoring and evaluation on 31 award winners of British Council’s “Skills to Social Entrepreneurs” program. Narada Foundation, China Social Entrepreneur Foundation and More Love Foundation are the sponsors of this program in China.

Robin Zhang was invited by Skoll World Forum to be a keynote speaker on China’s NGO policy and landscape development at Oxford.

VA was invited by Beijing Ministry of Civil Affairs to start a ten-week strategic planning for its affiliated Capital Philanthropy Federation (CPF). The strategic plan expects to provide a 5-year roadmap to CPF in order to better service philanthropy sector in China's capital city.

Robin Zhang was invited to attend the opening ceremony for Jet Li’s One Foundation to “go public” at Shengzhen, and exchanged ideas with Mr. Jet Li, Mr. Wang Shi on future development planning.

Invited by Aide et Action, VA visited Gan Zi prefecture, Sichuan to conduct a 2 week evaluation on its early education project.

Invited by British Council, Mr. Robin Zhang conducted “strategic planning” training for 40+ social entrepreneurs in Beijing.

Mr. Robin Zhang was invited to meet Ms Chen Bailing, the vice president of Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau, and formed initial agreement for providing strategic planning service for Capital Philanthropy Federation.

VA’s Managing Director, Robin Zhang, was invited to the “Social Innovation Carnival”, hosted by China Social Entrepreneur Foundation. Robin participated in the panel discussion on “Venture Philanthropy and Social Enterprise”, along with international experts.

VA was invited by British Council to conduct a “social enterprise financial management” workshop for 75+ Chinese social entrepreneurs as part of the “Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” programme. VA’s financial controller, Kathy Wang led the workshop.

VA’s Managing Director, Robin Zhang, was invited to speak on “China social innovation” at Skoll Center’s International Social Innovation Research Conference at Oxford, England. Robin's speech covers case study examples, segmentation and analysis of 4 innovation models

VA’s Managing Director, Robin Zhang, was invited by Narada Foundation to lead a strategy review for Gesanghua – a leading NGO who has sponsored 17,500 poor students in their educational pursuits in western China. Robin also joined Narad's field trip to advise the feasibility to fund two leading NGOs in western China.

Partnering with Jet Li’s One Foundation and D.Light Design, VA successfully launched the phase II of “Giving Solar Light - Lighting Up Hope” project – total 22,000 families in Mei Gu country of Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan, are expected to benefit from the project, with affordable solar lights and night school education.

(“Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” programme is a large-scale global project initiated by the British Council, which will last for three years from 2009 until 2012. The purpose of the project is to equip NGO practitioners, community leaders, young people and potential or existing social entrepreneurs with skills to adopt social enterprise approaches to meet social needs and strengthen local communities.)

Invited by British Council and China Social Entrepreneur Foundation, VA conducted interim evaluations for five start-up social enterprises, who were sponsored by the 2009 “Skills for Social Entrepreneurs” programme. VA evaluated whether the projects are on track comparing to their original business plan, core capability bottlenecks that SEs are facing and opportunities for BC and CSEF to better assist them.

VA kicked off P2P(peer to peer) student loan project - invited by Fuping School, VA has surveyed and interviewed 500 students in Ningxia, Sichuan and Yunnan, and 500 potential lenders in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Going forward, VA will lay out business plan and start piloting out P2P service from September.

VA launched VA Fellowship Program - VA will recruit Project Fellows from top China universities and fortune 500 companies to join VA’s evaluation and consulting projects. Leo Xu (BCG) and Maggie Lou (Tsinghua Univ.) joined FP program as our first Fellows.

VA started evaluation and consulting services for One Foundation’s 8 2009 Philanthropy Grant recipients. VA evaluated all Grant recipients’ project proposals, and supported revision of the implementation planning. All evaluation work was completed in April.

VA’s Managing Director, Mr. Robin Zhang was invited to present on “NGO development – transparency and investing” in China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

VA started evaluation of both progress and impact for 8 recipients of One Foundation’s 2008 Philanthropy Grants.

“Giving Solar Light - Lighting Up Hope” pilot successfully concluded in Meigu County, Liangshan Prefecture. Total 150 poor families who have lived in darkness in nights received free solar lights and night school training (healthcare, Chinese language and livelihood skills).

VA was invited to attend One Foundation's 2009 Philanthropy Grant as special guests.

VA’s Managing Director, Mr. Robin Zhang met Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and former United Nation Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan during the United Nation Foundation conference in Beijing.

VA formed strategic partnership with “Liangshan Woman and Children Support Center”.

VA’s Managing Director, Mr. Robin Zhang was invited to be the “Advisor” for Jet Li’s One Foundation.

Strategic partnership with D-light.

Strategic partnership with One Foundation.

Joined Skoll Forum.

Strategic partnership with Qiang Embroidery Aid Center.

First project Qiang Embroidery Aid Center

VA Founded.