VA
Insights

Letter from Founder

My dear friends,

In review of 2014, I feel most excited to welcome 5 new talents to have joined Venture Avenue’s social consulting / investing team. While they came from diverse backgrounds, from financial service to private foundation, they all share VA’s passion since its establishment 5 years ago: to empower China’s philanthropy with independent evaluation, strategic planning and impact investing.

On behalf of the VA team, I would like to celebrate with you what we have achieved in 2014. Working with China’s pioneering non-profit heroes — regardless if they are grassroots NGOs, charitable foundations, CSRs, or international philanthropists — I feel proud that VA has been instrumental in shaping their strategies and enhancing their organizational effectiveness. By doing so, we see our impact as the needed changing catalyst.

Among the nearly 40 projects completed in 2014, I am particularly proud to highlight the strategic planning project for Lao Niu Foundation. It is the first time for China’s family foundation to engage external partners to provide strategic planning, and moreover, VA’s partnership with the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in this study was able to bring international best practice to the table.

It is also noteworthy to mention that Xinhu-Yu Impact Fund is in the process of completing our investments on 3 new social enterprises – that will make our total impact investments to 6 in last 3 years, totaling RMB7.5M.

Other key milestones that I would like to highlight are:

  • Partnership with leading CSR practitioners such as Standard Chartered Bank, by localizing China CSR strategy and optimizing CSR portfolio
  • Evaluation of 6 award winning social enterprises, and a landscape study on East Asia impact investment invited by the British Council
  • Pro bono incubation services to 2 social enterprises (partnering with BCG’s Social Impact Team), and strategic planning support to 6 newly-established charitable foundations
  • Presentations at various international forums in Morocco, UK, and Hong Kong on China social enterprises and impact investment

Looking forward, next 5 years could be the most exciting and critical chapter for China’s philanthropy sector. “New breed” of social entrepreneurs are emerging and scaling up their social business; “old” public foundations are seeking to restructure their traditional system; technology and social media are revolutionizing the whole donating and investing channels… My friends, though we will never be ready to embrace future opportunities, we can always hold our hands to make ourselves stronger.

Look forward to your continuous support in 2015!

Robin Zhang

Founder, Venture Avenue

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