How do you manage volunteers? How does Project Happy Feet sustain itself?
These questions and more came from some 33 students of Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Diploma in Business & Social Enterprise at a class on Non-Profit Organisations on 13 January 2012.
Answering them was Project Happy Feet‘s Director of Communications and Outreach, Terence Quek, who was invited to be a guest lecturer to share about Project Happy Feet‘s mission, its governance, its direction for the future, and the challenges it faced as a not-for-profit organisation in Singapore.
Over the course of the two-hour session, Terence explained how Project Happy Feet started as a company’s corporate social responsibility project, and grown into an independent organisation set up with strict corporate governance and strong principles in transparency and accountability.
He also explained that Project Happy Feet operates like a social enterprise, only that it is entirely run by volunteers and operationally funded by Emergenetics Caelan & Sage to allow for 100% of donations and funds collected to be channeled to its beneficiaries overseas.
Terence also shared how Project Happy Feet works with volunteers from all walks of life and with different levels of commitment in time, and that clear and honest communication helps volunteers understand just how best to support Project Happy Feet‘s cause.
The session not only gave the students a first-hand account of a not-for-profit organisation, but also gave Project Happy Feet an opportunity to share what it is all about with 33 dynamic individuals who would, hopefully, one day take up leadership positions and make a difference in the not-for-profit industry.
Project Happy Feet thanks Damien and his students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic for this wonderful opportunity and looks forward to more speaking engagements. Institutions who are keen to invite a representative of Project Happy Feet to speak can email requests to terence@projecthappyfeet.org
