Check out the look on these cute kids enjoying a nice warm meal. Please support us in this year's season of giving. Have a Happy TFISH Thanksgiving! Here at TFISH, we are grateful for the opportunity to work with people who want to make a difference. You are our biggest inspiration! Please support us in this year's season of giving. View the original e-newsletter.
Grounded on core values of respect, love, and service to the elderly, the Xin Yue Senior Citizen Service Center of Chongqing, China, promotes social work services for senior citizens and builds harmonious living environment for them. There’s a nice bottle filled with stories of the elderly in the silent valley. I opened the cover gently and let the stories spread into fresh air. Since 2012, Granny Bian got symptoms of senile dementia. Her only memory is about things happened in her teenager period. She does not recognize her husband. She called her husband as brother. For years, her husband has been taking good care of her. He learned cooking and to do housework. Though he could not cook delicious food, he kept cooking for Granny Bian every day. To ease the symptoms, the Center organized an activity to collect stories themed “my beautiful life” among the elderly. We hope to recall the granny’s memory by telling their own stories to the young. However, Granny Bian’s memory is losing day by day. She often said she would like to come back to her hometown (a place she lived in her 10). Her husband made a kind lie which made her feel much better. The details of their life are as my own grandparents, which moved me a lot. The grandpa may not speak sweet words to his wife, but he kept accompaniment for over 60 years. Though her wife is losing memories, she still has a man staying with her and taking good care of her. I hope to give my best wishes to the couple as well as other elderly. Original article written by Ling Feng, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang Clover Youth was initiated by the high school graduates, who are dedicated to create learning opportunities via practice and social environment led by youth peers, cultivating youth with love, ideas and action. It is located in Guangzhou city. Summer camp of 2014 is coming. We will welcome children who are quite serious about the activity. On the last weekend, I participated in voluntary teaching activity. Under the tree shade at the campus, I even sensed scorching sun light. In such a summer, I sensed something that more burning than the sun. The earnest of the children at Qiming and Chunhua Middle Schools impressed me a lot. An almost-finished-pen, a piece of paper filled with notes and a wad of revised teaching plans are all earnest that I could sense. I tried my best to teach and tomorrow is another new start. Difficulties are not obstacles, which made me advance bravely. A person may grow up and take responsible. In the big family of Qingcao, each one holds one another and face unpredictable difficulties. In 6 years, Qingcao grows greener. Original article written by Xiaoying Peng, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang Nayong Association is based on Nayong, a poverty-stricken area in Guizhou Province. Taking the network as the platform, it carries out various public welfare activities to aid education. We were introduced to Transparent Fish Fund in February 2013 through an email. We would see the organization's name show up from time to time, but little did we know that we would one day become partners. The seed fund allowed us to pay full-time wages for our program managers and allow us the resources we need to function properly. This was huge for us. In addition, we received help with capacity building. It was difficult getting used to some of the technology, but we eventually were able to use it effectively. Because of this extra support, we were able to hire staff that helped with special projects and the Feng sisters joined the Nayong Loving team. We had our stumbling blocks in the beginning, but my colleague Wang was often there to remind me, "Small errors and road blocks on the way are inevitable, but with TLC and attention, I am sure it will become bigger and better ". Longwan Caring Home is located in Dahua County, which was listed as one of the poorest counties in Guangxi Province. Longwan Caring Home is a big family consisting of orphans, single parents, and abandoned children. The normal expense of the Home is sustained by plantation, breeding, and small business. We are truly a grassroots organization. Our director did not get a college degree nor professional training. She is an ordinary woman born in the depths of the mountains. Finding Transparent Fish Fund was a true blessing for us. like finding an oasis in a vast desert. In 2012, we received, for the first time 3000 yuan seed funding from TFISH’s support platform. We were overjoyed - this was the first grant we had ever received. We felt relieved of the pressure resting on our shoulders and much happier. After a year of hard work, our finances became clearer. Even though work is hard each day, we never stopped recording our blogs and journals, and continued to publish all our activities to the public. Towards the end of 2013, we submitted a second application to TFISH. During the first quarter of 2014, our account received the 7000 yuan administrative fund from across the Pacific. Money cannot solve everything, but we cannot function without it. The several hundred children under our care need this money to survive. We also direly need money for educational expenses, emergency medical expenses, staff costs, and hardware maintenance costs. I always believed that if God shut the door, He will surely open another one for me. I believe that He will not abandon us widows and orphans. I work so hard every day to help all these children, but as soon as I see beautiful smiles on their faces, all my distresses go away. We do this for the kids! As a person in charge of a local nonprofit and as a local preschool teacher, I know how heavy the burden is and how hard it is to move forward. But I never compromise in the face of difficulty. I am over fifty years old and in a race against time, I've learned to treasure every moment that God gave me. Therefore, I plan on doing what I love to do. Following the Transparent Fish Fund guidelines, I complete monthly project reports by myself. I did not know how to upload photos, but I learned. I try blog on the website, which proved to be a little difficult, but I try to learn and understand, even if that mean staying up entire nights. Transparent Fish Fund, is a communication platform and a self-presentation platform. We were asked to be completely transparent and to use every penny to the benefit of the cause. TFish asks us to standardize our growth, being honest people and honest organizations. I want to thank Transparent Fish Fund for supporting us, especially the staff who works on the platform who welcomed us so warmly and generously. They have taught me a whole deal of knowledge and allowed me to realize that: we are more blessed to give, than to receive. Original Article Written by Banai Hua, translated by Allison Zhang, edited by Yanyan Zhang Grounded on core values of respect, love, and service to the elderly, the Xin Yue Senior Citizen Service Center of Chongqing, China, promotes social work services for senior citizens and builds harmonious living environment for them. This month, actors from Zhongyuan Opera Troupe put on a spectacular performance of Beijing Opera. They arrived early in the morning, preparing elaborate make up and costumes. The atmosphere at the center today was buzzing with excitement. Elderly in China tend to be very enthused in traditional arts, especially Beijing-style Opera. Many of our seniors came to the play room early. It was a full house! People were standing outside the doorway, watching. The opera was a comedy so it left everyone in a lovely mood. They gave warm applauses to each performance. These were classics, so some of them could not help singing along with the actors. This was definitely a hit show and we will be inviting the Zhongyuan Opera Troupe back soon! Original article written by Ling Feng, translated by Maggie Li, edited by Yanyan Zhang Xingzhi Migrant Art School is a non-profit organization that offers art lessons for the children of migrant workers who otherwise would not have this opportunity. This update was written by Director Gu, the founder of and a teacher at the Art School in Beijing. “A heart full of gratitude, I am thankful to have you! Accompanying me my entire life, giving me courage to be myself. A heart full of gratitude, I am thankful for fate, the flower blossoms and falls, but I will cherish them the same.” This song made me understand that there will be no warmth without sunlight and no life without water, and without them both the colorful world would not exist. Because of the dreams we share for change, children from different provinces come together to form "Little Workers" under the leadership of Teacher Gu. Each student is fighting for the continuation and growth of this home. We are setting up more and more courses with the development of Little Workers. We would like to thank Transparent Fish Fund for sending us help when we most needed it. With the support of TFish, we are able to study peacefully and grow happily as children of parents who leave home to seek work in the cities. We are able to attend graphical design classes and English classes. During this time, we also learned to write our stories in the Transparent Fish Blog. At first, we did not understand how the blog worked and could not post pictures of ourselves, so we would always be late on deadlines. TFish’s staff would remind us and patiently teach us, allowing us to grow and learn. Sometimes I think we are very lucky children. No matter where and when, there are always people who care about and support us, who understand our situation, and who believe in our potential. We realize that a lot of our lives are pieced together by their love and kindness. We now study well and grow up happily. We will repay those who helped us with our accomplishments in the future. Original article written by Xiaochen Gu, translated by Allison Zhang, edited by Yanyan Zhang According to their motto - “Love, truth, and service to community” - Xingyang Volunteer Federation works to enhance people’s sense of social responsibility through providing them various volunteer opportunities.The office is in Xingyang, Henan province. How Transparent Fish Fund Changed Our Organization:
Xingyang Volunteers Federation has adhered to the principle of transparency for all nonprofit events since its formation in 2006. We publish our monetary transactions on the Internet and welcome the general public to monitor our finances. All our financial records, however, were posted on the volunteers page, which is part of the Xingyang forum, sporadically by part-time employees during their free time. When we needed to assemble our end of the year summary, we had to spend a lot of time and energy compiling and categorizing our records. Transparent Fish Fund specializes in supporting grassroots nonprofit organizations. Their “Transparent Philanthropy, Transparent Finances” philosophy matches our’ “Open and Transparent” policy. In June of 2012, after getting to know each other, Xingyang Volunteers Federation began accepting funds and guidance regarding administration tactics from TFish. After over three years of cooperation, I personally believe that we have learned a lot. For example, we did not know where to begin when we first started doing monthly progress updates. After receiving help from Ms. Wang Jun of TFish, I wrote the first monthly work summary, which is equivalent to TFish’s monthly progress update. Behcet’s Association was founded in 2005 and registered as a private nonprofit organization with the Beijing Civil Administration Bureau on May 19th, 2014 as Beijing Paloma Behset’s Disease Care Center, the first nonprofit organization in China to focus on providing support, consultation, and information services for patients suffering from Behcet’s Disease. Our goal is to create an equal and respected social environment for Behcet’s patients.
Behcet’s Association first contacted and got to know Transparent Fish Fund in 2013 through other organizations that help patients with rare diseases and successfully received seed funding for hosting the first annual Chinese Behcet’s Patients Conference. The seed funding paid for part of the traveling costs for a Behcet’s patient who needed to travel from Beijing to Chongqing and back in order to attend the conference and for the printing costs for flyers, brochures, posters, banners, etc. that were used during the conference. The seed funding helped us host a successful conference. From that point on, Behcet’s Association and “TFish” grew together. At that time, Behcet’s Association was still only a small nonprofit, with all our costs paid for by volunteers’ and patients’ kind donations. We had never worked with any foundations, so the cooperation with TFish was Behcet’s Associations’ first time working with a foundation. Our cooperation with “TFish,” an organization that advocates for financial transparency, made a small nonprofit like ours more standardized. For example, at first, we disclosed our funding and expenditures monthly, without following up on each project that is going on. After working with TFish, we learned to write project updates each month, compile last month’s progress, and reorganize Behcet’s Association’s tasks and work. Compiling these updates is also a great opportunity to find materials we can use for flyers and project summaries. We now not only disclose the expenditures for each monetary donation, but also begin to reorganize and make transparent our work that sank beneath the surface. At the same time, under the guidance of Wang Jun from TFish, we began to adjust blog contents from the initial only sharing current events and activities to now telling the stories of our patients, having out patients share their thoughts, posting facts and Behcet’s Disease, and so on. These adjustments prove to be very meaningful for our organization’s development afterwards. While TFish taught us to make our financial records more transparent, they also taught us, as a nonprofit organization, how to publish our work and make ourselves more transparent. Behcet’s Association would like to thank TFish’s staff, especially Wang Jun, for all their help. Thank you! Grounded on core values of respect, love, and service to the elderly, the Xin Yue Senior Citizen Service Center of Chongqing, China, promotes social work services for senior citizens and builds harmonious living environment for them. We have been a part of Transparent Fish Fund’s Nonprofit Platform for nearly two years. If not for TFish Lab’s invitation to this blogging event, we would not have had time to review our growing experience these past two years. Today, with this rare opportunity, we would like to share the lessons we learned with everyone here. The center was founded in early 2012, and, just like a newborn, there was a lot we needed to learn. Because we lacked experience, the center mainly offered day-to-day services for the elderly and also received some meager donations and volunteer services. The volunteers and donors, however, would come once to the center, donate or volunteer, and leave after taking some photographs. Without a good volunteer organization system and a working financial system, these donations and volunteer services could not help us better accomplish our tasks, and sometimes even hindered our progress. Facing this difficult situation, the center planned a mini-project aimed to help volunteers grow and learn. Late 2012, the center contacted and got to know Transparent Fish Fund. After initial inspection, the center luckily became associate member with TFish. Later, “Little Bee Growth Project” received TFish’s funding. Although we had believed in insisting the idea of “Transparent Philanthropy, Transparent Finances” from the beginning, this idea was not completely accepted. We also did not know what this idea would bring into effect. So, during the execution of “Little Bee Growth Project,” the center combed through our financial records, perfected our project guidelines, and improved our information recording and publicity system with the help of TFish Lab. After working on it for over a year, we discovered a drastic change in how we accomplish our tasks when we were summarizing project progress. We strengthened our ability to utilize societal resources, increased volunteer participation, and gained trust from our community. In June, the center applied for a grant from TFish for our Senior Group Birthday Project and again received the trust and support of TFish! |
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