 Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. My name is Asha Bay, and I'm joining you live from Washington, DC, and the Office of Alumni Affairs at the US Department of State. Our office offers grant competitions and other opportunities for exchange program alumni. Thank you for tuning in to Mentor Talks. This is your opportunity to talk directly with leaders and mentors who excel in their fields. Our guest today is Aliza Alice Napartiva-Ungwe. She joins us live from Bangkok. Alice is the co-founder of SocialGiver, an award-winning social enterprise that helps consumers, businesses, and social projects to work together to create positive social impact. We're going to talk with Alice about SocialGiver and how you can use innovative ways to build your fundraising networks. We'll also chat about her experience as a three-time exchange program alumna. What would you like to ask Alice? Post your questions in the comments on Facebook, and we will get to as many as we can. Now, let's say hello to Alice. Alice, thank you so much for being with us today. Hi, sweetheart. So I'm so excited. And thank you so much for having me on your show today. You're welcome. We're so glad to have you with us. And thanks for joining us all the way from Bangkok. I'm more than happy to. So Alice, what was the idea behind SocialGiver? And what makes it so unique in the fundraising space? I actually started wanting to be more engaged with the social impact sector because I have been a volunteer. Pretty much started off quite early on back in school. But then I started to realize that there are other aspects into wanting to create change that could be more systemic. And so I was interested in engaging the public in a way that they actually enjoy wanting to learn more about how they can impact other people's lives at the same time as being able to embed doing good as a part of their lifestyle. So I was trying to find a way to actually evolve just volunteering on my spare time to be more towards how can I create a tool for other people to be able to use and be most effective at fundraising and creating social impact as well. OK. So was the volunteering that led you to create SocialGiver? I think it was a mix, but definitely from having firsthand experience and meeting quite a lot of amazing people who are working on the ground and seeing what is it that they really need help on. OK. So I think that leads us to our next question. Alice, you're one of our Faces of Exchange. You've been selected twice for the International Visitor Leadership IVLP program. And you are an exchange alumna of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, or YCLE program. Can you tell us more about how your exchange program experiences have shaped your career? Oh, definitely. I think when I first started with the first program, I was still working in the private sector. And I have started SocialGiver as a prototype. And I found that the moment that I realized I was selected for that program, I was extremely grateful and wanted to learn as much as I can during the time period in which I was granted as a fellowship. So I think right after that program ended, I've also made a request to take a career break so I can fully explore the option of building SocialGiver at that time. And that was really the first program that I participated in. And that was a really life-changing experience for me. Not just about the people that I've been meeting during the program, but truly all the other participants that were on the program too. They have really impacted my life. And who are some of the participants that have impacted your life? Wow, I would say maybe, hopefully, some of them are actually online listening right now. I believe that a lot of our friends in the first, I would say it was a program based on social entrepreneurs as well that have been working in their respective countries. So actually, my first IVLP program was only about 20 participants. And everyone truly had their experiences. I don't feel like it will be fair for me just to name a few, but I truly feel that everyone, we're still in touch right now. We actually had a quick chat this morning as well. And they're also looking to update each other on how we're all doing. But I feel that the stories that they are actually living in their respective countries, they're creating even schools on boats or working with disabilities or even in terms of access to financial support. I feel that what they're doing is truly inspiring. And a lot of the products and services right now are truly making a change in their respective countries. That's great. So thank you so much, Alice. We have limited time, so why don't we get to some questions from our viewers? Sure. We have one viewer who asks, after making the transition to working on social cover full-time, what advice do you have for other aspiring entrepreneurs who want to make the same kind of career change? Wow. I feel that, especially in Asian cultures, our family is very influential in how we make decisions. So I know that a lot of the other social entrepreneurs may have had very similar problems in terms of getting their family and friends support from the very beginning. They tend to feel that doing good is a hobby and therefore not something that they see as a career path. I feel that to be able to be in this space is not easy since the very beginning. And a lot of the time, we just have to find ways in which we can set up prototypes on what we do so that we can slowly prove and build traction before we fully make a decision to jump ahead and do this full-time. So I myself have been trying to juggle both things at the same time until I realized that I've been working seven days a week up till midnight or 1 a.m. every single day until I have to draw the line and say I have to pick either one. Okay. So up until when you came back from your first IVLP, that was when you were starting to work on SocialGiver but also you had a full-time job and you were juggling both of those things? Yes. Okay. And then so when was it in like the past two years that you decided to go full-time on SocialGiver? No, right after the program. Oh, wow. I went full-time for SocialGiver. I realized there is a true market demand for this. There is many people interested in seeing how we can grow and scale the model further. And so for me, I feel that it's not easy to recruit people into a startup plus it's a social enterprise. So I find that sometimes we just need to make the leap and learn all the different pillars of the business ourselves before we can actually start building up the team. Okay. And so do you have a big team now? Oh, well, I would say it's a cozy size. We have 13 people at the moment. And of course, we're looking to always expand more. We're always looking for great people to join our company. And we find that we have a great culture and we really take pride in that and we really take care of each other and never just work on specifically what we are assigned to do. My team is extremely active in how they would be able to expand different opportunities because at the end of the day, the more that we can build for ourselves, the more we can also help other people. That's true. And that's the point of social cover, right? Definitely. Yes. So one person, we have another viewer who is asking about your volunteer work and how did you use that volunteer work to help you with your career? Well, I feel that volunteering has always been a part of my school's curriculum. And I felt that it was actually the first start in understanding people from diverse backgrounds. I feel that it's not always easy for us to go out and venture and understand those different social problems until we actually spend some time with those who are facing different challenges. A lot of the time, very, very different from us. And I feel that this is also a great way to start understanding the problems that you want to solve. It's not just about producing a product or a service that just satisfy our need to create, but rather our need to be able to solve problems for other people. Okay. And speaking of that, so what are some of the problems that social givers solve? The top one that we're looking to solve is the funding issue. We realized that it's not just smaller organizations, but I think certain organization of different sizes have challenges that varies. But we can see that a lot of the time, some projects, they're doing great work, they're very transparent, yet they lack the exposure and the engagement with the audience or potential people who want to support what they do for them to continue the really good work that they do. So I feel that social giver is able to solve not just from the fundraising sector in terms of supporting social causes, but rather solving other two types of problem, which is from the brands or business side. So we're talking about companies that want to be able to create shared value, as well as a part of their CSR program or more. And we want to be able to create a solution for companies that want to do good as well. A lot of the time companies tend to feel that, is it true that doing good is good for business and social giver hopes to be able to keep continuing to prove that it does. And another factor is for us to be able to help solve the problem from the consumer point of view, where a lot of the time consumers or donors, they actually don't know where the funding is going and a lot of the time, especially in Asian culture, we tend to feel that maybe if they were using the money in the wrong way, it's just their bad karma, but we feel that there's a lot more that we can do in terms of creating that traceability and transparency from a social impact side to create that trust for those who want to support these organizations as well. So it essentially becomes like a three-party transaction between the businesses that participate on social giver, our consumers, and at the same time, the social projects that are really great at working on the ground. So to be able to tie in everybody's challenges at the same time as creating a solution for all three parties at the same time makes our model extremely unique. That's, yeah, it is unique. And I like how you explain things on your website with the different, like, where the funding is going. So now we have a question from one of our Y. C. Lee alumni. They'd like to know, yes, how did your Y. C. Lee exchange impact you and what do you recommend other alumni take advantage of after their exchange? Definitely, I think the Y. C. Lee group, we had a great time. A lot of us are still in touch with each other. At that time, my trip took me to Myanmar for the ASEAN Summit, and I felt that that was definitely a great experience. And for us to also get to meet former President Obama as well, and to be able to engage our fellow social entrepreneurs that are within the ASEAN region, I feel that we have a lot of overlapping challenges, and we are looking to see how we can always help each other for myself. I know that I'm reaching, you know, basically the limit of the age group for the Y. C. Lee. So I think this is, I'm more of the big sister in the group. So of course, if any of the Y. C. Lee members are needing any help, just, you know, ask away. Ah, thanks. I'm sure they appreciate that. So we have another viewer who asks, what are some of the most successful ways you give, you encourage people to give? Well, we feel that one of the most successful way to give is consistency. You have to be able to understand the dynamics on each segment on how is it that they give, or what do they expect from the person who are the recipients. And a lot of the time, you know, we tend to give at, you know, different emotional peaks. It might also be certain time of the year that we give, but what social giver wants to do is create these clear incentive loops on how people keep coming back to shop for lifestyle experiences, while at the same time being able to help those that are in need. So that means our cycle of frequency is a lot higher than those that target only donors. And for us, it's anybody who wants to potentially, you know, book a hotel stay or go to a concert with their friends or to eat out with their family. So we feel that with this type of, you know, consumer behavior, it actually allows them to do good more frequently and therefore be a part of their daily choices. And I find that to be quite valuable in the way that we're solving this problem. That's great. As a way of a comment from someone, my Patama Bunchu on Facebook who wanted to let you know you are so amazing and inspiring. Oh, thank you. That's really sweet of them. Yeah. Thank you. I hope to be able to get, you know, some feedback as well on how we can further develop or how we can, you know, help other social impact creators out there with our platform. Oh, that's great. I'm sure they will, they want to hear that. So we have another question from a viewer in the audience who asks, how do you recruit volunteers to work with you? Wow. So there are two types of recruitment for social giver. There are in, actually, I would say three. The first is to become full-time staff. We are still looking for great team members to join us full-time. Secondly, we are also looking for internships and we also have been accepting a lot of interns from around the world working with us. And lastly, in terms of volunteer. So when you talk about volunteer specifically, I think it's really about setting the right vision and the right targets for each volunteer. For us, every volunteer that works with us also has commitments on what is it that they want to be able to deliver within the time that they're able to work with us. So I feel that it's more of a discussion that you have with each of the volunteer that wants to work with your organization. In terms of recruitment, we feel that a lot of the time having an offline event gets people together really well and connects people before you actually can see what is it that would be their skill set that adds most value to your company. And that would allow great synergy, not just between you as management, but also with our staff along with the volunteers as well. So with social giver, we do have some offline activities that we host and those are great channels in which they can participate, even preparing for the event or during the event that allows them to let their skills really shine through. Oh, that's great. And so these offline events, is that how you also invite potential partners and how do you find out about potential partners and approach them? Wow, potential partners or what social giver we call them giving partners because essentially everything that you purchase on social giver is provided for free by every single brand. So we are talking about partners that truly cares about being able to give back, see the sustainability in which we're creating and that they want to be a part of making this being able to scale. So every giving partner that we work with are truly like top brands from all over the country and they actually have different ways in which they could give back, but they have to see that, being able to engage their customers as a part of the giving process is really one of the key things in making building loyalty as well as understanding how their brand truly stands for these sustainable goals. And so with each of the brands, I would say that we would even just cold call them. We would write to them if we would have the opportunity to be able to meet them in person. That is an excellent opportunity. We keep always creating opportunities for ourselves and a lot of the time, it's really been spreading by word of mouth as well. When one business is doing really well with social giver, they're able to work with us in a way that they see results. It allows them to truly share their story to other business owners. And I think referrals are a great way to how you build a platform that is sustainable like what we're trying to create. Okay, that's good. So when you, it looks like we have time for one more question and a viewer asks, how do you manage your communications with your stakeholders so they can see the impact they're having? Yes, I think this is a great question. Thank you so much for this. I feel that with the different stakeholders that we are looking to improve on this in fact, I find that it never hurts to over communicate on how we actually evaluate our social impact. We also want to make sure that the social projects are highly involved in the process and they truly know how do they want to move forward. So we do have both ways in which we connect to these projects offline as well as online. So offline we do host sessions in which our stakeholders can be a part of that discussion. It's almost like an open ended discussion where the project gives a few hours with social giver. We invite our business partner. We would hopefully this year invite some of our customers who were interested in that project to also have like a clear like discussion on how the stories are being created. But most importantly, how is it that they're creating that change? Most of our communication is still very much online. Our offline activities, I would say is quite, still quite limited. A lot of it is due to the resources of each of the projects that we work with and what we fund. A lot of them I would truly say are understaffed. They have very limited resources to ask them to come to Bangkok very often is also very difficult. We're actually looking for additional partners in which we could extend what we evaluate so that we can help broadcast this impact further so that it can drive more users to see that the more that they live and enjoy doing what they do, the more impact that they can create. So I would say it's really important and I'm hoping to also learn more and improve on this factor as well. We're still experimenting on many different ways and very much online with just some touch points offline currently. Okay. Well, I hope things go well with that and you're able to expand more because you're doing great work. So thank you very much, Alice, for being with us today and a big thank you to you, our online viewers, for joining us. Be sure to keep your calendar open for our next Mentor Talks. Visit alumni.state.gov for more info which will be posted soon. And for the latest exchange alumni news and announcements, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time on Mentor Talks.