Advertisement
Coronavirus pandemic
OpinionLetters

Letters | Coronavirus crisis: Hong Kong Jockey Club and other funders racing to help NGOs in need

  • Non-profit operations have undeniably been disrupted by Covid-19, but times like these are a good test of our strength and commitment to our cause
  • The Jockey Club has proactively helped non-profits, but non-profits must work harder as well

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Home learning is the new normal in Hong Kong, but not all students have stable internet connections. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Letters
In response to Mr Ming Wong’s letter regarding the Jockey Club on April 16 (“Coronavirus in Hong Kong: as the Jockey Club works with NGOs, let trust rule funding decision”), I would like to offer some perspective as a young and inexperienced founder of a small non-profit like Teach For Hong Kong.
Advertisement
Teach For Hong Kong is a non-government-funded charity started in 2015 to nurture graduates into education advocates by enlisting them to teach in underserved schools for a year. With the outbreak, all our teachers are stuck in their homes making teaching videos, instead of caring for underserved students, many of whom have neither a device nor a stable internet connection.
All our planned activities to widen our students’ experience have been cancelled. As for business and individual sponsorships, I am afraid we might be kissing them goodbye at least until the economy fully recovers.

Non-profit operations have undeniably been disrupted, but times like these are a good test of our strength and commitment to our cause. I cannot be more grateful to everyone in our community, those trying their very best to contribute to our cause in the “new normal”.

For instance, we have frozen our headcount and my team has become more efficient in leveraging our volunteers, which will eventually generate more new insights. Although face-to-face selection interviews are no longer conducted with our hundreds of applicants, my team has devised an online system that makes our process more efficient. And, thanks to my board’s governance and insights, we have adjusted cash flow and have a reasonable reserve that can last us for some time without new donations.

loading
Advertisement