Helping Nonprofits Blossom Brightly

Conjunct is the first consulting firm in Asia focused on nonprofits. A nonprofit itself, it was started by two young Singaporeans in 2011 who envisioned a passionate community coming together to strengthen social good organisations. 

“Many nonprofits have limited funds and resources for improving their operations and systems. We founded Conjunct Consulting to help them, so they can in turn, focus on helping their beneficiaries better,” explained Mr Kwok Jia Chuan, the co-founder of Conjunct and its current Chairman.

Conjunct ropes in undergraduates and working professionals keen to volunteer their skills. These volunteers receive training and were matched to projects from nonprofits serving families, children and youth, the elderly, or people with disabilities. Volunteers apply their experience and expertise to solve specific problems raised by these organisations.

In the case of Solve Education!, a group of student volunteers dived into the challenge and suggested ways it could measure impact. With their inputs, Solve Education! built robust testing tools and visual dashboards to show learning outcomes.

Volunteers who are working professionals use their deep corporate expertise in areas such as project planning, marketing, communications, technology, finance, or operations to enhance the backend functions of nonprofits.

The Foundation of Rotary Clubs (Singapore) was one organisation which benefitted from their involvement. “Conjunct provided insights and tools to overcome problems and hurdles and helped us formulate a strategic plan with a clear road map,” said Mr Wong Kwai Wah, its Honorary Secretary.  “We are incredibly grateful for their support."

Conjunct has left its mark not just on the organisations they worked with, but also the volunteers they groomed. In the nine years since it was formed, it has multiplied its pool of volunteers from 10 to more than 1,500 today, slowing realising its vision of building a passionate community of changemakers.

Many volunteers came on board, found opportunities to apply their skills and wanted to do more.

One of them is Hans Alnando, who leads Conjunct’s Student Chapter at the National University of Singapore. “The experience has been tremendous! It opened my eyes to skills-based volunteering and has inspired me to continue helping nonprofits even after graduation,” he said.

Sammie, who leads Conjunct’s Singapore Management University Chapter, has worked on impact assessment and strategic planning projects with two nonprofits. She was effusive: “Eye-opening, challenging, meaningful … to best describe my three years with Conjunct. I have had the privilege to work with amazing volunteers who exposed me to new perspectives. I saw what dedication looks like and what passion stands for.”

With what they gained helping social good organisations get better, these volunteers have found a different way of contributing, with willing hearts and minds.