Monday, November 1, 2010

The fundraising models of NPOs and Foundations in Taiwan.

1 Abstract

In 2006, Taiwan government released the "Charity Donations Destined For Social Welfare Funds Implementation Regulations" for the following main purposes, effective control of Charity Donations, to use societal resources in appropriate manners, to promote social welfare & to protect the rights of donors.

However, due to the flaws and incompleteness of the regulation for a long time, in 2005, some NPOs advocated to establish the Taiwan NPO Self-Regulation Alliance to enhance the NPO accountability and transparency for the public.

According to the thesis of 歐烱杕, it shows that most Taiwan NPOs funding are form donation and government grants, and most NPOs lack confidence to ask enterprises to give. To make people abroad know about Taiwan NPOs found raising models, of which I will make analysis report on three NPOs with different know-hows. "Genesis Social Welfare Foundation" is good at Government Uniform Invoice (GUI) fundraising from the public, "Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation" which demonstrates how NPO could cooperate with small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan and "United Way of Taiwan" which adopts Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services and acts as the mediation to raise, distribute and monitor fund for NPOs and as the platform to meet the needs and interest of minority people, NPOs and enterprises in Taiwan.

According to my literature review to their websites, the way for the public to give and the NPOs to raise fund in Taiwan are very creative and convenient now. People now would like to give by credit card more than before. In chain stores, you could easily print out the donation voucher from multimedia kiosk or just give changes or invoices for donation. To dial up a quick call with your cellphone is accessible to everyone who wants to give.

The E-funding system is easy to access on NPO's websites. Retrieved from The SSWF website.

Follow steps on ibon at 7-11 to print out the donation voucher. Retrived from: http://www.tfrd.org.tw/help/index.php?kind_id=1&sid=37

It is also important to have fans and supporters in virtual reality for NPOs. It is a shame not to use the web 2.0 applications like Facebook, Plurk and Blogger to promote the campaigns and organize fans for bigger social effects. Some fancy ways to raise funds, such as to fulfil friends' birthday charity wishes by donation or just married couples to buy charity thank card for friends, are integrated with the web 2.0 platform to engage young generations as well.

The Birthday Donation on the United Way of Taiwan Website and from which you could see how many friends support your birthday charity wishes and how much they have donated for you. Retrieved from The United Way of Taiwan.

There are some famous commercial portal sites like "Yahoo Charity" which functions like "Virgin Money Giving" in UK and the Apple Daily Charitable foundation, endowed from a famous gossip media cooperate, engage their numerous audience and readers to participate in donation and caring for the charity events.

This is one of the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation's charity program on Yahoo Charity. You could see who are the donors to this program and how much money the foundation have raised. Retrieved from The Yahoo Charity website.

You could be a donor on Yahoo Charity. The page shows that this donor who has donated a lot of charity programs listed below. Retrieved from The Yahoo Charity website.

According to many studies, exposures to individual fundraising case are very effective for raising people's attention and sympathy in Taiwan, however people also criticises that the media power will mislead the public and result in unfairness of benefit distribution to the general cases. The NPOs and the endowment cooperation which care for the disabled people have very successful fundraising performance in Taiwan. It shows us that people prefers to give emergency donation or give money with soon and visable outcome.

According to Taiwanese' cognition, that we want to promote the orangutan conservation and rainforest their home is kind of like "a long-term overseas relief-aid case". We could hold fundraising activities which are legal in law and regulations but probably challenging for people's awareness. I suggest that the most important thing is to raise people's awareness to the world diversity and global warming change with linkage to the cause of orangutan extinction and their home rainforest devastation. Still, some cooperation could be made among the conservation and environmental protection NPOs, linked with zoos which keep endangered spices and implementing the platform of communities universities in Taiwan which are regarded the most successful social civilization movement in the last decade.

I must say that it is a unusual case for Taiwanese to donate money to aid overseas conservation work for a long time compared with the relief cases such as Tsunami 2004, Sichuan earthquake 2008 and Haiti earthquake 2010, however if we could successfully raise Taiwanese' awareness and contribute global obligation, this could be the initiative action for Taiwanese to aid the conservation work overseas.


2 Case studies to the fundraising models of NPOs in Taiwan


2.1 Taiwan NPO Self-Regulation Alliance


2.1.1 Website portal

  1. Taiwan NPO Self-Regulation Alliance (English)
  2. 台灣公益團體自律聯盟 (Mandarin

2.1.2 Objectives

Established in 2005. Their main objectives are to establish a self-regulation mechanism to promote information disclosure by NPOs, strive for the protection of donor rights, promote a legal environment that will ensure the sound development of Taiwan's NPO sector, encourage exchange between NPOs and promote NPO-related research.

2.1.3 Accountability

It provides the website to regulate NPOs who sign the pledge to updates their financial reports annually.

2.2 United Way of Taiwan

2.2.1 Website portal

  1. United Way of Taiwan(English)
  2. 中華社會福利聯合勸募協會 (Mandarin)

2.2.2 Objectives

Established since 1992. The United Way adopts the model of the Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services in UK and acts as the platform and mediation to raise, distribute and monitor the fund and resources for NPOs in Taiwan.

2.2.3 Fundraising

In 2009, the United Way raises around $14 million from the public. According to their regulation, 85% of the raising funds will be distributed reasonably to NPOs after cautious evaluation to their performance and accountability by the committee, 2% will be the saved as the emergency relief fund, and 13% will support the administration of the United Way.

2.2.4 E-Funding system

People could transfer money through credit card, post office, banks and by check. People could also use the Multimedia Kiosk in chain stores, like the ibon of 7-11, Famiport of FamilyMart and LifeET of Hi-Life to print out the donation voucher and pay at the store counter. Also, the cellphone quick call is accessible to anyone who wants to give.

The United Way of Taiwan cooperates with patrons and celebrities to encourage young people to join the Birthday Donation and Wedding Donation activities which are integrated in web 2.0 application system.

The United Way of Taiwan has a portal site on Yahoo Charity and has a very good performance in fundraising for their programs.


2.2.5 CSR

The United Way of Taiwan has long term relationship with Citi Bank and has the permission from government to put donation boxes at the chain stores. Some enterprises also encourage their employees to donate one-day salary.

Many enterprises which want to contribute to the social welfare affairs but has no specific target will choose to donate to the United Way of Taiwan and trust their management of donation.


2.3 Genesis Social Welfare Foundation


2.3.1 Website portal

  1. Genesis Social Welfare Foundation(English)
  2. 財團法人創世福利基金會(Mandarin)

2.3.2 Objectives

Established in 1987. Their main objectives are to care for patients of persistent vegetative state (PVS), the elder and the homeless.


2.3.3 Fundraising

GSWF has the authority form government to put GUI donation boxes in schools, supermarkets (Carrefour) and chain stores (7-11, FamilyMart, HiLife) and will collect GUI boxes to check reward regularly.

According to the website, JSWF collected almost 100 million of GUI throughout Taiwan in 2009 and after checked by volunteers and staffs, they got the reward prize of around $3 million.


2.3.4 E-Funding system

People could transfer money through credit card, post office, banks and by check. People could also use the Multimedia Kiosk in chain stores, like the ibon of 7-11 or Famiport of FamilyMart to print out the donation voucher and pay at the store counter.

It provides sticker code for blog writer to post campaign news, organizes Facebook, Twitter and Plurk fans and produces animations and videos which are cooperated with celebrities and politicians to encourage GUI donate.

JSWF has no portal site on Yahoo Charity.


2.3.5 Accountability

Every 2 months, JSWF publishes the newsletter to their members and update on the website about their income, expense, donors' information and also reward price of GUI, however people can not find their annual financial reports like "Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation" online or on NPO Self-Regulation Alliance's website.

JSWF has the online search engine for donors to keyin their names to know if JSWF updated the donation or not.


2.3.6 CSR

JSWF which is famous and large foundation in Taiwan has very good relationship with small and medium-sized enterprises which will search for cooperation with them directly.


2.4 Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation


2.4.1 Website portal

  1. Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation(English)
  2. 陽光社會福利基金會(Mandarin)

2.4.2 Objectives

Established in 1989. Their main objectives are to provide an extensive range of services for burn survivors and people with facial disfigurement, to assist them in their physical, psychological and social rehabilitation and to uphold their human rights and dignity.


2.4.3 Fundraising

Except the GUI donation, the SSWF cooperates with many small and medium-sized enterprises to promote their campaigns and donation activities like "One NTD one person", selling the charity products and so on.

From the donation list on the website, you can see many donors are small and medium-sized enterprises and 23 enterprises of them provide job opportunities for burn survivors.


2.4.4 E-Funding system

People could transfer money through credit card, post office, banks and by check. People could also use the Multimedia Kiosk in chain stores, like the ibon of 7-11 or Famiport of FamilyMart to print out the donation voucher and pay at the store counter.

It provides sticker code for blog writer to post campaign news and organizes Facebook, Twitter and Plurk fans.

The SSWF has a portal site on Yahoo Charity and has a very good performance in fundraising for their programs.


2.4.5 Accountability

The SSWF updates their annual financial report in details and donors' information on website.


2.4.6 CSR

The SSWF cooperates with small-medium sized enterprises to provide job opportunities and scholarship for burn survivors and encourages enterprises to buy their merchandise, to donate GUI and to promote campaigns together.


3 References

  1. Regulations
    1. Charity Donations Destined For Social Welfare Funds Implementation Regulations(English)、公益勸募條例(Mandarin)
    2. Charity Donations Act - Implementation Regulations(English)、公益勸募條例施行細則(Mandarin)
    3. Charity Donations Destined For Social Welfare Funds Implementation Regulations - Permission Regulations(English)、公益勸募許可辦法(Mandarin)
  2. Thesis
    1. 歐烱杕(民97)。錢從哪裡來:台灣非營利組織之社會資本研究 (碩士論文)。 取自http://etd.library.scu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search-c/view_etd?URN=etd-0905109-104633
  3. NPOs transparency and accountability advocacy associations
    1. Taiwan NPO Self-Regulation Alliance (English)、台灣公益團體自律聯盟 (Mandarin)
  4. Case studies to NPOs fundraising models
    1. UnitedWay of Taiwan(English)、中華社會福利聯合勸募協會 (Mandarin)
    2. Genesis Social Welfare Foundation(English)、財團法人創世福利基金會(Mandarin)
    3. Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation(English)、陽光社會福利基金會(Mandarin)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The legal environment of the endowment cooperation and the NPO in Taiwan

1. Definition

According to the Civil Code, the juridical persons are divided into two categories, one is for profit and the other is not for profit. Non-Profit juridical persons could be divided into the Endowment Cooperation / Foundation and the Non-profit Organization.

In the following report, I would like to analyse the difference in law or regulations and report on the advantage and disadvantage between the Endowment Cooperation / Foundation and the Non-profit Organization.

s. I will refer Endowment Cooperation as the Endowment Cooperation / Foundation and refer NPO as Non-profit Organization.

2. Background

If you would like to establish a NPO in Taiwan, you must follow the Civil Associations Act, however if you intend to establish a endowment cooperation, you must check your business category, running at a national, municipal or city level and follow the related regulations stipulated by different government departments which always require the endowment asset (including property and funding) up to $10 to 30 million at national level and $60 to 200 thousand at municipal or city level.

For a NPO, at least with 30 initiators who are over 20 years old and following some simple procedures, it is easy to establish one.

Both must register in local court wherever their business runs to get the juridical position.


3. Comparison table

The comparison of the Endowment Cooperation and the NPO by law in Taiwan


4. The strength and flaws of the Endowment Cooperation

In general, endowment cooperation is more stable than NPO with reasons as bellow,

  1. The endowment cooperation owns endowment asset but only the interest of it could be used for the social welfare purpose. If the board member could manage the assets properly, their financial condition is better.
  2. The power is controlled by the board members not like NPO whose policy is made by the public will. Besides, the chairman of the foundation could be reelected as long as the board members think he or she is qualified to manage the asset properly.
  3. Accountability is very important for endowment cooperation cause they must manage a big number of asset and donation.

But, there are some flaws or constrains to it,

  1. You must invest a lot of asset and not many NPOs can transform into endowment cooperation easily.
  2. You must invite famous or powerful patrons to increase the exposure for raising donation form the public.
  3. It could be very dominated by family members or small group of people whose management could result in bad reputation or exclusive to the outsiders.
  4. Sometimes, the power is controlled by whose endowment asset is more than others.

5. The threats and challenges to NPOs in Taiwan

The chairman can only be reelected once after expired office term for 3 years and the important policy must be decided by the members voting. It could lead to the instability of the association however you could also take it as a more democratic and open running model.

It is a common phenomenon that most NPOs' funding is from government grants which are restricted funding, not much for staff salary expense. With the restricted funding, NPOs are forced to do something which is not necessary meeting their vision or mission to survive. Some people criticizes that NPOs become the government's broadcasting system, follow their will and loose position to monitor them.

But, there is another voice addresses that the government is not capable of everything, if NPOs are eligible to provide professional services and represent as the grass-root power of the community, it could be a mechanism of collaboration and partnership between the government and NPOs.

Accountability is very important for NPOs too. Even NPOs apply for grants from government who always require accountability of the grant under the pressure of legislators. However, the budget relocation and low salary for staffs are also threats for NPOs in Taiwan.

6. Conclusion

In Taiwan, if you want to establish a sustainable organization, to establish a NPO could be the short term goal and a cooperation as the long term vision.

However, to make your organization sustainable not only depends on endowment asset insurance but also a democratic body to engage the public, accountability, project management, communication and outreach, raising funds and public awareness, etc. To pursuit for professionalism is a lesson that the endowment cooperation and the NPOs in Taiwan should continue to learn.

7. References

  1. 全國法規資料庫(Mandarin)、Laws & Regulations Database of the Republic of China(English)
  2. Civil Associations Act (「人民團體法」英文版)
  3. NPO法規介紹–財團法人許可登記及監督(連結全失效,大部分要點或準則已廢除)
  4. 行政院環境保護署審查環境保護財團法人設立許可及監督要點(97.08.26.)
  5. 「教育部主管教育事務財團法人設立許可及監督準則」
  6. 新竹市教育事務財團法人設立許可及監督準則
  7. 新竹市文化藝術財團法人設立許可及監督準則
  8. 臺北市財團法人暫行管理規則
  9. 臺北市政府社會局主管業務之財團法人設立許可及監督輔導管理補充規定
  10. 全國性人民團體數
  11. Culogy:非營利組織行政管理讀書會講義-什麼是NPO/NGO組織?,葛皇濱

Jane Goodall Institute Taiwan Analysis

1. Background

JGI had established the Taiwan branch in 1996 which is the 19th branch in Asia. The most significant achievement has made is that JGI Taiwan have invited JG to Taiwan over 10 times and facilitate more than 500 "Roots & Shoots" school groups in Taiwan.

According to the mandarin title of JGI Taiwan, 國際珍古德教育及保育協會中華民國總會 is a NGO rather than a foundation which is stipulated by a more accountable law in Taiwan.


2. Fundraising and Sponsorship Models

Jane Goodall is very famous in Taiwan, so it is smart to invite her once a year for 3-4 days to raise funds and public awareness.

During JG's stay in Taiwan, she will join the fundraising party, Zoos visit, the Wild Make-Up Parade, "Roots & Shoots" groups meetings, deliver speeches in schools and universities, and visit to the indigenous tribe which has built up relationship with her for a long time.

Some income of JGI Taiwan is from membership and there are 3 kinds of them, individual member (20 pounds/year), student member (10 pounds/year) and group member (100 pounds/year). Like most charities, they also sell merchandise including JG's books, calendar, VCD/DVD, children's book, T-shirts, and etc.

There are many company donors, according to the website, however I don't actually know to what companies have gave. This kind of CSR could be very bluffing in Taiwan. Sometimes companies just support their service or product once to us and we could put their logo or links in the CSR page for a long time.

JGI Taiwan mentions in website that most of their funding raised will be used to support "Roots & Shoots" program, which is a humanitarian and conservation education program, rather than JGI's field work in Africa or academic research in Chimpanzees.

E-funding system is not popular in Taiwan, only transferring money or faxing the credit card info allowed to make a donation as mentioned in JGI Taiwan's website.


3. Communication and Outreach

Facebook and Blog which are not well organized and active.

There are 3 kinds of newsletter in the website, including news about environment and eco-life which most is quotation of JG's books or speeches or citation of environment news in Taiwan's newspaper, news about "Green Thumb" Program and "Roots & Shoots" Program.

4. Conclusion

According to the mandarin title of JGI Taiwan, it is the branch of JGI as a legal NGO. In Taiwan, registered NGOs and foundations are allowed to receive donation and sell merchandise to the public.

For JGI Taiwan, their public awareness is not limited to Chimpanzee issues but also the wild and environmental conservation practice in schools and communities. It's a broader and more acceptable advocacy in Taiwan since that Chimpanzee is not a native spice and Taiwan people will doubt that why makes donation to support the program in Africa.

As you can see that the JGI Taiwan's target audience is the "young people" mainly in primary schools and they facilitate young people with the "Roots & Shoots" Program.

With a cross analysis with JGI 2008 Annual Report, JGI 2007 Annual Report, and JGI 2006 Annual Report, I think JGI Taiwan doesn't contribute a lot to the headquater and most of Taiwan raising funding supports the "Roots & Shoots" programs and office administration fee.

5. Further studies

  1. The legal environment of NGOs and Foundations in Taiwan.
  2. The fundraising models of NGOs and Foundations in Taiwan
  3. Taiwan INGOs and their management and fundraising models.

6. References

  1. JGI
    1. 國際珍古德教育與保育基金會(Mandarin)
    2. Home the Jane Goodall Institute(English)
      1. JGI 2008 Annual Report: the income is $1.4 million and the investment is 0.8 million, most income is from contribution and grants and most expense is animal welfare and conservation, education and fundraising.
  2. Taiwan Foundations
    1. 伊甸社會服務基金會
  3. INGOs in Taiwan
    1. Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps(台灣路竹會)
      1. CONGO INGOs(The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations)
      2. USA Branch
    2. IDEA TAIWAN
    3. Greenpeace Taiwan WebsiteGreenpeace Taiwan Facebook
  4. Laws
    1. Culogy:非營利組織行政管理讀書會講義-什麼是NPO/NGO組織?,葛皇濱

Monday, October 25, 2010

NCHC Internship Report Week 3 & 4: October 4th – October 13th 2010

INTERNSHIP WEEKLY TIME AND ACTIVITY REPORT
National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) 
Hsinchu City, Taiwan


Basic Information:
  • Name: Mulyadi Pasaribu
  • Intern Organization: National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC)
  • Advisors: Wei-Ping Jia: CEO of BCUA, Chia-Chen Kuo: Associate Research Scientist of NCHC, Steven Shiau: Associate Research Scientist of NCHC, Panut Hadisiswoyo: Founding Director of OIC
  • Supervisors: Ceasar Sun, Jazz Wang and Thomas Tsai from the Free Software Lab, NCHC
  • Service Period: October 4th – October 13th 2010
Weekly Report:

Time/Date
Daily Log
10/04/10
10/05/10
10/06/10
10/07/10
10/08/10
10/11/10
10/12/10
10/13/10
Time In
09.00 AM
Attending ADOC 2.0 Conference in Taipei
09.05 AM
08.55 AM
09.10 AM
09.05 AM
08.50 AM
Time Out
05.30 PM
05.20 PM
05.10 PM
05.30 PM
05.30 PM
02.30 PM

Scheduled Activities:
  1. 10/04: Clonezilla – Backup, Restore, Multicast
  2. 10/05: Attending ADOC 2.0 Conference in Taipei
  3. 10/06: Attending ADOC 2.0 Conference in Taipei
  4. 10/07: Self Learning: Clonezilla
  5. 10/08: Translating DRBL Software from English to Bahasa
  6. 10/11: Q & A
  7. 10/12: Q & A
  8. 10/13: Tux2Live


    Assignment: Translating DRBL Software from English to Bahasa

    Self Note:
    1. 10/04: This is the third week for me doing internship in NCHC and today I learn another open source software that developed by the Free Software Lab at NCHC. The software name is Clonezilla and this software used for backup and restore system. This in another free software that can be used and implemented in the CDOC as this software will help to clone a system from one PC to other PC.

      Mr. Thomas also teach me on how to use the Virtualbox OSE as an environment to trying the functionality of the Clonezilla software. Virtualbox is a new software for me and this will help a lot because with this software I didn't afraid to do try and error or experiment in laptop or PC as this is only a virtual machine that didn't affect the the real system in our machine.

      On this day I also got an assignment to translate the DRBL software from US English to ID Bahasa. The translation is different with previous Partclone software that only had few lines of sentences. DRBL translation is more than 800 lines and this need much time to be finished as sometimes the software language is much different with daily language.

    2. 10/05: This day I didn't come to NCHC as I attend the ADOC 2.0 Conference in Taipei. ADOC = APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Digital Opportunity Center.

    3. 10/06: This day I didn't come to NCHC as I attend the ADOC 2.0 Conference in Taipei. When the conference break for lunch, we got a good news because ADOC (supported by Asus Foundation) will help the mobile CDOC by providing 16 new laptops.

    4. 10/07: This day I didn't learn anything new. I only doing self learning about Clonezilla software and started to translating the DRBL software from English to Bahasa.

    5. 10/08: This is the last day of my 3rd week doing internship on NCHC (October 8th). On this day actually I scheduled to learn about Winroll and Tux2Live with Mr. Ceasar but because miss communication about the schedule so we can not learn the lesson and I spent the day to continue translation of DRBL Software from English to Bahasa.

    6. 10/11: This is the first day of my last week doing internship on NCHC. On this day we scheduled to have a Question and Answer discussion about all of the lessons I learn during my internship time. Actually I can learn the lesson well and I didn't had much question to ask. But today I know one of interesting information about NCHC when we having discussion with Ms. Kuo, Apple, Panut, A'al, Okta, Kieran, Nick and one of NCHC staff in the 2nd floor meeting room of NCHC. I just realize that NCHC is not only about open source software development but also have many other divisions that doing research and development such as multimedia design for education purpose. On this day, I also make a short presentation about what I've learn during my internship on NCHC.

      Interesting Multimedia Tools in NCHC

    7. 10/12: This day I didn't learn new lesson as the scheduled activity for today is Question and Answer. I only spent this day to continue translation of DRBL Software from English to Bahasa.

    8. 10/13: This is the last day for me doing internship on NCHC and this day I learn about Tux2Live with Mr. Ceasar. Actually Mr. Ceasar also scheduled to teach me about how to compile an open source software, but because I know my self and my current skill level in programming, I prefer not to learn about how to compile open source because I think I can't reach the limit to learn about it now, so maybe in the future.

    Monday, October 11, 2010

    Review of SOS Fundrasing tutorials.

    "SOS Fundraising Guide" and "A-Z of fundraising ideas" are short and practical documents which have given me an insight about how SOS encourages their supporters to raise funds.

    From my personal perspective, they teach people how to raise funds and sponsorship for the charity. Fundraising for charity has been part of life and culture of the UK people for a long time and the UK government supports the legal environment for charities, whatever their size or purpose, to raise funds from the public.

    Some differences between Taiwan and UK could be observed from these two articles, including E-fundraising system, like JustGiving, a quicker and easier way to raise sponsorship for charities than off-line donation, "Gift Aid", a policy that enables tax-effective giving by individuals to charities, and "Match Giving Scheme" which encourages employers or companies to double their employees' funds raised.

    I will spend some time to research about the law environment of charities in UK like Charity Law, The Charity Commission and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to make my further research about model comparisons of CSR and fundrasing more practical.

    It could be very useful for I-DO volunteer group from NCTU to adopt fundrasing ideas and practice raising awareness of orangutan and rainforest in Taiwan from these two small articles.

    Review of SOS newsletter JungleVine.

    After I finished reading the SOS newsletter JungleVine, issues 20-24 , I think that SOS is reaching the goals to communicate, raise public awareness and present accountability with SOS members and donors. As you can see the structure of the newsletter is divided into three parts, branch news about fundrasing and public awareness activities across UK, USA, Bali, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, campaign and conservation news to catch up with the most critical conservation issues related to SOS'work, and project news from Sumatra for donors to know how their money was used to support conservation projects.

    It is very important to engage members or potential supporters with the charity's work with continuous news and achievements. For SOS,I think they have done a great job to use Web 2.0 media power like website portal, newsletters, blog, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their members, donors and fans. This is what BCUA could learn and from which could be a model for us to reconstruct a Mandarin/ English bilingual portal website to manage our projects and satisfy our customers and audience.

    There are many interesting awareness activities which could be adopted in Taiwan like pedal power cinema (as mentioned in JungleVine 25), walk or run for orangutan (as mentioned in SOS Australia news of JungleVine 24), viewing orangutans in zoos (as mentioned in SOS Sweden news JungleVine 25) and brainstorming with kids to fundraise for orangutans or rainforest, competition for fundraising, and interaction amongst like-minded fans on facebook like "Harapan Parade" and "T-Shirt Design Competition" (the coming JungleVine 26 in October this year).

    What most impressed me is that the charity Patron is very popular and an ordinary scenario in UK. In Taiwan, it is difficult for small NGOs or charities to find patrons. A comedian Bill Bailey had held several big fundrasing events with other celebrities in London (as mentioned in JungleVine 23-25) for SOS, which is not bigger or more famous than the other four charities whose cause is orangutan conservation too.

    Many people in Taiwan probably will know the famous UK band called Bee Gees whose member Robin Gibb and his wife are patrons against breast cancer. This is another example to show you that famous faces will do a lot for charity.

    Try to visualize the content structure of JungleVine with XMind.

    Thanks to Helen Buckland who is SOS UK Director and had made a valuable revision for this article. :)

    Taiwan Higher Education Fair 2010

    On Saturday 09 October 2010 The Taiwan Higher Education Fair 2010 was held. Located at the Academic Activity Center, Dayan Dawood Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, Indonesia. About 88 Taiwanese representatives from 38 top universities in Taiwan include The Ministry of education of Taiwan and also from the Elite Study in Taiwan (ESIT) came to Aceh to promote universities in Taiwan to the Aceh people.

    The event was opened by the Secretary of the Government of Aceh. The exhibition visited by people of Aceh consisting of students, university students, lecturers and the civil society. The exhibition was held just one day and visited by thousands of people of Aceh. The visitors were enthusiastic to visit the exhibition. Until two o'clock almost the entire brochures in the university stands run out, the visitors brought it as much as they could. Most of the visitors asked about the programs offered at each university and also about scholarships provided by universities or local government. There was a father who came to one of the university stand and said "I am asking this information is not for me but for my child who could not come here."

    Most of the visitors that came from university in Aceh such as lecturers or students, they already had a target which one of the university in Taiwan will be the place to continue their studies, they choose based on the field that they are focus on or based on the scholarship that offered by the university or based on the number of Indonesian students that studying in the university. However, all of the universities attract the visitors, seems like the visitors want to study in every university in Taiwan.

    This exhibition is the first exhibition held in Aceh and even Indonesia. After promote their universities in Aceh the group of Taiwan will go to Jakarta to hold a similar exhibition at two different universities on Java Island. "We only have opportunity to stay for 8 days in Indonesia, after that we will come back to Taiwan. But we are very pleased to visit and stay for several days in Aceh, we hope we have a chance to visit Aceh again, and see beautiful places in Aceh "said Annabel, that come from Kaohsiung Medical University.

    We hope that this exhibition is held annually every year and increase every year, such as the number of universities that promote in Aceh will increase and also we hope universities from other countries also promote in Aceh so that the people of Aceh could choose any university to continue their studies. So it will be more and more people of Aceh could get better education, this is a long-term investment for the government of Aceh, and this is the real thing done by developed countries to save and create the next generation to lead their country.

    As a committee, author wants to say a big thank you to the Taiwan government for the good cooperation and hopefully this cooperation will continue in the future. Author also expects the group from Taiwan enjoyed their visit to Aceh and Indonesia, hopefully the Taiwanese not only know about Bali Island but also Aceh will be the destination for Taiwanese and foreign tourists in the future. These visits also prove to the international that Aceh Province is safe and comfortable to visit by anyone.

    Sunday, October 10, 2010

    Partnership between Aceh and Taiwan Community

    Aceh is a special territory of Indonesia. Its current official name is Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin. Aceh is a province in the corner of Sumatra Island, lay on equatorial line, the area is 57.365.57 km2 with tropical climate. The area included 119 islands, 35 mounts, 73 rivers. Aceh has 21 Regencies, 228 sub districts, 5947 villages with 4.297.485 people.

    Syiah Kuala University is the best University in Aceh. Syiah Kuala University consist of nine faculties, they are Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Medical, Animal Study, Engineering, Social and Political, Economical, Agricultural, Law, and Education. In Education Faculty they produce teachers and then send them to rural area in Aceh Province.

    In December 26, 2004 Tsunami and earth quake hit Aceh. At that time more than 160.000 people dead/lost, 500.000 lost their home, about 2.000 schools were damaged, About 2.500 teachers died, Only 45.000 students left from 72.000 students. In Syiah Kuala University 111 lecturers died/lost, includes 3 profesors and 5 Doktor, 72 admin lost, 522 students of Unsyiah died/lost More than 8 hospitals damaged or destroyed, 114 health center or klinik were destroyed. 3.000 km streets couldn’t be used, 14 from 19 harbours were highly damaged, 120 main bridges were destroyed, 15.000 espoused briges were damaged, and 8 from 10 airports were damaged.

    Immediately aids from Taiwanese came just after Tsunami and earth quake hit Aceh. The aids almost 200 tons includes food, clothes and daily needs and Taiwanese also builds many buildings and houses. The aids still continue till now and total of the aids more than 50 million US Dollar.

    The biggest aids for Syiah kuala University is ICT buildings. The building is use for development ICT in Aceh, also becomes the place to teach computer for teachers. It cost 2 million US Dollars. The aids also come from ADOC, they give 20 computers and 20 laptops.

    The partnership also gives chance for young talented Aceh student to internship in Academia Sinica. The program starts from 2009 till now. This program give chance to Aceh student to learn open source, open their mind about Taiwanese culture and advance technology. They also have chance to communicate with other people and share ideas.

    Taiwan also send their student from National Tsing Hua University. From 2008 till now they sent volunteers to teach open source in rural area in Aceh province. The program called E-Mate (E-Learning Medan Aceh Taiwan).

    Base on information above, the partnership need improvements, because Taiwan and Aceh need each other to develop their country. They need community development to keep this condition such as discussion on mailing list or share with others people to let them now the condition. Taiwan also need to engaged with global community and Strengthen the volunteers program. Taiwan need Aceh because they have to learn about culture and let the Taiwanese communicate with global community with global language, not only mandarin.

    Aceh also need help from Taiwan, student from Aceh have to continue their study in Taiwan, also they need to Strengthen the internship program, so aceh student can learn more not only about open source but also Taiwanese culture.

    Wednesday, October 6, 2010

    ADOC 2.0 Workshop, 1st Day

    Start from 9:30 AM, ADOC 2.0 workshop formally began. This is Such an honor to us to be the participant for this workshop. The event was opened by the Deputy General Director, Bureau of Foreign Trande, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Mr Chun-Fu Chang.After welcome ceremony, the event continued with the presentation of the various success stories and ideas associated with the presence of ADOC in various countries. With all due respect to other speakers, I was more focused attention to the speaker from Chung Yuan University, DR. Vandi Liu, who discussed the Small Medium Enterprise, Mr. George Wang that discussed the Digital Mobile Classroom, Dr sera. Ajith Kumar (India) are stunning workshop participants with the Phoenix project.

    From Dr. Vandi Liu, I saw how ICT can bring such a big influence on the development of SMEs. Digitalization is accompanied by assistance tirelessly against the perpetrators of SMEs, are able to transform an ordinary farmer to farmer example and pass on the benefits of ICT to the perpetrators of other SMEs.

    Mr. George Wang, provide a solution to me about the exact same needs with the aim of creation of the DMC. Yes, a mobile classroom unit that is able to visit students to locations that are geographically constrained. It is suitable to the conditions in Aceh, where many areas are constrained by geographical conditions. By using the DMC, then the kids in remote areas no longer need to spend time with a walk for hours leading to a training center (if any) but we will come to them. Personally I hope to be able to get the opportunity to apply DMC in Aceh.
    Dr. Ajith Kumar, gave a very inspiring presentation, open the eyes that computers not only for typing, facebook, but can be explored again more broadly to support a variety of functions. In his presentation, he explained about the his Phoenix project, a project that produces multi-function measuring instrument for various needs ranging sound waves to electrical waves. Even more interesting, all the work he is a work licensed under the GNU GPL, so is open to anyone who would like to develop and cheap!Very useful for junior high students, high school or those who tertatik in the field of physics. Phoenix Applications was built using python programming language on Debian system.

    Monday, October 4, 2010

    Review of Guidebook to Gunung Leuser National Park

    Retrieved from Taiwan High Speed Rail website

    The first chapter of the Guidebook is to introduce the biodiversity of the Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP) and the Leuser Ecosystem (LE) whose distribution is as twice the size as GLNP and also the threats to them. What I really learn from this chapter is that deforestation due to illegal logging, biofuel producing and infrastructure development will definitely result in vanishing species and carbon emission following with global warming.

    The main focus on second chapter is orangutan, as the tree-dwelling mammal and one of the four great apes, chimpanzee, gorilla, bonobo and orangutan, especially on Sumatran Orangutan. People in Taiwan are more aware of chimpanzee owing to Jane Goodall who works as chimps' advocate for 50 years and her world fame. Compared to Chimps' look and social behaviour, Orangutan is more lovely and less cruel and only exists in Borneo and Sumatra, Indonesia, where is closer to Taiwan than Africa in geographically. As a flag spices and ambassador of rainforest, to protect orangutan means the same thing of protecting less known plants and animals supporting the ecosystem as well. It implies if people in Taiwan could also contribute to conserve the orangutan that we're contributing to fight against global warming.

    High speed Railway (HSR) in Taiwan had published a series of "Thank You" ads on the stage boards posted pictures of endangered species like polar bears, penguin, albatross and orangutan raising hands or wings to pose a greeting gesture on the front head like saying "Thank you". The captions means thank you for taking HSR to reduce 75% carbon of every passenger compared to regular car taking. My question is how comes to the conclusion referring to HSR taking is beneficial to reduce carbon emission? For more passenger capacity with more efficient fuel consuming? It is a very good chance to use this topic to educate people what is orangutan, carbon emission and the relationship between them.


    This book entitles as "Guidebook to GLNP" and tries to reveal the biodiversity of rainforest and further promotes ecotourism in Bukit Lawang, where we could observe some semi-wild orangutans in feeding sites, reaching the sustainable development of local community. Through the 3 to 5th and 7th chapters, tourists can have an
    understanding of the benefits of ecotourism but also the possible negative aspects,
    such as disease transmission between human and orangutan.

    From the 6th chapter, people can know more about the flora and fauna in GLNP. It is pity that every time I visit to GLNP, I always view the orangutan, probably next time I could also try boat trek, explore corpse flower, and see if I can witness the presence of rhinos and gibbons in the forest. :)

    Thanks to Helen Buckland who is SOS UK Director and had made a valuable revision for this article.

    NCHC Internship Report Week 2: September 27th – October 1st 2010

    INTERNSHIP WEEKLY TIME AND ACTIVITY REPORT
    National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) 
    Hsinchu City, Taiwan


    Basic Information:
    • Name: Mulyadi Pasaribu
    • Intern Organization: National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC)
    • Advisors: Wei-Ping Jia: CEO of BCUA, Chia-Chen Kuo: Associate Research Scientist of NCHC, Steven Shiau: Associate Research Scientist of NCHC, Panut Hadisiswoyo: Founding Director of OIC
    • Supervisors: Ceasar Sun, Jazz Wang and Thomas Tsai from the Free Software Lab, NCHC
    • Service Period: September 27th – October 1st 2010

    Weekly Report:

    Time/Date
    Daily Log
    09/27/10
    09/28/10
    09/29/10
    09/30/10
    10/01/10
    Time In
    08.50 AM
    09.05 AM
    09.00 AM
    09.00 AM
    08.55 AM
    Time Out
    05.30 PM
    05.30 PM
    05.30 PM
    05.20 PM
    05.10 PM

    Scheduled Activities:
    1. 09/27: Shell, Cron, OSI, TCP/IP, Interfaces, DNS, Route, Gateway, Network Problem 1
    2. 09/28: Shell, Cron, OSI, TCP/IP, Interfaces, DNS, Route, Gateway, Network Problem 2
    3. 09/29: Deb, DHCP Server, Log Files
    4. 09/30: DRBL Software
    5. 10/01: Self Learning: DRBL Software
      My Internship Room and Equipment ;)

      Mr. Thomas Tsai... My Mentor during the Internship. He's a Linux Geek ^_*

      Assignment: -

      Self Note:
      1. 09/27: I started the second week of my internship in NCHC with more passion. I really understand that my mission visiting Taiwan and doing internship in NCHC is to get some knowledge that hopefully can be implemented in the OIC project I currently managed in Bukit Lawang and Tangkahan, Indonesia. The project that I mean is CDOC (Conservation and Digital Opportunity Centre).
        On the first day of the second week (September 27th), I learn about Shell, Cron, OSI, TCP/IP, Interfaces, DNS, Route, Gateway, Network Problem. Mr. Thomas gave brief knowledge about each part and I also use the Linux System Administration book to know more about the meaning and complete description of every words that I learn today.
        To make me feel familiar with Linux administration, Mr. Thomas always explain and give the example of each lesson using terminal and if we need to editing some file, he always using the Vi software. Slowly but sure I also know how to use command in terminal and know how to find some information if the command we write on terminal didn't work. I also started to use the Vi software more often if I want to edit something in Linux.
      2. 09/28: On the 2nd day of the 2nd week of internship on NCHC (September 28th), I didn't learn anything new, I only repeating what I've learn so far. On this day, beside repeating the lesson I learn from previous day, I also try to updating the wiki site on http://www.wikispaces.com/. The actual link to the wiki that I want to create can be found on http://cdoc-oic.wikispaces.com but so far I didn't fill any content yet except an about page of the wiki.
      3. 09/29: On this day (September 29th), my boss Mr. Panut Hadisiwoyo also join me to the NCHC office. He want to see how's NCHC and my internship work there. If possible he also wish to meet Ms. Chia-Chen Kuo and Mr. Steven Shiau.
        We arrive at NCHC before 09.00 AM and I decided to ask to the receptionist whether he can also come and stay at the room where I placed during the internship for this day. Carol, one of NCHC staff come and help us to deal with the receptionist and he also help us to arrange the meeting between Mr. Panut Hadisiswoyo with Ms. Chia-Chen Kuo. 
        On this day the planned lesson for me is about Deb, DHCP Server and Log Files but this lesson has been described on some previous day during the internship so we didn't do specific learn about the scheduled lesson for today. 
        On this day, Mr. Thomas gave me new set of PC that will be used on the next day lesson where the lesson is about DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux) software. He gave me some website links about DRBL and ask me to read and learn about the DRBL software and how to install it on the computer. When Mr. Thomas come to the room, I also introduce him to my boss and identify him as my mentor during my internship in NCHC.
      4. 09/30: This day (September 30th) is one of my best lesson during the internship on NCHC. I learn about an open source software that build and compiled by the NCHC staff. The software name is DRBL.
        I stated the lesson I learn this day as one of my best lesson because I know that I can implement the DRBL software to be used in CDOC. When I go back to Indonesia I will surely try to use the DRBL software to be used and implemented and first time it will be installed on CDOC Tangkahan. 
        Mr. Thomas teach me step by step so I know how to install the DRBL software both for server and for clients. The step by step process of installing this software is quite complicated but I try my best to remind all of the process because I know by using this kind of software, we can save money and inventory if we plan to build an ICT center just like the CDOC. 
      5. 10/01: This is the last day of my 2nd week doing internship on NCHC (October 1st). On this day Mr. Thomas didn't come to the office so I must learn by my self. What I do this day is trying to repeat the long process of installing the DRBL server and client.