18 Jun Social Impact Partners makes HK$3 million commitment to RunOurCity
Hong Kong, 18 June 2019 – Social Impact Partners (“SIP”), a venture philanthropy fund in Hong Kong, commits another HK$3 million to continue providing a combination of hands-on management support and in-kind business expertise to RunOurCity (“ROC”). The additional 3-year financial commitment will help expand ROC’s current 8-week running program for teenagers to a multi-year engagement called Youth.ONE. SIP previously provided HK$2.5 million of funding to ROC for the scale up of Youth.ROC.
“With SIP’s support over the past four years, we have reached a tenfold increase in the number of runners we engage with through our 8-week running program and various running events. We are very excited to enter a new phase with SIP and ready to impact more young people through running.” Said Andes Leung, Co-Founder & CEO, RunOurCity.
ROC is a Hong Kong-based registered charity that positively impacts the lives of young people through running. The Youth.ROC program works with teenagers, aged 13 or above, to improve their coordination, physical strength and stamina for a stronger body and boost their self-confidence, concentration and perseverance during the challenging transition from childhood to adulthood. By the end of 2018, ROC had achieved targeted social and financial goals by engaging over 10,000 runners and having organized more than 20 large scale running events in Hong Kong.
With a similar focus on teenagers, Youth.ONE is a comprehensive multi-year program that combines a series of programs including long-run training, regular running practice, running to serve the community, international competition and development as coach and related careers.
“We have seen positive and verifiable change among Hong Kong’s youth in their physical and mental health through the 8-week running program. We are delighted to help upgrade ROC’s programs and aim to continue to support local social purpose organizations like ROC, with our expertise in financing and operations.” Said Lindy Lek, Executive Director of Social Impact Partners.
In addition to financial support, SIP works closely with ROC leadership and staff to engage SIP’s network of professional service providers, including Bain Consulting, Clifford Chance, Dechert, Egon Zehnder, Euromonitor and PwC, in support of ROC.
The follow-on financial commitment to ROC is the first deployment of the second fund of SIP (SIP II), which was launched in September 2018 with a total amount of US$2 million (HK$15 million). SIP II builds on the successful track record of SIP I deploying funds to five local social purpose organizations (SPOs) addressing issues in social education, youth well-being and the environment, with each organization receiving an average HK$2.5 million.
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About SIP
Social Impact Partners (SIP) is a Hong Kong-based venture philanthropy firm with a mission to enable sustainable change to systemic social issues.
As a financing and strategic partner to growth-stage SPOs, SIP creates tailored solutions that help develop the sustainability and scalability that SPOs (non-profit organizations and social enterprises) need to achieve organizational maturity.
While itself is not-for-profit, SIP evaluates all potential SPO partners with the same rigor and due diligence as would a traditional investor deciding a portfolio opportunity. SIP is also distinctly equipped to drive rapid and effective organizational improvement. When SPOs partner with SIP, they are also partnering with SIP’s extensive network of world-class professional experts, long-term funding partners and global industry leaders. One dollar into SIP deploys two dollars of investment value into SIP’s SPO portfolios – an exponential return on positive social impact.