How Angela Generated Positive Impact During a Career Break | Swire Trust Go-Givers of 2021

Together with Time Auction, the Swire Trust Go-Givers Program encourages skilled volunteers for Swire Trust NGOs partners from 2020 to 2022. 10 outstanding volunteers will be selected annually as the “Swire Trust Go-Givers of the Year” with special rewards & recognition. Meet our 10 Go-Givers of 2021!

Meet Angela!

Angela is an experienced marketing communication and public relations specialist. Prior to coming across Time Auction, she was already actively involved in pro-bono work, from volunteering for dog rescues to teaching Cantonese to ethnic minorities. 

Upon learning about skilled-volunteering, she decided to generate a further impact in society, through using her professional skills!

Putting Meaning into a Career Break 

Last year, Angela decided to take a step back from the daily nine-to-five working grind. As an individual who is keen to learn and determined to generate a positive impact, she embarked on a journey of skilled-volunteering! “I like to keep myself busy, and I thought: what better way to spend time than volunteering?”

As the parent of a lovely French Bulldog, Angela has always had a soft spot for dogs, and she’s since been an advocate for animal welfare. Through Linkedin, Angela discovered Time Auction and came upon the opportunity to volunteer for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). “I have always wanted to volunteer for them but never got the chance to, so this really feels like a great opportunity for me.” 

SPCA were looking for a Media/Crisis Management Specialist to provide training to their representatives. Strongly equipped with her professional experience in public relations, Angela successfully matched with them and was able to conduct comprehensive media training sessions to SPCA staff. 

Angela even went out of her way to introduce potential collaboration partners to SPCA. Knowing that fundraising is the key to sustainability for nonprofits, she linked up some of her former clients with SPCA to explore collaborations.

 “I just did what I feel would be beneficial for all parties involved, the fact that just a phone call or whatsapp text could potentially bring in more donations for SPCA, so why not?”

The tasks may seem minuscule to volunteers, but they are indeed extremely valuable to the organization, as often at times, they lack the resources to do so.

A bespoke experience of skilled-volunteering!

The biggest takeaway for Angela is the satisfaction gained from the experience. She feels that with skilled-volunteering, she can generate a bigger impact, as she is making use of her knowledge in the professional fields that she excels within. She reflected that skilled volunteering “makes good use of the talent and resources in society, and maximizes the social impact”

It was as a (skilled volunteering!) match made in heaven, between SPCA and Angela. She feels like volunteering was a great use of her time, in-between jobs, taking her mind off work and adding more zest to her life!

“In fact, I feel like I benefitted the most from this experience as I also learnt something new!”

Congratulations to Angela’s Well-Deserved Recognition!

"With her good experience and credentials in handling renowned brands and doing pro-bono work for NGOs, Angela offered her assistance to develop training material and conduct media training sessions for our staff from various departments. The feedback from our team was really good, the content was comprehensive and the participants enjoyed the lively discussion on case studies and also the open Q&A session. Apart from media training, Angela has kindly introduced various potential collaboration partners to us, and this is beyond our expectations. Thanks to both Angela and Time Auction!"

— Olive Lau, SPCA

Angela also expresses her gratitude towards the recognition she received from SPCA. "It’s great knowing that my dedication and efforts contributed are appreciated, and made an impact! As a volunteer, it is always nice to hear that your work is considered valuable to the organization.”

“Kudos to Time Auction and Swire Trust for such a meaningful initiative. It is a great motivation for me to keep volunteering and contributing to society- and I hope more people will volunteer too!”

Angela lastly offers her words of encouragement - volunteering is truly an empowering journey. Through volunteering, you can directly get involved with a cause that you are passionate about. 

If you love working with children, why not help with tutoring underprivileged kids? Perhaps you have a passion for animal welfare, why not assist in the campaigns of animal shelters? Pick a cause close to your heart and contribute - no work is small, and volunteers are extremely valuable resources for the organizations. Knowing that you can make a difference in the community, is the best feeling ever!

Thank you so much to Angela for contributing 40 volunteer hours at SPCA and more to come!

To see details of the Swire Trust Go-Givers Program and support their NGOs partners, head over to Time Auction website.

Interviewed & written by Leo Chick | Edited by Emma Lascelles