Annual Report - AWA Board Activities 2018/2019

Key figures: ● 728 AWA members as per April 2018 (53 honorary, 675 paid) ● 143 new members from July 2017 - April 2018

● 43 nationalities represented in the AWA, April 2018

● HK$1,270,155 fundraising total ● HK$1,652,614 awarded to 26 local charities in cooperation with AmCham

● 3 scholarships awarded to female students from Lingnan University for an internship abroad (HK$25,000 each), 2 scholarships for female students from School of Creativity for studies abroad (HK$20,000 each) and a total of HK$80,000 awarded to 25 students at VTC school

● 1,589 participants in 147 Local Tours, July 2018- April 2019

● 6 Asian Tours with 78 participants

● AWA WISE series, 11 events in 8 days, 770 of 800 available tickets taken

● 400+ hours volunteering in the community in 6 regular volunteer programs and monthly one-offs

● 730 school children and young people have been impacted by AWA English education programs running in primary and secondary schools

President’s Report – Andrea Roth Board The 2018/2019 board was an excellent group of committed women who worked well together and supported one another. All positions were filled for the whole of FY2017/2018. Elected Positions President - Andrea Roth (2nd term) (German) 1st VP Fundraising – Robin Neiterman (1st term) (American) 2nd VP Membership – Gail Sousa (1st term) (American) 3rd VP Activities – Tracey Lee Hayes (2nd term) (South-African/ British) Charitable Donations – Beth McNicholas (1st term) (American) Community Service – Lee Parr (2nd term) (American) Education & Scholarship – Augusta Nichols-Even (1st term) (American) Recording Secretary – Jessica Cheng (1st term plus 5 months) (American) Treasurer – Alison Doran (1st term) (British) Appointed Positions AWAre Editor – Stephanie Chan (1st term) (American) Public Relations – Rachel Bourke (4th term) (HK/ Australian) Sponsorship – Debbie Cruikshank (1st term plus 3 months) (American) Ex-Officio Board Member Director of Operations – Barbora Mayer (Czech)

The new board held a Board Development Day in October 2018, facilitated by AWA member Penny Van Niel, with the objective to get to know each other and define goals and priorities for the year. Main topics for the year The most influential topic of the 2018/19 AWA year was the unexpected decision of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to withdraw AWA Section 88 charitable status with effect from 1 July 2012. The main argument was that we are pursuing charitable and non-charitable objectives (e.g. all activities for our members). However, it is not permissible for a body to have mixed objectives. The consequence is that we will split the AWA into two legal entities, following the recommendations of lawyers and tax experts. The AWA will continue offering activities to our members and those bylaws will remain unchanged. In addition, we will set up a new foundation that will handle all fundraising activities and grant giving and will again apply for charity status under Section 88. At the end of the term 2018/19, we are still in the process of creating the new Articles for the AWA Foundation with support of pro bono lawyers. At the Board Development Day, we defined four main objectives for the year 2018/19:

1. Transition: Create comprehensive handover files for successors 2. Define guidelines for partnerships with other organisations 3. Create a concept for data management 4. Define target groups for potential AWA members and ways to attract and encourage

them to become involved We assigned teams which worked on different topics and then discussed the suggestions at board meetings. Outcome:

1. Transition In order to support continuity and to avoid a too big loss of information when a new board member takes over, we created one file with general information for all board members. In addition, each board member created a file for their board position, in order to give successors a comprehensive overview of the job.

2. Define guidelines for partnerships with other organisations The board has formed a Partnership Task Force in 2018/19 which drafted guidelines and checklists for handling requests for partnerships/ support/ promotion of events. The task force will discuss requests case by case based on these guidelines.

3. Create a concept for data management The task force started to meet but didn’t manage to develop a concept yet due to the unexpected workload because of the IRD decision and AWA WISE/ fundraisers.

4. Define target groups for potential AWA members and ways to attract and encourage them to become involved AWA WISE, a series of 11 events over 9 days that aimed at inspiring and empowering women who wanted to re-enter the job market, were looking for a career change or into becoming an entrepreneur, was a big experiment in attracting more professionally minded women. It became a hugely successful event in terms of creating awareness and a strong positive branding of AWA (WISE) in the larger community, delivering high quality events, meeting a high demand for tickets (7 events were sold out) and creating new partnerships or deepening cooperation with

other organisations and companies. In terms of attracting new members, it hasn’t paid off that well but at least 6 very motivated women joined the AWA until April 2019 because of AWA WISE. 35% of tickets were bought by AWA members.

The membership taskforce is working on additional concepts and ideas to be presented at the board handover meeting in June. Cooperation with AmCham We continued to work closely together with AmCham. The AmCham Women of Influence committee became an event partner for AWA WISE, helping recruit a powerful panel of four outstanding female executives for the Grand Opening. Beth (CDC) was invited to join the board of Trustee’s meeting in May, presenting our A rated charities and recommending certain charities that we deemed as a good fit with their criteria. AmCham again supports the charitable giving program with 407K HKD in 2019.

1st VP Fundraising – Robin Neiterman FUNDRAISING FOR THE YEAR: $1,270,155.09 It has been a great year for fundraising with active involvement from the members to organize and contribute to the events. We have been able to engage with the broader community with the Bazaar and the East Meets West Fashion Show. Both events set banner fundraising amounts compared to past years. Our focus this year was to pursue fundraising events based on co-chair interest and passion. For example, Anne Fifer & Tracey Lee Hayes were determined and dedicated to running a Fashion Show despite a lack of sponsorship dollars. They assembled a dedicated and accountable committee and more than doubled our fundraising goal! We also utilized a direct ask strategy, highlighting a specific charity (vetted by CDC committee) for certain events. This proved to be quite successful. We are in the process of creating the fundraising event calendar for the next two years. We hope to attract sponsors if we have proper lead time, synergy and fit with the target sponsor(s). Our 2018 -2019 AWA fundraising dollars were raised by the following events and campaigns:

1. Charity Bazaar – November 2018 (Chaired by: Tiffany Broekelman & Jessica Cheng) 2. Pink Walk – October 2018 (Chaired by Robin Neiterman) 3. Mahjong – October 2018 (Chaired by Beth Hall) 4. Comedy Night – November 2018 (Chaired by Cathy Furlong) 5. Diamond Sale – December 2018 (Chaired by Liana Sadhwani) 6. Chinese New Year email solicitation (Chaired by Robin Neiterman) 7. Galloping Gourmet – February 2018 (Chaired by Linda Gomol, Mary Oliver & Penny

Soder) 8. Annual Pub Quiz – March 2018 (Chaired by Helen Carruthers & Lee Parr) 9. East Meets West Fashion Show (Chaired by Anne Fifer & Tracey Lee Hayes)

The following activities were conducted to prepare for the 2019- 2020 fundraising activities

1. Meeting to discuss the fundraising cycle and segmentation strategy for direct mail/email solicitation campaign to improve success 2. Planning 2020 fundraising calendar 3. Secured three co-chairs (2 repeats & one new) for AWA Charity Bazaar fundraiser in November 2019 4. Preparing sponsorship strategy based on Fundraising calendar

2nd VP Membership - Gail Sousa AWA membership remains strong at 728 total members (675 paid, 53 honorary) as of the end of April 2019, up from 706 a year ago. Having our first non-American president seems to have positively impacted our international diversity, with 43 nationalities represented. The largest concentration of members remains US at 47%. Twenty percent of our members are from the United Kingdom and 7% from Australia. Our core membership activities have continued to run all year long: New Member Receptions, Foon Ying - Hong Kong Insights, CHAT, OWL, DB OWL, Neighborhood Coffees, Buddy Program, as well as WOW and newly organized AWA WISE. Our key membership events for the year have been our Welcome Back Breakfast in September, our Holiday Party at Aaharn in the Tai Kwun Center in December, the Social and Elections in April, and the Charity Awards Tea coming up this June. Although our member numbers look strong for the year, we must continue to work diligently to spread the word about the AWA: our diverse membership, great volunteer opportunities, social activities and charitable giving. New member recruitment needs to be ongoing given the transitional nature of our primarily expat member demographic. We will also continue to work hard as a board to provide meaningful opportunities to connect and contribute to retain our existing members.

3rd VP Activities – Tracey Lee Hayes Local Tours- still popular amongst the club members. Despite an active committee the participant numbers are slightly lower than 2017-18. The committee has had various members leave Hong Kong, but Local Tours is active in recruiting and training new activity coordinators. The chair position for Local Tours will be vacated by Tracey-Lee Hayes and Natalia Morrison has graciously agreed to take on the role from May 2019. Tracey-Lee will be on call to help her transition into the role. Training for the role has been completed. At present the $60/$120 admin fee remains and the committee will endeavour to try maintain 2-3 larger tours per month which help cover costs. Local Tour Numbers and Participation Numbers– JUL 18 - APR 19

MONTH NO OF TOURS TOTAL NO PARTICIPANTS

APRIL 19 11 155

MAR 19 17 220

FEB 19 19 198

JAN 19 22 201

DEC 18 7 86

NOV 18 15 136

OCT 18 23 272

SEP 18 17 170

AUG 18 8 77

JUL 18 08 74

Asian Tours Asian Tours has a strong committee of 10 and the tours on offer are varied and Asian Tours continues to thrive after a lull in 2017. July 2018 – April 2019 the following tours were offered September 2018 – Longji Rice Terrace (# participants 10) November 2018 – Nepal (# participants 14) November 2018 - Kaiping/China (# participants 4) January 2019 – Kolkata/India (# participants 17) March 2019 – Yangshuo/China (#participants 13) April 2019 – South Africa (# participants 20) On-Going Activities and Sports continue to be active and well supported with consistent coordination. VP has been keeping in contact with coordinators and encouraging them to send news and photographs of the club activities. The AWAre editor Stephanie have been able to include some of these in the magazine which encourages members to join the many ongoing clubs. Reports from various ongoing club coordinators Games Galore Report : Submitted by Beth Hall I maintain a Games Galore distribution list of 77 Bridge/Mahjong players either AWA or American Club members. Joanne Lam coordinates Games Galore during my travels. We average one or two tables of Bridge players, two tables of Taiwanese Mahjong players and three tables of Hong Kong Mahjong players on Fridays. Martine Vallone attends on Friday to teach Taiwanese Mahjong to those who are interested in learning and are advanced Hong Kong Mahjong players. The last Games Galore before the summer will be on Friday, May 31, and resumes on September 6. Tuesday Mahjong will continue during the summer at the American Club. For those interested in playing Mahjong during the summer they need to contact Katherine Fenton at klfone@aol.com Galloping Gourmet Report: Submitted by Linda Gomoll We have three coordinators : Penny Soder, Mary Oliver and Linda Gomoll

Our goal is to plan one GG every month except for June, July and August . We always have a waiting list for our events . Number of people attending :20- 40 depending on our venue. It’s mostly couples but singles also attend . Husbands really enjoy meeting other husbands ... very social . Fun activities: Private kitchens are a favorite for our AWA members . Chom Chom yum yum , M Cuisine, and Dine Art were a big success. AWA is extremely supportive . Joanne , Barbora and Helen are so helpful in making sure our groups succeed. Thank you for the opportunity to volunteer for such an outstanding organisation . AWA Hiking Group Report: Submitted by Alison Doran The Hiking club continues to be well supported and a very successful year for hikers, who have managed to complete the Lantau, Maclehose and Wilson Trail, plus many other major peaks in Hong Kong. There are two levels for beginner/intermediate and advanced which cater to all hiking abilities. AWA Hiking Group Report: Submitted by Kathryn Abbott The Hiking Group continues to be very active. We generally hike every Monday, with strenuous hikes (led by Gail Sousa and Alison Doran) alternating with more moderate/social hikes (led by Jackie Smith and me). Group size ranges from 6 to 15 or so. We hike in all parts of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, Lantau, Sai Kung, Lamma, Cheung Chau, etc. Over the last two years, the strenuous hike group has completed the four long trails in Hong Kong. This spring they began taking on other mountains around the S.A.R. The moderate/social hikes do not move as fast or climb as high, but they are also significant hikes. Dragon’s Back, Lion Rock, Boa Vista, Sheung Yiu, Chi Ma Wan, Shek Pik, Nei Lak Shan, Tai O, Pak Tam Au, Hok Tau – beautiful trails in all parts of Hong Kong, often followed by lunch. Unfortunately, Jackie is moving this summer, so we are losing a great hike leader with a lot of knowledge of the trails. Jane Hotchkiss has very kindly agreed to help run the moderate/social hikes. I know Jane will do a great job, but we will certainly miss Jackie!

Charitable Donations – Beth McNicholas Overview of the 2018-19 Process and Applicants The CDC had an incredibly strong team this year, with 39 dedicated members and 10 team leaders/co-leaders for our six smaller groups. We received 34 applications in early September 2018, and each team read the applications for and visited between four and six charitable organizations between early September and late November 2018. The total amount requested from all applicants was $3,249,199. The majority of the applicants were from organizations who were not new to the AWA, but there were 13 applicants who had either never applied or not applied in the past seven years. Well more than half (20) of the applicants have received funding from the AWA within the last seven years. After three group meetings to finalize the grantees, 26 local charities were chosen to receive total funding of $1,652,614. Our generous charitable partner AmCham contributed

$407,200 of this amount, fully or partially supporting eight of the selected projects. All other funding was either earned through our fundraisers or donated to the Charitable Donations Fund by AWA members or friends of the AWA. The average grant awarded was approximately $63,500, with the highest being $200,000 and the lowest $14,000. This is the largest total amount that the AWA and AmCham have donated to the Hong Kong non-profit community since at least 2012. Particularly notable this year was a $200,000 HKD donation to Branches of Hope to support their Keeping Kids in Kindergarten (K3) program. The funds for this were raised through a direct ask at our East Meets West fashion show in April. This grant will pay for two years of the program for 10 refugee children. Overview of the 2017 Grant Reports In 2017, the AWA together with AmCham awarded 23 grants amounting to $1,337,426. After considerable follow-up, we received reports back from all of those applicants by November 2018 that indicated the vast majority had completed very successful programs as planned. There were two organizations that had to return a portion of the money given due to complications. Out of the 2017 recipients, 10 reapplied for funding with the AWA and all of them presented a project report that reflected full and proper use of the funds received. Preview for 2019-20 The application process for the 2019-20 funding season will begin in late July 2019, with applications due in early September 2019. The CDC chair will send an invitation to all applicants from the past two years, as well as anyone who is in our database. The applications will also be available via WiseGiving. We plan to move to a Google Form for the process this year in order to reduce the amount of administration required for compiling all the information. If that is successful, we will look to move to a Google Form for the report process as well. Grant recipients from 2018 have until May 31, 2019 to use their funding. Their reports are due by August 31, 2019. A reminder email will be sent to them in late July when the application is circulated. It is anticipated that some follow up will be required into the fall. This is still a relatively new request, and the constant rotation of staff with non-profits due to short term contracts can contribute to miscommunication and complications with follow through. If a 2018 grant recipient reapplies for 2019-20, their application will not be considered unless the 2018 report has been submitted. The CDC team will be recruiting new members for the 2019-20 giving season between June and early October 2019. Anyone with an interest in helping out should contact charities@awa.org.hk. The process requires a fairly significant time commitment from mid-October through mid-December, with an additional two to four meetings between January and May.

Community Service – Lee Parr

AWA members helped make another great year of volunteering in the community a great success. Our regular programs: Soup kitchen, Ronald McDonald House birthday parties and reading/crafts for the children, HK Society for the Blind, Hong Kong Hosts programs have all been fully subscribed and we have also offered one off volunteering opportunities to members throughout the year. Thank you to the program coordinators and AWA volunteers for their hard work and dedication to these worthwhile causes and for making HK their community. Highlights for this year include: -Red Cross Hospital Schools - Baking and distributing 3,000 cookie to the RCH children’s holiday parties. This is our annual cookie drive which gets great support from our members and it makes such an impact to these children during the holidays. -Feeding HK - Packing Christmas and Chinese New Year food parcels. Volunteers met at the Feeding HK warehouse and packed 300 food bags for each holiday which were distributed to various organisations in HK that help those in need. -Christian Actions’s Centre for Refugees - Distributing clothes at the Refugee Winter Clothes Drive. This year the Centre for Refugees held a winter clothes drive and AWA members volunteered over a week to help hand out donated clothes to the refugees. -Sunshine Action - Distribution of food bags/visiting an elderly community. Volunteers met in Nam Cheong on a Saturday morning and with teams they went to a centre for the elderly not only to distribute the food bags but to spend time with residents. -Habitat for Humanity - Helping to redecorate a residential home in social housing for Project Home Works program. Volunteers met on a Saturday and under the guidance of a contractor they stripped paint, cleaned, and redecorated a flat for a resident in a housing estate in the Sham Shui Po area. We continue to offer Social Career to members through our website. Social Career is an online volunteer platform and is gaining more popularity for organisations offering volunteer opportunities in HK. Every six months we review the charities on the Social Career website and expand what’s available to AWA members. We have added a new volunteering program to our list of community services - Christian Action’s Centre for Refugees. This is a monthly volunteer opportunity where we will help distribute toiletries to refugees at the centre in Kowloon beginning each month. As well as being busy volunteers we also received recognition awards for two of our programs. Ronald McDonald House Charities recognised AWA with a long term service award at their volunteer appreciation celebration and a special mention for the bi-monthly birthday parties that volunteers organise. The HK Society for the Blind has recognised AWA volunteers at their award ceremony for our Reading for the Blind program.

Education and Scholarship – Augusta Nichols-Even Education Programs

The AWA currently offers 6 English education supplemental programs from English conversation to interview preparation to classroom activities. These programs are able to continue due a dedicated group of coordinators, and all of the programs could use more volunteer resources. 1. Kwun Tong Government Secondary School, English Conversation Coordinators: Marti Law, Sandra Collins Thursdays 1:20-2:15 Marti is spending more time in the US, so Sandra is taking a more primary role. Need at least 1 new volunteer for the next school year. 2. Lingnan Secondary School, English Conversation Coordinator: Linda Gomoll Every Monday 4:15-5:15 (except holidays) First semester usually begins October 21st or 28th, and ends mid December. Second semester usually begins January 20th or 27th and ends mid May. There are are usually 15 to 18 students per semester. The students are 14 and 15 years old. This last semester we only had 8 students, which only happened one time. Our classes have been full in the 5 years I have been involved. 3. Buddhist Tai Hung College, Interview Preparation and English Conversation Coordinator: Barbara Iannazzone In the fall we conduct mock interviews with Form 6. We interact with over 100 students. The goal at BTHC is to have more students go to university and we assist with helping them to prepare for their interviews. In the Spring we have English Conversation classes. This is the first year we have had Form 3 students. We only have 16 students but we feel that is the perfect number for easy conversation. I prepare all lesson plans with the help of my team. We all implement the same lesson each week and then talk about how the hour went as we walk back to the train. As a culmination of our time together we have a bowling party at the Pacific Club with pizza, soda and their graduating certificates. BTHC welcomes us with open arms every year and we are flexible with meeting their needs. Could use more volunteers. 4. Ko Ho Ning Memorial Primary, English Story-telling Coordinator: Karen Prosser Various times/days

Program running smoothly. The schedule is rather ad hoc with weekly class lesson and fortnightly library lessons. Reading and occasionally games in library lesson and in library at break times. Now also includes reading in an English lesson. Could use more consistent volunteers. 5. Mock Interview Program, English Interview Preparation Coordinator: Katherine Payne Conducted at Nam Wah in November, Jockey Club and St Francis after CNY. Katherine is really interested in turning this program into more of a “How to Present Yourself” program which can be offered to younger students, particularly as a leadership program for girls around age 11/12. Talking with Shirley Andruko about potential for Ronald McDonald House. Katherine would also like to rebrand the Mock Interview Program - doesn’t feel the name accurately represents the program or attracts volunteers. 6. CCC Kei Chun Primary, Reading Program Coordinator: Shirley Andruko Mornings Tuesday-Friday, 1 hour 2X / month Reading program plus games, activities, stories for grades 1-4, they love the English games, worksheets, art projects. “Reading Program” doesn’t really accurately describe what this encompasses. Working on program development to be provided to the volunteers, and creating a “volunteer training” alongside Hannah Lloyd. Could use more volunteers, particularly with Cathy leaving and Heidi stepping down. 7. Dialog in the Dark, English Conversation Coordinator: Jenlen Ng Seven sessions held weekly at a day/time convenient to the trainees. This has been a very successful program, however DiD has not secured funding to continue this program. 8. Ebenezer Home & School, English language teaching / activities Coordinator: Elizabeth Clark Ebenezer has cancelled the weekly English teaching program as the students were too busy and tired with their academic studies. Scholarships It is a joy to be able to award several substantial scholarships to young people of Hong Kong from low-income backgrounds, particularly young women. For a third year, the AWA awarded the sum of HK$25,000 each to three outstanding female students from Lingnan University, enabling them to take up internships abroad in summer

2019. Selected candidates were interviewed and three were awarded the scholarships. An article in AWAre magazine reported back on the overseas experiences of the prior year’s awardees. The funding of HK$80,000 awarded to the Vocational Training Council (VTC) remains unchanged with 25 students receiving scholarships from the AWA ranging from HK$2,000 to HK$4,000. This money is used for educational books and equipment as well as additional tuition and courses. (The universities CUHK, HKUST and HKU continue to operate their loan schemes from money allocated by the AWA.) For a second year, the AWA awards the sum of HK$20,000 each to two outstanding female students from the School of Creativity. This is made possible through an extremely generous donation from a former AWA member in memory of her friend Pam Kavanagh.

Recording Secretary – Jessica Cheng One of the primary duties of the recording secretary is to ensure the AWA files all required documents with the Hong Kong Company Registry as well as our bank, HSBC. Other duties include creating agendas and minutes for all Board and General Meetings. The ND2A was filed on the 30th of August 2018 to change the names at the Company Registry of all departing elected board members to the names of the new board members. After the paperwork was accepted, all the new board members were added to the names registered with HSBC. An additional ND2A was filed after the election of Gail Sousa as VP of Membership on the 24th of October 2018 in order to add her to the Companies Registry and after that paperwork was accepted, with HSBC. The NAR1, the document that accompanies the Annual Return, for the financial year ending on the 30th of June 2018 was filed on the 16th of April 2019 with the Company Registry. It was resubmitted on 17 May 2019 after a request for a slight change to the Financial Statements was made by the Company Registry.

Treasurer – Alison Doran During the year the preparation of the monthly financial reports were completed by our external accountant Hysan Accounting and Consulting Co. and reviewed by Alison Doran, our Treasurer. Alison then presents the Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash position analysis to the AWA board at the monthly meeting. In the Spring of 2019, the budget for the Financial Year Ending 30 June 2020, was prepared with input from the board. Financial Analysis for Year Ended June 2018.

The 2017/18 Annual Financial Statements have been audited and approved by the auditor, Cheng Ming Kei Certified Public Accountant. The audited accounts were presented to the membership at the April 2019 AGM and approved by the membership at that meeting. We made a loss of $600k for the year which was $300k higher than FY17. The main contributing factors to this decrease:

1. A reduction in our fundraising surplus by $323k compared to FY17, but this did not affect the goal of contributing $1m through our Donations and scholarships.

2. This reduction was offset slightly by additional contribution from member’s activities of $185k – which is our Asian tours and local activities.

3. The advertising income for the AWARE magazine was down on the previous year by $120k.

4. The administration expenses increased by $100k on FY17. Mainly due to website update costs and repairs and maintenance in the office.

Please see below extracts of the audited financial statements:

Financial Position for the Current Financial Year 2019.

The major factor that can influence our financial position is that our Section 88 Charitable Status has been removed retrospectively by the IRD. We now have a business registration number and have to comply with the IRD requirements of submitting a Profit Return on an annual basis. We do however have cash reserves which will be sufficient to fund any retrospective tax liability we could be assessed to have.

Public Relations – Rachel Bourke Our members are at the center of everything we do and we strive to enhance their experience of the organization. Combining interesting visual content with thoughtful, positive messaging catering to their interests is what keeps our members engaged.

Our goals:

To promote AWA signature events:

- Charity Bazaar

- East Meets West Fashion Show

- AWA WISE

Raise awareness of our fundraising

Raise the profile of the organization

To reinforce the positive, welcoming identity of the AWA

Challenges:

Communicating the changing status of the AWA this year and the development of the new

foundation in the coming months.

AWA Facebook:

May 2018: 1474 May 2019: 1767

AWA-related Facebook Pages & Groups:

AWA Globepaddlers AWA Hong Kong Hosts @gpdbhk @AWAHKH

AWA Photography Group AWA Hong Kong Alumni Closed group - Angela Bellas (admin) Closed group - Sharon Patterson (admin)

Our AWA FB page performs a dual function: providing information to our members, about events, activities and volunteering opportunities available, as well as local and women-focused news resource for members. We will continue to build upon previous year’s success to communicate effectively with members, as well as continued outreach to the broader public.

New Identities: AWA WISE

Based on the success of the AWA WISE series of events held in March 2019, AWA’s women at work group, WoW (Women On the Way up) has been re-launched as AWA WISE. Here is more information about the AWA WISE series on EventBank (event partner’s site) click here. The steering committee are in the middle of re-launch and have begun the transformation on their social media channels now:

Women on the Way Up - WoW AWA WISE

@awawow @awawisehk

Mentoring: City University Final Year Project Team 2018-19

(L-R: Himeshika Samaradivakara, Sania Bano, Iqra Fida and Jasman Sandhawalia)

As part of their final year, English majors at City University of Hong Kong spend 8 months

interning at organizations around Hong Kong. This is our 6th year participating in this

program and have been impressed by the work ethic and creativity of every student from

this program - this year notwithstanding.

Our goals for this year’s team:

1) Social media engagement: via Facebook and an emphasis on Instagram; and

2) Event production and preparation for both major fundraisers.

3) Writing articles for AWA member magazine, AWAre.

To see the entire body of work and the final year project presentation, click here.

We wish our team the greatest success wherever they land after graduation and hope they

visit and update us.

We had a surprise visit from our previous year’s interns at the Charity Bazaar:

Corporate Sponsorship – Debbie Cruikshank My position involves working with corporate and community sponsors who support the AWA with cash sponsorships and in-kind donations of goods or services. These donations help defer the cost of running member and fundraising activities, hence allowing for lower costs to our members, and more fundraising dollars being given to our charitable donations fund. Over the past year, we have had contributions from over 100 sponsors for our Welcome Back Breakfast, Holiday Charity Bazaar, WISE event, and the Spring Charity Fashion Show. Donations range in value, but all contribute to our AWA goals of connecting women in Hong Kong and giving back to the Hong Kong community through a charitable donations goal of HK$1,000,000. In exchange for the donation, we give the sponsor recognition and media that is comparable to the donation.

AWAre Magazine – Stephanie Chan The AWAre team had a productive year, producing nine issues to inform, educate, and promote the mission of the AWA. AWAre (particularly in its printed format) also continues to serve as a useful marketing tool for the AWA to prospective members and the expat community in general. Our editorial team produced interesting articles on many topics relating to life in Hong Kong and in Asia more generally. Our local activities team provided enticing blurbs about upcoming events. Communications provided several beautifully designed spreads to promote and recap major AWA events. And R&R Publishing continues to provide professional and timely services to produce the publication on schedule each month. We received some comments early in the year that members were not receiving their issues in a timely manner, so the editorial and production team redoubled their efforts to ensure that issues arrive by the 1st of each month.

In all other respects, the AWAre team is strong, with a number of keen regular contributors (and we are always looking for new writers!). Possible areas of expansion and change for next year are: featuring more member art and photography; more “themed” issues; adding in-person editorial meetings (all editorial discussions are currently conducted via email); and enhancing the presentation of the digital magazine. I look forward to another productive year with the new Board next year.

Director of Operations – Barbora Mayer The office team continued to consist of 2 members of staff – Director of Operations Barbora Mayer and Membership Representative Joanne Lam. The office staff were busy this year due to many additional events/activities held at the office and additional tasks. The main duties of the two employees are to ensure the smooth day to day office operations; to work closely with event coordinators to make sure all registrations, payments and necessary documents are prepared on time; provide general office support; follow up on members/ coordinators/ chairs requests; accounting; updating the content of the website. Additionally, office staff were closely involved with the organization of all fundraising events, namely the Charity Bazaar, Pink Walk, CNY Campaign, Fashion Show and Pub Quiz; membership events (Welcome Back Breakfast, AGM). Due to a vacancy in the Advertising Manager role, the office staff handled the renewal of existing advertising contracts, followed up on advertising enquiries, processed payments and followed up on timely delivery of ad artwork. Audit – Director of Operations prepared all financial reports required for our financial audit and worked closely with the auditor during fact gathering and audit stages Nominating committee – Director of Operations briefed the nominating committee on their roles and responsibilities and prepared the committee timeline. Director of Operations was involved in meetings with the Inland Revenue Department regarding the removal of Section 88 from AWA. Consequently, Director of Operations was involved in meetings with our pro-bono lawyer and the drafting up of the articles for the AWA Foundation. This involvement will continue into 2019/20. Website – we have undergone several upgrades to the website this year to ensure security of our data.