I/ INTRODUCTION

1/ Our beginnings

Y Tam began as a small volunteer group founded in 2012, organizing activities that were mostly charitable in nature, such as handing out gifts, rice and meals… By 2015, Y Tam realized it needed to change: charity in the form of handing out gifts did not bring lasting change, and could even create dependence among the people it was meant to help. So Y Tam members took the initiative to attend training courses and build their community work skills. This changed our approach: understanding the needs of the people we serve, respecting children's rights…

Every project must involve the participation, monitoring, oversight and input of the children and the community.

On 31/8/2015: Y Tam officially received its operating license, under the management of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment.

2/ The name Y Tam:

Y: Steadfastly serving humanity
Tâm: A kind heart turned toward goodness, bringing peace to the world

Meaning: The word Y means "y nguyên": unchanged, fundamental, the starting point of words such as Yêu Thương (love), Yên Tâm (peace of mind), Ý Nguyện (aspiration)… And combined with the word Tâm (heart), it says that every action taken for the community must come from the heart and be grounded in love and compassion. Only then can donors, members and volunteers feel at ease and support us with confidence.

3/ Slogan: Acting from the Heart

II/ VISION, MISSION, CORE VALUES

1/ Vision:

Y Tam works toward a future in which all children and ethnic minority communities in remote areas have full access to healthcare, education and infrastructure. No more barriers of geographic distance, prejudice, culture… Everyone equal, with no discrimination.

2/ Mission

From the start, Y Tam has defined its mission as:

  • Education and human development: Y Tam provides long-term scholarship sponsorship for primary school children who are good students, eager to learn, and at risk of dropping out because of family hardship. We build schools, libraries, playgrounds, toilets and clean water systems at school sites.
  • Community projects: Building rural bridges, roads, wastewater drainage, clean water systems, charity houses, toilets…
  • Building Y Tam's capacity: training in social skills and capacity building for Y Tam members and volunteers

3/ Core values:

Y Tam operates by and pursues the following core values:

  • Everything for the community: all of Y Tam's activities serve the community alone, with no purpose of personal gain whatsoever
  • Transparency: information about the organization, its projects and its finances is made public, transparent and fully accounted for
  • The "3 No's": No discrimination (ethnicity, skin color, age, gender… everyone is treated the same), no religion, no political party propaganda

4/ Y Tam's commitments

  • All community and education projects are based on human rights and children's rights
  • Always transparent in every matter concerning the organization
  • Respect for our partners: donors, beneficiaries, Y Tam members and all other stakeholders

II/ ACTIVITIES

1/ Activity plan

– On average, Y Tam carries out 7 to 10 volunteer projects, large and small, each year, including fundraising activities. These are our regular projects:

+ Highland Spring Festival: held at the start of the new year

+ Blazing Summer: held during the summer

+ Lantern Festival: held for the Mid-Autumn Festival

+ Building Dream Houses: building charity houses for families in remote areas who are in real hardship with housing, homes that are just what the families dreamed of.

+ Building rural bridges and roads: giving local people community infrastructure, improving their lives and solving their difficulties in getting around.

+ Community wells: building clean water systems for people in remote areas and ethnic minority communities who have no clean water or whose water sources are polluted.

+ Building playgrounds from recycled car tires for children in remote areas: at primary school sites where children have nowhere to play.

– Every project, large or small, must be planned in advance (at least 2 months ahead). Some projects are long-term and recurring, others are short-term, but every project must follow these 4 steps:

+ Survey: Y Tam members personally research the area and the actual situation (poor households, schools in remote areas, families in hardship…)

+ Make a detailed plan for the project.

+ Call for contributions and support from organizations and donors in Vietnam and abroad. Y Tam also organizes other fundraising activities such as charity music nights, piggy bank breakings, sales…

+ Carry out the project directly, and report the project's results and handover on our website, fanpage… so that all donors and members can follow and check.

– Each member is assigned clear, suitable tasks, and members support one another in every way.

2/ Finances:

– Education Fund: contributed by the community for education projects such as scholarship sponsorship, building schools, libraries and playgrounds, buying school supplies…

– Community Development Fund: contributed by the community for projects such as building rural bridges and roads, wastewater drains, toilets, charity houses, clean water…

– Operating Fund: raised through Y Tam's fundraising activities (selling lanterns, selling secondhand clothes, selling lucky money envelopes, fundraising music nights…) to cover the organization's running costs such as office rent and fuel, phone and survey allowances for Y Tam members.

All of Y Tam's funds are publicly and transparently disclosed, with clear income and expense records for each project, all published on the website YTam.vn and the Y Tam Fanpage so that donors, readers and members can follow along.

III/ BECOME A Y TAM MEMBER

– To become a core member of Y Tam, please send us an email explaining why you would like to join Y Tam, at: Tuthienytam@gmail.com

The Y Tam HR team will reply to your email. With that, you will officially be a member of Y Tam.

Warm regards!

Y Tam Board