Our aims, our goals and our activities.
IVunited started as a project incubator aiming to put corporate, digital and cultural development strategies at the service of humanitarianism, universal welfare and the global progress towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our organization focuses on interdisciplinary research and project development methods such as Design Thinking, Agile Development, Biomimetic Design and a number of other framework-focused development strategies that innovate the way we tackle problem-solving for causes.
Before its founding, our organization started at a grassroot level in Cyprus in 2015, focused on open-source online tools such as
- a crowdsourced intelligence platform for the incubation of independent projects for the betterment of society, with access to online volunteering opportunities.
- a coordination platform aiming to communicate about the material needs of NGOs, governmental welfare projects and grassroot initiatives. It also listed the material donations offered by people, organizations and companies in Cyprus.
- Advocacy tours to push for the adoption of strategic and structural digital development for NGOs in Cyprus. We provided all NGOs and volunteers that we came into contact with with step-by-step project development guide books, open platforms and groups as well as strategic plan proposals for national cooperation and coordination. Our focus was on advocating for the importance of proper communication strategies, branding and digital management in order to structure cooperation through communication. Our aim was to open problem-solving around systemic issues to both local and virtual communities of contributors.
- The coordination of NGOs and EVS Volunteers between the areas of Cyprus where they were needed, such as the refugee camp of Kofinou, environmental and wildlife conservation initiatives, entrepreneurial hubs for young professionals, tech education hubs, circular economy initiatives and more.
Our name, IVunited, stands for Independent Volunteers United. Our attempt was to be an informal group of volunteers from resourceful corporate, scientific and digital fields able to bring tools and innovative development strategies to NGOs and causes in Mediterranean countries. A recurring issue however that we ran into in our 3 and a half year-long attempt to collaborate with national causes in Greece and Cyprus was the lack of ways to establish formal cooperation grounds between institutions and independent individuals to secure the long-term success of a project or initiative, as well as the many ways in which our lack of representation by a legal entity has come in the way of bringing solutions to situations that desperately needed them.
This origin story is important to us because of the way it built the DNA of our organization rooted in a strong focus on practical application approaches to complex issues and long-term strategic thinking about sustainable and regenerative development solutions, able to translate into cultural narratives and organized interconnected networks that nurture our communities.
Since the founding of our NGO in Greece, we have traced back the lessons learned in the field from the point of view of capable volunteers. We are working on the progressive user-friendly automation of all our incubation methods, so that we can deliver tools driven by the most efficient and powerful strategies and methodologies we test. We want to help coordinate Greece and Cyprus to facilitate the work towards the accomplishment of the SDGs.
We follow the guidance and progress of the UNDP, and find inspiration through branches of the United Nations such as the Accelerator Labs in which we recognize our approach and positioning on the spectrum of third sector organizations.
IVunited today is an incubator and consultancy for philanthropic projects. At this moment in 2020, our toolkit allows us to deliver step by step accompaniment to people and organizations for the incubation of projects serving the SDGs. We work with :
- Greek and Cypriot organizations, accompanying them as partners in the design and deployment of projects targeting Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on strategic planning, partnership strategies, communication strategies and digital production.
- Driven private individuals (activists and philanthropists) seeking guidance, practical development, digital production and legal representation in the development of projects with an agenda serving the SDGs. We prioritize individuals with projects directed at Greece or Cyprus, although we are progressively opening to international applicants.
- Governmental agencies and projects of the public domain. We make our expertise for strategy and project design available to governmental and European contractors. We provide experts able to consult on the projects’ design and development.
We are now testing our frameworks, toolkits, playbooks and executive volunteering communities by limiting our activity to direct communication and personal consulting with our partners and incubees. Ultimately, we are working towards making these resources openly available for automated incubation possibilities online.
______________________
PUBLISHED BY IVunited — An International Non-Profit Organization
based in Greece
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
Facebook Messenger @ivunited.org
Instagram Direct @ivunited
Linkedin @ivunited
Email : info@ivunited.org
