Fundraising Capacity of HIV/AIDS Community-Based Organizations in 3 Years (2017-2019) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

HIV/AIDS is still an important public health issue in Vietnam and other developing countries. In Vietnam, Community-based organizations (CBOs) were officially considered as the key partners to approach vulnerable groups at high risks of HIV infection since 2010. Funds for HIV/AIDS prevention and control are facing difficulties due to rapid reduction by international organizations, while domestic funding has not yet met the demand, especially funding for prevention and communication activities. Our study aimed to assess the fundraising capacity of several CBOs in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and analyze the challenges that they are facing now and in future in their work of HIV/AIDS management for community. The 03 typical and representative CBOs (G3VN, Smile and Strong Ladies) were chosen in our cross-sectional descriptive study. The electronic questionnaire was about fundraising reports over 3 years (2017-2019), organization structure (staff, mission, strategies) and the advantages and disadvantages in fundraising. Funds received over the year increased in total, but unstable in each projects. To have more funds, CBOs must invest time and money to have professional staff in fundraising and writing proposals. To meet requirement and survive, some CBO shifted to social enterprises and faced many difficulties in laws when being treated like profit companies. In Vietnam context, the key challenges which affect the role of funding are including: 1) Legal status; 2) Small scale; 3) Capacity of fundraising (finding calls, writing competence proposals); 4) Fewer funds on HIV/AIDS. In future, we should pay attention in scaling up and building fundraising capacity for CBOs in order to help them in applying for international funds in community projects or even in HIV/AIDS research for CBOs, social enterprises in the context of funds for nation-level phased out of Vietnam.