What we do | Who are we and our results | Our status and social investment facilities
Change Fusion (CF) group, formerly known as Thai RuralNet (TRN), is a provider of social innovation design, investment and incubation services with a specific focus on catalyzing high-impact, scalable and sustainable social innovation through fostering uniquely robust innovation networks of idea leaders, implementing partners and financial resources.
CF process consists of four key stages;
Attraction
Once we identified our strategic issue with our clients and partners, we start mapping and attracting social entrepreneurs / innovators, potential partners such as experts and specialists in that particular field as well as social investors and donors interested in that issue together through various means such as events, publications, competitions, meetings and even parties. The goal of this stage is to create a network with shared-passion of addressing specific challenge.
Co-Design
Once key partners are attracted, we facilitate a co-designing process where each of the partners bring key insights as well as collaborate on designing common solution based on shared-benefits. The collaborative design is rapidly prototyped, shared and improved continuously. CF plays critical role in coordinating such collaboration and invest in the prototype.
Finance
As the prototype solution is ready for real implementation and in scaling up, we design appropriate financial instrument to finance such initiative such as through grant, loan, equity or their combination. Then, we arrange for financial support from our financial partners as well as external funding entities.
Incubation/ Training
As the social innovation initiative is financed, we design appropriate monitoring, reporting and evaluation mechanism as well as providing mentorship and oversight support with specific focus on sustainability and growth both for the innovation project or social enterprise. We can also provide specific trainings on business development and planning for social enterprises.
CF is bridging the widening ingenuity gap by catalyzing innovative solutions to increasingly complex social and environmental challenges with the following practice areas:
- ICT / Internet for development
- Sustainable micro-agriculture
- Free media
- Global warming / alternative energy
CF facilitates the growth of social innovation markets in various areas mentioned by creating competitive platform that empowers social innovators to develop their social enterprises as well as other type of initiatives.
We are a social enterprise founded in 2001 as the only university student awardee of the World Bank's Development Marketplace held in Bangkok that year. Since then, we have transformed from a volunteer group into professional social enterprise that specializing in technological-driven social innovation and investing in other young social entrepreneurs.
To date, we've attained the following brief results
- 3.8 million USD fund commitment raised over 2 years from local and international sources.
- Over 20 social enterprise startups supported. Ranging from micro organic farming service, e-commerce solution for rural handicraft as well as web development service for non-profits.
- Over 5 major social innovation projects designed and jointly implemented by clients and partners such as
- Open courseware - internet safety initiative for the ministry of education.
- Knowledge platform strategy for the Corporate Social Responsibility Institute under the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
- Healthy cyberspace programme for the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
- Youth Social Enterprise Initiative for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Global Knowledge Partnership.
- Thai online political database platform for Fredrich Naumann Foundation.
- Developed advanced 1/4 acre organic farming method with the Grassroots Innovation Network that increases farmland productivity by 400% for over 400 families of poor farmers in the North East of Thailand.
OUR STATUS AND SOCIAL INVESTMENT FACILITIES
ChangeFusion group consists of both foundation and corporate entities to facilitate appropriate grant and non-grant social investment.
- Tax-exempted donation (10% of personal income or 10% of corporate net profit). This is done through Change Fusion Institute under the Thai Rural Reconstruction Movement Foundation (TRRM) under Royal Patronage.
- Non-grant investment facility. ChangeFusion has a corporate entity in partnership with leading financial institutions to facilitate non-grant social investment such as loans, equity and other instruments.
