Asia Catalyst Inc

What it reported doing in 2021

Myanmar Human Rights Documentation and Advocacy Program: In light of COVID-19 restrictions and a coup dett in February 2021, Asia Catalyst staff prioritized personal security and, once able, provided humanitarian aid to partner groups, maintaining ongoing support throughout 2021 to the extent possible, when internet was available and it was deemed safe, using extreme precautions and secure means. Programs with our cohort groups (Kachin Positive Womens Network, Lotus, Youth Star, and SWiM) were wound down, having completed most training workshops online when possible, and providing technical and proposal writing support when requested.Grassroots Empowerment in Southeast Asia: Asia Catalyst was able to support the activities of HIV, youth, LGBTQI, migrant, and sex work groups, such as APCOM, MAP, and EMPOWER Foundation, to address urgent COVID needs among these highly vulnerable and marginalized communities. In addition, these groups worked on decriminalization and empowerment at the grassroots, and supported Asia Catalysts health and human rights hub by giving interviews by their leaders for archiving on the site. In addition, we supported a leading HIV and LGBTQI group, Lighthouse Social Enterprise, in Vietnam for its community-building and COVID resilience work. In addition, pro-democracy activists seeking asylum in the US were supported, as were leading Myanmar-based human rights and policy advocacy groups.Online Human Rights Advocacy Platform: Asia Catalyst with Drexel University soft-launched a health and human rights hub that encompasses our core Know It, Prove It, Change It approach to human rights documentation and advocacy, increasing its availability and accessibility globally through a free course and online resources. We engaged in communications work for its launch and supported the translation of some of the modules into Burmese, and the sites technical and design maintenance through February, with a gift to Drexel to help continue the site.COVID Programming: Asia Catalyst completed a report summarizing a years work with grassroots marginalized communities on accessing the COVID vaccine in Asia. This report was provided to the funder and outlined all of the activities, including literacy workshops, focus group discussions, fact sheets in Thai and English, and activist campaign development meetings, as well as a final regional summit to address COVID vaccine barriers, and was a great success from a coalition-strengthening and advocacy point of view as we provided leadership and technical expertise to inform the Peoples Vaccine Asia campaign and other efforts to increase vax access in low- and middle-income countries.Harm Reduction and Drug Policy: Asia Catalyst managed and submitted a case study project and report highlighting drug user-led organization best practices for the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD).Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria: Asia Catalyst completed its opioid substitution therapy (OST) in highly restrictive countries project, overseeing a final report and helping implement a webinar for key UN and government stakeholders chosen by the Global Fund, to hear the value of community-based OST and discuss technical approaches and options for scaling up in key countries targeted by the Global Fund.In addition, Asia Catalyst participated in a consortium (including Georgetown University, amfAR, and Health GAP) providing community-led monitoring (CLM) technical assistance to an array of countries. Asia Catalyst managed a project in Laos and completed a Landscape Assessment in Cambodia. For Laos, we identified and hired a consultant to complete a gap assessment to ascertain the needs of highly marginalized malaria-vulnerable groups of mobile and migrant populations and forest-goers in southern Laos.Closure: Asia Catalyst focused on the transition to closure through carrying out tasks outlined in a Transition Memo that the Executive Director, Accountant, and Board committee led by

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 86.6%; rating input score 87
• Fundraising efficiency: $11.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Pass
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 87.4%; rating input score 87; 51st percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -335.1%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
• Officer compensation ratio: 23.9%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -2.9% per year; rating input score 0; 31st percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -0.6% per year; rating input score 0; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings