Since its pilot in 2021, Give a Day has grown into a trusted platform for Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. To date, 45 Give a Day events across Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Battambang have engaged more than 1,481 participants from over 475 organisations.
The theme of the 34th edition responded to the financial sustainability challenges facing Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs), many of which operate with narrow and unpredictable funding bases. While efforts to diversify funding are increasing, they are not always aligned with organisational vision and strategic priorities. Therefore, this edition of Give a Day was designed to move the discussion beyond accessing additional resources towards making strategic funding decisions that support organisational purpose and long-term impact.
The session was designed to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of ESOs within Cambodia’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. As organisations consider different revenue sources, the central challenge is not only how to access funding, but also how to assess its implications for mission alignment, organisational control, inclusion, and operational capacity.
The expert-led session was facilitated by Mr. Mike Ducker, Entrepreneur-in-Residence under the 3Ei initiative. The session examined financial sustainability through organisational purpose, initial programme funding, long-term financing, and different ESO financial models. It also introduced practical considerations for assessing income from services, private-sector and foundation support, government funding, and investment-based accelerator models.
During the session, Mr. Ducker emphasised that ESO’s funding strategy should begin with a clearly defined purpose. Long-term sustainability depends on an organisation’s ability to demonstrate results, communicate its value, build relationships, collaborate with actors that share its purpose, manage costs, and maintain a diversified funding base.
He also highlighted that each funding source comes with different requirements and tradeoffs. Service income requires a strong value proposition and proven results, while private and foundation funding depends on alignment with donor priorities. Government funding often brings additional reporting and compliance requirements, and investment-based accelerator models require access to capital, investor networks, and investable startups. Across all models, the session emphasised that funding diversification should support ESO’s mission rather than steer it away from its strategic purpose.
Group discussions enabled participants to examine their organisations’ funding models and the implications for different funding sources. Participants grouped the main barriers into three areas: limited organisational capacity and weak internal systems; misalignment between funder requirements and organisational priorities; and an increasingly competitive and restrictive funding environment and identified emerging opportunities in blended finance, private-sector partnerships, fee-based services, green and renewable energy funds, technology and AI funding, philanthropy, and government financing.
Give a Day 34 reaffirmed the platform’s role as a trusted space for experience-based dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and ecosystem-level coordination. By focusing on the relationship between organisational purpose and funding choices, the event encouraged ESOs to consider financial diversification as a strategic process rather than solely an effort to secure additional resources.
Give a Day is co-financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and Khmer Enterprise (KE), and co-implemented by Khmer Enterprise and Swisscontact through the Enhancing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and Investments (3Ei) initiative.