South Africans interested in getting connected to ‘forgood’ now have the chance as the platform which aims to make a difference in the country has been launched.
The team responsible for this initiative include Andy Hadfield, previously of Real Time Wine, FNB and gAL.co.za; and Garth Japhet, founder of Soul City, South Africa’s longest running and most successful media NGO, South African representative for Social Media at the World Economic Forum and currently CEO of Heartlines.
forgood, connects people to approved non-profit organizations (NPOs) and allows them to respond to existing needs and campaigns. In addition, users can create their own personalized offers for a whole new “giving” experience.
This platform is looking to better the efficacy of the corporate social investment (CSI) programmes.
“There are over 85 000 registered NPOs in South Africa, but very few technology platforms that connect people who want to do good – to the organizations that need their help. There are even fewer platforms out there which provide this service to business,” says Andy Hadfield, CEO of forgood.
“In the short term, we want to connect 100 000 people to causes and bring on a group of forward- thinking businesses that would use our platform to help with staff volunteering and community engagement projects. That’s going to teach us a lot about this industry and we have some big ideas to come. Essentially, we want to build the digital ‘glue’ underneath the NPO industry in Africa – it’s a critical industry that is often under-supported and under-appreciated. A platform approach can provide efficiency and scale – it could be transformative,” he adds.
The forgood product revolves around three propositions:
- It allows users to browse and respond to existing needs and campaigns from an approved database of causes.
- It encourages people to change the way they think about “giving” by creating personalised offers around any interesting skills and passions they have – and matching these to the right causes. Everything from gardening, marketing, clothes and metalwork have been successfully matched to causes in early tests.
- It offers business functionality that allows companies to manage internal CSI campaigns and report on the impact their staff are having through these mechanics.