When we can’t fund our projects from our own pockets or get a desperately sick colleague’s medical bills paid, we turn to others for help. We have to bank on the kindness of family, friends, or maybe even people who we previously didn’t know. We ask them to contribute something to the cause we feel so passionately about. Whether it’s an NGO seeking financial support for humanitarian causes, or a filmmaker looking to the public to aid his new project, the fundraising approach is used to get help for widely varying causes. It’s a commonplace thing.
What isn’t conventional- at least in the Nigerian setting –is pooling contributions from people via an online portal. This is what Donate-ng is about. Founded in 2016, Donate-ng gives individuals and charities a platform to request for, and receive donations from Nigerians home and abroad for their projects and charitable causes. The aim, is founders say, is to “change lives through collective giving”- and for them, the first step on the path to achieving this goal is to make it easier for support to be accessed. An online portal specifically meant for this purpose may be a great way to hit the target.
Donate-ng avails its intending users of the opportunity to receive support for alumni projects, disaster relief, medical aid, orphan support, community amenities, and support for charity organizations. To do so, they’ll have to go through a free, five-minute registration process on the site, after which they will be able to create a fundraising portal. The portal can include content (stories, pictures, or videos) conveying information about the cause which it has been created to publicize. At the end of the donation period, funds raised through donate-ng will be handed over to the fundraising party.
Apart from its online platform, Donate-ng also makes it possible for people without internet connection to make donations, via mobile USSD codes.
Find out more about Donate-ng by visiting their website, donate-ng.com.