Time and skills, the ultimate social investment
90% of a sample of over 6,000 South Africans who volunteered through forgood.co.za view their time and skills as the ultimate social investment.
Forgood is a digital platform that connects people to reputable causes where they can donate goods, volunteer or offer their skilled services. The platform has facilitated more than 12,000 social impact connections to date.
Andy Hadfield, CEO of forgood.co.za, is not surprised by the results, “Every day, South Africans hand over money and goods to people in need. When they want to make a more meaningful social investment, they volunteer their time in a way that resonates with them. That’s why they come to a platform like forgood, to ensure that their time is invested, not wasted.”
Invaluable feedback
Forgood’s data not only reaffirms the need for volunteering programmes in both the public space and inside local businesses, it also provides invaluable feedback as to where and how volunteers like to invest their time - education (24%), community development (19%), women, children and youth (18%) came out tops in terms of interest areas. Gauteng is home to 48% of causes listed on the platform, followed by 26% based in the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal comes in third at 10%. One in four of the actions on the site are tech-related – a sign that technology is disrupting the non-profit sector.
Digging deeper into social behaviour data helps Hadfield and his team to create more focused and personalised experiences for volunteers and corporates alike. “We don’t do one-size-fits-all. Forgood’s platform has more than 1,400 different opportunities and 500 social causes for people to choose from.”
Forgood for Business
While forgood.co.za has become the go-to site for ordinary South Africans looking to connect with reputable causes, “forgood for Business” is the specialist in managing employee volunteering programmes in a way that matches corporate strategy with social impact. A significant portion of those 12,000 connections are coming from corporate volunteer programmes. Forgood also manages and tracks activities in a way that can be measured and reported back to key stakeholders.
“Our data shows that South Africans, and millennials in particular, are eager to get involved in social projects, but they want a more personalised experience. Our volunteer programmes offer this in a way that improves collaboration, innovation and soft skill development,” says Hadfield.
“Sustainable volunteering leads to more activated CSI, which in turn leads to more sustainable support for the communities our causes are involved with.”
