Telling the story of why non-profits do what they do can be tricky business. After a while, the explanations seem to lose their impact in between all the jargon. There are only so many words and so many ways in which to string them together.
So, sometimes one just has to say it in the simplest terms possible. And risk sounding fuzzy. So, here goes:
WE CARE.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE DO.
We care about South Africa.
We care about the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, the frightened, the disillusioned and the disappointed.
We care about communities plagued by substance abuse, crime, violence, broken families and vulnerable children.
We care about the fact that billions are spent annually to bring transformation – and still, our country is suffering.
We care about the fact that broken eco-systems are causing brokenness in communities. That the lack of a common agenda is hampering collective impact.
We care about the endless possibilities, the opportunities and the fact that under-resourced communities truly have so much more to offer than the sum of their perceived brokenness.
We care about the possibility that what we could all do collectively, can bring renewed hope where it is needed most.
And because we care, we are constantly motivated to be increasingly innovative, intentional and strategic in our pursuit of possible solutions to the challenges facing our country.
We are a team of urban planners, community development specialists, enterprise development consultants, storytellers and support staff who work really hard to ensure that the framework that drives everything we do aligns with international best practice. We do the homework. We study legislation, policies, guidelines. We are in constant conversation with communities and many others working across multiple sectors to ensure that we’re on the right track – and that we’re forming the right partnerships. Because there is no way we’re doing this alone. We never have and we never will.
There it happened again. The buzzwords – they creep into every conversation. But they’re valid. They really are.
So, if one could pour all the many buzzwords into a Thesaurus blender to produce only one word – a single word – to explain why we do what we do, it will always be the same.
CARE.
It’s as simple – and as incredibly complex – as that.
Thank you to Lizelle Lötter Photography for this team photo! The whole team wasn’t present at the Mergon Foundation-sponsored Church Collaboration Workshop we held in May this year, but it’s quite an achievement to get so many of us together for two minutes!