About Us
Our job at Colab Foundation is to connect you with those who are creating real change in our communities so that together we can achieve more.
Mission
To collaborate with churches, businesses and individuals in sharing funds, people and ideas to build a new future for South Africa’s poor and forgotten. We truly are #BetterTogether.
Vision
A hopeful and prosperous future for every person, family and community in our beloved South Africa.
Why It Matters
If you’re like us, you often hear people say that they love South Africa. What they really mean is that they love their own individual experience of South Africa. You realize the need to think beyond yourself. You want to do whatever you can to make sure that everyone in South Africa can say that they love their experience of South Africa too!
You believe all people are created in the image of God, blessed with unique talents and desires that they can contribute to make our world a better place. Do you know that God has called us to be his co-labourers? To work alongside Him in making all things new. Have you ever thought about that?
God is our partner and we are God’s partners in making something beautiful of this broken world. That’s why you’re needed for something big…to build the Kingdom of God in practical ways by uplifting the people who need you most.
Non-Profits In South Africa Have A Problem
They are tackling the basic needs of the poor and forgotten, the addicted and afflicted. They know what their communities need.
Some of them – what we call our Impact Partners – have developed solutions that work. And they know how to deliver them. But they often lack the investment and encouragement to create real change at scale.
Donors Like You Have A Problem, Too
Donors like you know that South Africa suffers from the most severe inequality in the world. Whether it’s measured by wealth, access to education, healthcare or food, South Africa is the most unequal society on the planet. You want to make a contribution and leave a legacy to see a brighter future for everyone in our community.
You are compassionate and want to make South Africa a better place. You know you have been blessed to be a blessing. But you’re not sure which organizations you can trust to create real change. You’re tired of giving to non-credible black holes that over-promise and under-deliver.
We're On A Mission To Change That
Driven by our desire to promote the power of philanthropy that churches, businesses and individuals can unlock when they work together, we find and fund registered, high-impact partners doing the most good. Along the way we carefully monitor your investment, and follow-up up with you so you can see firsthand the impact you made.
It's Working
Since our founding in 2017, generous supporters like you have:
Our Model
We find the people who are able to create the most change and give them what they need to do it.
1. Find
We focus on finding community-based organizations that have a proven solution to scale. We carefully vet each new partner, making sure they are effective, transparent and accountable. We look for the biggest return on your investment with the least hassle for you, us and those we fund.
2. Fund
We put your generosity to work and fund high-impact organizations to do what they do best. We give them what they need, and get out of their way to let them do it. When appropriate, we mobilize other resources like volunteers, materials and expertise.
3. Follow-Up
We don’t wait until the end of the project to evaluate success. From the moment we start partnering with an organization, we carefully monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your investment. Then we follow up with you and share our results, so you can have peace of mind that your generosity is changing lives.
How We Fund
We bring together the best efforts of churches, businesses and individuals to fund and strengthen organizations working on proven solutions to poverty and vulnerability.
- We fund impact. We don’t invest in organizations that don’t measure impact rigorously. From the moment we partner with an organization, we start gathering data to understand whether our investment is achieving the results we expected.
- We fund results. Our job is to make sure that our partners are positioned to solve an urgent problem and can achieve their mission. We give them what they need to do what they do best — then we get out of their way.
- We fund for the long term. If we see a good thing that’s working, we don’t abandon it. We become a sustaining partner for organizations who are proving they can solve a problem efficiently, effectively and at scale.
- We bring more than funding to the table. We help under-resourced organizations grow in their administration, visibility, volunteers and credibility.
Who We Fund
We look for organizations that are tackling an urgent problem, have a proven solution and are committed to grow and measure their impact.
We look for 3 core attributes in an impact partner:
- They must be tackling the needs of the very poor or vulnerable. Each impact partner is working on a solution to a problem affecting South Africans living in extreme poverty or vulnerability. Our priorities are women and children, health, education and economic empowerment.
- They must have a proven and scalable solution. We are only interested in solutions that can grow exponentially with our — with your — help. The organizations we choose to fund have designed their work to help the most people possible in the most effective way.
- They must be able to deliver results. We’ll help them get there, but each impact partner needs to prove that they can deliver on the outcomes we fund. That means having the right people, a smart strategy and the grit to see it all through.
Leadership
Dean Webb
Dean is an entrepreneur living in Johannesburg, married to Candice and they have 3 children – Caleb, Rachel and Abigail. His motivation for starting the Foundation was to bring together the worlds of “for profit”, “non-profit”, “government” and “church” in a more meaningful way. Dean has a vision he calls “compassionate capitalism” that imagines for profit businesses partnering through way of equity or donation with well run, credible non-profits in their immediate communities, and believes that societal profit is equally as important as financial profit.
Rich Franzen
Rich is the president and founder of Impact Africa; a non-profit ministry that exists to serve, educate, and rescue individuals while provoking them toward a passionate relationship with Jesus Christ. Rich’s heart for missions began from a young age, which provoked him to earn a BS degree in ChristianEducation with an emphasis in counseling from Oral Roberts University. He spent the next 15 years serving in various top management positions at Teen Mania Ministries, where he organized Acquire the Fire youth conferences for thousands of teens, and simultaneously began to train, recruit, and send thousands of young adults and leaders to 45+ countries around the globe. In 2004, he and his wife, Michelle, faithfully answered the call to permanently relocate their family to South Africa and establish Impact Africa. Over the past 15 years, Impact Africa has grown exponentially, and now operates within five main areas of focus: Impact Kids Preschools and Community Care Centers, Impact Baby Rescue, Impact Mission Adventures, Impact Students, and The Missions Experience Program. Furthermore, Rich is a frequent speaker at conferences, churches, andtraining events worldwide, and he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Co-Lab foundation as well as the Vice President of Launch International. He and Michelle continue to minister together throughout Africa and are proud parents of three children – Skyler, Blake, and Victoria.
Robyn Aingworth
I'm Robyn Aingworth, married to Richard and the mom of one and one on the way. I am blessed to be able to work for Colab, helping to create a godly and positive impact in our community. Working alongside the Colab partners has been a great privilege helping support the impact they have.
Elsie Paidamoyo Rateiwa
I am a Business Development Executive with a heart for the things that break God's heart. Growing up my mother instilled in me the value of giving back from early on. I grew up in the United States, and every six months or so we'd go to New York for shopping! It was my favourite time. We would buy 2 suitcases of clothes, shoes and toys - not for me but for family back home in Zimbabwe. My mom would say that when you have you need to give. And from that the seed of giving back was planted and has been rooted in my heart! The Colab Foundation is an amazing foundation through which I am able to use my talents to make an impact across a spectrum of causes. We may not alleviate all problem's in society, but we surely will make a meaningful impact. I look at all the lives touched and changed through our partners and see God's glory woven through it all. What a beautiful privilege.
Financials
We are committed to transparency and to responsibly manage the support entrusted to us.
Through programme evaluation, strategic planning and board governance, we employ your contributions for maximum impact.
Every Board member serves on a volunteer basis and we are committed to ensuring that over 90% of our income is deployed to social impact activities.
Our budget for the year 2020 is R2,000,000.00
Income
Expenses
Statements
The Colab Foundation is a registered Public Benefit Organization.
This means that we are able to provide you or your business with a Section 18A tax deductibility certificate. This in effect means that the tax authorities will subsidize a portion (28% in the case of a business) of your donation.
Funding Partners
We’re incredibly grateful to the churches, businesses and individuals who are promoting and engaging in active citizen philanthropy to positively change the future of our country.
