From Corporate to Community Impact: Key Lessons from the Izinga Assist Conference

Lauren Moore, Volunteer at DO MORE FOUNDATION

The recent iZinga Assist online conference, hosted by Papillon Press, brought together practitioners, fundraisers, and sector leaders from across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond to reflect on how organisations can strengthen fundraising, deepen donor relationships, and build more sustainable impact.

iZinga Assist is a digital platform that verifies, rates, and supports non-profits across Sub-Saharan Africa. It serves as a vital bridge between NPOs and the international donor community by ensuring transparency, compliance, and trust through its innovative Donor Journey tracking feature.

Collective impact in practice

As part of the conference programme, the DO MORE FOUNDATION’s Cara Goschen (Business Development Executive) and Dr Jessica Ronaasen (Innovation & Advocacy Lead) contributed a session on collective impact, sharing practical insights from DO MORE’s partnership approach. The conversation highlighted how collaboration with partners from a wide range of sectors as well as the use of tools like their WhatsApp-enabled chatbot EDGE platform (developed by Tregter) is helping to strengthen coordination, improve responsiveness, and support more integrated ways of working across the system. Their contribution grounded the broader conference themes in real local practice, demonstrating what it looks like to align partners around shared outcomes for young children and communities.

A new perspective on social impact

Stepping into the social development sector after many years in the corporate world has been both an exciting and humbling career move for me. While there are many transferable skills between the two environments, there is also a unique language, mindset and approach to creating impact that takes time to learn. For someone relatively new to the fundraising space, the conference provided an excellent opportunity to gain practical insights while hearing directly from experienced voices across the sector in South Africa and globally.

Fundraising is about more than funding

One of the biggest takeaways for me was that successful fundraising is about far more than securing financial support. It is about building meaningful relationships and creating long-term trust with donors. The discussions highlighted the importance of understanding donor motivations and communicating authentic stories that connect supporters to the real change happening in communities, while still maintaining a focus on demonstrating impact.

Rather than viewing fundraising as a once-off transaction, many speakers emphasised the value of ongoing communication, transparency and stewardship. Donors increasingly want to feel connected to the outcomes of their contributions, and organisations that invest in these relationships are often better positioned for long-term sustainability.

AI as an enabler of human connection

Perhaps the most fascinating theme throughout the conference was the role of AI. While AI is often discussed in corporate environments, it was interesting to see the level of engagement and curiosity among both speakers and attendees. While fundraising remains a deeply person-centric endeavour rooted in human connection and shared values, AI was discussed as playing a vital supporting role by handling data-driven complexities, allowing practitioners to spend more time on the authentic, face-to-face relationships that truly drive impact in the fundraising space. The conversations demonstrated that AI is no longer a future consideration, it is already becoming a practical tool for the sector. There was also thoughtful discussion about responsible use, ethical considerations and ensuring that technology enhances rather than replaces the human connections at the heart of the sector.

Taking the Lessons Forward

I left the conference feeling inspired, better informed and excited about the future of fundraising and social impact. As the sector continues to embrace new ideas and technologies, I look forward to applying these lessons to help build stronger relationships, support sustainable impact and ultimately DO MORE for the communities we serve.

As organisations navigate increasingly complex funding and delivery environments, platforms like iZinga Assist play an important role in supporting transparency, strengthening donor confidence, and enabling collaboration at scale.