Partnership looks to strengthen the NGO sector

An impact investment group is partnering with a new cloud-based technology platform in hopes of making it easier for charities to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Greater Good International (GGI) signed an agreement on Wednesday with mission empowerment not for profit AidHub, which aims to help aid NGOs effectively plan, implement, monitor and report on their initiatives.

Supported through a global partnership with Amazon Web Service, AidHub is developing a cloud-based tool that supports NGOs to meet the 17 SDGs, with the SDG targets and indicators seamlessly integrated into the platform.

The standard package – which includes a comprehensive set of templates and tools to measure and compare impact – will be free for any NGO worldwide.

Impact investors GGI have agreed to manage a range of paid premium services through the “AidStore”, an app marketplace for the sector inside the AidHub platform.

AidHub founder Alan Morgan said he welcomed GGI’s support.

“We aim to help all NGOs meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals with a transformational platform which will make it so much easier for them to deliver positive outcomes for our planet and for humanity,” Morgan said.

“AidHub has been many years in the making and we’re very excited to be backed by GGI as we prepare to launch.”

GGI chairman Dr Jack Jacoby told Pro Bono News his organisation was excited by the opportunity to partner with AidHub.

He said the impact investment group would also be able to add additional services for the sector to the AidStore and hoped to gain new commercial opportunities through the partnership.

“We are thrilled because one of the challenges for organisations like ours is penetration into the market, but for us the market is provided by AidHub. So it’s an exciting proposition,” Jacoby said.

“And by proactively pursuing commercial opportunities in the NGO space, that’s another level of benefit that not only creates better value for our shareholders but for the organisations we work with.”

Jacoby said GGI would not set specific social impact goals for its investment, but rather would let organisations use the AidHub platform to set targets.

“What the platform does is provide the ability for NGOs to identify and manage the metrics and performance of a range of initiatives they undertake,” he said.

“So for example, if an NGO was based on providing employment for people in a specific overseas region, they could have metrics for assessing how many people they help in a year. But it’s up to them.

“The fact they use the tools AidHub provides would be a testament to our success.”

Jacoby added this was a great business model that could be mimicked by others in the future.

He encouraged other players to come forward and consider partnerships and investments in projects that made the world a better place.

“Investors by all means should aim to enrich themselves through their investments. But if you can do good and create wealth as well I reckon you’ve hit the jackpot,” he said.

“The sky’s the limit as to how many initiatives can be instituted that will fix the world, because for the last couple of hundred years we’ve done a lot to ruin it. Now we need to repair things otherwise we won’t have a world to live in.”

AidHub is expected to launch in late 2019.