Child's i Foundation

In Uganda poverty, disease and violence are rife – which leads to hundreds of children being abandoned every year. Child's i Foundation is helping solve this endemic problem in a range of practical ways. Currently our support programme gives hope to vulnerable mothers; our transitional home provides short-term life-saving care for babies; and our placement programme ensures every child we look after grows up in a loving family in Uganda.

How do we make this happen?

We exploit the power of our story online

We organise, communicate and raise money using online tools such as blogging, video and social networking, and we depend on a large network of volunteers, donors and supporters, who can keep in touch with our progress on a daily basis.

We're fortunate enough to have a wealth of experience creating and editing compelling video content from volunteers from within the TV sector. By using online platforms we are able to generate and share our compelling stories with the world.

Our story started on Day 1 of planning and the development of the project and lives of those families in Uganda directly affected continues everyday on our blog, Facebook, Twitter (@childsi), YouTube, Ning etc.

We generate conversation and connect with our supporters

We want people to feel that they can always ask. We also know we can only learn and evolve by listening as well as asking.

We want to encourage conversation not only between the charity and our supporters but also between the supporters themselves.

We use the web and social networking tools to our advantage to facilitate the conversations, the collaboration and the connections.

We make the most of technology

We know the days of the 'donate now' button and monthly direct debit are numbered. We all expect choices and we want to make informed decisions about how we want to give and to whom.

We need to find better ways of engaging our supporters

We use digital technology to create innovative applications like “Buy a Brick” (a virtual “tweeting” brick wall that allow the donor to buy and personalise a brick for a loved one or friend) or the “Baby Shower” (an e-commerce site selling a list of items to furnish and equip the babies home in Kampala – selling everything from cots to sterilisers, cooking equipment to thermometers, mosquito nets to potties) to make donating fun and encourage word of mouth within our community.

Most of what we do uses open source technology and the goodwill and pro bono support of designers, developers and project managers to make it happen.

We’re always visible

We have nothing to hide. We want our supporters and donors to follow our journey, to know our successes as well as our failures. We want them to step in and speak up if they don't believe in what we are doing. Most importantly we want them to know where their money is going.