How Derek Lubner is building a digital bridge between donors and non-profits

Derek Lubner sat in a cramped office in Cape Town, a stack of receipts and a faded photograph of a cricket bat on the desk beside him. The picture was the only proof that a donation from his parents’ foundation had reached a local youth club. He had asked the club to send a photo of the equipment they bought, but the club’s volunteer, buried in community work, had never replied. The missing images left Derek with a nagging doubt: was the money truly making a difference?

When Derek managed the late parents’ Make an Immediate Difference foundation, he relied on a simple system: NGOs submit wish lists, he approves the requests, and the only condition was a photo of the purchased item. Over two decades, only about a quarter of the organisations sent the requested pictures. The rest left Derek unable to verify the use of funds. His frustration was not with the NGOs, but with the administrative hoops that stifled grassroots work.

Instead of tightening the purse, Derek turned the problem into a solution. Together with chief executive Henk Swanepoel, he launched iZinga Assist, a digital platform that checks NGOs’ documentation and offers resources to bridge administrative gaps. The platform gives donors reliable data before they commit capital and frees community leaders from paperwork that can block access to funding.

In South Africa, registration alone does not reveal whether an NGO is active, well‑governed or accountable. IZinga Assist digitally verifies documentation and provides guidance on compliance. By doing so, it levels the playing field for organisations that are passionately rooted in their communities but lack the administrative infrastructure demanded by institutional philanthropists.

Derek’s approach is grounded in nearly thirty years of civil‑society work, including a board seat at Mothers2Mothers since its 2001 founding in Cape Town during the HIV/AIDS crisis. That experience taught him that community leaders often lack the skills or resources to meet strict reporting standards, yet they are the ones on the ground driving change.

The platform’s creators have seen the toll that paperwork takes on volunteers and frontline workers. A single form can mean the difference between a community receiving a new soccer field or a delayed donation that never arrives. By simplifying compliance, iZinga Assist frees time for those who actually deliver services, allowing them to focus on what matters most: the people they serve.

As I watched Derek and Henk discuss the platform’s next phaseexpanding to other African countriesI felt a surge of optimism. The digital bridge they are building could reshape how donors interact with NGOs, turning trust from a fragile commodity into a systematic, verifiable process.

In the coming months, iZinga Assist plans to launch a mobile app that will let NGOs upload photos, receipts, and progress reports in real time. This move could make the verification process as instantaneous as a text message, ensuring that every donation’s journey from donor to beneficiary is transparent and accountable.