The Spring Initiative is the newest charity programme of Fair Life Africa Foundation. It was created to meet the needs of desperate and vulnerable people, in line with our mission “to alleviate poverty and suffering from our society.”
The easiest way to picture it is a spring of clean water. Generous givers pour into it. Anyone who is desperate or vulnerable can come and drink from it.
Who can apply?
Anyone who lives in Nigeria, whatever their nationality. Though we live in a global world, for now ‘our society’ means the people living in Nigeria.
A Ghanaian living in Nigeria can apply. A Nigerian living abroad cannot, because The Spring Initiative is not positioned to help beyond Nigeria right now.
What do we mean by “desperate and vulnerable”?
We mean people facing a survival crisis, who need urgent or emergency support to overcome acute material hardship. It may be a health crisis. It may be a crisis of basic needs, like being unable to buy food or pay rent.
In Nigeria, and indeed across Africa, the needs are great. Many people live from hand to mouth, and many are literally dying of hunger. We can’t help everyone, but through this initiative we strive to help as many as we can.
And by anyone, we mean anyone. Even the rich can become desperate when their health fails. Everyone needs help sometimes.
How does it work?
- Apply. The appeals form asks what challenge you face, how you have tried to overcome it, and how you would like us to help. It is detailed, and we ask for open and truthful answers.
- We verify. We check your identity and validate your claims.
- We decide based on our capacity. We approve support if and when we have the funds, or when we believe we can reasonably raise them. This depends on the details of the case and how readily our donors tend to respond to our appeals.
Some appeals may be redirected to a better-fitting programme, such as our Disadvantage to Advantage Initiative for children who need educational sponsorship, or our Big Brother Initiative for university students.
Because our capacity is limited, the form is sometimes closed. This lets us focus on the cases we have already approved. We may support them directly from the fund, up to a set limit, or run fundraising campaigns on their behalf.
Is the support ongoing?
No. Our support to any individual is not indefinite. Each person receives only the funds raised for their case. If they need more help later, they are welcome to reach out again, but further support is not guaranteed.
How is it funded?
We depend on concerned, caring and charitable people who share our mission to alleviate poverty and suffering from our society. Some give once in a while. Some give regularly. Some give in direct response to an appeal for a specific person. Ten percent of all donations goes to support our administration of the programme, and the rest goes into The Spring Initiative fund. We provide regular updates and accounting reports (updated every six months), which are publicly available via https://bit.ly/thespringinitiative. Individual donor names are anonymised in the accounts for their privacy.
So, that’s The Spring Initiative. It isn’t a health initiative, a rent initiative, or an education initiative. It isn’t even simply about feeding the hungry. It is about being part of a community of people who care about the needs of others, with a platform to lend a hand to those in desperate and vulnerable situations around you.
Support The Spring Initiative
If you’d like to help, please give to our dedicated account:
Fair Life Africa Foundation (The Spring Initiative)
FCMB – 2001005283
Thank you in advance for your support! May you be blessed greatly as you contribute.
