Net4kids is a non-profit internet platform that puts sponsors in contact with special child aid projects in Africa and Asia. Sponsor involvement is significant. They select their own project via www.net4kids.org and regularly get personal feedback. Also, 100% of the donated funds is guaranteed to go to the supported project. All overhead costs are covered by organisation sponsors.
Via Net4kids, aid projects gain access to a large number of involved sponsors that otherwise would be impossible to reach, and they receive more donations through our marketing activities. They can make use of the Net4kids IT infrastructure, and can outsource their reporting systems to us.
They are free to choose where their money is spent and they have insight into the effectiveness of their donation thanks to individual reporting. So there’s no uncertainty about deducted overhead costs, and complete certainty thanks to our money-back guarantee.
Because the cash flows for the projects and for our own organisational overhead are strictly separated: we have separate sponsors for our own costs. This means donations for projects can go directly to the projects, in their entirety.
Since early 2005, this has been divided even more clearly thanks to the creation of different foundations for the projects (Net4kids Aid Foundation), the organisational overhead (Net4kids Organisation) and the continuity fund (Net4kids Continuity Fund). This fund ensures the continuity of the projects and Net4kids as an organisation.
Sponsors can get their money back up to one year after donating. There is no other small print in our money-back guarantee. People don’t even need to explain why they want their money back, although we certainly would appreciate it, in order to learn from it. We have made sure that we always have the reserves to cover any requested returns. It has to be said though that we have never needed them. Quite the opposite: over 90% of our sponsors are repeat givers.
Yes, the Dutch Tax Serives have recognized Net4kids as an ANBI organization. As such all donations may be deducted from the Dutch income- and vennootschap tax.
We have particularly strict selection criteria for new projects. These criteria not only relate to the nature of the project, but also to the financial and reporting aspects. This allows us to select project partners that are reliable, have solid management, and work in an open, transparent manner.
One of the requirements is that project partners report on the entire project at least once per year. This report not only contains information about the achieved results, but of course also about spending. Additionally, we have extensive monitoring systems for existing projects, provided by Wilde Ganzen. This monitoring consists of regular reporting by project organisations and on-site project visits. Wilde Ganzen also advises on project organisation selection and ensures agreements are set down in a contract.
Despite all the care and attention in the selection and monitoring processes, we realise that things can go wrong – just as in any other organisation. Particularly because the project organisations have to work in often difficult circumstances. Our strategy to deal with this is, as always, full disclosure and accountability towards the sponsors, even when things go badly. If sponsors aren’t satisfied, we have a money-back guarantee.
Yes, we have an annual report. For the organisational sponsors, it is one of the most important reporting moments. The annual report is freely available to anyone interested. It can be found at
www.net4kids.org/jaarverslag.
One of the requirements for CFB certification is that organisations spend no more than 25% of donations on fundraising. On principle, however, Net4kids uses a fundamentally different funding model: we don’t use donations to cover costs. 100% of the donations go to the projects. That’s why the question of whether we spend more than 25% of the donations on fundraising costs is irrelevant. If we were to request the CBF certification, we would raise questions as to whether we do spend some of the donations on fundraising.
We want to help as many underprivileged children as possible find a better life, by offering them shelter, education and medical care. That’s why we don’t place any limits on our growth: every sponsor, big or small, is gratefully welcomed.