With Giving Light, you're not donating to an organization that just "brings something," but to people who have already built something special—something we can help grow with your support. Together, we shine a light on initiatives that are already thriving. Trust, connection, and empowerment: that's what it's all about. This is how existing successes can grow.

Verified projects

High-impact projects

For the most disadvantaged

Supported by you

This is necessary for several reasons. Too often, aid is approached from the perspective that change must come from outside, while sustainable change only works if it grows from within. The countries we aim to support face numerous challenges, making sustainable change essential. Poverty, unemployment, and inequality are exacerbated by corruption, inflation, unemployment, and weak social services. At the same time, many Western countries, including the Netherlands, are cutting back or shifting their development budgets to projects within their own countries. With less funding available for projects in developing countries, private initiatives are desperately needed to prevent disadvantaged groups from falling even further behind.

Giving Light has a personal connection to Cape Town. In 2019, Jeroen Decker founded Hillhouse Clinics, a safe space where Dutch people with addiction can work on their recovery. The clinic is run entirely by people who not only live in Cape Town, but have all also struggled with addiction. Many of his employees come from disadvantaged areas, known as townships. By spending time with his employees in their personal lives, he gained a unique insight into the lives of people who grew up in these circumstances. He increasingly visited the townships and developed a bond with the people there. Decker became acquainted with various locally supported initiatives that sustainably improve the living conditions of the people there. He decided not only to invest a portion of the clinic's proceeds in the projects there, but he also volunteered there. This gave him a deeper understanding of what the initiatives offer and safeguard, and a better understanding of what is needed to help the community. In early 2024, Michelle van Tongerloo, a general practitioner and street doctor in Rotterdam, accepted an invitation from Jeroen Decker to visit the clinic because many of her patients were already admitted there. He also took her to the various initiatives he supports there. Van Tongerloo saw the lack of access to healthcare for a large group of township residents, which inspired her to collaborate with Decker to establish a health clinic there, which would again be supported by the community itself.

Where Rainbows Meet

An organization that has had a tremendous impact on Cape Town's so-called "colored" communities since 2008. With a passionate and large team of volunteers, they work daily to provide hundreds of thousands of meals a year for those who cannot afford to buy food, organize daycare so parents can go to work, provide training and education to young people so they can find jobs, and much more!

The Community Care Clinic

When Michelle van Tongerloo visited Cape Town, she was deeply affected by the lack of basic medical care for people in Cape Town's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. It didn't take long before she came up with the idea to establish "The Community Care Clinic": a health center where everyone can always go for basic care.

Realistic Youth & Lifeskills

For many years, Solomon Madikane and his dedicated team have been running the Realistic Child & Youth Centre, where orphans are cared for and raised until they can participate in society as adults, and the Realistic Life Skills Centre, an addiction treatment center in one of the most dangerous parts of Cape Town. It's incredibly inspiring to see that, despite the extremely difficult circumstances, his team helps thousands of people achieve a better life.

The Fresh Water Project

It's almost unbelievable, but in The Gambia, hundreds of villages have been waiting for over 50 years for a water supply. Every day, residents have to walk dozens of kilometers to collect drinking water. The Fresh Water Project is a fantastic project led by Lamin Kinteh. He and his team strive every year to provide new villages with a good (and indestructible) water supply, a challenging task that demands a great deal from them.