National directory listing
A searchable listing of youth-serving and community-serving organisations, so funders, partners and communities can find you and verify what you do.
Join the directoryThe Namela NGO Network
A list of NGOs is an email list. A network is an ecosystem.
Namela is building practical infrastructure for NGOs, NPOs and ECD centres that need visibility, digital credibility, resources and collaboration. Nothing here asks you for support. All of it is built to give you something.
Why this exists
The sector is full of organisations that cannot find each other
Two organisations working on the same problem in neighbouring towns, neither aware the other exists. A funder looking for delivery partners in the Free State and finding nothing searchable. An ECD centre that has solved a problem three other centres are still stuck on, with no way to pass it on.
This is not a shortage of good work. It is a shortage of connective tissue. The Namela NGO Network is an attempt to build some.
We are a small non-profit, so we are honest about scale. This starts in the Free State and grows outward as capacity allows.
What you get
Seven ways in, six of them free
Take one or take all of them. There is no membership fee and no obligation. Only grant writing support is charged, and it is priced for the community sector.
Digital Readiness Assessment
Thirty-two questions, a score out of 100, an area breakdown and four ranked actions. Instant, automatic and free.
Take the assessmentDigital health check
A person from Namela reviews your actual setup and writes you a short, practical report. Deeper than the assessment, and limited by our capacity.
Request a checkFunding opportunities bulletin
Open calls, deadlines and eligibility, sent when there is something worth sending. Not a newsletter about us.
Sign up for the bulletinShared resource library
Templates for governance, proposals, monitoring and communications. Free to download, adapt and use. No email wall.
Open the libraryCollaboration introductions
Where two organisations in the network are working on the same thing, we introduce them. Simple, and rarer than it should be.
Register interestGrant writing and proposal development
Funding research, proposals, LogFrames, theory of change, budgets and the complete submission package. Charged, not free, and priced for the community sector.
See what is includedDo not confuse these
The survey, the assessment and the health check
Three different things that sound similar. Here is what each one actually does.
NGO Digital Readiness Survey
Sector research. Seventeen questions about the challenges facing NGOs nationally. It does not score you. Findings are shared with every organisation that takes part, and used to build resources for the sector.
Digital Readiness Assessment
Your diagnostic. Thirty-two questions across eight areas. Gives you a score out of 100, an area breakdown and a ranked list of what to fix first. Automatic and immediate.
Digital health check
A person looks at your setup. We review your domain, email, website, records and systems as they actually are, and write you a short report. Places are limited by our capacity.
Current initiative
Help shape the South African NGO Digital Readiness Survey
Namela is conducting a national study to understand the digital needs, communication challenges and collaboration opportunities facing NGOs, NPOs and ECD centres in South Africa. The findings will be shared with participating organisations and used to develop practical resources for the sector.
✓
Survey response received, thank you
You have helped shape a picture of the sector that does not currently exist. We will send the findings to you before they are published anywhere else. In the meantime, the Digital Readiness Assessment will give you a score for your own organisation.
Digital health check
A person looks at your setup and tells you the truth about it
The assessment is automatic. This is not. Someone from Namela reviews what you actually have, then writes you a short report with specific instructions. Free, and limited by how many we can do properly.
1
Request
Fill in the short form below. We ask for your website or social page so we can look before we speak to you.
2
Review
We check what a funder or community member would find: findability, credibility signals, contactability and whether your work is evidenced anywhere.
3
Report
A short written report explaining what is working, what is not, and the three things you should fix first.
4
Your choice
Act on the recommendations yourself or ask us to help. Most organisations can do at least two of the three themselves, and we say so when that is the case.
Request a digital health check
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Request received, thank you
We will confirm within two working days, including how long the wait is likely to be. If you would like an immediate result in the meantime, the Digital Readiness Assessment takes about fifteen minutes and scores you straight away.
Stay connected
Funding bulletin and collaboration
Two low-commitment ways to stay in the network. Both are opt-in and easy to leave.
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You are on the network list
We will only send what you asked for. If you would also like a listing in the national directory, register your organisation, which takes about five minutes.
How we approach this
Lead with value, not with a request
There is a standard pattern where a new organisation builds a database of NGOs and immediately starts asking them for things. We are deliberately doing the opposite.
- Research before contacting. We look at what an organisation does before we approach it, so the first message is not generic.
- Give first. The assessment, the resources and the health check exist before we ask anything of anyone.
- Start conversations, not campaigns. One organisation at a time, properly, rather than a mass mailing.
- Share what we learn. Survey findings go to participating organisations before they go anywhere else.
- Introduce people. The most valuable thing a network does is connect two organisations who did not know about each other.
- Be honest about scale. Namela is small and in its set-up phase. We would rather do fifty health checks properly than promise five hundred.
Join the network
Register your organisation for a directory listing, digital assistance and everything else the network offers. Five minutes, no cost, no obligation.