While we may have reimagined our business with a new logo, website and colour scheme, the heart of what we do hasn’t changed one bit – to help businesses and entrepreneurs that use our payment platform grow their business. Another aspect that hasn’t changed is our commitment to helping NPOs and charities receive donations online so that they can do the important work that they do.
It’s become a tradition to end off every year by asking business owners that use our payment platform to vote for a Payfast registered charity that most resonates with them. At the end of 2022, we created a shortlist of charities that are actively using Payfast to receive online donations, and who haven’t received a donation from us in the past.
From the nominations, the following three charities received the most votes and were each awarded a R50,000 donation from Payfast:
- African Wildlife Vets
- AfriPaw
- Rise Against Domestic Violence SA
We’re thrilled to assist these three worthy causes to continue their important work and wish them all the best in continuing their mission of improving the lives and communities they assist. You can find out more about the three deserving charities below.
African Wildlife Vets
From rescuing wild animals from snares, attending to poaching wounds and capturing animals that have escaped the boundaries of fenced game reserves, African Wildlife Vets (AWV) assists wildlife managers and protected areas with the conservation of threatened and endangered species through the provision of essential veterinary support.
“With the increased threats to biodiversity such as limited habitat, human wildlife conflict and the spread of disease, wildlife vets play a crucial role in assisting with the preservation of wildlife species. As operational budgets in state-protected areas have decreased and human populations have grown outside protected areas, there has been increased pressure on veterinary services. AWV provides veterinary support to protected areas through the provision of veterinarians, pharmaceuticals, veterinary equipment and funding to cover other veterinary operation expenses,” said Kate Church, AWV Managing Director.
“Payfast’s generous donation will contribute to extremely important conservation projects within Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park and the uMkhuze section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. These include placing tracking collars on elephants and lions to monitor their movements and activity status and responding to emergency situations such as animals caught in snares,” continued Kate.
You can find out more about AWV here: africanwildlifevets.org
AfriPaw
AfriPaw Animal Welfare partners with low-income communities to educate families on their pets’ primary needs and facilitate access to affordable support services with a focus on free mass sterilisation. Whilst their medium-term vision is to replicate their model in neighbouring geographic areas, their current focus is the community of Capricorn in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.
“Four of the biggest barriers to pet care in low-income communities and informal settlements in South Africa are lack of finances, lack of transport to reach veterinary services, lack of education and finally de-sensitisation and hopelessness caused by tremendous social challenges. We aim to remove all these barriers. We come alongside pet owners, form relationships with them and teach them how to care for their pets. Instead of removing pets from unsympathetic environments, often resulting in almost immediate replacement with another pet by the uniformed owner, perpetuating the cycle of neglect and abuse, we choose to educate, make primary pet care accessible and affordable and bring hope to communities,” said Anél Wesson from AfriPaw.
“AfriPaw wishes to thank Payfast and its merchants and customers for choosing us to receive this generous donation, which will further our work. Funds will be allocated for mass sterilisation and to purchase medical products required for our monthly Pet Clinics, which are run in the community. Thank you for your amazing support!” continued Anél.
You can find out more about AfriPaw here: afripaw.org.za
Rise Against Domestic Violence SA
Rise Against Domestic Violence (RISE) is one of the few organisations in South Africa that aids both males and females, abuse victims and abusers. The organisation offers an array of services free of charge to the general public, including legal advice, counselling, support and rehabilitation.
“RISE continues to strive to enhancing people’s perceptions about issues regarding Domestic Violence and Narcissistic Abuse. All our services are free to victims and abusers,” said Zen Williams from RISE.
“RISE will use the donation received from Payfast to create awareness and education regarding all forms of domestic violence. RISE is to date unfunded, and this generous donation will allow us to purchase banners, print flyers and deliver information packs to schools and police stations. We are truly humbled that RISE was chosen for this initiative as we work extremely hard as an organisation to provide the above services to people in need,” continued Zen.
You can find out more about RISE here: riseagainstdomesticviolence.co.za
Thank you again to everyone who voted for these three deserving charities. We wish them, and all our other registered charities and NPOs, all the best for the year ahead.
