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153networking

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153networking

153 NETWORKING is a faith-based network of trusted organisations serving vulnerable children, families, and communities.

We connect people who want to help, with organisations already doing the work.

01/07/2026

Last week we got to host the Amathemba School Talent Show.

Positive impact doesn't always have to be measured by big outcomes. Sometimes it's as simple as children having fun, expressing themselves, building confidence, and being cheered on.

Thank you to Home of Hope for allowing us to be part of such a special day.

20/06/2026

Sometimes when communities are facing challenge after challenge, fighting for resources, opportunities, and support, it's understandable that people become protective of the things that are working.

When you've found an idea, a skill, or a model that creates opportunity and brings stability, it can feel risky to share it. There is always the fear that giving away the secret might mean losing the very thing you've worked so hard to build.

That's why our trip to Barrydale this week was so encouraging.

We spent time with the team at Magpie, learning about the incredible products they create from everyday recycled materials. But what stood out most wasn't just the creativity of their work, it was their willingness to share what they've learnt along the way.

In a world where knowledge is often guarded, there is something incredibly powerful about people who choose to share it.

We left feeling encouraged, inspired, and grateful.

We're excited to see what might grow from the conversations, ideas, and possibilities that started around a table in Barrydale.

09/06/2026

This week we started a new workshop: Digital Marketing.

The idea grew out of our Strategic Fundraising Workshop. Time and time again, organisations would ask questions about social media, websites, email marketing, content creation, and how all of these things fit into fundraising.

So we decided it was time to build a workshop around it.

As we were putting the course material together, we found ourselves thinking about something that goes far beyond digital marketing.

Many of the organisation leaders we work with can't possibly know everything, but somehow they need to know everything.

They need to understand fundraising, governance, compliance, donor relations, reporting, HR and staffing, community engagement, finances, strategy, leadership, and digital marketing as well, something that is often outsourced to companies that specialise in it.

And digital marketing alone feels like a world of its own.

Websites.
Social media.
Email marketing.
Photography.
Video.
Design.
Analytics.
AI.

And the list just keeps growing.

Over the past few years, one thing has become increasingly clear to us. Many organisations aren't struggling because they lack passion, commitment, or even capability. They're struggling because they're carrying the responsibility of ten different professions at the same time.

No one person can be an expert in everything. Yet many nonprofit leaders wake up every day trying to do exactly that.

Perhaps that's why training, support, mentorship, and community matter so much. Not because they remove the complexity, but because they help carry some of the weight.

The more organisations we meet, the more convinced we become that good people doing important work don't always need more responsibility added to their shoulders.

Sometimes they simply need people willing to walk alongside them and help make sense of it all.

That's a big part of why 153 exists.

27/05/2026

It’s easy to lose sight of urgency when life becomes filled with deadlines, admin, meetings, and the constant demands of everyday work. That’s why staying connected to the communities we hope to serve matters so much.

This week we spent time in the community of Uitsig, Parow, alongside Anestacia Campher, one of the founders of Uitsig Welfare Society. She walked us through the very community she grew up in and still calls home.

Hearing her speak about the challenges facing the area, but also the deep love and hope she carries for her community, was incredibly moving. It’s this passion and desire to bridge the gap between vulnerable individuals and essential care services that led her and her husband to start the organisation.

At 153, it’s a privilege to walk alongside organisations like this — listening, learning, and helping strengthen the work already being done on the ground.

We’re excited about what lies ahead for Uitsig Welfare Society, and we can’t wait to share more of the journey with you.

25/05/2026

Many people’s understanding of what non-profit organisations need is often quite limited. Usually it revolves around things like:
• food donations
• clothing donations
• funding for projects
• or whatever urgent needs are being posted publicly online

And honestly, most of us don’t often think much deeper than the requests we see shared on social media.

But over the past few years, through the privilege of walking alongside various organisations and listening to what they actually need, we’ve realised the reality runs far deeper than what gets communicated publicly.

Many organisations have learned to communicate only the kinds of needs people are most likely to respond to. But behind the scenes, there are often far greater pressures quietly holding the organisation together.

Things like:
• salaries for staff
• petrol to transport children and staff
• electricity to keep the lights on, food cooked, and water warm
• admin support
• staffing pressure
• leadership fatigue
• operational costs
• skill development for the people carrying the organisation every day

None of these things are particularly glamorous. Most people would probably scroll past them online. But without these “behind-the-scenes” needs being met, organisations struggle to grow sustainably and continue supporting the people who rely on them most.

One of the biggest shifts for us has been learning that supporting an organisation is not only about supporting the visible work. It’s also about supporting the people, systems, and practical realities quietly holding that work together in the background.

That understanding has become a big part of the heart behind 153NETWORKING.

Helping organisations communicate these deeper needs more clearly, and helping connect them with people willing and able to strengthen the backbone of the work they carry every day.

19/05/2026

153 began a few years ago when we started noticing a desperate need among some of the organisations we were working with.

And strangely, it wasn’t always the needs they were communicating publicly; funding, food, resources, skills, or donations. Often, it was the needs they weren’t communicating.

Good people doing deeply meaningful work, but struggling to communicate that work clearly enough for others to understand it, trust it, and support it sustainably.

We met leaders carrying extraordinary responsibility quietly:
writing proposals, communicating with donors, reporting, managing staffing pressures, responding to urgent practical needs, and carrying the emotional weight of leadership itself, all while still showing up every day for the people they serve.

153 began as a small, invitation-based fundraising workshop space for selected organisations already doing important frontline work. But over time, it has become far more relational than we originally imagined.

The workshops are not really about “asking for money.”
They are about helping leaders build the confidence and skills to:
• communicate their work clearly
• understand donors better
• tell stories ethically
• build trust
• grow sustainable support around the work they carry

Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of walking alongside organisations serving vulnerable children, supporting family restoration, mentoring leaders, and helping revive communities.

And one thing keeps standing out to us:
good work does not only need funding.

It needs understanding.
It needs language.
It needs support.

And often, the people behind the work need strengthening too.

That is the heart behind 153.
Helping good work become visible, trusted, and supported.

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