ONLY a month old, a fund-raising platform for underfunded community projects has raised RM140,000 and is looking for more “unsung heroes” to support.

GiveBack.my was founded in April 2020 to address the needs of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is part of the Make It Right Movement (MIRM), the corporate social responsibility and community service arm of the BAC Education Group, owner of Brickfields Asia College.

MIRM chief executive officer Brian Lariche said its aim is to reach out to lesser-known civil society groups and communities to provide them with a platform to raise funds and be self-sufficient.

MIRM is also looking for partners working on projects and causes in small towns and areas in Sabah and Sarawak, who have no access to media and in need of funds.

“People who have small projects, who are unsung heroes working in areas that they couldn’t get support for, are welcome to contact us through the contact form in the website,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“If they contact us, we will give them a form to fill. We will do the due diligence on them and then we are happy to put on their project to raise funds for them.”

The platform raises a maximum of RM5,000 per cause, whereby the full amount goes directly to the group working on the project or the beneficiary.

“If you donate RM10, then the RM10 goes to the beneficiary, it doesn’t even come to us,” he said.

Explaining the decision to cap funds at RM5,000 per cause, Brian said this is to avoid any chance of misappropriation of funds.

MIRM also features four to six causes at one time and new ones will be featured once the previous initiatives have reached their target.

“What we do is when the money is not coming in, we do a social-media campaign and push it to reach the target of RM4,000-RM5,000. We will also top it up ourselves.

“When it reaches the target, we close and bring in the new one.”

The response is mixed, depending on the cause, he said.

Programmes involving feeding the needy get good response, while it is slower for other projects, such procuring personal-protective equipment (PPE) for front-liners, said Brian.

On the vetting done on the beneficiaries, Brian said MIRM only works with trusted partners, such as Pertiwi soup kitchen, a long-time associate.

When asked about future plans, Brian said depending on the responses, MIRM may consider starting a payment portal.

However, the immediate focus will be on Covid-19-related causes to help the economy and communities get back on their feet.

Students of BAC are also roped in for community service projects with MIRM, which has raised some up to RM4 million for its partners in the last few years. – May 26, 2020.