Northbridge Collective
We plan community work for companies, foundations and donors and we prove it happened.
Anyone can hand over money. We make sure it can be counted, explained and trusted.
The Problem
Three problems, all expensive.
Nobody to do the work
A company has promised to do good in the community. Nobody inside is responsible for it, and nothing has been built.
Reports with nothing in them
The sustainability report says warm things and shows no real numbers. Boards, regulators and investors are asking harder questions, and the fines for exaggerating are rising.
Generous, with no system
Wealthy families want to give properly. They have no way to choose what to fund, check whether it worked, or explain it well.
What We Are Not
A charity asks you for money. We build the programme.
A donor gives and moves on. We measure it, report it, and put your name to it correctly.
Most companies treat community work as something to get through. We treat it as something worth being able to prove.
Four Services
Planning the Programme
For companies with no community team. We design the whole thing — what you fund, where, and for how long. We build the record-keeping in from the first day, so the reporting is not a scramble at year end.
Reporting and Proof
For listed and regulated companies. We write your community work up in the two formats your investors already read: the GRI standards (the world's most-used sustainability-reporting framework) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (the UN's 17-point framework for global progress). Real numbers, checked, ready to go straight into your annual report.
Running a Foundation
For foundations. We do the work behind the scenes — accounts, reports, donor letters, board papers, programme management. The founder keeps the vision. We keep it running.
Advising Donors
For wealthy givers in Kenya and abroad. We help you decide what to fund, set it up so it is tax-efficient, and send you reports you would be happy to show anyone.
How a Partnership Works
This is how a company can properly report good work it paid for but did not run itself.
The agreement
A written agreement covering the programme, the budget, when reports arrive, and what the company may claim.
We run it
Schools, health, environment, buildings, water and sanitation. Northbridge manages the delivery.
We count it
How many people were reached, how much was spent, and what changed — measured against the GRI standards and the UN goals.
You report it
You receive a finished report with both names on it, ready to drop into your annual report or investor update.
Both countries reward this. In Kenya, donations to a registered public benefit organisation can be claimed against tax. In the United States, gifts to a 501(c)(3) charity (a US tax-exempt nonprofit) are tax deductible. Every partnership is set up so the client gets that benefit.
Three Ways to Partner
A menu, not a collection tin.
Community Partner
You fund one scholarship, or one part of a programme.
You get a profile of who you helped, a certificate, and your name in the annual report. Enough to write about in your sustainability section.
Programme Partner
You fund a whole project, or a school term.
You get a report with both logos on it, proof of which UN goals you supported, and figures in the format investors expect. Enough for the impact pages of your annual report.
Strategic Partner
A commitment of several years to a programme with your name on it.
You get the full set of figures, help with your stock exchange sustainability filing, and Lillian available to speak at your events. Enough for what you tell investors.
Proof
The Joe Sang Foundation is not an example we read about. It is a live client.
Northbridge set up how the Foundation presents itself, turns its figures into documents its trustees and donors can rely on, built the way it approaches corporate partners, and set up its US arm as a 501(c)(3) so American donors can give to Kenyan schools and claim it. Everything described on this page is running now, with real numbers.
Why Northbridge
She has seen it from both sides
Lillian Njiru has been the company's decision-maker and a foundation's trustee. Very few people have sat in both chairs.
We know the rules
We understand how Kenyan public benefit organisations and US charities are structured, so every partnership is built to give the client the full tax benefit.
You get something you can use
Every job ends with a finished document your board can read and your auditor can check. Both logos on it.
Small on purpose
No large agency, no junior handling your file. We take a small number of clients. This is not a volume business.
What Happens Next
A first conversation. We look at what you need. We send a proposal. We sign an agreement. The programme starts.
Ask for a first conversation