How every part of HelpLift works

Super Admin is HelpLift itself. Organisation Admin runs a community organisation's account. Organisation Staff Member does the day-to-day capturing at that organisation. A Resource is a person or business putting something into the community. One person can hold more than one role, and the dashboard sends you to whichever applies.

A Resource is a person or business that puts what they have into the community: skills, goods, services or funds. The word is deliberate. Giver frames it as charity flowing one way; Resource frames it as capability going into a community.

They are never a user of HelpLift and never have a login. They are a record captured by an organisation, and their details are never shown publicly on any page at any time.

You choose at the start whether you are here as a Resource or to run an organisation, and that decides which setup you are taken through after confirming your email address. A captcha protects both sign-up and login.

Browse and filter needs. Contribute cash, goods or services. Request a tax certificate on cash and goods. Follow organisations and choose which categories and areas to hear about. List items on Drop or Collect. Support a missionary. Confirm that what they gave arrived. Change who sees their name at any time. They cannot see any information about the people being helped.

Everything a Staff Member can, plus: add and remove staff and set their role, edit the organisation profile, capture the bank details, and switch Drop or Collect on for the organisation. They apply to join in the first place and see the application's progress.

Capture the people being helped, create and edit needs, publish and resolve them, claim Drop or Collect items or list one to give to another organisation, confirm delivery, log the recipient's confirmation, attach proof, record walk-in contributions and add missionaries. They cannot touch staff, the profile or the bank details. That limit is enforced by the database, so it holds even against a direct attempt to bypass the screen.

Review and approve or decline organisation applications, suspend and reinstate organisations, Resources and missionary listings, see platform-wide reports, and read the full audit log. They cannot move a contribution, reverse a payment or alter a recorded confirmation.

It keeps the number of people who can redirect an organisation's money as small as possible, which is the first thing a funder or a regulator asks about. It is not a statement about trust in any individual.

Food & Nutrition, Health & Medical, Shelter & Housing, Water & Sanitation, Education, Family & Child Welfare, Elderly Care, Disability Support, Gender-Based Violence & Protection, Livelihoods & Skills, Bereavement & Funeral Support, Identity & Documentation, Disaster & Emergency Relief, Community Infrastructure, and General / Other. Two of them exist because they are South African realities that international frameworks leave out: funeral support, and identity documentation.

Every need carries one of four levels: Critical, Urgent, Ongoing or Planned. It is set by the organisation that knows the situation.

You can narrow the list by category, urgency, province and city. The category tiles on the home page are shortcuts into the same filtered list.

Anything in Gender-Based Violence & Protection is automatically treated as sensitive. Its location shows as province only, and no photograph is shown, including in the preview when the link is shared on WhatsApp or Facebook. The organisation does not have to remember to do this.

An organisation can attach up to five photographs, which are public, and up to two supporting documents, which are private and never shown publicly.

Where a need has a money target, the page shows how much has been raised against it. You can give part of a target rather than all of it.

Following tells HelpLift you want to hear about that organisation's needs. It does not hand the organisation your details.

A short list based on the organisations you follow and the categories and provinces you chose. Every recommendation says in plain words why it is being shown to you. It is rule-based matching, not an algorithm guessing at you, and there is no AI involved.

You enter an amount and see, in rand, exactly how much the organisation receives and how much the platform fee is, before you commit to anything. You see it again on the payment screen above the pay button.

You describe what you are giving and the organisation makes contact to arrange handover. If you want a tax certificate for goods, you are asked for the declared value, which is the lower of what it cost you or what it is worth.

You describe what you will do. A service goes through exactly the same confirmation as anything else, with one difference: a tax certificate is never available for it.

Where a need has a target you can give any part of it. Several people can contribute to the same need.

Card and EFT payments are switched on only once each organisation's share can go straight to its own account at the moment of payment. Until then the form says giving money opens soon, and goods and services work as normal.

Next to anything not yet confirmed as delivered, "This isn't available anymore" asks for a one-line reason, which the organisation sees straight away. Once help is confirmed as delivered it is a permanent record and cannot be cancelled.

Committing records your intention against the need. For cash, payment follows immediately. For goods and services there is nothing to pay, and the organisation contacts you to arrange the handover.

When HelpLift is open, a contribution splits at the moment you pay it and the organisation's share goes straight to its own account. HelpLift is a gateway, not a middleman sitting on funds. There is nothing for us to hold, delay, release or lose.

Currently 7.5%. You see it in rand, not only as a percentage, alongside exactly what the organisation receives, before you pay.

On the normal settlement cycle of the organisation's own payment account, which is between them and the payment provider. HelpLift is not in that path, and we do not describe it as instant.

Once a contribution is made it is made. This is stated plainly on the payment screen before you pay, not buried in terms.

The money has already reached the organisation and cannot be reversed through HelpLift, and there is no HelpLift-run refund process. The organisation is expected to contact you directly to agree what happens to it instead.

Handled case by case, by people. There is no automated refund or dispute process and nothing in the product pretends otherwise.

Handled by Paystack. HelpLift never sees or stores your card details.

A registration with the Department of Social Development. Good standing, and nothing more -- it does not by itself make anything tax deductible or exempt.

The three legal forms an organisation can take. An NPC is registered with CIPC; a voluntary association is an unregistered community group with a constitution; a trust is registered with the Master of the High Court. An organisation usually holds one of these AND an NPO registration -- different questions, not the same thing said twice.

A tax status from SARS, sitting on top of one of the legal forms above, exempting the organisation's own income where its activities qualify. Not automatic from holding an NPO registration -- its own separate application.

A further, separate SARS approval on top of PBO status, letting an organisation issue certificates so its donors can claim a contribution as a deduction on their tax return. You are asked for a tax reference number, an ID or registration number and a physical address when you request one, because SARS requires all three on the certificate.

SARS does not allow it. Donated time and skills are not deductible, only cash and goods are. HelpLift blocks it in the database rather than only greying out a button, so it cannot happen by accident.

Says whether the organisation behind that need qualifies to issue Section 18A certificates. Where it says no, a contribution there cannot be claimed as a deduction.

Says an organisation has a verified Black-beneficiary percentage on record. Under the Amended B-BBEE Codes, a contribution counts in full toward a business's Socio-Economic Development scorecard only where at least 75% of beneficiaries are Black -- below that, the claim is pro-rated, not disqualified. If your business is not measured on a scorecard, none of this affects you.

HelpLift is a conduit for platform contributions -- giver to organisation, never held or touched -- and it is the organisation's own PBO/18A status behind any certificate it issues, not HelpLift's. HelpLift's own registration governs a separate thing: money raised directly for HelpLift, which HelpLift then decides how to allocate. Two different flows of money, kept apart on purpose.

A need's tax status is recorded when it is published and does not change afterwards, so a later change at the organisation cannot quietly alter what was true for a contribution already made.

Every contribution carries three possible confirmations: from the organisation, from the Resource who gave, and from the person who received. It counts as resolved once at least two of the three are recorded. No single party can say a need was met on their own word.

Because people are not always reachable. Requiring all three would mean one unanswered phone call leaves a genuine delivery unresolved forever. Two independent confirmations is enough to mean something and achievable in real life.

A staff member records their confirmation after a phone call or a visit. The people being helped are never platform users, on purpose.

When it is your turn, a confirm button appears on the contribution. Once you press it, the button is gone and the row says you have confirmed. You are never asked twice.

It used to be described that way and that description was wrong. The money has already gone to the organisation. Confirmation is a permanent record that the help arrived, not a lever over anyone's funds.

The organisation can attach a photograph or document. It is visible to the Resource who contributed and to HelpLift. It is never public.

A contribution committed more than a week ago with no confirmation progress prompts the organisation once to coordinate delivery or cancel it.

For when you have something useful and want an organisation to take it, even though no need has been listed for it. No cash and no tax certificates are involved anywhere in this part of the platform.

A Resource, giving as themselves, or an organisation giving to another organisation. An organisation chooses itself as the donor from its own dashboard; its name is then shown publicly on the listing, and it can never claim its own donation.

Every approved organisation that has switched Drop or Collect on is notified the moment it is listed, and only they can see or claim it. It reaches the public noticeboard about two days later only if none of them has claimed it. A claimed listing is visible on the public board immediately, at any point.

The person listing an item can choose to notify only opted-in organisations in one province, instead of every opted-in organisation nationwide. This only changes who is proactively told about it — any opted-in organisation, anywhere, can still see and claim it during the private window.

A title, a description, one of nine item categories and a condition of good, fair or needs repair. You can add up to four photographs of the item itself.

Drop-off means you deliver it, and you are never asked for your address at all. Collection means somebody comes to fetch it, so an address is needed. There is also an option for either, which needs an address because the organisation may choose to collect.

It is kept separately from the public listing and shown only to the organisation that has claimed your item, and only after the claim. No other organisation and no member of the public sees it at any point. The public listing shows a suburb or city only.

Always needed, whichever option you choose, so the organisation can arrange a time. Shown on the same terms as the address.

A verified organisation that has switched this on claims the item exclusively. If it releases the claim, the item goes back on the board for others and you are told.

After 21 days without a claim you get one prompt asking whether the item is still available. Nothing expires on its own.

A missionary listing is public by design, which is the exact opposite of the private records of people being helped. The two are kept apart at the database level, not just on screen.

Only a verified organisation, and only for someone it vouches for. A missionary cannot list themselves.

A name, a photograph, their story and a general region rather than a precise location.

Ongoing support, which is continuous and has no target. A project, which has a funding target and closes when met. And an outreach or trip, which is tied to dates.

Uses exactly the same contribution, confirmation and payment machinery as a need.

You submit your organisation's name, registration type, city and province, and you receive an email confirming it arrived. You then upload your documents.

Registration certificate, and NPO, PBO or Section 18A letters if you have them. PDF or image, up to 10 MB each. They are private: only your own staff and the HelpLift review team can open them, through links that expire after ten minutes.

Your organisation page shows the state, when you submitted, who reviews applications and roughly how long that takes, and every document received with its filename, size and the time it arrived. If nothing has arrived it says what is missing.

Usually about three working days. If it takes longer than three you get an email saying it has not been forgotten, and another the moment there is a decision.

That a person at HelpLift reviewed the registration details and documents before letting the organisation in. It is a manual review by people, not an automatic check against a register.

Every approved organisation appears on the public directory automatically, searchable by name, province, what it focuses on, whether it can issue Section 18A certificates, and whether it takes item donations. What shows beyond the basics -- a description, services, hours, contact details, a website -- is entirely what the organisation itself chooses to add and publish; nothing is inferred or filled in for it.

An Organisation Admin adds people who already have a HelpLift account, by their email address, and chooses whether each is an Admin or a Staff Member. An organisation can have at most three Admins at a time, and any number of Staff Members.

Captured by an Admin only. Payout details can never be changed by a Staff Member, and the platform prevents an organisation account from redirecting its own payouts through a back door.

You capture the person being helped first, because a need belongs to a real recorded person, then describe the need itself with its category, urgency, photographs and any target amount.

Every change is recorded: what changed, from what, to what, by whom and when. This happens automatically and cannot be skipped.

Open contributions are cancelled and confirmed ones stay on the record. Cash already paid has already reached you and cannot be reversed through HelpLift — there is no HelpLift-run refund process, so you are expected to contact the donor directly to agree what happens to it instead.

A published need with no activity for 14 days is flagged on your list so you can update, resolve or cancel it. Nothing happens automatically. Each organisation chooses whether, and after how many days, its admins are also emailed about it.

If somebody drops something at your door without using HelpLift at all, you can record it, so your reporting reflects everything you actually received.

Your needs and contributions as a spreadsheet, for your board or a funder.

An Admin's Reports tab shows the needs pipeline today, the activity in any period (this month, quarter, year, all time, or an exact From and To range) and the funds raised per need, ready to print or save as a PDF. This year follows the financial year the organisation sets.

Two organisations that already work together can record it. One admin requests, the other's own admin accepts, and after that either can notify the other about a new need. The need stays fully public either way, and neither can see into the other's account.

One setting per organisation, changed by any Admin: whether to be emailed about quiet needs and after how many days, and whether to get one weekly summary instead.

A shorter form for a need that arrived by WhatsApp, so it is saved before the detail is forgotten. The person's details are still required in full.

A name, an ID number, a contact number and a location. Captured by the organisation as part of creating a need.

It is turned into a one-way scrambled value on the server. The number itself is never saved and never written into any log. Nobody, including HelpLift, can read it back out.

When someone is captured, HelpLift checks against every other organisation on the platform. If there is a match you are told the name of the other organisation and nothing else about them. It is a warning, not a block, so two organisations do not unknowingly work the same case.

Only the staff of the organisation that captured them, and HelpLift. Never the public, on any page, at any time, including link previews.

Their details are deliberately excluded from the platform's change logs, so they never end up sitting in an audit record.

Your name is shown, meaning it appears on the needs you support to anyone. Only the organisation sees you, meaning they and HelpLift can see it and the public cannot. Or nobody sees you, meaning it is shown to no one, though HelpLift keeps the record internally so your contribution can still be confirmed.

An optional name you give for the purpose. It is never taken from your email address. If you leave it blank, nothing is shown even if you chose to be publicly named.

The page says the contributor chose not to be named rather than showing a blank space, so nobody reads someone's choice as missing information.

You can change it at any time from your profile, and it applies from then on.

A confirmation that your application arrived, listing the documents received by name.

An email either way. If a decision takes more than three days, a note first saying it has not been forgotten.

A confirmation to you, for cash, goods and services alike, saying what happens next and what you will be asked to confirm later. The organisation gets its own notification at the same time.

You are told that the organisation confirmed the help was delivered.

If a published need matches the categories and provinces you chose, you hear about it. You can ask for one digest email per batch instead of one email per need.

An organisation is prompted when a contribution has gone a week without confirmation. A Drop or Collect listing prompts you after 21 days without a claim.

Your notification preferences control which categories and areas you hear about, and setting yourself unavailable stops the matching emails without changing anything you have already done.

The block on tax certificates for services, the suspension of an organisation, the limits on how much can be submitted in a day: these are enforced by the database itself, not by the screen. That means they hold even against someone bypassing the interface entirely.

A suspended organisation, Resource or missionary listing disappears from public view immediately and can no longer be contributed to.

At most three organisation applications and thirty contribution commitments per person per day. A real person applies once, maybe twice after a typo. A bot does not.

A captcha on sign-up and login, and a hidden trap field on the contact form that only an automated script would fill in.

Verification documents and proofs of delivery are never publicly reachable. They open only through links that check who you are and expire after ten minutes.

Every privileged action and every field-level change is recorded automatically by the database, including who did it and what the value was before and after. No part of the application can skip it.

HelpLift reviews each application and its documents and approves or declines, with the organisation emailed either way.

HelpLift can suspend and reinstate organisations, Resources and missionary listings.

Totals for needs, contributions, confirmed deliveries and cash facilitated, broken down by status, category and region.

It cannot move a contribution, reverse a payment, or alter a confirmation that has been recorded. The money never passes through HelpLift's hands, and the audit trail records anything anyone does.

Offers WhatsApp first, then copy link, then Facebook, then email. Nothing asks you to install anything.

The need's photograph, title and description. On a sensitive need, no photograph and province-level location only, so sharing cannot expose what the page itself protects.