What does the organization do

The name Lion Heart Foundation comes from the term 'lion's courage'. That was desperately needed for the realization of the hospital in one of the poorest countries in Africa: Sierra Leone. Three Dutch doctors founded the foundation and started building the hospital in 2010. They see great poverty and very limited medical facilities in the country. Since its construction, the Lion Heart Medical Centre has grown into a full-fledged hospital with about 80 employees and beds. In the middle of the jungle and a very remote area. The hospital serves 150,000 inhabitants from the region and provides a high level of medical care. By the end of 2025, the foundation wants to transfer the hospital to Sierra Leone itself, for more equality in their own community. The foundation helps in training the staff and increasing competencies, as well as strengthening organizational capacity and financial self-reliance. Reinier Hinse is chairman of the foundation and provides knowledge in the field of strategy formation, organizational development and change management.

What makes FindNFund interesting

Reinier talks about the possibilities he sees through the collaboration with FindNFund: 'As a foundation, we need financial resources to professionally run the hospital. This quickly costs a few hundred thousand per year, which we receive from individual donors and charity foundations. With this we finance 75% of the hospital, the rest is paid by patients. The hospital was created based on funding for various projects. But after building, the costs continue and funding is needed for operating costs. FindNFund helps to efficiently bring asset funds and foundations into contact with each other. Both scan the website and are in direct contact with the right parties. It offers a lot of potential to come into contact with organizations that can support us and the platform offers a nice, alternative route.'

Experiences with FindNFund

During the pilot period, FindNFund organized several sessions for finders and funders: 'FindNFund is a professional organization and that creates trust from the start. We discovered the platform playfully and gained experience; this was a pleasant introduction and a lot of good interaction between all parties. For both finders and funders it has been a learning process, where we could share and discuss experiences. A nice spin-off has emerged as a result of the pilot. For example, we spoke to a number of funders during the short speed date moments of FindNFund and an interesting party came out of that who wanted to provide us with funding.'

Vision on the sector and added value of FindNFund

According to Reinier, we need to move away from only financing projects of charities: 'Asset funds generally only finance short-term projects with a beginning and an end. The real impact on the environment only happens if it is approached sustainably and not project by project. Only then can we be of added value and carry out our mission. Step one is to bring finders and funders into contact with each other in a professional way and then communicate with each other in a structured way. FindNFund helps with that; the site is user-friendly and a great asset in terms of making and maintaining contact.'

Golden tip for FindNFund

As a golden tip, Reinier hopes for more awareness for the platform: 'Of course, more awareness will also yield more for both finders and funders. Once they have discovered the platform, they will reap the benefits. Together we make FindNFund a household name in the sector; there is potential here and the progressive way of bringing finders and funders together is unique. Therefore, give marketing and PR extra attention during the further development of the platform. This way there is also news value for the press and the platform becomes interesting for journalism.'