Why Donum
Donum is Latin for gift.
We chose Latin because nobody speaks it at home anymore. It belongs to no single country or people, and another chance shouldn't depend on where you come from. Everyone deserves one.
And because the thing it names is older than any language. For as long as there have been hard times, people have come through them, often with help: a meal, a roof, a skill, another chance.
The name has one more meaning. Our founder's name, Kirabo, means gift in Luganda and a few other languages in Uganda. He started Donum because he was given chance after chance, and he built it so that anyone can give one too.
What we believe, and why
Why don't we ask whose fault it was?
Because blame looks back, and the next step is forward. Knowing who is to blame has never paid a student's exam fee, or fed a community just displaced by war.
Not asking isn't the same as excusing. We never justify wrongdoing or violence. But reopening an old conflict rarely stays in the past. It can stir up anger, and anger can lead to more harm. So we leave that question to others, look at where things stand today, and put everything we have into the next step.
There is a safety reason too. When a story names a side, people on the other side can find the person who told it, and some of them may want to hurt them. That is why stories here say what happened, but never name the person or the side behind it.
Why don't we try to explain the pain away?
Because pain doesn't need a reason to be real, and giving it one doesn't make it smaller. So we don't argue with it, and we don't rush anyone past it. We listen.
Some wounds take a long time to heal, and some scars last a lifetime. The suffering that follows them doesn't have to. Hunger, lost income, lost schooling, a life on hold: those can end. That is the part we work on.
Why only the next step?
Because it's the part we can actually change. We can't undo the past, and we can't plan anyone's whole life for them. But the next step is usually something specific: a fee, a tool, a course, a water point. We have the time, the resources and the power to see it through to the end. Once it's done, the person or community can take the step after that on their own.
Why another chance, and not a second one?
Because first attempts often fail, and so do second ones. Most people who got somewhere got there on a later try than they'd like to admit. A second chance runs out. Another chance doesn't. And every one of us is here because, somewhere back along the line, someone got one.
Why do we publish the chances that didn't hold?
Because you deserve to know what a gift did, not only when it worked. And because a chance that didn't hold teaches us more than one that did: it shows where we chose the wrong step, or missed what someone really needed. Every outcome is counted. Each person decides how much of their own story is shown: only a number, a summary without their name, or, if they want it and it's safe, their name and their own words.
Who makes it work
Donum isn't one person. It's everyone who takes part.
Our team runs the foundation every day: choosing each chance, seeing it through, and checking back to see what happened.
Volunteers give their time and skills. They mentor, edit, translate, read stories aloud, and moderate comments.
Storytellers give the most personal gift of all: what life has taught them, in good times and hard ones.
Outreach partners, the organisations on the ground, find the people and communities who are one gift away, and deliver each chance with us.
Philanthropy partners, individuals and institutions, fund the work.
And you. If you'd like to give, there are many ways: money, a skill, your time, a job, the tools of a trade, a story.
Give where it's needed most See all the ways to give
Everyone deserves another chance. Everyone can help give one.