Digital8 Community Impact Fund Launch

Pasindu Raminda - August 25, 2020April 26, 2024

Last Wednesday morning we launched our annual Community Impact Fund with a fun brekky event. Fund recipients past and present were invited to the D8 Office in Cordelia St for a great morning full of laughs, conversations and incredible ideas. The Community Fund is an initiative set up by Digital8 that aims to help community-minded organisations increase their capacity to do good in the community by offering organisations our time and resources. 

This year’s recipients are set to benefit from a collective $200,000 worth of web and app development in the next 12 months and all came together to celebrate the launch over coffee, breakfast and COVID Safe Regulations.

Don’t Let COVID Stop Positive Community Impact

While faced with some challenges due to COVID-19, Digital8 pushed on their commitment to support vulnerable communities. We are dedicated to helping these businesses that are passionate about creating social change to improve the community, despite the funding and resourcing challenges that have faced them. 

“It was incredible to see the number of organisations that are contributing to society in such impactful ways – even during a global pandemic, this year’s recipients each demonstrated how a project delivered by Digital8 could drastically improve their success in years to come, whether it be via a website, app, digital marketing or UX,” said Joe McCord, Digital8’s General Manager. 

“Our team is looking forward to working alongside our 2020 recipients to deliver services that will empower and enable them to thrive both on and offline,” said Joe. 

The Heartwarming Story of a 2019 Community Fund Recipient

“I had a wonderful time this morning at the launch of Digital8’s Community Fund!” Ms Rachel Greenfield, the founder of Rachie’s Ratirement Home said. Rachie Ratirement Home was the recipient of 2019 Digital8 Community Impact Fund. Digital8 built a $20,000-worth website on the Drupal platform. 

We met at a rat adoption event

Digital8 team met Rachel Greenfield during a rat adoption event and got to know that her rat rescue association has been working hard to help domestic rats to find foster carers and forever carers. A few weeks later, the team at Digital8 reached out and offered to build a rat-adoption website where her organisation can offer more educational pieces and support to the rat-loving community. 

“We’re so incredibly grateful to the team at Digital8. It’s incredible being able to host educational pieces and get our work out there to help the wider community, we cherish this gift every day.” Ms Rachel Greenfield said. 

Credit: Rachie’s Ratirement Home Facebook Post

In A Season Of Isolation, Be There For Each Other

When people are isolated from each other during a season of pandemic, it’s even more important for people to find a different way to come together and support each other. 

One of this year’s Fund recipients is Empathy First – a social enterprise using virtual reality to educate people around mental health literacy and communication. Founder, Leanne Butterworth, said Digital8’s services will be a game-changer to the business and community. 

“This year has magnified hardships and mental health issues for many, so the timing of Digital8’s generosity will have huge, positive impacts on Empathy First and our wider community,” Ms Butterworth said.