Reducing the digital divide on the associations' side
A well-equipped association helps better. Kern4Good removes two barriers to digital for associations: price, through at-cost work and the solidarity pool, and isolation, through cohorts.
Digital is not shared equally, and neither are associations
The digital divide has two sides. The people associations support: online procedures, access to rights, employment. And the associations themselves: a dated website, no contact base, tools paid at company prices, nobody to look after them. Kern4Good was born from the second, because a well-equipped association helps better on the first.
The program does not claim to solve the digital divide. It removes one barrier, price, and another, isolation: cohorts make five associations work together.
What we provide at cost
Today
- Websites, in a cohort or directly
- Consulting: tools, CRM, AI, training
With the next cohorts
- Cohorts by need: member management, management tools
- Pooled trainings
What we do not do
- Hardware and connectivity
- Individual support of the public (that is your job, we equip those who do it)
Why at cost
An association that pays a website at market price gives up something else. At cost means the price that covers the days of work and the hosting, without margin. Sponsor companies fund the rest for associations without a budget, and they gain a visibility no advertising gives. That is the solidarity pool.
Frequently asked questions
Which associations are concerned?
Small and medium-sized Belgian associations with a clear societal goal and a real need for a website or a tool, preferably after one to three years of activity. The full criteria are on the registration page.
Does the program also help the associations' public?
Indirectly: by equipping the association. A social grocery with an up-to-date website and a clean contact list serves its families better. We do not replace digital inclusion actors, we work with them when a cohort allows it.
Where to find reliable figures on the digital divide in Belgium?
The digital inclusion barometer published by the King Baudouin Foundation and Statbel's surveys on ICT use by households are the two sources we cite. Figures change every year: go to the source.
Your association lacks tools, not ideas?
Register it for the next cohort, or tell us what you need.