Industry
CSR, Sustainability
Market
B2B, Africa
Services
UX Research, Product Design, Data Visualization
Tools
Figma, Miro, Flourish Studio
Good Compass is a research-backed tool designed to help companies make informed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) decisions beyond mainstream issues. By providing data-driven insights and a certification system, it empowers businesses to engage in high-impact, underrepresented causes, ensuring their CSR efforts are both strategic and meaningful.
Good Compass started as part of my MA in User Experience Design at Falmouth University, but the challenge it explored was anything but academic.
Across Africa, companies are increasingly interested in giving back through CSR. But when it comes to deciding how to give back, they often follow the path of least resistance, choosing visible causes like tree planting or high-profile donations that look good on paper.
Meanwhile, deeply rooted but less visible issues like access to clean water, community learning hubs, or disability-focused healthcare continue to be overlooked. These aren’t problems companies don’t care about. They’re problems that rarely surface clearly enough in the CSR decision-making process.
Through early conversations and structured research, I noticed a recurring gap: companies wanted to do meaningful CSR work, but lacked data, trusted pathways, and operational confidence to act on less-visible needs. Good Compass was designed to address this.
To move beyond assumptions, I conducted a survey and a one-on-one interview with CSR professionals across different industries in Africa. The patterns were clear.
Most companies were not opposed to tackling lesser-known issues. The problem was a lack of visibility and clarity. They didn’t have access to up-to-date, localized data on community needs. They weren’t sure which missions were trustworthy or feasible. And they often lacked the internal capacity to vet initiatives beyond their immediate networks.
Others mentioned constraints like tight budgets, poor project sustainability, and the difficulty of coordinating CSR in remote regions. For many, the default was to focus on causes that were already known, already visible, and already structured, even if that meant overlooking more impactful alternatives.
This became the design foundation for Good Compass: a tool that surfaces underrepresented CSR missions, provides data to support decision-making, and makes it easier for companies to get involved with confidence.
One of the early insights from the research was that CSR teams don’t browse randomly. They filter based on strategy, geography, budget, company values, or pre-approved focus areas like health, education, or sustainability.
So instead of designing a platform that tries to push causes to the top, we built a discovery flow that helps users pull what matters to them. Companies can filter by region, impact area, budget, or specific metrics like reach or timeline.
This approach gives users a sense of control, but it also quietly expands their awareness. For example, a company searching for health-related projects in Eastern Ghana might be exposed to overlooked community clinics or disability aid programs they wouldn’t have otherwise found.
Every mission listed is backed by on-the-ground validation. Field agents verify feasibility, ensure there are contractors available locally, and check for alignment with community priorities. That operational rigor is what makes discovery meaningful. It’s not just a list of requests. It’s a pipeline of ready-to-support initiatives.
While researching CSR programs, it became clear that even when companies cared deeply about impact, they still had internal pressures to show results to boards, to leadership, and often to the public.
That’s why we built a certification system into Good Compass. Every time a company participates in a mission, contributes funding, or collaborates with others, they earn points that count toward a tiered certification badge. These badges aren’t just for display. They represent a track record of real-world impact, verified by our field agents and tracked on the platform.
This system gives companies something they can show, not for vanity, but for visibility. Whether it’s an internal report, a press release, or a stakeholder update, the badge system allows teams to tell a clearer story about what they’ve done, and how often.
It also encourages consistency. CSR isn’t one-off by nature, but that’s how many programs run. The certification system was designed to help shift that mindset from occasional giving to sustained engagement.
Not every company can fund a project alone, so I made collaboration part of the platform
One thing that stood out in both the survey and interview was how budget constraints often keep companies from taking action, even when the will is there. Especially for smaller firms, the cost of fully funding a community initiative can feel out of reach.
Good Compass was designed with that reality in mind. The platform allows companies to co-fund missions with others. Let's say two companies contribute to renovate a rural school, or five companies pool resources to fund a health outreach in a remote area. This collaborations reduce friction and significantly increase impact.
The platform shows which missions are partially funded, who’s involved, and how much is left. This creates transparency, but also momentum. A company that may have hesitated to lead can now confidently join.
Over time, this becomes more than a funding feature. It builds a community of companies aligned by values, not just budget size. It also means that impactful projects don’t have to wait until one big sponsor shows up. They can start with five committed ones.
Want to explore the research behind Good Compass?
