– 5 minutes
Over the past financial year, Soft Landings has taken our people from food-packing tables to veterinary practices, animal welfare organisations, sporting fields, and community spaces. It has been a year of showing up, lending a hand, and backing people who are already doing the work that matters.
Ongoing Support for Animal Welfare
Animal welfare remains an important part of the Soft Landings story.
At Dotsure, we’ve continued our support of the South African Guide-Dogs Association, including monthly contributions towards their vet bill fund and sponsoring Winnie, a guide-dog puppy beginning her training journey. This year also brought a particularly special milestone when Grace graduated as a guide dog, enabling her to support a person living with visual impairment.
We also continued supporting the NSPCA, local animal welfare initiatives and fundraising efforts in collaboration with the AACL, Garden Route SPCA – George and Garden Route SPCA – Mossel Bay.
For us, these partnerships are about more than lending our name to a cause. They are about standing alongside people who spend every day advocating for animals and finding practical ways to support their work.
Backing Big-Hearted Vets & Volunteers
Vets spend their working lives caring for animals, but the profession needs care too.
Through our #WeLoveVets initiative, we maintained our compassion fatigue support hotline for veterinary professionals. We also made more than 40 corporate social investment contributions to over 32 veterinary practices during the year, supporting practices that provide essential care in their communities.
During Mandela Month, we supported the sterilisation and vaccination of more than 40 pets through Dr Annarie Greyling and the WanderVet Pretoria team.
Closer to home, our staff rolled up their sleeves at the Garden Route SPCA – George, painting tyres to brighten the shelter environment, spending time with the cats and donating dog food, blankets, paint, and brushes.
These initiatives looked very different, but each responded to something practical. Helping a vet continue caring for patients, helping prevent unwanted litters, or making a shelter a little more welcoming for the animals living there.
Putting Teamwork into Action
Food security was another significant focus during the year. The Soft Landings food packing initiative provided 2,464,182 meals, exceeding the financial year’s target. The ambition for the new financial year is to reach 2.7 million meals by end-June 2027.
Our George team packed 13,410 food packs on Mandela Day, surpassing their original goal of 10,000. The Dotsure SWD Eagles joined as well, bringing the teamwork and energy they are known for on the rugby field to a very different kind of team effort.
It was a fitting addition to a memorable year for the Eagles, who went on to win the Currie Cup 1st Division title.
Supporting the Communities We Call Home
Looking back, what stands out is just how many different forms care can take.
In George, we supported the Botanical Gardens, contributing to a much-loved local space where people can connect with the region’s natural environment. We’ve also been fortunate to support warm-hearted initiatives such as Run for the Dogs, helping give dogs who have faced difficult circumstances a better chance at finding homes.
The primary motivation is to find people who are already putting care into action, listen to what they need, and find ways to stand alongside them.
Keeping the Good Work Going
Soft Landings is made up of plenty of noteworthy milestones, but the numbers go beyond a corporate responsibility checklist.
The bigger picture is made up of the veterinary teams treating their next patient, the guide-dog trainer patiently working with a puppy, the SPCA staff member caring for an animal that has nowhere else to go, the volunteers packing another box of meals, and the Dotsure staff member wholeheartedly contributing their time to make a positive difference in our community.
It is also about recognising that support does not always need to be complicated. Sometimes it’s about simply showing up with an open heart and willing hands.
As we head into the new financial year, Soft Landings will continue to follow the same instinct of finding good people doing meaningful work and lending a hand where we can.
Dotsure Limited (Registration number 2006/000723/06) is a licensed non-life insurer and authorised financial services provider (FSP39925).
