By MANQOBA NXUMALO

Billionaires in Africa are stepping forward to give back to their communities, but is it more than charity?

Click here to view the article on Mail & Guardian's website

By Lindy Rodwell - Relationship Director at The Lewis Foundation.

I once asked my boyfriend the question all men dread to hear - "So where is this relationship going?" Appalled he shot back. "It's not a bus. It's going no-where!" I dumped him, and chose to get on a bus, which took me in the direction of a long term, fulfilling relationship.  He continued to catch the city hopper, ending up where he had started and essentially going nowhere.

Speed dating is fun, exciting, uncomplicated and easy to manage. Longer term relationships are difficult and involved; require time and resources and when the kids come along they add to the complexity the difficult management of an extended group of in-laws and outlaws. So why then do so many of us long for and strive to find meaningful long term relationships? Fundamentally; we are stronger together, more fulfilled when we share and our children are better off when raised in a caring, involved community.

The issue of speed dating vs thoughtful dating, leading to commitment and marriage, is something all donors need to consciously grapple with. It is so much easier to fund short term programmes with well-defined quantitative deliverables; to deal with one grantee at a time and to move on when things get complicated.  This modus operandi however seldom results in impact or brings about sustainable and lasting change.

Click here to read the article

Ebonie Johnson Cooper combats the notion that Black Millennials can't be philanthropists

Click here to read the article on Ebony's website

"Why do you call yourselves philanthropists? That’s like calling an average student a scholar,” a woman said to me once when she learned the label I had adopted for myself. She is a member of one of the wealthiest Black families in America. How could I dispute her claim when obviously she knew about a world -- and a level of giving back -- that I was far from? Nevertheless, I did the best I could to defend the use of the word "philanthropist" to describe myself and the cohort of young, Black community leaders I have come to know through my work with Friends of Ebonie.  Yet, nothing I could say could convince her that I wasn't abusing the label. Her words took the wind out of my sails.

The fact that most givers in our communities don’t see themselves--or each other--as philanthropists isn’t odd. For a very long time the term has only been applied to the extremely wealthy, who also happen to be White. That's why, despite serving as a vice president on the junior board of a large non-profit, being a member of two giving circles and a young patrons circle, taking on at least six volunteer projects a year, and making significant year-round donations--including my tithes--using the word "philanthropist" to describe myself hadn't entered my mind. I was a do-gooder, an agent of change, or just a really busy young professional outside of my day job. A philanthropist? Nah. 

What to do with my $billions? Simon Allison of the Daily Maverick presents a useful view on how to put serious wealth to work in Africa. Allison uses three excellent examples of African billionaires who have made vastly different commitments to respective national and continental development.  These are Patrice Motsepe, who has committed his billions to philanthropic investment; Mo Ibrahim, who has committed his billions to reward good national governance on the continent; and Aliko Dangote – who is using his billions to inject a massive investment into the Nigerian economy, in what he thinks is an excellent business decision.  So – philanthropy or business? 

By Eddy Oblowitz

Click here to read article on Financial Mail's website

Philanthropy can't eradicate systemic inequality, but strategic philanthropic investment can aid development on many fronts.

These are SA's philanthropists. Patrice Motsepe's recent extraordinary pledge of more than half his wealth to fund education, health and other initiatives to help the needy in SA has not only brightened the spotlight on giving. It also plays an important psychological role, serving as something of an antidote to the pessimism instilled by widespread official greed and corruption.

More good news is that there are in fact many ultra high net worth families in SA to whom "giving back" is an intergenerational family imperative that is taken very seriously.At the same time, the word "giving" must be used advisedly in this context. It implies a measure of passivity that belies the thought, strategy, skill and management that informs much philanthropic work here and elsewhere.

In the beginning there was a need and someone met it using their own time and resources. Then the need grew and became too much for one person, so they enlisted the time and resources of others. Out of all this activity was born a mission which served as the foundation for an organization to manage all of the time and resources. And so was born philanthropy.
 
At some point it was decided a person needed to spend all of their time asking more people for more and more of their time and resources. And so the fundraiser was born. It was also when philanthropy began a long slow march away from its mission.

Click here to read the article on Working Philanthropy website

Click on image to read the complete article, courtesy of www.alliancemagazine.org

Education Policy Analyst Graeme Bloch was invited to address the first Private Philanthropy Circle meeting of 2013 which took place at Inyathelo on Friday 1 March. Graeme was asked to discuss the education policies in South Africa and how donors can partner and collaborate to  help fix our schools and education system.

Graeme is senior researcher at MISTRA (Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection) and visiting adjunct Professor at University of Witwatersrand Public and Development Management school (P&DM). He was DBSA education policy analyst. Graeme taught in the education faculty at the University of Western Cape, and was project manager for youth development at the Joint Education Trust.  He has worked as head of Social Development in the Department of Welfare, and as Director of Social Development in the Joburg Metro. Before 1994, Graeme was an executive member of the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC) as well as the United Democratic Front (UDF). 

Here is the presentation he delivered to the Private Philanthropy Circle:

By Gillian Klawansky

Click here to read the article on Destinyman's website

We chat to Head of Philanthropy at Nedbank Private Wealth, Anna Vayanos about new tax advantages associated with donating money and developing a philanthropic strategy.

What are the new tax advantages mentioned in the budget speech for those contributing to philanthropic causes?
The changes are just proposals for now, but they would allow donors to carry over the available tax deduction to subsequent years. Currently, it is limited to 10% of a donor’s taxable income and so if they, for example, have a taxable income of R1 million and donate a total of R250 000 to certain causes in that same tax year, they can only claim a tax deduction of R100 000.

The new proposal would allow them to claim the remaining R150 000 in subsequent tax years. Also, in certain instances if a donor is indeed claiming his or her tax deduction, a percentage of the donation needs to be spent within a set time period. This obviously hampers donors’ efforts when trying to fund their own foundations as they then struggle to build up a capital base within the foundation due the requirement to spend the funds quite quickly. This is also being reviewed. Sustainable foundations usually involve a well-invested capital base and if this cannot be built up for tax or other reasons, it usually makes sense for a donor to just continue giving directly to the causes he or she supports. Unfortunately this then leaves a donor’s giving subject to whether they have enough available income that year.