Congratulations to Tarryn Corlett-Boden, Carol Wathen and Jozelle Steenkamp for sending us such inspiring stories as part of our Faces of Philanthropy campaign. These stories show how different people are involved in working for a better South Africa. Along with being featured on Philanthropy SA and in our upcoming newsletter, these three individuals will each receive a FREE six month subscription to FundingFinder, Inyathelo’s online donor directory. 

A mother’s love

Tina Botha started the Sunflower Fund after her 17-year-old son died of Leukaemia. The Sunflower Fund has provided hope to many South Africans and people around the world by successfully raising funds needed for the South African  Bone Marrow Registry. Tina's dream was to combat the odds (1:100 000) for patients suffering from leukaemia and other life threatening blood disorders by finding matching donors. There were only 800 donors on the South African Bone Marrow Registry when her son was searching in 1999. Currently, the register has over 64 500 donors thanks to the efforts of the Sunflower Fund. 

Read more about the Sunflower Fund on their website: http://www.sunflowerfund.org.za/

Bicycle diaries

At the age of 10, Andrew Jackson has completed his second Argus Cycle tour to raise funds for weekly literacy classes at Diepsloot Combined School. The funds assist parents and teachers at his school, St. Peter’s, to continue their volunteer work at the school in Diepsloot. Andrew also approached his father Rob and asked him for support. Rob has completed eight Argus Cycle Tours on behalf of the Dads Charity Challenge, which is a registered non-profit organisation that donates money to the Sunflower Fund, Childhood Cancer Foundation SA, The Gauteng Down Syndrome Association, Employability, and the Fulton School for the Deaf. 

Read more about the Dads Charity Challenge on their website: http://www.dadscharity.co.za/

Giving children a better future

Sadie and Julian Cutland decided to reach out to other parents who were going through the same ordeal they did when their young daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 1979. They started Childhood Cancer Foundation S.A.  (CHOC) in support of the wellbeing of children suffering from cancer. CHOC offers accommodation, transport and psycho-social support programmes.

Read more about CHOC and its programmes on their website: http://www.choc.org.za/

US beer family wears a new development makarapa.

By Ryk van Niekerk

Click here to read the article on Moneyweb's website

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Click here to read article on Huffington Post's website

Next week, Tuesday, May 14, the Rockefeller Foundation will mark our Centennial. In the lead up to the celebration, I’ve been contributing a series of posts about what we’ve learned about strategic philanthropy over the last 100 years.

Last week, in my third entry, I wrote about philanthropy’s ability to “back brains” and invest in the power of human ingenuity. Amazing things happen when you bet on people -- including entire transformations. And that is, of course, our fourth super power -- the ability to bring about transformations that not only disrupt but at times uproot entire systems and save millions of lives.

The most obvious example from Rockefeller Foundation history is our work in scientific agriculture that started in Mexico, which would develop the seeds that launched the Green Revolution, and feed more than 1 billion people.

Ground-breaking analysis by Giving Evidence disproves the popular idea that charities should spend less on administration.

Click here to read the article on Giving evidence website

This is the first analysis which shows (doesn’t just argue) that high-performing charities spend more on administration costs than weaker ones do.

So it’s unarguably wrong-headed of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to be considering limiting charities’ admin costs. It’s unarguably wrong of donors such as Gina Miller to suggest that admin costs be capped. The data indicate that such caps would nudge donors towards choosing weaker charities, at untold cost to their beneficiaries.  It’s time for this to change.

The analysis

Judging a charity’s quality  is hard. Some of the most rigorous analysis is by GiveWell, a US non-profit run by former Wall Street analysts, whose analysis is often dozen of pages. GiveWell looks for various sensible indicators of quality, including: a strong documented track record of impact; highly cost-effective activities; and a clear need for more funds.

The staff at Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity (CGP) have presented the first analysis of philanthropic freedom across the world. In there 13 country pilot study, they examine barriers and incentives for individuals and organizations to donate resources to social causes. CGP scored and compared countries on their ease of giving by collecting detailed information on three main indicators: the ease of registering and operating civil society organizations (CSOs); domestic tax policies for deductions, credits, and exemptions; and, the ease of sending and receiving cash and in-kind goods across borders. This research is a major step in helping countries identify policy changes that will encourage philanthropy, the goal of this study.

Read the full report

There is an expanding global philanthropic sector and philanthropy support industry, internationally and locally. Yet very little is known about the sector as a whole, the different service providers that work in this space and where areas of commonality exist. Against this backdrop, Inyathelo led the first philanthropy service providers meeting on Tuesday 30 April 2013.

The meeting held at Inyathelo offices in Cape Town laid the foundation for the creation of a philanthropy service providers’ support network of individuals from non-profits and business who among others provide financial, legal, advisory and management services, as well as consulting and technical support to philanthropists, trusts and foundations.

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.