Five pillars

Our policy rests on five pillars: sustainability, empowerment, ownership, transparency, and cooperation.

Sustainability

Sustainability: we measure our success by the number of projects and organisations that continue to grow after our involvement has ended. According to Cordaid, our approach is exemplary: ‘the initiative and approach of the South Africa Foundation ... provides an examplary model of development aimed at sustainability and self-sufficiency.’

Empowerment

Empowerment: allowing people and organisations to discover their own strengths and talents, and offering them a chance to develop them. Just as important as financial assistance is the sharing of knowledge and experience.  Networking is an important activity, and we make extra funding available for training and education.

Ownership

Ownership: the initiative lies with the people themselves. We aim to channel 100% of our funding through partner organisations. In doing so, we stay critical and we challenge people to take initiative. We keep a close eye on the budget to determine if and when an organisation is able to move on without us.

Transparancy

We aim to inform you concisely and clearly about our philosophy and our work. In October 2008, the South Africa Foundation was awarded the ‘Transparency Prize 2008’ (Transparantprijs 2008) for the most transparent annual report in the category ‘small organisations’. The beautiful trophy was made by glass artist Bert Grotjohann. Mr Rinnooy Kan, chairman of the jury, commented on our annual report: ‘The South Africa Foundation has, despite a limited budget, presented a good annual report marked by simplicity, temperance, and involvement.’ Learn more about what we do in the >> summary of this annual report and of other annual reports.

Cooperation

The South Africa Foundation cooperates with partners in South Africa, England, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. We do so in the spirit of one of Nelson Mandela’s sayings: ‘By working together we can build the South Africa of our dreams’. 
We cooperate in various ways:
-    One organises while the other one pays
-    Organise together
-    Pay together
-    Organise and pay together.

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Added value

SPZA’s added value consists of:

• Successful promotion of volunteering by township youth. Many hundreds of young people have committed themselves to volunteering in recent years.
• Our working models and procedures (developed together with partners and youngsters), can be used by others and developed further.
• Introduction and promotion of recycled materials as a method of payment.
• Regular contact by e-mail, fax and phone and at least once a year a personal visit to partners in South Africa.
• Making knowledge, skills and network available because money alone creates dependence. By bringing partners together with other donors and by offering workshops on fundraising. That's how we can do so much with relatively little money.
• Directors and founders invest not only time and energy but also money in SPZA programs and projects from the principle of "Do ut es": I give because you give.
• Since board members have often visited or lived or worked in South Africa, the SPZA has significant knowledge of the country and its culture.
• We offer donors a "money back" guarantee. A donor who is not satisfied with our work may ask for a refund.
• A careful separation of the supervision function (approving plans, critically monitoring the organisation and its results) and the management function (adequate checks and balances, balanced distribution of power), despite the organisation's small size.

Questions about cooperation?

Should you have any questions about cooperation, please consult the FAQ or Q&A webpage
Are you interested in cooperating with the South Africa Foundation, or do you know of a project that may be of interest to us? Please contact us.

Other Who We Are pages

• Founders
• Strategy and Policy
• Target Groups and Goals
• Mission and Ubuntu
• Partners
• Governance