Repeat donations needed to make welfare organisations successful

An increasingly important source of funding for South African welfare organisations is regular and repeat financial donations from organisations such as Nedgroup Investments, says Chantel Cooper, Director of Rape Crisis in Cape Town.

Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust (RCCTT) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Cooper says it is important for welfare groups such as Rape Crisis to receive a steady income because it allows for better planning, a more efficient service and makes forward planning so much easier. "It helps to avoid a stop-start approach to our work and we can budget with so much more certainty for future expansion and networking with other organisations who indirectly depend on our services," she says.

Rape Crisis is one of four major welfare organisations who receive quarterly donations from the Nedbank Renaissance Fund, a Nedgroup Investments unit trust fund. The other three organisations benefiting from these donations are Childline, Habitat for Humanity and the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO).

Nic Andrew, head of Nedgroup Investments says, "The Nedbank Renaissance Fund effectively enables us to partner with these four organisations in their social upliftment efforts. The fund provides the best of both worlds, fulfilling its mandate to investors, while contributing to social upliftment without any conflicts or compromises."

"Importantly, the management of the Nedbank Renaissance Fund is different to some other social investment funds, as the investment universe is not restricted, nor are the investors required to share a portion of their returns," says Andrew.

Nedgroup Investments donates 60% of the initial fee earned on investments into the Nedbank Renaissance Fund and, together with the manager of the fund, African Harvest Fund Managers, also donates 30% of the funds annual management fee to these four welfare organisations.

The third quarter donation comes to R129 904 in total, with each organisation receiving R28 773. To date the Nedbank Renaissance Fund has raised over R2 million for Childline, Habitat for Humanity, Rape Crisis and NICRO.