Osayi Alile, the CEO of ACT Foundation, on the challenges of grant-making in Africa and the need to solve the continent’s problems, especially in a Covid environment.



The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered possibly one of the most catastrophic crisis across Africa in a decade. The unprecedented events of the marauding virus have led to a dramatic increase in inequalities for millions of Africans especially for those who have no access to healthcare or employment. Among those most impacted by this pandemic and its fallout are those in the informal sector, many of whom are women.



With the virus leading to increased vulnerabilities in several key sectors of economies, African governments have become inundated with many infrastructural challenges affecting their respective populations. In the wake of the widening gap, non-profit organizations are stepping in to ensure the most vulnerable in society do not get left behind, and they are doing this through grant-making.



This, however, presents several challenges. Even though the continent, with 54 countries, is blessed with natural resources and some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the continent still needs more resources from several sectors to address grave issues plaguing the economy.



Areas like healthcare, social inequality, unemployment and terrorism, have left a number of countries in dire straits, with their governments ill-equipped to provide much-needed resources to fix these issues. As a result, there has been a strong reliance on global grant-making organizations who have the mandate of ensuring positive change in Africa, to help provide the financial resources to solve some of the issues that affect more than a billion people on the continent, across areas like agriculture, education, healthcare and human rights.



The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation ranks as one of the largest contributors of grants in Africa. In 2016, the organization committed to invest $5 billion over five years in support of health and anti-poverty initiatives in Africa, according to Philanthropy News Digest. With the youngest population in the world, children and youth have become a key focus of grant-making organizations with the demographic receiving more than one in three grant dollars and one in four grants awarded by United States’ foundations for Africa, in 2012, according to a report by the Foundation Center.



Osayi Alile, the Chief Executive Officer of Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, is on a mission to become the leading indigenous grant-making organization across Africa, also tackling these challenges. Starting out as a consultant for Access Bank Plc on its CSR projects as well as being the former executive director of FATE Foundation, a private sector-led not-for-profit organization in Nigeria, Alile is on a mission to empower African NGOs through grants to help solve the pressing needs in their communities.



“Yes, a lot of help comes from abroad but we also need to solve our problems ourselves so that’s where ACT came into being. I came up with the structure and helped to put it in place then, moved on to working full time as CEO for the foundation. We knew there was a lack of funding needed to accomplish what a lot of NGOs wanted to do and we couldn’t wait for someone to solve these issues for us. We decided on the SDG goals like health, environment, leadership and enterprise,” says Alile.



Alile has over 20 years of non-profit experience in Africa and thus knows more than most about the challenges of grant-making in Africa.



“You get a lot of proposals and sometimes people are not as truthful as they should be. So, the challenge is going through proposals in our 30 states in Nigeria and making sure they are doing what they say they are doing. So, you have to make sure you are doing background checks and a lot of energy and a lot of time needs to be spent to make sure we are picking the right organization from the beginning to make the right impact.”



The organization is currently working with 70 organizations with the mission of adding 40 new organizations each year.



“70% of our funding goes to the ones that respond to our funding call each year. In the last four years, we have given over N1 billion ($2.6 million) to NGOs. Sometimes, they ask for N50 million ($131,500) and when I look at their proposal, you realize that’s not what they need. So, we work with them to streamline their organization so they are efficient.”



And in a Covid environment, the need for funding is now more pressing than ever.



“We did a lot last year because our problems were not going away with Covid. Domestic abuse does not change because of Covid. Cancer does not change because of Covid, maternal issues do not change. So, the local NGOs are the ones that had to stay back during Covid and work on a daily basis to solve these problems. With Covid, the number of cases like domestic violence went up by 46% and in some countries all the way to 100%,” says Alile.



As the organization turns five next year, Alile has shifted her focus to also recruit more philanthropists and entrepreneurs to join forces to solve Nigeria and Africa’s problems. They are currently working in Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa with a goal to expand to even more countries on the continent.



“I knew we had a lot of NGOs and social enterprises that needed money but I didn’t know it was this much. When we did the first call we got so many people and it was very overwhelming. It is difficult because all the organizations are doing well and when you go to the field and you have to select which ones to give money to, you ask yourself who else is going to give money those who were not selected? So, you need to be able to put structures in place and make sure that every time you pick one organization over another, you are picking them for the right reasons,” says Alile.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="687" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-1024x687.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51032" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009-768x515.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG-20210414-WA0009.jpg 1049w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



One of the lucky organizations that were picked by ACT Foundation is the Women At Risk International Foundation (WARIF), founded by Dr Kemi DaSilva-Ibru. They have been recipients of three grant cycles from ACT in their effort to fight gender-based violence in rural communities across Nigeria.



“The community-based initiative that the ACT Foundation supports is the Warif Gate Keepers project and it is essentially a community-based initiative where we go into rural communities and we encourage stakeholders in these communities to take ownership of gender-based violence, particularly rape and child sexual abuse. Based on our survey, 71% of women in these communities were aware of cases, however, none of them had ever been trained as first responders to cases of gender-based violence.”



ACT Foundations’ grant-enabled Warif to tackle the life-saving issues that comes with gender based violence and empower victims to speak up and seek justice.



“So, our project was to engage these traditional birth attendants who we refer to as gate-keepers where we train them as first responders of cases of gender-based violence and the impact was amazing. First, in terms of our outcomes. Now, we had an additional skill that they were able to offer and then they were also able to cascade the training in an apprenticeship like form. The second impact is as the result, we were able to not only improve on the knowledge but the behavioral change that comes with that knowledge and seek prosecution on behalf of victims,” says DaSilva-Ibru.



The impact her organization has made in the gender space would not have been without grant-making organizations like the ACT Foundation and their willingness to take on organizations with innovative ideas who are ready to implement them and help solve the many challenges facing the African continent.

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On A Mission To Empower African NGOs

This has been a year of record-setting in billionaire philanthropy. In September, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, owners of POM Wonderful and Fiji Water, pledged $750 million to the California Institute of Technology for environmental sustainability research. 



In June, Blackstone cofounder Stephen Schwarzman donated $189 million to the University of Oxford—the largest single gift to the school since the Renaissance—to fund its work on humanities. The same month, Broadcom billionaire Henry Samueli pledged $100 million to UCLA’s engineering school, the largest gift ever to the department. 



Forbes tracks gifts and pledges like these as part of our ongoing coverage of charitable giving by the country’s richest people.



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For the second year in a row, Forbes tracked the philanthropic giving of the richest 400 individuals in the U.S. and gave each member of The Forbes 400 list a philanthropy score. The score ranged from 1 to 5,  with 5 being the most philanthropic. List members for whom we could find no charitable giving information received an N.A. (not available).



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5da485de6763cb000608aa94/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Philanthropy Forbes 400"/><figcaption>FORBES</figcaption></figure>



Though the number of the biggest givers—those who scored a 5—stayed flat in 2019, those who received scores of 4 and 3 increased compared with a year ago. 



The changes reflect two things: The country’s richest have gotten somewhat more generous, and Forbes had more information to work with this year. Some billionaires were willing to share information on charitable giving for the 2019 list who didn’t in 2018. As a result, four dozen people got higher scores this year than a year ago. 



This year, Warren Buffett led the list of top givers with $38.8 billion in lifetime giving, which is 32% of his net worth, and earned the top score of 5. 



He was followed by last year’s biggest giver, Bill Gates, who has donated $38.5 billion so far. Two people who scored a 5 last year—Paul Allen and David Koch—passed away. 



READ MORE: <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Forbes Africa | 8 Years And Growing (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/cover-story/2019/10/14/forbes-africa-8-years-and-growing/" target="_blank">Forbes Africa | 8 Years And Growing</a>



Billionaires like DreamWorks Pictures founder David Geffen and WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton moved up to the top score after each scored a 4 last year. According to the latest tax filings, Geffen gave $38 million to his foundation in 2017, which brought his lifetime giving to about $1 billion. 



Acton and his wife Tegan, on the other hand, have been expanding their philanthropic network, Wildcard Giving, which they founded in 2014 after Acton sold WhatsApp to Facebook. The couple has given away more than $1 billion to charitable causes.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5da48621cd594c000620fe51/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="2019 Forbes 400 Giving"/><figcaption>FORBES</figcaption></figure>



Forty-one billionaires, including Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings and software billionaire Philip “Terry” Ragon, got higher scores this year than last year. Some, like Stephen Schwarzman, earned a higher score thanks to giving in the past year. 



Others scored higher because we were able to find more information about their lifetime giving, through new public documents or details provided to us by Forbes 400 members or their spokespeople. In September, a Los Angeles Times report revealed that B. 



Wayne Hughes, cofounder of self-storage behemoth Public Storage, had anonymously donated about $400 million to the University of Southern California in his lifetime. Hughes, who scored a 2 last year, jumped up to a 4.



Private equity tycoon Robert F. Smith’s pledge in May to wipe out the student debt of the entire 2019 graduating class of Morehouse College generated lots of headlines but did not end up changing his score because the gift wasn’t big enough to move him up a notch. In many cases, fortunes grew faster than lifetime philanthropic giving. 



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To come up with the information on which we based our score,&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;reporters looked at tax filings for charitable foundations, annual statements, SEC filings and news about new gifts.&nbsp;When possible, we interviewed Forbes 400 members and executives from their foundations. Some Forbes 400 members said they have chosen to donate anonymously, citing religious or privacy concerns.&nbsp;



Our score is based on total lifetime giving and what percent of their fortune members had given away. We weighted these two factors equally. Some individuals were then bumped up or down based on several other factors, including whether they had signed the Giving Pledge, whether they had pledged significant donations, how personally involved they were in their charitable giving, and how quickly and effectively their private foundations distributed dollars. We didn’t count pledges or announced gifts that have yet to be paid out, but we took commitment to philanthropy—or lack thereof—into account.



Forbes has been tracking the wealth of the richest Americans since 1982. “Some of [the members] told us to drop dead,” James Michaels, veteran editor of Forbes, told the New York Times in a 1982 story about the list’s debut. “They said they wanted no part of it, that they’d sue us. 



This happens in reporting.” At times, our reporting on philanthropic giving received a similar response. “The new philanthropy ranking is fundamentally flawed, in that it is biased in favor of those who make their gifts widely known, and against donors who choose to make their charitable contributions anonymously,” one current Forbes 400 member (who did not wish to be named) wrote to us last year.



-Deniz Çam; Forbes

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These Are The Biggest Givers On The Forbes 400

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates joined the battle against Alzheimer’s disease on Monday, when he announced a $50 million investment in UK-based Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF), a venture capital fund. The investment is independent of his philanthropic work at the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will follow up his initial investment with an additional $50 million to be doled out to start-up ventures working on Alzheimer&#8217;s research, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-dementia-gates/bill-gates-makes-100-million-personal-investment-to-fight-alzheimers-idUSKBN1DD0S3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he told Reuters. </a>
Dementia is something personal to him. “My dad will celebrate his 92nd birthday in a couple weeks, a milestone that was practically unimaginable when he was born,” Gates, wrote <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Digging-Deep-Into-Alzheimers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in a post</a> on his website, GatesNotes, on Monday. Gates did not say whether his father has dementia or not although he wrote that men in his family &#8220;have suffered from Alzheimer&#8217;s.&#8221; “Your risk of getting arthritis, Parkinson’s, or another non-infectious disease that diminishes your quality of life increases with each year. But of all the disorders that plague us late in life, one stands out as a particularly big threat to society: Alzheimer’s disease,” he added.
Although the number of studies investigating Alzheimer’s disease have grown in number over the past decade, scientists have not yet found a conclusive way to battle the disease, which is one of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S.. Every 66 seconds, someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s, a rate expected to double by 2050, according <a href="https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-and-figures.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to a 2016 study by the Alzheimer’s Association</a>. For those who live into their mid-80s, there is a 50% chance of developing the disease, which causes decline in memory, language, problem-solving and other cognitive skills, the nonprofit says. “That trend will likely continue as baby boomers age, which means that more families will watch their loved ones suffer from cognitive decline and slowly disappear,” Gates wrote in his post.
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In addition to its emotional burden, the disease also results in significant economic costs for families, caregivers and healthcare systems. In 2011, 15.2 million Americans provided unpaid care for their loved ones valued <a href="https://www.alz.org/documents/national/submitted-testimony-050113.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">at over $210 billion</a>, an Alzheimer’s Association statement from 2013 concluded. The same statement said that Alzheimer’s expenditure will reach a total of $20 trillion over the next 40 years. Americans will spend <a href="https://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2017-facts-and-figures.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$259 billion</a> caring for those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia just in 2017, according to the association.
The DDF, whose board includes the UK government as well as pharmaceutical giants like Biogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Eli Lilly, and Pfizer, has already invested in 12 ventures fighting Alzheimer’s in both the UK and the U.S. since it was founded in 2015. “We welcome Bill Gates’ involvement as we collaborate to solve one of the biggest issues in global healthcare,” Kate Bingham of healthcare venture capital firm SV Health, which manages DDF, said in a statement.
Along with his wife Melinda Gates and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, Bill Gates started the Giving Pledge in 2010 and committed to giving away more than half of his net worth in his lifetime. In October, he was unseated by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/billionaires/2017/10/31/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-richest-person-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as the world’s richest person</a> and will likely drop down the list in the near future, due to his philanthropic efforts.
“This is a frontier where we can dramatically improve human life,” the 62-year-old philanthropist said in a press release on Monday, “It’s a miracle that people are living so much longer, but longer life expectancies alone are not enough. People should be able to enjoy their later years – and we need a breakthrough in Alzheimer’s to fulfill that.” &#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Deniz Cam</a>, FORBES STAFF

Bill Gates Is Investing $100 Million In Alzheimer’s Research, Citing Family History

It is very rare that altruism and art find a common meeting place.
We find both on the 22nd floor of a Sandton skyscraper, where businesswoman and philanthropist Saloni Wahi is hard at work.
There’s aesthetics everywhere in her bright, beautifully-appointed home – the paintings on the walls, the handcrafted pottery in the foyer, even the orange fruit basket she has made with clay.
Unflattering balls of clay turn into ebullient masterpieces in her hands. At this moment, by the kitchen counter, she is moulding what looks like a golf hat, “inspired by a Saturday game of golf”.
This yen to seek inspiration in everyday objects, tapping into her talents, be it pottery or golf, to create “templates” for her work, is perhaps what makes Saloni the purposeful aesthete she is – giving her all to art, and giving her art to all.
Over the last decade since she first became a “potter by chance” in Johannesburg – and it went from pastime to passion – she has made over 70 pieces of an eclectic range of ceramics she calls The Collective that are “often whimsical and light, identifiable by their intricate patterns and fusion of color”.
These contemporary creations will all be part of her exhibitions coming up – on November 9 in Dubai and January 8-9 at the Gallerie Ganesha in New Delhi.
All proceeds from the sale will go to fund another passion Saloni holds dear to her heart – the ABN Education Trust set up in 2011 by her husband, Rakesh Wahi, the co-founder of the hugely-successful CNBC Africa and FORBES AFRICA brands.
As the Trust’s patron, Saloni has tirelessly worked to help the lives of the less privileged. And every pot she makes, no matter how arduous the process of creation, is for them.
In the living room of her home, she shows us Effervescence, a glazed work of art inspired by a paper cup, which took her a tenacious 15 hours to craft. She was at the gym one day holding a paper cup after a workout session when the idea hit her: why not translate it into ceramic?
“When the clay is not talking to you, you cannot make something that satisfies you,” she says, of her intuitive art. “It’s like doing yoga. Pottery stills your mind and is almost like meditation.”
<div id="attachment_34354" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34354" class=" wp-image-34354" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Saloni-Wahi-Effervescense-e1510303686435-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" />Effervescence, Wahis work inspired by a paper cup, that took 15 hours to create. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
The pieces are like her babies, she says.
“Except you don’t give your babies away, but for me, rather than possessing the piece, it’s the actual process of creating it, and sharing it that makes me happy. I am very passionate about the Trust, and pottery is my second passion, and it was sometime earlier this year that I said ‘why don’t I just combine these two passions’?”
Thus, the concept of “ceramics that care” was born.
“God has been kind to us, so I don’t want to create money from my art, but if I can create funds and use it for my other cause, then I would consider my mission successful,” says Saloni.
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It is something she truly enjoys, as you hear her speak of the chemistry and science – and the infinite patience – that goes into each creation. No piece is like the other.
“I am very adventurous as far as clay is concerned. Pottery is a very loose word for what I create; some of my pieces have minute holes, almost 500-600 holes a piece.
“In fact, I stretch the clay, and push it to its limits. And very often my first teacher Charmaine, and Denise, my second teacher in Parktown North, would always keep a watchful eye on me as they knew that Saloni would always be up to something dangerous with the clay. So I find it works, and there have been instances where I have spent a minimum of four hours on a piece and after making it, it completely collapses but for some strange reason, it’s never put me down. I just start all over again… It makes you resilient towards life in a strange, bizarre way.”
<div id="attachment_34353" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34353" class=" wp-image-34353" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Saloni-Wahi-753-e1510303405687-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" />Saloni Wahi at work. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
When not in Johannesburg, Saloni continues her work in Dubai, where she has been based since 1989.
Originally from Delhi in India, Saloni moved to Johannesburg in 2007 after her husband, Rakesh, along with Zafar Siddiqi, set up the ABN Group, of which CNBC Africa and FORBES AFRICA are a part.
CNBC Africa is celebrating its 10th year, and Saloni has had a stellar role in its success, supporting Rakesh and the business in every way.
Living between their homes in Delhi, Dubai and Johannesburg, Saloni is always on the move.
“I am thankful for the opportunity to experience three different lives in one lifetime. And the three lives are so diverse – our life in India is completely in contrast to the life we live in Dubai, which is again completely different to the life in Johannesburg.”
Whenever she is in South Africa, her first ports of call usually are the orphanages the Trust supports.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are in India or Africa, children are the same everywhere. To me, giving back is integral to my being,” says Saloni.
Despite being a small business, and very conscious of its corporate social responsibilities, the ABN Group has participated in several charitable causes in sub-Saharan Africa since 2007.
The Trust gets its funding from the Wahi family, the ABN Group companies, Trans National Academic Group and through the efforts of Saloni. The Group’s Managing Director Roberta Naicker, along with other trustees, have worked hard to raise funds through various initiatives including ladies events, golf days, auctions and appeals to corporates and individuals who help the needy.
<div id="attachment_34355" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34355" class="size-medium wp-image-34355" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Saloni-Wahi-trust-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" />Saloni Wahi with a beneficiary of her Trust. (Photo supplied)</div>
The group’s focus is three principal activities.
The first is to support orphanages and give opportunities to children in desperate situations for no fault of their own. The Trust mandated to support orphanages that were small and rudimentary and didn’t receive any government grant or corporate support.
When Saloni speaks about Thuthuzela in the township of Alexandra, you can tell this is an orphanage close to her heart. Through her diligent efforts, the Trust first gifted it a minibus in 2012 and then in 2014, helped to move it to a permanent home in Kelvin from “their one-room facility at the back of a local factory”.
“It is creditable how the founders and caretakers of the orphanage have worked tirelessly to help children who would otherwise have died or ended up on the street,” says Saloni.
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Over the years, through the Trust, Saloni has committed significant resources for children in need. The Trust is currently assisting Abangani Enkosini, another Day Care Center in Alexandra, and has provided it a daily soup kitchen, freezers, cupboards, clothes and books, and also waterproofed its facilities.
The Trust’s second objective is to provide bursaries to students, particularly women, for tertiary education including but not limited to financial journalism in universities such as University of Johannesburg and University of the Witwatersrand. Over the last six years, it has provided bursaries to over 30 students to complete their graduation, and has also provided support to the children of its own staff through bursaries for their university studies. Similar bursaries have been provided to students in Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa.
The Trust’s third aim is providing internship opportunities to young Africans for invaluable work experience within the ABN Group companies. Over the last 10 years, over 250 internships have been disbursed by the group. Christina Mhundwa, a recipient of the ABN bursary, is currently in Germany working as a journalist for a leading news broadcaster.
Saloni’s support for all the work has come from the team at the ABN Group including Nola Mashaba, Celeste Meidecen, Thameshan Sooriah and Sue Gounden.
In addition, the Trust participates in other activities that resonate with the core values of the founders. One such was supporting an organization in Kenya working to get young girls off the streets to re-settle them from an existence of abuse into a dignified life.
“It was at CNBC Africa’s All Africa Business Leaders Awards in Rwanda last year that I was introduced to Damaris Too, a successful businesswoman doing amazing work in Kenya. She was one of the contenders for the ‘Philanthropist of the Year’ award. I was so touched by her story – she basically worked with getting young girls off the street. It was very sad to hear that for want of a pretty dress or just a bag, these girls were led astray,” says Saloni.
Back in Dubai, Saloni got to work, creating a WhatsApp group, and mobilizing her friends and their friends to make donations in kind for the girls.
“I was hopeful I would get a few suitcases of assorted clothes and bags and shoes. But lo and behold, thanks to the power of social media, I had almost a container-load of stuff. The entire consignment was sent to Kenya, and since then, we have sent a second load,” says Saloni, proving a kind gesture can go a long way.
Philanthropy is not new for the Wahis. Hailing from an illustrious business family in India, Saloni says she has seen acts of kindness from a young age. Marrying into an equally-philanthropic family has allowed her to continue to do social good all her life.
“My great grandfathers had established charitable trusts in India and I have seen the family’s involvement in schools and hospitals in North India that benefitted children from disadvantaged families. Their work has outlived their time on earth… For me, as a woman, if the work my husband and I are doing is carried forward and built on by our children, I would consider myself blessed. Both children have been involved with the Trust through their own contributions. Sidharth, our son, is a Trustee, while our daughter, Shweta, a young fashion designer, has raised significant funds through her own initiatives,” says Saloni.
Last year, in India, Saloni and Rakesh set up “a corpus for Class 4 employees at the National Defence Academy” and earlier this year, set up “a fund for caddies in Dehradun” (near the Himalayan foothills), as they are both “passionate about golf”.
“We set up a trust in the name of my mother-in-law [Shobhana Wahi], again in Dehradun. Wherever we get an opportunity, we always try and give back.
“You come alone, you leave alone. What you take along with you is your name,” she says.
Saloni’s mission for the next few years is to do as many exhibitions as she can across the cities she travels and lives in.
“I know in South Africa, a lot of people are doing good work, and if anyone has a charity event and is looking for pieces, I would be very happy to give my pottery, so long as I know the funds these pieces generate, are going for the right cause. I have set a very high target for myself,” says Saloni.
As we conclude our meeting, it’s hard not to ask Saloni how she manages to live in so many cities and call each of them home, to which, she laughs: “I have a non-conventional entrepreneurial husband, and just as I create pieces of pottery, his passion is developing people and creating businesses. I mould clay, he moulds people!”

Hands That Care

Oprah Keeping The Promise Made To Mandela

It’s an interesting time for philanthropy in South Africa. Mining magnate Patrice Motsepe made news in 2013 when he pledged half the income of his family’s assets to his foundation.
Examples abound of similar financial contributions by prominent South Africans, but most of them go under the radar.
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Nedbank Private Wealth’s Giving Report tracks the giving activity of high-net-worth (HNW) individuals in South Africa, and for the person at the helm of its dedicated philanthropy unit, there is nothing more satisfactory than helping these individuals help others.
Noxolo Hlongwane spent a number of years in the banking industry before deciding to take a year off to find something more meaningful to do. Finally, she did.
“We all have ubuntu [a South African word for compassion and humanity] inherent in us,” says this Head of Philanthropy at Nedbank Private Wealth.
“We are creating a culture of professionalized giving…The philanthropy business at Nedbank Private Wealth doesn’t just help our clients create their wealth; it also helps them create a legacy in a meaningful manner, I think that’s why it’s such an important offering,” says Hlongwane.
Hlongwane gives advice to just about anyone who wants to give back to society, but for those ultra-wealthy individuals who meet the requirements to start a portfolio, the company’s philanthropy business offers an end-to-end service.
“We advise anyone, we do not charge. Although to become a client, you must be earning an annual income of R1.5 million [$127,000] or have R5 million [$422,000] minimum investable assets which excludes your primary home,” says Hlongwane.
According to a study by them, there are only 300,000 HNW individuals in South Africa, a country of over 52 million people.
Philanthropy is not just a job for Hlongwane. You can tell it holds a lot of meaning in her life, as she brings a lot of passion to her role.
“For me personally, especially as a South African, I think it’s a part of who we are. The definition of philanthropy is taken from a Greek word, meaning love thy neighbor, and it is for everyone, not just for the elitist, it is not just for the select few. Everyone can make a contribution and can make a difference.”
Despite the good in philanthropy, many have misconstrued ‘western’ perceptions of the term, she says.
“The perception is that it is for the Bill Gates’, people who can pledge billions. If we continue to think that it is for the elitist, then it becomes difficult to get people to give more and professionalize their giving. Even if you are giving R100,000 [$8,450] per annum, you can do it in a structured way, you can be strategic about it, that’s what we are trying to encourage strategic giving because we want long-term impact and benefits,” says the articulate Hlongwane.
For Hlongwane, the most important aspect for philanthropy is values – and not the monetary kind alone. You have to be able to care enough for the cause.
“Philanthropy speaks to personal value, in a large way it dictates the sectors that you support. It can be a very personal journey driven by personal values,” says Hlongwane, who says her unit is doing more than motivating big players in the economy to invest; they are currently working on getting better tax incentives as well for donors in the country.
And the year looks positive for philanthropy in general.

Philanthropy Is Not Just For The Bill Gates’

Philanthropy is entering what some economists and academics believe is another golden age. Previously, there were booms in giving in Renaissance Europe, 18th-century Britain, the Victorian era, and during the age of industrialization in the 19th-century.
It is hardly surprising, considering how the number of millionaires has increased across the world. But inequality remains widespread. Besides the fact that giving makes one feel good for various reasons, it also makes business sense.
“Philanthropy in Africa, strateg-ically pursued, will contribute to broad-based growth, which creates markets, which in turn enables commerce. How could it not make good business sense?” says Jane Wales, who is the CEO of the Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF).
<div id="attachment_5881" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5881" class="size-medium wp-image-5881" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2013-Dec-Jan-024-026-CA-Phil-001-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />Mona T Brooks |</div>
Besides opening up markets, many philanthropists are able to provide risk capital for social innovation where governments and businesses are averse to go. John D. Rockefeller, who was one of the first philanthropists in the United States (US), was key to helping eradicate yellow fever and hookworm.
A contemporary example is Eli Broad, whose Broad Foundation is sponsoring medical research in human genomics to revolutionize clinical medicine and make that knowledge freely available across the globe.
“Philanthropy is not and should not be about sure bets. It should include a very healthy dose of risk taking. In fact, in an era of 24-hour news cycles, snap judgments, and the tyranny of quarterly reports, one could argue that the philanthropic sector is the only societal actor that can take risks, withstand short-term setbacks and make long-term investments in the social good,” says Wales.
In the US, philanthropy and charities are encouraged through massive tax breaks. This is very different in Africa, where there is little legal framework for philanthropy. However, there is a push by philanthropic organizations, such as the Kenya Community Development Foundation, for governments to adopt policies that are favorable for philanthropy.
But what is philanthropy? The most common definition is that it is a humane act aimed at creating a better life. So how do we value human life?
Acclaimed philosopher Peter Singer believes that if we were forced to put a price tag on human life, we would say it is in the millions.
He then goes onto to argue that we are all created equal, “at least to the extent of denying that differences of sex, ethnicity, nationality and place of residence change the value of a human life”.
This is especially true for many Africans, who continue to live in abject poverty and survive on handouts.
But its not all doom and gloom. This picture is changing, albeit it painfully slowly in some areas. Philanthropy is gaining momentum in Africa, and it is not only international do-gooders who are helping communities uplift themselves in a sustainable way.
Africans are increasingly becoming involved in philanthropic projects, with the belief that we should be driving the broad-based growth on the continent.
In South Africa, the tax regime is slightly more beneficial. Currently, donations to public benefit organizations are deductible up to 10% of an individual’s taxable income in the year the donation is made.
But the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has noted that large donations are discouraged, because donations in excess of the limit cannot be carried over. It is now looking at allowing donations in excess of 10% of taxable income in any given year to be rolled over as allowable deductions in subsequent years.
According to Nedbank’s Giving Report II, which surveys the giving practices of high-net worth individuals in South Africa, respondents highlighted insufficient tax benefits as a reason for not being philanthropic.
“In 2012 a total of 29% of donors (104) said they would give more if there were more tax perks for giving. This is almost double the 15% of respondents in 2010 who said that changes to the tax regime would influence their giving behavior.”
The Private Philanthropy Circle (PPC), an independent forum of individual philanthropists, is in the process of preparing a formal submission to Sars and the National Treasury on amending the tax regime.
“We believe that tax legislation that promotes philanthropy through benefits or relief for the establishment and growth of philanthropic foundations (institutionalized giving) will ultimately encourage and ensure the sustained strategic support of civil society. Likewise, the non-profit sector would benefit from a more enabling environment for their donors a well,” says PPC member Amanda Bloch. The forum wants a number of changes, including an increase in the upper limit of 10%, the lengthy turnaround times at the Tax Exemption Unit to be addressed, and a clarification from Sars on gifts in kind and services donated, such as time, skill and effort.
Many types of philanthropy are practiced around the world and they all have varying benefits.
“Impact investing”, which aims to achieve financial and social environmental gain at the same time, is becoming more popular. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the greatest philanthropists of our time, is an advocate for program-related investments (PRIs).
Instead of giving money away through grants, PRIs allow philanthropic foundations to make investments as loans or equity stakes, hoping to regain them at a later stage, plus a reasonable rate of return.
The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation’s $400 million investment program encourages employees to weigh up the social and financial returns involved in proposed projects.
In 2009, non-profit social investment fund Root Capital was chosen as the foundation’s first PRI. The organiz-ation is expanding opportunities for 500,000 rural households in Africa with an investment of $10 million and a $4 million grant. It is being used to extend access to credit, financial management training, and global market opportunities for small and growing rural businesses.
As privatization and the scramble for Africa’s mineral wealth continues, some philanthropic organizations and academics believe there are new opportunities to harness these resources for the public good.
Lester Salamon, a director at the Institute for Policy Studies at John Hopkins University in the US, argues for what he calls “Philanthropication thru Privatization (PtP)”. Basically, it is the phenomenon of capturing, in charitable endowments, at least some of the proceeds of the sales of state-owned enterprises or common-use resources underway around the world.
In one study, Salamon says that more than 500 endowed, independent charitable foundations have been created or enriched during the privatizations, and together they control assets of $128 billion.
The African Grantmakers Network believes PtP will help to prevent the continent’s civil society from relying solely on external funding. An example cited is the Newmont Ahafo Dev-elopment Foundation in Ghana. It was formed in 2008 when Newmont Ghana Gold Limited and the Ahafo Social Responsibility Forum pledged to support community development programs near the mine.
The company contributes $1 per ounce of gold produced and 1% of net profits from the mine to the foundation. In turn, the foundation supports economic empowerment, infrastructure development and sports and social amenities.
Becoming financially self-sufficient and not over reliant on aid and donors is not to be scoffed at. But just how many good deeds can be done when the overwhelming leitmotif of the initiative is driven by profit? Surely a case can be made that profit would, in most instances, trump philanthropy?
Whatever the method of benevolence, Africans are stressing that it needs to be sustainable. Earlier this year, GPF launched its most recent regional affiliate, the African Philanthropy Forum (APF).
Its aim is to contribute to the expansion of strategic philanthropy by Africans in Africa by seeking to address the underlying causes of a given problem. Put differently, don’t give a handout; give a hand up.
“But it would be a mistake to assume that strategic philanthropists ignore such inputs as instinct and intuition. It would also be a mistake to assume that deep in their hearts they are not in search of a ‘silver bullet’ that will solve all. It’s human nature to be impatient in one’s search for a better world. And that’s a good thing,” says Wales. APF’s members define philanthropy broadly to encompass all private means of financing the social good – from grants and microfinance to investments in enterprises that provide goods, services and income-generating opportunities for the poor. Some put their companies to the service of social goals, pursuing what is known as a ‘shared value’ or ‘inclusive business’ strategy.
APF believes the next wave of philanthropic innovation will come from the continent. The forum’s impressive membership includes Nigerians Tony Elumelu and Hakeem Belo-Osagie. Elumelu wants to rewrite Africa’s story by leveraging markets in a strategy he refers to as ‘Africacapitalism’, while Belo-Osagie supports a number of higher-education institutions and philanthropic funds to advance education and build leadership skills among young Africans.
Other members are South Africans Hylton and Wendy Appelbaum, who support a variety of causes, and Benin’s Angelique Kidjo, who promotes the empowerment of women and girls.
One of Africa’s most well-known couples involved in philanthropy is mining magnate Patrice Motsepe and his wife, Precious Moloi-Motsepe, who is a key player in Africa’s fashion industry. They made headlines earlier this year when they announced that they would donate half of their wealth to their foundation, which is involved in a number of initiatives to uplift communities.
The Motsepes join the likes of Gates and US business magnate Warren Buffet, who started the Giving Pledge, which encourages the super-rich to donate at least half of their wealth to charities.
Although the super-rich are often criticized that their philanthropic efforts are in part motivated by self-interest, their impact on making changes for good cannot be scoffed at.
As Albert Einstein so aptly put it: “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”

Tag: Philanthropy