- Why then do we not feel/see the outcomes and impact on the ground?
- How many Social Entrepreneurs (SocE's) currently exist and where are they?
- What Sectors are they active in and what issues are they addressing?
- Who are the real beneficiaries of their programs?
- What additional support is there for them
- Do we have business mentorship/coaching skills available to be transferred to SocE's
- Are we able to measure and quantify the social impact?
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Study confirms SA's charitable nature
You will be surprised to know that recent findings of the "State of Giving Project's" research report suggests that individuals contribute an average of R920 million per month toward poverty alleviation and development in South Africa. Add to this Corporate Social Investment , Government Social Investment at all levels, Donors etc and you have a substantial investment in Social Development in South Africa. It would appear that contrary to most peoples belief, funds are not the problem:
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3 comments:
i read ur article on the times , and i must say if that figure of R920mil is correct (which i really doubt, unless you can prove it or explain somehow)then there is definetely something extremelly wrong happenning to this country.
where is that money going??? NGO's??BEE fat cats??
I have never heard of any SoC'E in this country, not sure if NGO operators can fall under this category. Because some of the people running NGO are so-called entreprenuers.
i somehow beleive that this country has the money to deal with porvety.
Thank you for your response. I equally was astounded at the monthly amount of R920M per month from individuals. This is according to Adam Habib, executive Director of the Human Science Research Council (HSRC), commenting on the findings of a recent report from the State of Giving Project established by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), the South African Grantmaker’s Association (SAGA) and the National Development Agency (NDA), at a recent forum event hosted by the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science.
I concur with your question as to where is the money going? Plus strengthen that by asking how do we measure the outcomes of that Social Investment and understand the real beneficiaries?
You are right the term SocE’s is fairly new in South Africa. They do exist, however, and according to Russel, Bev & Swelling, Mark (2002) The size and scope of the Non-profit sector in South Africa Report, there could be in excess of 53 000. A Social Entrepreneur recognises when a part of society is stuck and provides new ways to get it unstuck. He or she finds what is not working and solves the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution and persuading entire societies to take new leaps. Social entrepreneur have the committed vision and inexhaustible determination to persist until they have transformed an entire system. Social Entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities and societies.
You are so correct when you say that the country has the money to deal with poverty. We have the SocE’s, we have the resources, we have the commitment, and we have the passion and dedication. How then do we capacitate and empower them to scale and grow their impact? There appears to be the political will and there are organisations that are in the groundbreaking stages of addressing some of these areas.
By opening up this kind of dialogue and creating more of an awareness of what already exists and what needs to be established, we are pioneering the way forward.
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