Our portfolios undertake projects which allow us to connect with members of our community through targeted and thematic objectives. We invites you to opt in to these projects and share them within your networks.
Women in African Philanthropy Initiative
Women and women’s organisations are known for their great impact in underdeveloped communities, however women’s Giving Circles are frequently overlooked, particularly those at the grassroots level which strive to raise critical funds and resources to improve their communities.
In response to the need for deeper and contextual knowledge, and in an effort to foster enabling networks using this knowledge, we have developed the Women in African Philanthropy Initiative as a vehicle where we will learn from and celebrate the historic, modern and emerging role that women fulfil in philanthropy on the continent. Launched during International Women’s month, this project is meant to give African women a platform to define and conduct their giving in their own way.
The Initiative will commission research and host engagement programmes and platforms that elevate women’s philanthropic participation across the layers of class, language, race, religion and nationality. Women from Giving Circles and in philanthropy from across the continent will be brought together to form a network and a space where their agency is respected and recognised, where they can interact and learn from each other, and where they can access opportunities to scale up their programmes and projects.
One of the Initiative’s projects will be to establish a hub that will heighten the visibility of women’s Giving Circles by bridging the gap in research and facilitate collaboration and networking for women’s giving circles. The hub will also address the visibility issues that Giving Circles face and provide a platform for women to share their vision, work and strategy orientation among others.
Project Lead Thandi Makhubele says, “The project is a powerful initiative that seeks to empower women as leaders and change-makers in Africa. We aim to build a more equitable and just society for all through our research, networking opportunities, and support for women-led initiatives. We believe that when women come together to give, they have the power to transform their communities and create a brighter future for generations to come. I invite all who are interested to join us in this important work.”
CAPSI Smartboard
As our Centre’s programmes, offerings, staffing and resources have steadily grown over the years, so has our need to access centralised and up to date reporting that meets our accountability and compliance requirements. Such would also meet ours and our stakeholders decision making needs, helping us to remain efficient in how we work. With this, we began the transition from manual, and often time-consuming reporting to adopt an integrated way of tracking, monitoring and reporting on each element of the organisation, the CAPSI Smartboard.
Each of our Centre’s portfolios have dedicated boards where their respective processes and deliverables are tracked, and made available to its relevant stakeholders to initiate, establish and fulfil the relationship lifecycle on each deliverable as well as project. Using our Research portfolio as an example, the Smartboard displays from the conceptualisation of the research project, the development of various concepts, the recruitment of different research associates, tracking their progress, right until the publication of the report.
The Smartboard is a mechanism for organisational efficiency and enables us to swiftly manage operational and programmatic matters. Members of our team have been designated as leads on Smartboard portfolios and are responsible for ensuring that the data published on the Smartboard is correct and up to date. The Smartboard expands our digital footprint, while also providing a mechanism that allow us to optimise how we manage, report, and be accountable to our different partners.
Knowledge Management Platform
Providing our community of students, academics and practitioners with data and knowledge on the landscape of philanthropy in Africa, that is contextual, structured and of value is one of the pillar objectives of our Centre. To achieve this, our team began the work of conceptualising a Knowledge Management Platform that would support development, research and decision making for various national, regional and continental stakeholders.
During the process of conceptualising and implementing this platform we encountered a challenges related to the volume of content – there was not much knowledge and data available in the continent to characterise or interpret the philanthropic landscape. To address this, we commissioned a variety of studies in different parts of the continent and have built a base of reports on the state of philanthropy in the continent. The next step from here is to package the information in a format that is accessible to anyone who comes to the platform. Once on the platform, users will be able to apply parameters related to the issues that they are looking for data and knowledge on, and generate a report that provides this.
The Knowledge Management Platform is comprised of several components; with the first being the profiling of different forms of philanthropy so that users can filter by expressions of philanthropy, such as high net worth individuals, individual giving foundations, etc. The second component is the functionality of the platform analytics which will enable users to generate various reports depending through the available data, for example, a search on the number of high net worth individuals in a defined region would pull a report which includes the strategies that they utilise, the areas that they have interest in and how they make their money. The third component is the storage capacity of the platform, which will hold data in forms such as tutorials, videos and reports, to name a few.
Our vision for the Knowledge Management Platform is to a go-to for anyone looking for insightful data on the state of philanthropy and social investment on the continent anywhere, anytime.
