This year for Mandela Day, the Chemuniqué team would like you to help us raise funds for Hlanganani Orphan Care, as well as the two early childhood development centres that we support in Diepsloot and Cosmo City. For our fund-raising drive, we are looking for monetary donations from our family, friends, and industry colleagues over a collection period of three months (from 18 July–18 October).
We are asking donors to pay funds directly into Hlanganani’s bank account (which is externally audited) and submit their proof of payment to vanette@chemunique.co.za, because Chemuniqué has committed to match all donations made during this period 1:1.
Make your donations here: Donate to Hlanganani – Hlanganani Orphan Care
In terms of our longer-term commitment to these children, we are also looking for people/families to sponsor a pre-school orphan to attend one of these schools on a monthly basis, at a cost of between R800–R1 500 per month, depending on the school attended. Please see attached letter for an explanation of the tax benefits of such a donation.
More about Hlanganani Orphan Care
Hlanganani Orphan Care is a home-based care programme for orphaned children in the Diepsloot, Lanseria, and Cosmo City areas, and it lies very close to our hearts. The programme consists of training home-based carers (HBC) who care for orphans registered with Hlanganani in these areas. Care consists of oversight regarding nutrition, home safety and security, school attendance, and medical matters. The children are also supported with school tuition where necessary and ongoing mentoring and life-coaching by trained volunteers.
The budget for the HBC programme of about R1 000 000 per annum covers the costs of approximately 50 to 60 children. Since inception, this budget has been raised from extremely generous donation from various sources such as Aberdare Cables, Astral Group, Chemuniqué, Gray Advertising, Junction Church, and Lanseria Airport, as well as various international companies and churches and many individual donors. However, with the ever-rising costs of the care programme, as well as increasing needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living, new donors remain absolutely necessary to keep the programme operational. Since Hlanganani is a registered non-profit organisation (NPO) and public benefit organisation (PBO), as well as being fully B-BBEE compliant, all donations are supported with tax deduction certificates and fully compliant for corporate social investment (CSI) under the current B-BBEE regulations.
The importance of early childhood development
Over the years of our involvement with these orphans, a glaring area of need has been the non-accessibility of early childhood development (ECD) facilities, since such facilities are not government-provided. In 2018, Hlanganani acquired a safe house in Diepsloot in support of critical security needs for the orphans in the area and converted this house into a fully equipped ECD centre in 2021, called The Flying Eagle Academy, to provide early development support for 36 children aged six months to five years of age. The majority of the attending children’s parents pay (albeit at a very low fee) for the service, while the Hlanganani orphans do need to be sponsored in one way or another. During 2020, Hlanganani also supported the establishment of the Ebenezer Hope ECD centre in Cosmo City. This facility also caters for 30 to 40 young children, of which approximately 10 are orphans from the area. As is the case with The Flying Eagle Academy, the facility is also highly dependent on donor funds to keep running at an appropriate standard.
In the first half of 2022, Hlanganani has again supported the establishment of a second site for Ebenezer Hope; one that can cater for at least 100 children in Cosmo City. This facility will become be self-sustaining as soon as they have at least 60 paying children. However, since the facility development phase has only just been completed, only 16 children are currently attending the school, of which half are sponsored orphans. In order to secure this facility for the future, when child numbers increase, they are in urgent need of extra financial donations of R35 000 per month until January 2023 to cover the cost of rent, electricity (when available), water, and staff. Thereafter, they do anticipate that Ebenezer Hope will be self-sustaining and only require funding for the non-paying orphan children.
Benefits of donating
It is important to note that both The Flying Eagles Academy and Ebenezer Hope are fully registered, black female-owned companies with the Companies & Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC). The tax benefits of donating include the following:
- All donations can be deposited into the Hlanganani Orphan Care bank account, administered by the Hlanganani auditors. Donors will receive a tax exemption certificated, allowing such donation to be fully deductible for tax purposes. Furthermore, since Hlanganani is fully B-BBEE compliant, all donations contribute to the donor’s CSI spend on the B-BBEE codes.
- Alternatively, donations can be made directly to bank accounts of The Flying Eagles Academy or Ebenezer Hope, in which case such support can be recorded under the Enterprise Development code for B-BBEE.
Let’s work together to make a difference in these children’s lives!
Ryan Wiggill is the digital marketing manager at Chemuniqué