Khayelitsha Community Fund

The township of Khaylitsha, Cape Town, is one of the largest townships in South Africa in terms of area as well as population. Located along the N2, the highly dense township is the picture of poverty and the lack of housing in South Africa with most of the residents living in temporary housing structures (shacks) and living below the international poverty line.

During recent times (and especially as a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic), the community has faced even greater challenges that are broadcast on the news on a daily basis. Gender Based Violence, Hunger, Housing Issues and High Crime rates are among the biggest challenges the community faces.

ABOUT US:

The Khayelitsha Community Fund was established in response to the various community leaders and organisations who have made it their mission help ease the burdens of the community. Many of these organisations and community leaders are not registered entities and as a result are not entitled to public and private sector grants, nor are they technologically set up to create crowd-funding campaigns. As a result, they achieve their much appreciated work through small community donations and out of pocket costs.

The Khayelitsha Community fund is here to help alleviate this fundraising burden by creating a central platform where small organisations can receive assistance. Our idea is to help charities, community lead orginsations and leaders on a continual basis and across various sectors. This will help ensure that organisations in need and who provide strong support in the community can continue to do so and grow their initiatives beyond their current abilities

HOW WE DO THIS:

As a registered NPO, we have begun to apply for grants through various platforms such as the National Lottery Commission as well as private sector entities. With funds we receive, we provide various tiers of support to each community project which include:

• Personnel Support in order to grow initiatives community reach and impact
• Specifically Designed Essentials Packages on a monthly basis; i.e if you run a soup kitchen, we will do a weekly / bi-weekly / monthly grocery shop for your project as well as electricity or any other costs
• Financial Support where necessary

WHO BENEFITS:

We have a team of assesors who help identify community projects across the community as well as a simple "nominate your community leader" process. Each applicant is highly vetted in order to ensure that we are reaching the correct organisations who provide the highest level of impact. Our criteria includes a minumum community reach (at least 50 people per month or the equivalent should benefit), however, if your organisation fails to meet this, we provide personnel who will help grow your reach beyond its current status.

OUR CROWDFUNDING INITIATIVE:

Due to the current pandemic, many funding institutes are facing major delays in application approvals - but there is no delay in issues that the community faces and as a result we are turning to crowd-funding to help us with our initiative for the foreseeable future. Our current goal will assist between 25 - 50 high impact organisations for the next 6 months, and hopefully even further.

As a donor, each donation will be eligible for a Section 18A receipt that will allow you to claim back as a tax rebate from the South African Revenue of Services.