Next to HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Trust and HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung there is another sister NGO called HOPE Cape Town USA.
During the Word Aids Conference in Washington / DC many years ago it became clear, that the HIV prevalence rates in Washington or Dallas within the non-white communities were comparable with those horrific numbers in South Africa.
Same problems, but certainly different situations and different ways to tackle the existing challenges. Rev Fr Stefan Hippler, who attended the conference, brought the stats and situation analysis with back to South Africa. Meetings with the then Head of Social Services in a New Jersey county Mr Joe Kunzmann and a lawyer from Dallas, Mrs Stacie McNulty Greskowiak led to the formation of HOPE Cape Town USA.
The entity was meant to explore synergies between the work in the fields of HIV/AIDS in both countries. Connections were established to local NGO’s and HOPE Cape Town via HOPE Cape Town USA and promising leads developed. The pandemic destroyed most of the plans and HOPE Cape Town is slowly finding its feet again.
In November 2023 the first fund-raiser was held in Ann Arbor / Michigan, where one of the 4 directors now resides. Further steps of local engagement as well as fundraising efforts are in planing.
HOPE Cape Town USA is a recognized NGO in the USA with the ability to issue tax-deductible receipts and the directors are currently:
Chair: Joseph E Kunzmann (Somerville / New Jersey) Treasurer: Somerville / Shirley Kunzmann (New Jersey) Secretary: Stacie McNulty Greskowiak (Michigan) and the two members Auntjuan Wiley aka Mr Community” (Dallas / Texas) and Stefan Hippler (representing HOPE Cape Town Trust South Africa)
Next to HOPE Cape Town Trust and HOPE Cape Town Association in South Africa, you might have heard about “HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung”.
This sounds very German, and indeed it is an organisation based in Germany. Since a long time the German Aids Foundation, the only national foundation in Germany addressing HIV, is a partner of the HOPE Cape Town Trust in South Africa. A partner in terms of content and strategy, but also a sponsor for certain work portfolios within the South African organisations.
In 2007 both entities decided that it would be good to create what is called in Germany “abhängige Stiftung”, translated: dependent foundation. It describes a foundation whose administration and oversight lies with a full-fledged German foundation. It has its own reporting and accountability, but remains in this case in the framework of the German Aids Foundation in Germany.
The dependent foundation fundraises for the work in South Africa; it took over the legal responsibility for the HOPE Gala in Dresden. A management team, consisting of representatives of the German Aids Foundation and HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, is overseeing its business. All funds received are transferred without deduction to the HOPE Cape Town Trust in South Africa.
HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung has all necessary credentials in Germany as an NGO and NPO and is an essential tool to foster relationship with the big donor base and circle of friends of HOPE in Germany.
The biggest fundraising event is the HOPE Gala in Dresden, launched in 2006 by Mrs Viola Klein, who is also the Chairperson of the management board of the German entity.
HOPE Kapstadt Stiftung is called a sister organisation of the two HOPE Cape Town entities in South Africa. Besides the financial relationship, there is an emphasis on knowledge transfer in both directions.
People can be confused when dealing with HOPE Cape Town. It seems to be one organisation, but there are different additions to “HOPE Cape Town”: either Trust or Association. “What’s the difference?” they ask often.
When HOPE Cape Town was founded in 2001, an Association was created and named: HOPE (hiv outreach program & education) Cape Town Association. In the years to follow, the Association grew from a 1 employee organisation with a small board into a more sizable entity.
In 2006 the Board decided after long and intense discussions: There is a need for oversight. The HOPE Cape Town Association should in future be functioning as the working horse. The HOPE Cape Town Trust was founded as an oversight entity, looking after the financials and overseeing the marketing/fundraising part of the organisation. The trustees generally don’t get involved in operational questions, but assist from time to time in a very limited and clearly defined role.
The HOPE Cape Town Trust also became the face of the organisations for all marketing/fundraising related activities.
Once a year, the HOPE Cape Town Association presents the budget to the Board of Trustees, which in turn exams and gives approval to the projected spending.
Both entities, Trust and Association, are each a NPO and a PBO in their own right with all the necessary credentials in South Africa. Both entities have a board – the Association’s board is called the “Board of Expertise”, being exactly this: experts in the various fields of work. The chairperson of the Association is ‘ex officio’ part of the Board of Trustees with voting rights and vice verse.
While the Board of Trustees meets formally twice a year, the Board of Expertise meets quarterly to conduct business.
Reading newspapers, social media or watching news on TV or stream in the first days of the New Year confirms what those say, who never celebrate New Year: “Nothing will change except the date!”
And indeed nothing seems to have changed, even the opposite rules supreme: more bombs in Ukraine and Gaza, more killing, more suffering. The political and social drama in the USA does create rather fear than optimism, and I could now list here a litany of what’s wrong in this world.
And still I believe that the New Year is meant to be a reminder, that nothing has to stay the same, that there is always the chance to change for the better. A chance which is so often forgotten when we are battling our daily life and challenges.
And this applies not only in the private sphere — it applies to those running companies or carrying responsibility social or politically — and looking at the world, the social and economic challenges, the complexity of the world; they need this reminder.
To be able to change and to assist the change in society or economy, it is important to be able to think and see outside the box. It is essential to have time to look far ahead and plot a way forward. And it is critical to have friends and colleagues who are not nodding ‘yes’ at everything you think is right.
Running an NGO is like running a company. There is a business plan, a strategic plan, a financial plan. There are employees counting on receiving their salary at the end of the month and boards to satisfy. And those who “invest” in development to reassure, to report back to and to gain new friends, partners, and supporters. Last, but not least, not to forget those we work with. They are more than “customers’, they are people we walk with for a while to explore possibilities, to strengthen their resolve and to allow for hope translated into real life action.
So what are our steps into and our vision for 2024 as HOPE Cape Town?
Hopefully for most of our employees to still have a great time off work – with family and friends together charging their batteries and to come back to work relaxed and with joy in their heart.
We have had big dreams in the last years, and we still do with the extension of the garden project. The “Bettina Benzoni-Ruffert Community Garden — Environmental Training Centre” will grow in 2024. Training, education and environmental questions are the guiding forces behind this addition.
We will sharpen our fundraising. Living only from donations if and when they come in is difficult when you have reached adulthood as a foundation. We would like to connect with people who understand that social investments and letting money work for years or decades to come is an investment into the next generation in a connected world.
Our strategy plan for the next 5 years is on the homestretch. We hope to impact meaningful social and economically and to connect even more with those who do similar. After some years on the new campus we learnt lessons now implemented and further explored.
We will see all our challenges as opportunities and therefore overcome them. We are looking forward to continuing making our campus “The Nex – Indawo Yethu” and all satellites welcoming locations and places of learning and mutual understanding.
If you want to have a quick view of our work – please check this 3-minute video here; subscribe to the channel to be always the first to know…
If you want to be part of this inspiring journey in any form or shape, please let me know.
Focusing on marketing and fundraising for the organisation HOPE Cape Town in South Africa, I had the pleasure – if it is a pleasure – to travel between three continents this year again, trying to find, reach and convince people in the USA, South Africa and European countries to support our holistic approach.
It is generally not an easy task, but the world is currently so much up-side-down, that the challenges seem to grow every day. It becomes a minefield, not only, because of money being diverted for current affairs but also as ideology, insecurity and anxiety are more than ever factors of life.
Gaza and Israel, it seems that you have to put every word on the golden scale to not offend but toe the line to stand on the right side – whatever that may be. Looking at the human factor without politics, as NGO’s do, is a difficult option as you’re directly under general suspicion of supporting terror.
The war in Ukraine means fundraising for people in a country, in which the leadership without any shame stands with the aggressor and pretends to be neutral.
South Africa’s grey listing and constant corruption on the highest levels are often points of debates with funders. They believe that South Africa has enough resources if and when the elite stops stealing money.
The USA is currently in an epic battle when it comes to democracy and a hotbed for the attempt to mix white superior religion, clearly visible in proclaiming a certain candidate a Godsend. Not to forget, a leader of the House who has direct conversations with God and is not the new Moses. In some states, history is rewritten and books are banned again. Not really an ideal environment to discuss support for people in South Africa.
Generally, Covid and the restrictions seem to have a profound effect on people, who felt that the security and safety their life was build on, was gone in seconds. It shows still today in actions, reactions and behaviour.
Business people in Germany, but generally in Europe, are more than worried about the current economic situation in the country and the direction, they are taken by those politically in charge.
All this impacts the world of fundraising a great deal, it makes it perfectly clear, that depending on donations alone is not sufficient for the long run. NGO’s like companies have to build up and maintain a reserve like any other companies if they want to survive long term and meaningfully.
It also makes it necessary to speak with people face to face – not FaceTime, not zoom or teams. Those can be interim measures to keep contact, but the person encounter is in times like ours the most essential part of fundraising.
The need to navigate between the world of possible funders and the reality of the recipients becomes more tricky as sensitivities and anxieties looking at the future reign high.
All this makes the work of NGOs like HOPE Cape Town even more important, because the victims of all the political, social and economic turbulence are those anyhow at the bottom of society. Those who lost out by birth are loosing again. NGOs are the lifeline to survive and even to grow under these circumstances.
We as NGOs need, besides the normal donation also people who want their support working for years to come. We need people investing in the future of others long-term, and so becoming role models for the next generation they helped to form and sustain.
Not only that, but we need this support to be able to stand firm in our support for human dignity and human rights declared for everybody. There are shifts of proportion happening now when it comes to demography, political influence, economic powers. NGOs are essential in those times, balancing what often is overlooked in daily struggles on the world stage. A reason more to support, sustain and to invest in the non-governmental sphere of society.
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 