Communication That Counts Lessons From South African Social Investors

For a number of South African grantmakers, collaborative relationships with government are particularly important. In addition to communication about work done with government, it is important to communicate clearly and effectively with relevant government stakeholders for the partnership to be effective. 

Beth van Heerden, corporate social investment (CSI) executive of FirstRand Limited, says collaboration is beneficial because it allows for efficiency, instead of duplication of efforts or media fatigue around a particular initiative. As an example, she says that the FirstRand Foundation hosts three CSI that Works knowledge-sharing events annually, which bring together a variety of stakeholders around a topic of shared interest (such as early childhood development or gender-based violence). The organisation works with the Mail & Guardian newspaper as a key media partner, which publishes a report on the events. In 2014, however, the partnership developed even further as the newspaper approached FirstRand to co-host a debate on mathematics education in South Africa.

Donne Nicol, head of the Shanduka Foundation, says that collaboration is a core part of everything the organisation does, as all of its programmes are joint efforts in one way or another. For example, in March 2013, the Shanduka Foundation signed an agreement with Kagiso Trust and the Department of Education to work together in 428 schools in two districts in the Free State province. “We worked together for 18 months before the agreement was formally signed. This preparatory period and the intense communications process it involved was definitely part of the reason the partnership is successful.”

The Tiger Brands Foundation uses mobile phone technology to communicate information about its in-school breakfast provision projects to the foundation’s head office in order to compile daily reports. In this way, real-time information is used to address issues or make improvements to the programme. Kelvin Glen notes, “We look at things like how many kids were fed, what was fed, the hygiene conditions of the cooks that are preparing the meal, the hygiene conditions of the kitchen where the meals are being prepared, and then any other factors that influence our school feeding programme, which provides healthy breakfast meals for school children.” 

Social media has emerged as a valuable communication tool. It has changed the way people and communities interact with organisations and gives grantmakers access to personal, frequent, and multi-featured ways of communicating with their desired audience. We have chosen to profile this medium for communication because it is increasingly recognised as an essential counterpart to other more traditional communication channels.

Photography helps people relate to those benefiting from funding and gives them an idea of the impact social investment work is making. Pranill Ramchander notes that while budgetary constraints might be an issue, using visual communications, whether photographic or video, boosts the efficacy of communication efforts and assists in cutting through the clutter.

Although Apartheid ended 20 years ago, recovery from its systematic racial discrimination is a difficult and on-going process. Apartheid literally means “apartness” and was a system of government implemented in South Africa between 1948 and 1994 that separated people according to race in every aspect of daily life, entrenching white minority rule and discriminating against non-white population groups. 

Employee volunteer programmes strengthen organisations’ grantmaking, build employer-employee relationships, boost staff morale, and provide a platform for employee engagement. Support from parent organisations doesn’t have to stop at finances; being involved more deeply helps donors better communicate about their work and keeps staff engaged in their social investment efforts. In doing so, multiple communication goals are achieved simultaneously

Communication about corporate social investment (CSI) can help to attract and retain top talent. It can be an important differentiator between employers, and it can be used to ensure that employees find additional meaning and pride in their work. Effectively engaging in this space can help to equip employees to speak more knowledgeably about the company’s social investment work, both internally and externally. This creates positive brand equity, pride, and belonging amongst the staff, and ultimately impact in local communities.

The most important element of communicating in the context of grantmaking is to understand the goal for each particular communication and to tailor it accordingly. In other words, the starting point is to ask, “What are we trying to achieve?” Then social investors can ask, “Who do we need to communicate with to realise this goal?” and then, “How can we do that in a way that makes the most impact?” These questions apply to everything from large-scale public campaigns to small, one-on-one dialogues.