CONTENTS  Chairperson’s  Report  .....................................................................................................................................................................  3  Managing  Trustee’s  Report  .........................................................................................................................................................  4  Our  People  ..........................................................................................................................................................................................  8  What  we  do  ......................................................................................................................................................................................  10  Building  for  Sustainable  Impact  ........................................................................................................................................  10  Sustaining  external  relationships  ................................................................................................................................  11  Measuring  our  impact  .......................................................................................................................................................  11  Sharing  the  FunDza  story  ................................................................................................................................................  12  Strengthening  internal  operations  ..............................................................................................................................  13  

Popularising  Reading  .............................................................................................................................................................  14  Growing  Communities  of  Readers  ....................................................................................................................................  17  Content  is  king!  ....................................................................................................................................................................  17  Innovative  technology  heightens  appeal  ..................................................................................................................  20  

Developing  Young  Writers  ...................................................................................................................................................  22  The  ‘Fanz’  publishing  platform  .....................................................................................................................................  22  Write4Life  workshops  ......................................................................................................................................................  23  

Financial  Statements  ...................................................................................................................................................................  26  FunDza  Supporters  ......................................................................................................................................................................  34  FunDza  Beneficiary  Groups  ......................................................................................................................................................  35        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       The  FunDza  Literacy  Trust        IT  814/2011  |  095-­‐260-­‐NPO  |  PBO  930039651        85  Main  Road,  Muizenberg,  7945      Tel:  021  709  0688  |  Fax:  086  619  7713    info@fundza.co.za  |  www.fundza.co.za    Trustees:  Dlamini,  B;  Hardie,  CM  (managing  trustee);  Mgabadeli,  S  (chair),  Thagane  (née  Rangaka),  L;  Weeks,  WAR      

 

 

 

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT It  has  been  another  truly  successful  year  for  the  FunDza  Literacy  Trust.  The  organisation  has  most  certainly  grown  its  reach  and  impact  and  expanded  its  communities  of  readers.      Without  a  doubt  FunDza  staff  have  been  working  hard.  In  the  past  financial  year,  FunDza  distributed  more  than  12,000  books  to  beneficiary  groups  across  the  country  –  from  deep  rural  schools  in  KwaZulu-­‐Natal  to  youth  groups  in  Soweto  to  outreach  programmes  for  farmworkers  in  the  Western  Cape.  As  chairperson  of  FunDza,  hearing  this  positive  feedback  on  the  books  is  hugely  encouraging.    FunDza’s  ‘library  on  a  mobile  phone’  programme  has  proved  hugely  successful  too.  We’re  delighted  the  independent  monitoring  and  evaluation  team’s  reports  indicate  that  access  to  FunDza  content  is  helping  young  people  to  read  more  frequently  and  in  greater  quantities  than  previously.  This  is  exactly  what  we  are  trying  to  achieve.    Growing  new  writing  talent  is  a  key  aim  of  FunDza.  So  being  able  to  run  the  very  special  project  –  Mentoring  our  Future  Writers  –  with  funding  provided  by  the  National  Arts  Council  has  been  a  great  achievement.  This  project  saw  five  young  and  aspirant  Western  Cape-­‐based  writers  working  with  professional  writers  to  get  their  stories  published  on  FunDza’s  mobi  network.  The  stories  have  been  compiled  into  an  exciting  anthology  called  It  Takes  Two!  We  look  forward  to  replicating  this  project  in  Gauteng  and  KwaZulu-­‐Natal  over  the  next  two  years.    FunDza’s  reputation  has  grown  and  its  work  is  increasingly  being  recognised.  This  is  exemplified  by  the  many  conferences,  events  and  engagements  where  FunDza  staff  are  invited  to  share  their  knowledge  and  experience.  The  interest  in  FunDza’s  work  is  increasingly  international  –  it  has  been  invited  to  participate  in  conferences  and  seminars,  not  just  in  South  Africa,  but  also  in  Kenya,  Namibia  and  the  USA  in  the  past  year.      FunDza  could  not  do  its  work  without  support.  Thank  you  to  those  new  funders  as  well  as  those  existing  supporters  who  have  joined  FunDza  in  prioritising  improving  the  literacy  levels  for  teen  and  young  adult  South  Africans,  specifically  those  from  low-­‐income  backgrounds  without  easy  access  to  books.    We  are  proud  that  the  organisation  was  able  to  raise  more  than  R3,5-­‐million  in  funding  in  the  last  financial  year.  This  will  help  us  go  far  in  helping  to  support  and  sustain  our  outreach  work  and  operations.    Financial  management  is  key  for  FunDza  as  we  strive  to  ensure  our  sustainability.  As  a  board  and  organisation,  we  are  pleased  to  have  received  a  clean  unqualified  audit  again  –  for  the  third  year  running.      What  is  heartening  for  me  is  the  dedication  and  commitment  shown  by  our  staff  and  interns.  They  have  selflessly  spent  time  with  young  readers  and  writers  popularising  reading.  This  is  something  that  we  at  FunDza  believe  will  help  us  achieve  our  dream  of  spreading  the  love  of  reading  for  a  brighter  future  for  our  young  people.    Siki  Mgabadeli    

 

MANAGING TRUSTEE’S REPORT It  is  hard  to  believe  that  FunDza  was  only  founded  three  years  ago.  The  organisation  has  expanded  and  developed  quickly  and  we  have  certainly  come  a  long  way  since  those  early  months  when  we  struggled  to  find  support,  and  during  which  we  set  up  our  various  programmes  on  a  shoe-­‐string  budget.    We  feel  hugely  fortunate  that  we  have  now  gained  the  support  of  committed  partners  who  share  our  vision  of  a  country  enriched  with  young  people  and  leaders  in  their  communities  who  have  been  empowered  by  literacy  and  who  are  spreading  a  love  of  reading  and  writing.    Literacy  is  a  fundamental  human  right.  Many  statistics  point  to  the  fact  that  as  a  country  becomes  more  literate,  so  too  there  are  advances  in  health,  increases  in  wealth  and  in  entrepreneurship.  According  to  the  2012  General  Household  Survey  by  Statistics  South  Africa,  the  adult  literacy  rate  is  92.9%.  However  this  rate  was  determined  by  merely  asking  people  whether  they  could  write  and  read  short,  simple  sentences.  Our  education  system  points  to  a  far  more  worrying  problem  –  that  of  a  severe  lack  of  functional  literacy,  which  is  negatively  impacting  on  academic  progress  and  the  acquisition  of  skills  for  professional  advancement.  

As  evidenced  by  the  2013  Annual  National  Assessments,  we  need  to  do  so  much  more  to  help  young  people  master  those  language  skills  that  are  vital  for  future  success.  A  mere  37%  of  Grade  9s  scored  more  than  50%  for  Home  Language  (with  the  average  mark  being  just  43.1%).  Only  17%  scored  more  than  50%  for  First  Additional  Language,  with  the  average  here  being  just  33.2%.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  vast  majority  of  South  African  learners  take  English  as  their  First  Additional  Language  –  and  that  this  is  also  the  language  in  which  they  are  examined  for  all  other  subjects.  Improving  the  reading  ability  of  young  people,  particularly  in  English,  is  essential  for  academic  success  at  high  school,  matric  level  and  beyond.  

And,  a  study  of  2013  matric  exam  papers  across  all  subject  areas  by  senior  markers  found  that  many  pupils  can  barely  read  and  write  in  English.  This  Third  National  Diagnostic  Report  found  in  particular  that  pupils  battled  to  answer  questions  that  required  longer,  more  complex  answers;  they  struggled  to  argue  and  substantiate;  and  they  didn’t  understand  basic  terms  that  are  used  in  many  questions.  

Getting  young  South  Africans  to  read  more  frequently  and  in  greater  amounts  will  help  expand  vocabularly,  develop  fluency  and  increase  reading  confidence.  These  are  vital  skills  for  young  people  to  learn  and  to  master  in  order  for  them  to  reach  their  potential.  

From  the  feedback  we  receive  from  participants  and  partners  across  all  our  programmes,  we  can  see  that  FunDza  is  doing  just  that  –  sparking  and  sustaining  a  ‘reading  revolution’.  

The  2014  financial  year  has  been  marked  with  many  achievements.  Here  are  a  couple  of  our  ‘reasons  to  celebrate’!  

• The  Africa  Report  named  FunDza  as  one  of  ‘Thirty  ideas  shaking  up  Africa’.  

• FunDza’s  mobi  network  was  selected  as  an  official  project  of  World  Design  Capital:  Cape  Town  2014.  

 

• FunDza  was  included  on  the  Nominet  Trust’s  inaugural  NT100  list,  as  one  of  the  world’s  most  inspiring  examples  of  social  tech  innovation.  

• FunDza  was  named  one  of  four  finalists  in  the  Global  Associaton  of  MBAs  (AMBA)  2013  Entrepreneurial  Venture  Award.  

• FunDza  was  selected  as  a  semi-­‐finalist  for  the  US  Library  of  Congress  Literacy  Awards,  and  it  was  included  in  their  Best  Practices  2013  publication  as  a  project  that  exemplifies  ‘innovative  and  effective  work  in  the  field  of  literacy  and  reading  promotion’.  

While  the  external  recognition  is  fantastic,  what  we  really  love  is  the  daily  interaction  with  our  beneficiaries  –  either  through  comments  on  our  mobi  network,  emails  from  our  reading  partners,  or  communications  with  our  young  writers  –  that  assure  us  that  FunDza  is  making  a  difference  in  their  lives.  

Huge  accolades  must  be  given  to  all  FunDza’s  staff  members  who  work  tirelessly  and  with  great  passion  to  make  FunDza  a  successful  and  innovative  organisation.  As  managing  trustee  of  this  organisation,  I  feel  so  proud  to  be  a  part  of  this  dedicated  team  and  to  have  as  colleagues  a  group  of  such  highly  skilled  and  inspirational  people.    

FunDza  has  now  weathered  its  first  three  years  of  operations  –  often  the  most  risky  time  for  a  start-­‐up  enterprise  of  any  kind.  We  are  planning  for  many  more  years  at  the  moment.  In  the  near  future  –  the  2015  financial  year  –  we  are  running  a  special  ‘Rights’  project  that  brings  our  Constitution  and  Bill  of  Rights  to  life  through  a  series  of  special  stories.  We’re  planning  major  upgrades  to  our  technology  systems.  This  includes  the  launch  of  a  FunDza  app  as  well  as  a  FunDza  reading  curriculum  and  online  courses.  We’re  looking  at  how  we  can  scale  our  impact  and  significantly  grow  our  readership.  And,  we’re  considering  various  social  franchising  models  –  specifically  for  our  writing  workshops.  

Thank  you  to  our  funders,  supporters,  partners  and  beneficiaries  that  have  joined  us  on  this  exciting  journey.  We  look  forward  to  meeting  the  challenges  that  lie  ahead  and  to  contributing  towards  the  growth  of  educated,  empowered  and  engaged  young  citizens  and  future  leaders  of  South  Africa.  

Mignon  Hardie  

   

 

 

 

 

 

OUR PEOPLE The  FunDza  team  brings  together  highly-­‐skilled  individuals  with  experience  in  business,  marketing,  publishing,  writing  and  teaching.  But,  most  importantly,  all  are  passionate  readers  who  share  a  deep  love  for  this  country,  a  desire  to  contribute  towards  its  development  and  a  belief  in  the  transformative  power  of  literacy,  literature  and  story-­‐telling.                          Siki  Mgabadeli  (Trustee:  Chair)  Siki  is  a  business  journalist  and  independent  producer.  She  hosts  PowerFM’s  Powertalk,  SABC2’s  Big  Debate  on  2  and  works  for  Summit  TV.  Siki  won  the  Telkom  ICT  Journalist  of  the  Year  and  Sanlam  Financial  Journalist  of  the  Year  (TV  Category)  awards  in  2006.  She  has  a  Bachelor  of  Journalism  (Hons)  and  is  currently  working  towards  her  Masters  through  Wits  University.    Mignon  Hardie  (Managing  Trustee)  Mignon  has  a  passion  for  small  business  development  and  has  previously  managed  a  number  of  start-­‐up  enterprises.  She  has  a  BA  from  UCT  and  an  MBA  from  Stellenbosch  University,  for  which  she  was  awarded  an  Old  Mutual  Gold  Medal.  She  was  shortlisted  for  the  prestigious  2011  AMBA  International  MBA  Student  of  the  Year  award.    Lebogang  Thagane  (née  Rangaka)  (Trustee)  Lebo  has  worked  for  various  companies  as  a  human  resources  practitioner  specialising  in  organisational  development.  She  has  also  worked  in  the  wine  industry.  She  is  currently  Human  Resources  Manager  at  Nampak.  Lebo  has  a  BA  (Industrial  Psychology  and  Sociology)  from  NMMU  and  an  MBA  from  Stellenbosch  University.    Andrew  Weeks  (Trustee)    Andrew  is  an  experienced  commercial  attorney,  focusing  on  plain  language  law,  consumer  protection  and  information  privacy  law  in  an  electronic  environment.  He  is  an  associate  at  Michalsons  Attorneys  and  also  runs  his  own  legal  advisory  business,  Tenet  Legal.  He  has  a  BA  from  Stellenbosch  University,  an  LLB  from  Wits  University  and  an  LLM  (ICT  law)  from  UCT.    Baleseng  Dlamini  (Trustee)  Baleseng  Dlamini  is  currently  working  for  DSTV.  She  was  previously  National  Business  Manager  Mass  Markets  for  Ads24,  commercial  arm  of  Media24.  She  has  spent  most  of  her  career  in  the  media,  having  worked  for  top  companies  like  SABC  and  M-­‐Net  in  either  advertising,  sales,  marketing  or  strategic  business  development.  

 

 

 Nicci  Giles  (Stakeholder  relations  and  marketing)  Nicci  is  an  experienced  manager  and  marketing  strategist.  Her  strong  marketing  skills  and  social  media  savvy  keep  FunDza  in  the  public  eye.  Nicci  is  also  responsible  for  building  relationships  with  our  many  stakeholders.  Previously  she  was  head  of  Marketing  for  the  Johannesburg  region  of  Investec  Private  Bank.  She  has  a  BSocSc  and  a  Post  Graduate  Diploma  in  Organisation  and  Management,  UCT.    Dorothy  Dyer  (Literacy  specialist)  As  a  former  English  teacher,  Dorothy’s  passion  for  getting  her  students  to  read  became  the  catalyst  for  FunDza’s  literacy  programmes.  Dorothy  runs  the  Popularising  Reading  programme.  She  is  also  the  author  of  many  academic  textbooks  and  teen  fiction.  She  holds  a  Masters  in  Applied  Language  and  Literacy  Studies  and  a  Masters  in  Creative  Writing,  both  through  UCT.    Phoebe  Sibomana  (Administrator  and  beneficiary  liaison)  Phoebe  joined  FunDza  as  an  intern  while  studying  towards  her  Honours  degree  in  Social  Development  at  the  University  of  the  Western  Cape.  She  was  so  fantastic  that  FunDza  offered  her  a  permanent  position.  Apart  from  keeping  the  office  in  order,  Phoebe  is  the  liaison  officer  for  the  beneficiary  groups  in  the  Popularising  Reading  programme.    Rosamund  Haden  (Content  developer)  Ros  is  a  writer  and  editor.  She  ensures  that  FunDza  always  has  top  quality  content.  Besides  her  celebrated  novel,  The  Tin  Church,  Ros  has  written  numerous  short  stories,  children’s  fiction  and  textbooks  as  well  as  writing  for  the  TV  series  Generations.  She  holds  a  Masters  in  Creative  Writing  from  UCT  and  a  Diploma  in  Advanced  Studies  in  Publishing  from  Oxford  Brookes  University.    Zimkhitha  Mlanzeli  (Young  writer  mentor)  Zimkhitha  first  made  contact  with  FunDza  as  a  FunDza  Fanz  reader  and  writer.  Her  writing  was  so  great  that  FunDza  invited  her  to  write  professionally  –  and  ended  up  offering  her  a  job:  to  mentor  other  aspirant  young  writers.  Zimkhitha  works  with  our  ‘FunDza  Fanz’,  encouraging,  editing  and  developing  their  talents  and  then  publishing  their  stories  in  our  Fanz  section  on  the  mobi  site.          

 

WHAT WE DO FunDza  runs  three  outreach  programmes:  Popularising  Reading,  Growing  Communities  of  Readers  and  Developing  Young  Writers.  It  follows  a  systems-­‐thinking  approach  to  its  outreach  work.      All  FunDza’s  programmes  work  together  to  achieve  the  following:    

 Create  demand  for  reading  by  providing  high-­‐interest,  exciting  content  that  ignites  an  interest  in  reading;    Overcome  barriers  to  access  to  reading  content  by  providing  books  or  reading  material  at  low  or  no  cost;    Leverage  mobile  technology  to  reach  young  people  in  the  ‘place’  they  spend  their  time  –  on  their  cellphones;      Encourage  readers  to  write  so  that  they  can  find  their  own  unique  voice  and  gain  confidence  in  their  communication  skills;    Spur  viral  growth  and  get  our  readers  to  share  the  love  of  reading  with  their  friends,  family  and  community.  

   Popularising  Reading  is  growing  a  network  of  beneficiary  groups  across  the  country  that  receive  sets  of  specially  selected  books  from  FunDza  to  encourage  reading.  Growing  Communities  of  Readers  disseminates  exciting  teen/YA  locally-­‐developed  reading  content  to  readers  via  mobile  devices.  Developing  Young  Writers  helps  readers  to  find  their  voice  and  grow  their  writing  skills.  FunDza’s  fourth  programme  –  Building  for  Sustainable  Impact  –  holds  these  all  together  by  providing  the  support  that  the  outreach  work  needs  in  order  to  make  an  impact.  

B u i l d i n g f o r S u s t a i n ab l e Im p ac t The  Building  for  Sustainable  Impact  programme  is  the  engine  that  drives  FunDza  and  all  of  its  outreach  work.  We  believe  that  it  is  imperative  for  us  to  be  thinking  about  the  long-­‐term,  and  for  us  to  be  actively  seeking  ways  to  ensure  that  we  can  operate  effectively  in  the  future  and  thereby  fulfil  our  mission:  to  grow  a  culture  of  reading  and  writing  among  South  African  youth.      Building  for  Sustainable  Impact  is  concerned  with  these  key  themes:  

 ! Harnessing  the  power  of  passionate  people,  who  have  the  energy  and  desire  to  drive  our  

programmes  forward;    ! Developing  and  deepening  relationships  with  those  who  share  our  vision  for  an  educated,  

empowered  and  engaged  youth;  

 

! Securing  funding  and  using  donor  resources  effectively  and  efficiently  to  further  our  reach  and  scale  our  work;  

! Supporting  our  organisation  with  systems  that  work  and  that  can  effectively  manage  our  processes  and  monitor  our  progress;  

! Ensuring  consistent  and  trusted  oversight  through  a  committed  board  of  trustees;  ! Embracing  a  future-­‐oriented  focus,  that  encourages  innovative  thinking  and  supports  

creative  problem-­‐solving;  ! Remaining  true  to  our  mission  –  to  grow  a  culture  of  reading  and  writing  among  South  

Africa’s  youth.    The  2013/14  year  also  marked  an  important  milestone  for  us:  We  have  reached  our  third  year  of  operations.  In  the  business  world,  surviving  for  three  years  is  a  sign  that  a  business  is  doing  a  lot  of  things  right.  We  believe  that  the  same  applies  in  the  challenging  nonprofit  /  social  entrepreneurship  space.  We  believe  that  we  are  developing  a  strong  track  record.  The  Building  for  Sustainable  Impact  programme  is  an  integral  part  of  our  success.  

Sustaining external relationships Without  a  doubt  our  funding  partners  are  key  to  our  success.  A  big  thank  you  to  the  DG  Murray  Trust,  The  Learning  Trust,  the  Claude  Leon  Foundation,  the  Nussbaum  Foundation  and  the  Indigo  Trust,  Siber  Ink,  Hetzner  and  Ben  Rabinowitz  for  their  continued  and  hugely  valued  support.      FunDza  has  worked  hard  to  develop  relationships  with  a  variety  of  new  funding  partners.  These  include  the  UNHCR,  Mutual  and  Federal  Community  Trust,  the  476  Charitable  Trust,  the  David  and  Elaine  Potter  Foundation,  the  National  Arts  Council,  the  Harry  Crossley  Foundation,  HCI  Foundation,  Anglo  American  Chairman’s  Fund,  The  Funding  Network  and  the  Second  Stella  and  Paul  Lowenstein  Charitable  Educational  Trust.    Some  of  the  funding  was  for  specific  projects  and  others  went  towards  FunDza’s  general  programme  work.  All  of  it  was  immensely  appreciated  as  it  meant  we  could  deliver  effectively  our  services  as  well  as  respond  to  and  create  new  opportunities.    Please  see  page  34  for  a  list  of  our  funding  partners.  We  have  highlighted  some  of  our  special  projects  –  run  with  dedicated  funding  from  sponsors  –  in  this  report.    FunDza  is  fortunate  to  have  great  relationships  with  a  range  of  other  stakeholders  that  support  it  in  achieving  its  mission.  Of  particular  importance  are  Nal’ibali  and  its  campaign  to  get  South  Africa  reading;  Inyathelo  for  its  help  with  bolstering  our  operations;  Mxit  and  in  particular,  Mxit  Reach,  for  their  help  in  building  a  strong  readership  base.  

Measuring our impact Thanks  to  dedicated  funding  provided  by  the  DG  Murray  Trust,  FunDza  was  able  to  conduct  an  evaluation  of  its  ‘Growing  Communities  of  Readers’  programme.  This  was  conducted  by  UCT’s  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  Unit  and  is  available  on  request  from  FunDza.  One  of  the  important  findings  was  that  the  more  participants  read,  according  to  their  statistically  recorded  reading  behaviour  on  the  FunDza  platform,  the  more  likely  they  were  to:    

• indicate  that  they  enjoyed  reading  outside  of  school;  • think  that  they  are  good  readers;  • indicate  that  they  read  for  longer  periods;  • record  that  they  are  now  reading  more  outside  of  school.  

 In  this  coming  year,  FunDza  is  working  with  two  UCT  Masters  students  to  gain  greater  understanding  of  its  readers’  needs  and  profiles.  The  one  investigates  gender  preferences  in  terms  of  reading  material;  and,  the  other  tries  to  uncover  what  motivates  FunDza  readers  to  read  more.      

 

Sharing the FunDza story Building  FunDza’s  brand  increases  its  visibility  and  helps  widen  its  support  base  and  grow  its  reach.    The  FunDza  Team  was  featured  on  the  SABC  2  TV  show  Mother  of  All  Professions  –  a  half-­‐hour  documentary  that  showcased  FunDza’s  work.    A  short  video,  entitled  Read:Learn:Share,  was  produced  for  the  mEducation  Alliance  and  published  on  Youtube.  Radio  interviews  on  PowerFM,  SAfm  and  Biz  Radio  featured  Phoebe  Sibomana,  Ros  Haden,  Dorothy  Dyer  and  Nicci  Giles.    A  number  of  newspapers  published  articles  on  FunDza.  These  include  local  papers:  Mail  &  Guardian;  The  Witness;  The  Varsity  (UCT’s  student  newspaper);  The  Sowetan;  My-­‐Line  Commuter  Magazine  as  well  as  international  newspapers;  The  Financial  Times,  The  Independent  (UK)  and  two  articles  in  The  Guardian.  Various  Blogs  also  published  articles  on  FunDza:  the  Nominet  Trust  100;  The  Media  Online;  The  Scenic  South;  LeadSA;  Ground  Up;  Vodacom’s  Digital  Classroom;  The  Non-­‐profit  Network;  Medium  and  Women24.    In  addition,  FunDza  was  invited  to  participate  in  a  variety  of  conferences,  events  and  workshops  during  the  course  of  the  year.      Mignon  presented  at  two  international  conferences:  The  Power  of  Mobile  Technology  to  overcome  barriers  to  Reading  and  Showcase  Creative  Writing  at  the  e-­‐Learning  Africa  conference  in  Windhoek  and  Leveraging  Mobile  Technology  to  Grow  Communities  of  Readers  at  the  8th  Pan-­‐African  Reading  for  All  Conference  in  Nairobi.    Locally  Mignon  presented  Exploring  words  and  worlds  in  FunDza’s  mobi  library  at  the  ISASA  Conference  and  Social  Entrepreneurship  –  The  (he)ART  and  SCIENCE  of  doing  good  at  the  University  of  Stellenbosch  Business  School’s  December  Coffee  Shopchat.    Dorothy  Dyer  presented  Online  multilingual  reading  and  writing  programme  for  reading  and  writing  for  young  South  Africans  using  cellphones  at  Wordfest  in  Grahamstown;  The  importance  of  reading  for  pleasure  at  the  ISASA  Maths  and  English  Intern  Orientation  Programme;  and,  she  presented  The  FunDza  Story  at  the  EMASA  conference  in  Bloemfontein,  the  LIASA  pre-­‐conference  workshop  in  Cape  Town,  and  the  RASA  (Reading  Association  of  South  Africa)  conference  in  Durban    Nicci  Giles  participated  in  a  panel  ‘Platforms  for  engaging  the  Youth’  at  the  CSI  Matters  conference.    Mignon  Hardie  and  Craig  Mason-­‐Jones  presented  FunDza’s  future  technology  plans  at  the  mEducation  Alliance  Symposium,  organised  by  USAID  in  Washington  DC.    Nicci  Giles  pitched  FunDza  to  a  group  of  investors  at  the  The  Funding  Network‘s  Cape  Town  event  for  individual  philanthropists  and  Mignon  pitched  FunDza  to  the  judging  panel  of  the  AMBA  (Association  of  MBAs)  Entrepreneurial  Venue  Award  in  London.    

 

FunDza’s  credibility  is  further  entrenched  through  its  regular  social  media  updates  on  Facebook  and  Twitter  that  are  enjoyed  alike  by  funders,  partner  organisations  and  readers.  FunDza’s  Facebook  ‘likes’  grew  to  2167  and  on  Twitter  it  increased  its  following  to  2392.  

Strengthening internal operations FunDza  worked  hard  to  formalise  various  programme  policies,  streamline  systems  and  ensure  higher  efficiencies  in  operations.  We  are  continuously  looking  at  ways  in  which  we  can  improve  our  internal  operations  so  that  we  can  deliver  more,  better  and  faster.    Sadly,  we  outgrew  our  little  home  at  89  Main  Road,  Muizenberg.  But,  thankfully,  a  new  space  opened  up  and  it  wasn’t  too  far  away.  On  1  December,  we  carried  our  desks  and  equipment  to  the  double-­‐storey  white  house  right  next  door!  We’re  delighted  with  our  newfound  space  and  feel  which  is  a  secure  space  from  which  we  can  grow  even  further.    So,  if  you’re  in  the  area,  pay  us  a  visit  or  give  us  a  call.  We  can  make  great  cups  of  tea  and  coffee  and  would  love  to  hear  from  you…  Visit  us  at  85  Main  Road,  Muizenberg  (directly  opposite  the  BP  garage).  

 

 

Popu l a r i s i n g R e ad i n g In  an  article  in  the  South  African  Journal  of  Education  (Vol.  32  No.2),  Sharita  Bharuthram    states:  “Reading  is  one  of  the  most  important  academic  tasks  encountered  by  students.  In  fact,  reading  is  the  essence  of  all  formal  education.”  This  is  why  FunDza’s  mission  to  shift  young  people’s  attitude  to  reading,  and  to  spark  and  sustain  a  reading  revolution,  is  so  vital.    In  the  2013/14  financial  year,  FunDza’s  Popularising  Reading  programme  supported,  in  total,  185  beneficiary  groups.  These  included:  schools,  libraries,  youth  development  groups,  and  reading  groups  around  South  Africa.  The  programme  delivers  reading  material  that  is  of  high-­‐quality  and  high-­‐interest  to  teens  and  young  adults.  The  books  not  only  create  a  love  for  reading  among  teens  and  young  adults,  but  also  help  teachers  and  facilitators    educate  South  African  teens  on  current  issues  that  they  face.      FunDza  provides  a  platform  to  under-­‐resourced  organizations  and  schools  nationwide  to  apply  to  become  part  of  the  Popularising  Reading  programme,  by  filling  in  the  application  forms  either  on  the  website,  or  by  contacting  us  and  requesting  the  forms.  It  is  important  that  organisations  do  not  just  see  the  books  as  a  donation,  but  that  they  see  FunDza  as  a  partner  working  with  them  to  get  young  people  reading.      There  were  instances  where  beneficiaries  were  not  giving  feedback  and  communication  was  difficult.  As  a  result,  FunDza  reviewed  the  application  process,  and  now  the  facilitator  is  required  to  sign  an  agreement  form  undertaking  to  look  after  the  books,  read  our  newsletters,  give  feedback,  and  give  the  name  of  a  new  contact  if  they  leave  the  organisation.      Once  the  forms  have  been  filled  in  and  approved,  and  the  agreement  signed,  FunDza  provides  the  beneficiary  with  sets  of  accessible  and  exciting  books  for  teen  and  young  adult  readers  –  twice  a  year  on  average.  It  also  provides  support  material  on  how  to  use  the  books  in  a  learning  environment,  as  well  as  other  ideas  for  promoting  reading,  via  a  monthly  newsletter.      There  are  cases  where  the  school  or  library  would  like  to  have  access  to  more  books  than  the  programme  can  supply,  or  cases  whereby  the  books  go  missing  and  beneficiaries  then  contact  us  requesting  more  books.  In  such  instances  FunDza  provides  them  with  discounted  rates  to  buy  replacement  or  extra  books  from  Cover2Cover,  the  publisher  of  the  books.    

 

 In  the  2013/14  year,  FunDza  gained  64  new  beneficiaries  and  managed  to  deliver  12,671  books  and  activity  guides  to  beneficiaries  across  South  Africa.  Almost  7,000  of  these  were  FunDza’s  Big  Ups!  books  which  contain  highly  popular  short  stories  originally  published  on  our  mobi  network.  These,  together  with  all  the  books  in  the  Harmony  High  series,  continue  to  hold  high  appeal.    From  July  2013,  distribution  of  the  books  was  outsourced  to  a  logistics  company,  On  the  Dot.  While  there  are  a  few  disadvantages  to  this  system  (for  instance,  FunDza  cannot  send  letters  or  certificates  with  the  books),  the  benefits  far  outweigh  these.  FunDza  is  no  longer  dependent  on  the  irregular  offering  of  the  SA  Post  Office.  And,  the  bulk  arrangement  means  that  books  are  delivered  via  courier  direct  to  the  organisation,  more  securely  and  at  lower  cost.  In  addition,  FunDza  staff  no  longer  have  to  spend  long  hours  packaging  and  sending  books  countrywide.      The  response  to  the  books  has  again  been  overwhelmingly  positive.  Fawzia  Hoeri,  from  Uplands  Outreach  Programme  wrote,  “I  can’t  even  begin  to  describe  the  immensely  positive  feedback  our  students  give  us!  You  have  really  changed  their  approach  to  reading.”    Amanda  Sickle,  from  The  Reading  Room  in  Cape  Town,  sent  us  this  feedback:  “It  is  easier  to  help  a  child  to  read  when  it  is  something  that  they  enjoy  reading,  even  if  they  only  think  they  will  enjoy  reading  the  story.    It’s  easiest  when  the  reader  can  relate  to  the  story…  it  just  brings  the  feeling  of  it  being  real  and  not  a  fairy  tale.  Personally,  it  feels  like  FunDza’s  got  my  back  by  enabling  me  to  assist  young  readers  who  are  hungry  for  knowledge.”    Beneficiaries  also  send  us  direct  feedback  from  the  readers  themselves:  as  one  student  from  Cape  Town  wrote  about  one  of  the  short  story  anthologies,  “I  really  enjoyed  reading  this  book  as  i  found  it  to  be  very  interesting.  Most  of  the  stories  i  could  relate  to  especially  the  first  one.  As  a  young  teenager  many  people,  adults  in  particular  does  not  know  or  really  understand  how  teenagers  work  and  they  don’t  really  "get"  us.  I  found  this  book  to  really  understand  me  and  it  gave  me  solution  in  which  i  could  solve  the  problem  that  I’m  dealing  with.  Besides  that  this  book  was  funny,  enjoyable  and  really  fun  to  read.”    

 

FunDza  has  a  range  of  relationships  and  contacts  with  librarians,  facilitators  and  teachers  around  the  country.  Inevitably  there  are  beneficiaries  who  are  more  responsive  than  others,  and  FunDza  develops  a  deeper  and  more  supportive  relationship  with  institutions  who  want  to  work  more  closely  with  us.    These  relationships  can  also  feed  in  to  the  programmes  as  we  get  a  clear  picture  of  responses  to  our  materials  on  the  ground.      While  we  are  keen  to  support  as  many  organisations  as  possible,  we  have  had  to  make  a  number  of  organisations  ‘inactive’  in  the  last  year.  We  removed  49  beneficiary  groups  from  our  ‘active’  list,  due  to  lack  of  feedback  from  the  organisation  about  the  books’  impact  on  the  group  that  they  were  reaching.  Most  often,  the  inactivity  was  due  to  the  FunDza  ‘champion’  leaving  the  school  or  group,  and  no  other  person  being  available  to  take  on  that  role.          

G et t i ng T ha nd okh u l u HS r e a d i n g ! FunDza  wanted  to  pilot  a  project  of  ‘book  clubs’  in  under-­‐resourced  schools  where  books  were  scarce.  Thandokhulu  High  School  in  Cape  Town  was  identified  as  the  location  for  a  pilot  ‘book  club’  system  in  two  Grade  8  classes.  The  classes  each  got  sets  of  FunDza  –  and  other  -­‐  high  interest  -­‐  books  that  they  read  during  a  formal  reading  session  in  class,  and  then  learners  could  also  take  the  books  home.  Two  control  classes  were  also  monitored,  in  order  to  see  if  the  books  had  an  impact  on  learners’  attitudes  to  reading  (a  critical  factor  in  promoting  literacy)  and  also  to  compare  comprehension  scores  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  year.  However,  the  control  group  classes  quickly  became  aware  of  the  books,  felt  that  they  also  wanted  to  be  part  of  the  programme,  and  started  borrowing  them  from  friends  in  the  pilot  classes  –  thus  increasing  the  value  of  books  in  the  eyes  of  all  Grade  8s!  Thus  most  Grade  8s  started  seeing  reading  as  potentially  exciting,  and  our  comparison  was  no  longer  viable!    Later  that  year  Thandokhulu  High  School  received  support  from  Equal  Education  to  set  up  their  library,  which  would  also  make  our  book  club  programme  redundant,  as  books  would  be  available  at  the  library  and  there  would  not  be  such  an  urgent  need  for  a  different  model  of  disseminating  reading  material.  FunDza  elected  to  spend  a  donation  from  Zonke  Monitoring  Systems  on  further  supporting  the  development  of  the  library.  The  funding  was  used  to  source  books  and  furniture  for  the  library,  and  to  help  make  the  space  a  sanctuary  for  reading.    FunDza  selected  more  than  200  high-­‐interest  books  that  would  get  both  young  people  and  teachers  loving  reading.  FunDza  also  worked  with  Equal  Education  to  set  up  the  library,  and  ran  an  introductory  workshop  with  teachers  on  the  importance  of  reading.      Interestingly,  before  the  workshop  few  language  teachers  were  aware  of  the  powerful  impact  reading  for  pleasure  has  on  learners’  academic  abilities  and  results.  This  points  to  the  need  for  future  advocacy  programmes  for  all  teachers.  

 

 

G row i ng C om m un i t i e s o f R e ade r s  

FunDza’s  Growing  Communities  of  Readers  programme  marries  great  South  African  reading  content  with  a  desirable  delivery  channel:  the  mobile  phone.  We  believe  that  one  of  FunDza’s  great  selling  points  is  its  ability  to  produce  –  every  single  week  of  the  year  –  a  new  short  story  written  by  a  Southern  African  author.  In  addition,  another  great  selling  point  is  its  easy-­‐to-­‐navigate  mobi  network  that  boasts  a  library  (books,  short  stories,  poetry,  feature  articles  and  more),  a  bookshop  (with  third-­‐party  premium  content),  and  ‘Fanz’  section  –  in  which  readers  contribute  content  as  part  of  FunDza’s  ‘Developing  Young  Writers’  programme.  

Content is king! Content  development,  under  the  leadership  of  Rosamund  Haden,  is  a  critical  aspect  of  FunDza’s  work.  There  needs  to  be  a  new  short  story  ready  for  FunDza’s  ‘hungry’  readers  every  week.  This  has  to  be  commissioned,  content  edited,  redrafted,  copy-­‐edited  and  proofread,  sometimes  translated,  uploaded,  and  finally  published  online.  There  are  many  stages  to  the  development  process,  and  many  stories  in  various  stages  of  development  at  any  one  point  in  time.  Translations  of  stories  mean  that  they  have  to  be  ready  a  week  ahead  of  the  normal  schedule.  So,  timing  is  crucial.    During  the  financial  year,  FunDza  commissioned  and  published  an  incredible  71  short  stories  (26  of  these  were  translations)  across  a  range  of  genres:  human  drama  to  crime,  romance,  mystery  and  true-­‐life  stories.      All  stories  are  targeted  at  a  black,  teen/young  adult  readership  and  are  accessed  by  readers  on  FunDza’s  responsive  site  (fundza.mobi)  through  their  cellphones,  tablets  or  computers  or  through  FunDza’s  Mxit  app  (mxitapp.com/fundza).    The  vast  majority  –  more  than  90%  read  FunDza  content  via  Mxit  as  this  works  on  a  wide  range  of  feature  phones  and  requires  very  little  data.    Getting  the  story  ‘right’  for  FunDza’s  readership  is  critical.  As  readers  can  provide  instant  feedback  through  the  comment  system,  FunDza  is  fast  learning  what  readers  like  (or  don’t  like).  We’ve  learnt  that  readers  love  plot-­‐driven  stories,  with  lots  of  dialogue.  And,  they  enjoy  stories  that  reflect  their  issues  and  that  have  youthful  protagonists.  Language  needs  to  be  accessible  too.  They  also  need  believable  characters,  and  satisfying  endings.  All  of  this  makes  for  a  ‘fun’  reading  experience.  

 

 Many  of  the  stories  tackle  important  issues  –  from  teen  pregnancy  to  abuse,  crime,  depression,  peer-­‐pressue  and  all  forms  of  bullying.  But  first  and  foremost,  they  need  to  be  good  stories  in  which  the  issues  emerge  out  of  the  fabric  of  the  plot.  There  are  also  many  light-­‐hearted,  humorous  stories  of  romance  or  thrilling  mysteries,  that  keep  our  readers  coming  back  for  more.    When  we  first  started  developing  content,  we  thought  that  individual  chapters  should  be  short  –  we  didn’t  believe  that  readers  would  want  to  read  too  much  text  on  their  phones.  We’ve  discovered  that  this  isn’t  necessarily  the  case  –  readers  now  ‘demand’  that  chapters  are  between  800  to  1,000  words  –  if  they  are  shorter  than  that  we  invariably  receive  complaints.    FunDza’s  stories  are  released  in  serialised  format  –  so  each  day  there’s  a  new  chapter.  Chapters  end  with  discussion  questions  to  encourage  reflection,  and  spark  discussion  and  debate.  Many  of  our  readers  comment  every  day.  During  the  course  of  the  financial  year,  FunDza’s  mobi  network  received  35,720  comments  from  11,963  different  readers.  This  translates  into  an  average  of  almost  100  comments  on  a  daily  basis,  indicating  high  interaction  and  engagement.    Where  funding  allows,  FunDza  also  translates  its  stories  into  other  South  African  languages.  During  the  course  of  the  year  FunDza  translated  26  of  its  short  stories  into  the  following  SA  languages:  isiZulu,  isiXhosa,  Afrikaans  Sesotho  and  Sepedi.  FunDza  can  

track  the  popularity  –  and  thus  the  demand  –  for  stories  in  other  languages.  Without  a  doubt  isiZulu,  Afrikaans  and  isiXhosa  hold  the  most  appeal  for  our  readership.  Nonetheless,  we  are  keen  to  translate  into  as  many  South  African  languages  as  is  practically  possible.    FunDza’s  pool  of  writers  is  growing  too.  During  the  year  29  writers  were  commissioned  to  write  stories.  Some  of  these  were  first-­‐time  writers  who  had  been  mentored  into  writing  professional  stories.  A  number  of  the  mentee  writers  formed  part  of  the  ‘Mentoring  our  future  writers’  project  –  with  funding  from  the  National  Arts  Council  (see  the  section:  Mentoring  new  talent)  –  while  others  were  mentored  by  FunDza  staff  members.  The  new  writers  are:  Asavelo  Peko,  Jean-­‐Paul  Willemse,  Mzimkhulu  Mackenzie,  Nosibusiso  Tshetu,  Phoebe  Sibomana,  Prosperity  Mambinya,  Sicelo  Kula  and  Zikhona  Gwadiso.    Over  the  year  there  was  a  good  mix  of  urban  and  rural  stories.  Popular  FunDza  author  Sonwabiso  Ngcowa  produced  two  particularly  poignant  stories  based  in  the  rural  Eastern  Cape.  ‘Damage’  dealt  with  poverty  and  abuse,  while  ‘Stolen  Away’  was  about  a  young  girl  being  forced  into  marriage.  Romance  is  always  a  popular  theme.  Cebisa  Zono  wrote  ‘Church  Girl’  in  isiXhosa  –  his  mothertongue.  This  was  then  translated  into  English.  This  was  Cebisa’s  second  story  for  FunDza  –  the  first  was  a  gay  love  story  set  in  rural  Eastern  Cape.  We’ve  also  published  several  crime  stories:  first  time  author  Lazola  Pambo’s  ‘The  Grizzly  Bear  Gang’  was  a  short  novel  published  by  FunDza.          

 

FunDza  has  worked  with  a  number  of  organisations  on  special  story  projects.  With  UCT’s  Perinatal  Mental  Health  Project,  FunDza  higlighted  the  issue  of  teen  pregnancy  through  the  story  ‘Pieces  of    Paper’,  by  accomplished  author  Michelle  Faure.  The  story  linked  to  useful  resource  material  for  pregnant  teens  who  are  required  to  navigate  the  challenges  of  being  a  young  mother.    Mutual  and  Federal  Community  Trust  sponsored  a  series  of  three  short  stories  that  dealt  with  the  themes  of  migration  and  transformation.  ‘A  trail  of  dust’  by  Epiphanie  Mukasano  centred  on  migration  across  the  continent.  The  story  was  based  on  the  true-­‐life  experiences  of  a  young  Rwandan  refugee  who  fled  her  country  and  travelled  –  without  adult  supervision  –  through  four  countries  to  reach  South  Africa.    Lauri  Kubuitsile’s  ‘Where  is  Home?’  looked  at  the  issue  of  moving  from  a  rural  to  an  urban  area.  The  issue  of  how  technological  knowledge  can  disrupt  and  transform  life  in  a  rural  village  was  explored  in  Bontle  Senne’s  ‘In  the  shadows  of  my  dreams’.    Harry  Crossley  provided  FunDza  with  funding  to  run  a  special  project  that  shone  a  light  on  the  difficulties  facing  young  people  who  make  the  transition  to  studying  at  tertiary  level.  For  this  ‘Breaking  Barriers/Transition  Stories’  project,  FunDza  ran  a  writing  workshop  with  nine  people  who  had  successfully  made  the  transition  to  study  at  a  higher  education  institution.  They  wrote  essays  about  their  real-­‐life  experiences.  These  were  published  in  the  non-­‐fiction,  feature  article  section  in  FunDza’s  ‘library’.  Two  participants  –  Sicelo  Kula  and  Nosibusiso  Tshetu  –  together  with  FunDza  writer  Zimkhitha  Mlanzeli  then  wrote  fictional  short  stories  about  young  people  making  this  transition.  Comments  from  readers  show  that  these  stories  hit  a  chord,  with  many  saying  that  they  wanted  to  study  further  but  hadn’t  previously  felt  the  confidence  to  pursure  their  dreams.    With  the  UNHCR,  FunDza  ran  a  story  project  and  reading  competition  to  raise  awareness  for  World  Refugee  Day  on  20  June  2013.  The  story  ‘Finders  Keepers’,  written  by  Ros  Haden  and  Phoebe  Sibomana,  drew  attention  to  issues  of  xenophobia  through  a  highly  engaging  love  story.  This  highly  successful  project  included  a  competition,  which  attracted  almost  3,000  entries.    In  addition  to  its  own  original  content,  FunDza  publishes  third-­‐party  content  in  both  its  library  and  its  ‘bookshop’  (where  readers  pay  small  amounts  of  ‘moola’  to  read  books).  Content  partners  include  the  African  Storybook  Project  and  Nal’ibali  which  have  both  allowed  FunDza  to  republish  their  content  in  our  ‘library’.  These  children’s  stories  have  proved  popular  with  readers  and  are  a  great  way  of  encouraging  older  siblings  or  parents  to  read  to  their  younger  siblings  or  children.  Other  providers  to  FunDza’s  library  include:  New  Readers  Publishers,  UKZN  Press,  Townsend  Press,  the  Mail  &  Guardian,  and  a  number  of  individual  writers.    In  addition,  New  Africa  Books  (now  renamed  David  Philips  Publishers)  has  allowed  FunDza  to  republish  its  Siyagruva  series  and  other  titles  in  its  Bookshop.  These  are  made  available  to  readers  for  very  small  amounts  of  ‘moola’  –  they  are  generally  sold  at  just  12c  per  chapter.  While  no  one  will  be  retiring  on  the  proceeds,  this  initiative  does  mean  that  fantastic  South  African  content  is  now  available  to  our  readers.      We  greatly  appreciate  this  support  –  we  know  that  it  is  the  content  that  keeps  readers  coming  back  to  FunDza  for  more.  

 

Innovative technology heightens appeal The  words  ‘growing  communities’  are  key  to  this  programme  –  how  can  we  excite  young  people  about  reading  and  then  get  them  to  share  this  love  with  their  friends,  their  family  and  their  wider  community.  The  great  thing  about  mobile  technology  and  social  media  is  that  it  is  inherently  community  and  communication-­‐oriented.  Harnessing  this  aspect  is  key  for  the  programme.    FunDza  was  lucky  enough  to  have  funding  from  a  number  of  partners  dedicated  to  technology  development.  The  Indigo  Trust  provided  FunDza  with  ICT-­‐specific  funding  to  significantly  improve  the  backend  and  features  of  the  mobi  network.  The  Harry  Crossley  Foundation  provided  a  grant  to  upgrade  the  old  ‘mobi  site’  –  built  specifically  for  mobile  phones  rather  than  any  other  device  –  into  a  responsive  site  that  can  determine  what  type  of  device  is  accessing  it  (i.e.  computer,  tablet,  phone)  and  then  display  the  content  in  the  most  user-­‐friendly  way  for  that  particular  device.      FunDa’s  original  mobi  network  was  built  on  a  shoestring  budget  and  did  require  a  significant  upgrade.  FunDza’s  technology  partner,  The  Lateral  Alternative,  has  been  working  hard  to  build  a  substantially  more  secure  and  stable  platform  that  allows  users  faster  access  to  content  in  ways  that  are  data-­‐light.      Most  importantly,  the  improvements  have  meant  deeper  engagement  with  our  readers.  The  three  most  significant  changes  in  terms  of  reader  engagement  are:    

• A  messaging  service  to  all  Mxit  users:  This  has  been  a  great  marketing  tool  and  allows  FunDza  to  inform  readers  when  new  content  is  available.  FunDza  can  message  more  than  100,000  users  at  the  click  of  a  button  –  and  we  can  see  that  these  messages  have  an  immediate  impact  on  readership.  

• A  sharing  tool  on  Mxit:  This  allows  Mxit  users  to  share  content  with  their  friends  and  is  helping  us  to  grow  the  readership  base  organically.  

• A  survey  and  competition  tool:  This  allows  the  set  up  of  surveys  and  competitions  with  relative  ease.  Readers  love  competitions,  so  this  has  helped  with  engagement,  and  the  survey  aspect  has  facilitated  our  monitoring  and  evaluation  enormously.  This  is  vital  for  our  organisation.  

 The  responsive  site  –  designed  by  Tenacity  Works  and  implemented  by  The  Lateral  Alternative  –  has  also  incorporated  a  range  of  social  features,  such  as  sharing  via  Facebook  and  Twitter,  and  easy  commenting  on  stories.  We  can  see  that  this  is  now  encouraging  more  people  to  access  the  internet  version  of  our  site  –  around  10%  of  our  total  readers  are  visit  the  responsive  site,  up  from  around  5%  a  year  previously.    FunDza  is  looking  forward  to  making  even  greater  improvements  to  its  systems.  In  particular,  it  will  be  finding  ways  to  customise  the  reader  experience  –  providing  user  profiles,  giving  readers  badges  for  their  reading  performance,  allowing  readers  to  easily  rate  content,  and  introducing  some  eLearning  tools  –  such  as  comprehension  quizzes  to  accompany  the  content.  In  addition,  FunDza  is  continuously  investigating  how  to  grow  even  more  communities  of  readers.  It  is  looking  at  how  to  share  its  content  across  other  social  and  mobile  platforms.  It  is  also  looking  at  building    a  dedicated  FunDza  reading  App.  

 

   

Men to r i n g new t a l e n t Thanks  to  funding  from  the  National  Arts  Council,  FunDza  has  been  able  to  embark  on  an  ambitious  writing  mentorship  programme.  As  part  of  this  programme,  FunDza  will  pair  a  talented  and  enthusiastic  young  writer  with  an  established  writer  to  each  produce  a  short  story  for  FunDza’s  mobi  network.    The  first  year’s  programme  ran  in  the  Western  Cape  with  these  pairs  of  mentors  and  mentees:  Maire  Fisher  with  Jean-­‐Paul  Willemse;  Joanne  Hichens  with  Phoebe  Sibomana;  Michelle  Faure  with  Zikhona  Gwadiso;  Asavela  Peko  with  Sonwabiso  Ngcowa;  and,  Helen  Brain  with  Mzimkhulu  Mackenzie.      Each  pair  of  stories  had  to  be  connected  in  some  way.  In  some  instances,  writers  continued  the  story  but  using  a  different  character  as  the  main  voice;  in  others,  the  location  became  the  connection  point.  The  pairs  of  writers  worked  together  to  develop  their  stories.  The  emerging  writers  gained  invaluable  experience  in  writing  and  in  having  a  platform  through  which  they  could  showcase  their  work.  Mentors  were  also  challenged  by  their  young  mentees  to  keep  their  stories  fresh,  and  to  give  authenticity  to  their  characters.    The  short  stories  were  published  between  October  and  December  of  2013.  They  were  then  compiled  into  a  print  anthology  –  It  Takes  Two!  –  which  was  released  in  the  2015  financial  year.    FunDza  is  proud  of  this  project  that  resulted  in  the  publication  of  10  fabulous  and  uniquely  South  African  short  stories,  enjoyed  by  thousands  of  readers.  The  writers  wrote  across  a  variety  of  themes  from  romance  to  crime  and  human  drama.  What  makes  this  project  so  interesting  is  the  range  of  writing  styles.  The  writers’  voices  really  shone  through  their  work  and  they  weren’t  scared  to  tackle  some  difficult  issues.      FunDza  is  grateful  to  the  National  Arts  Council  for  their  support  in  providing  young  writers  with  an  opportunity  to  be  both  developed  and  also  published.    

 

D eve l op i n g You n g W r i t e r s Literacy  development  is  not  simply  about  the  ability  to  read  text,  it  is  also  about  the  ability  to  communicate  in  written  form  with  clarity  and  purpose.    To  this  end,  FunDza  encourages  its  readers  to  develop  their  writing  skills,  and  find  their  own  unique  voice.      It  does  this  in  two  ways:  firstly,  it  provides  a  publishing  platform  on  its  mobi  network;  and  secondly,  it  hosts  a  variety  of  writing  workshops  aimed  at  improving  writing  skills.  

The ‘Fanz’ publishing platform FunDza  readers  are  encouraged  to  submit  their  work  to  FunDza  for  publication  in  the  ‘Fanz’  section  of  the  mobi  network.  The  platform  is  available  to  all  teens  and  young  adults  who  have  a  passion  for  writing.  The  content  is  lightly  edited  so  that  the  piece  retains  the  ‘voice’  of  the  writer  but  is  also  grammatically  correct.    FunDza’s  Fanz  editor,  Zimkhitha  Mlanzeli,  provides  writers  with  feedback  on  their  work  and  with  ideas  on  how  they  can  improve  their  writing.  FunDza  also  publishes  regular  ‘Tips  for  Writers’  as  part  of  a  growing  resource  for  aspirant  writers.  Tips  include  things  such  as:  using  the  right  punctuation  mark  in  the  right  place;  learning  the  rules  for  capitalisation;  using  atmospheric  descriptive  words;  avoiding  cliches;  and,  developing  three-­‐dimensional  characters.  These  tips  and  advice  are  warmly  received  by  Fanz,  and  their  comments  reflect  this.    As  Pearl  McKenzie  wrote:  “Thank  you  so  much,  Zimkhitha.  I  will  most  definitely  apply  what  you’ve  suggested  to  me.  I  thank  you  for  reading  and  editing  my  story.  Your  constructive  criticism  encourages  me  to  do  better  next  time.  Thank  you  for  publishing  the  story  as  well.  I  appreciate  it.”    Thanks  to  the  efforts  and  encouragement  of  Zimkhitha,  the  number  of  writers,  and  the  amount  of  work  published,  has  increased  substantially.  By  the  end  of  February  2014,  FunDza  had  published  the  work  of  400  young  aspirant  writers.  The  readers  of  the  Fanz  work  are  also  enjoying  it  enormously  and  they  provide  these  young  aspirant  Fanz  writers  with  encouragement  and  feedback.    FunDza  aims  to  deepen  its  development  of  young  talent  through  its  ‘Starz’  project,  which  it  launched  in  January  2014.  In  this,  we  identify  committed  Fanz  writers  and  help  to  develop  them  to  become  commissioned  authors  of  FunDza  short  stories  for  the  Growing  Communities  of  Readers  programme.      This  includes  being  guided  through  a  story  development  process:  writers  work  with  Zimkhitha  to  develop  an  exciting  plot,  written  as  short  chapter  summaries,  from  which  they  develop  the  narrative,  and  flesh  out  the  characters.  This  requires  discipline,  time  and  effort,  and  those  who  persevere  find  themselves  becoming  commissioned  writers.      One  of  the  big  difficulties  that  many  of  our  writers  face  is  lack  of  good  writing  equipment.  Many  of  the  writers  are  working  on  old  phones  and  they  use  Mxit’s  email  package  to  send  through  their  written  work.      

 

 

Write4Life workshops FunDza  also  presented  a  number  of  writing  workshops.  A  new,  very  popular  workshop  has  been  ‘Branding  Me’  which  reached  80  young  people  in  the  year.  The  workshop  guides  participants  to  recognise  their  strengths  and  interests  in  order  to  work  out  the  kind  of  work  they  are  interested  in,  and  to  develop  vocabulary  to  describe  themselves  in  covering  letters  and  CVs.  FunDza  first  presented  this  two-­‐day  workshop  at  Etafeni,  and  then  modified  it  for  Communiversity  in  Vrygrond,  and  AVA  in  Claremont.  All  evaluations  were  very  positive,  and  the  director  of  AVA  informed  us  that  their  participants  had  rated  it  as  the  most  useful  workshop  of  the  year  (they  have  monthly  workshops).      In  December  FunDza  ran  an  intensive  day  workshop  called  ‘Investigating  Life’  with  nine  young  people  who  were  interested  in  journalism.  Two  professional  journalists  were  employed  to  run  the  training,  and  the  final  outcome  of  the  course  was  for  each  young  person  to  write  an  investigative  article  that  was  published  on  FunDza’s  site.  This  subsequent  writing  process  was  supported  via  email,  and  some  of  the  writers  came  into  the  office  for  further  support.    FunDza  hosted  five  ‘Writing  a  good  essay’  workshops.  Three  were  held  in  the  Eastern  Cape  (see  the  following  special  report),  one  with  20  participants  from  Kuyasa,  Franschhoek,  and  another  with  45  participants  from  a  Kayamandi  high  school.  All  groups  also  received  booklets  giving    useful  tips  about  how  to  write  a  good  essay.  

S uc c e s s S to r y ! In  February  2013  FunDza  started  a  blog,  The  Diary  of  Zinzi  Zwane,  which  follows  the  life  of  a  fictional  character  who  had  relocated  from  Port  Elizabeth  to  Cape  Town.  The  blog  is  published  in  real  time  and  readers  get  to  comment  and  give  advice  to  Zinzi.  The  blog  was  originally  written  by  Zimkhitha  Mlanzeli  but,  after  a  couple  of  months,  we  decided  to  see  if  one  of  the  Fanz  writers  could  take  it  on  as  a  commissioned  job.  Three  writers  were  selected  to  try  it  out  and  from  these  Anathi  Nyadu  was  selected  as  the  new  ‘Zinzi  Zwane’!    Anathi  is  a  second  year  Media  Studies  student  at  the  University  of  the  Free  State.  He  started  submitting  his  poems  to  FunDza  in  2012.  In  total  he  has  submitted  20  poems,  two  short  stories  and  five  essays.  Readers  love  his  writing  too.  As  these  readers  commented:    

“Well,  that’s  marvellous  writing,  author.  Big  ups  to  you!  Wishing  you  growth  and  all  the  best.”    “I  respect  the  writer.  Truth  of  life,  I  love  this  story.  It  helped  me  see  the  other  side  of  the  story.”  

 Anathi  started  writing  the  Zinzi  blog  in  July  2013  and,  since  then,  he  has  risen  to  the  challenge.  During  the  course  of  the  year,  105  Zinzi  Zwane  blog  posts  were  published,  63  of  these  written  by  Anathi.    Being  a  20-­‐year-­‐old  male,  and  writing  the  blog  of  a  fictional  19-­‐year-­‐old  girl,  is  not  always  easy.  Plus,  being  a  full-­‐time  student  and  committing  to  submit  around  8  blog  posts  every  month  can  be  tough  going.  But  Anathi  has  proven  that  he’s  up  to  the  challenge,  and  we,  at  FunDza,  are  very  proud  to  have  him  as  part  of  our  ‘FunDza  family’.  

 

   

     

Eas t e r n C ap e w r i t i n g r o ad t r i p  Thanks  to  funding  from  the  HCI  Foundation,  FunDza  was  able  to  take  a  'road  trip'  to  the  Eastern  Cape  and  run  three  writing  workshops  with  learners  and  teachers  at  schools  near  Qunu.  The  aim  of  the  workshops  was  to  impart  skills  and  knowledge  around  essay  writing  for  school.      Writing  essays  is  a  requirement  for  all  language  subjects  in  the  school  curriculum,  and  indeed  forms  a  substantial  part  of  the  final  language  exam  for  grade  12.  However,  outside  of  school,  or  even  inside  of  school,  learners  seldom  get  to  read  essays,  as  it  is  a  very  particular  genre.  FunDza  compiled  a  24-­‐page  booklet  for  the  workshops.  This  will  be  used  to  run  similar  workshops.  This  has  been  translated  into  Afrikaans  for  use  in  schools  in  the  Western  Cape.    The  first  workshop  was  with  19  teachers  from  10  different  schools  in  the  Qunu  vicinity.  All  taught  grades  7,  8  or  9.  It  was  a  very  successful  workshop  as  the  FunDza  facilitators  took  the  teachers  through  activities  that  they  could  use  with  their  classes.  Because  the  activities  are  carefully  structured,  but  are  largely  participant-­‐led,  they  were  as  useful  for  the  teachers  as  for  learners.      The  feedback  from  the  teachers  was  enthusiastic,  as  the  following  shows…    

“The  group  essay  was  outstanding.  It  showed  me  the  skill  of  getting  through  to  my  learners  and  make  them  love  essay  writing  as  it  provides  fun  moments.  Every  part  of  the  workshop  was  superb…  I  gained  more  insight  into  how  to  make  my  lessons  more  interesting  to  my  learners.”    “I  have  never  been  able  to  tackle  teaching  essay  writing  ,  now  I  am  going  to  teach  my  isiXhosa  class  with  confidence.”  

 FunDza  then  hosted  two  one-­‐day  workshops  for  grades  7,  8  and  9  learners  at  Bavumele  Junior  Secondary  School  and  Mqanduli  Junior  Secondary  School,  both  in  rural  areas  near  Qunu.    For  these  two  workshops  55  learners  were  taken  through  the  process  of  reading,  discussing,  brainstorming,  and  finally  writing  a  collaborative  essay.  Xoliswa  Guzula  and  her  two  team  members  from  the  Nelson  Mandela  Institute,  who  were  also  there  to  observe,  joined  in  the  proceedings  with  some  lively  activities.  Other  observers  included  the  principals  and  teachers  from  the  schools,  and  staff  members  from  Axium,  an  educational  NGO  working  in  the  area.    The  workshops  were  very  successful,  with  learners  quiet  at  first,  but  soon  warming  up  to  participate  and  make  their  contributions.  The  observing  teachers  (who  had  attended  our  first  workshop)  have  since  reported  that  they  have  themselves  been  able  to  use  these  activities  with  their  own  classes.      As  Nathalie  Koenig,  Axium’s  Literacy  Coordinator  wrote:  "It's  great  to  see  resources  and  activities  in  action  that  use  simple  literacy  concepts  and  best  practice  to  make  an  impact  where  it's  really  needed.  I'm  excited  about  implementing  more  of  the  activities  with  learners  in  the  classes  I  engage  with...  and  getting  some  aspiring  writers  onto  the  mobi  site  too!”  

 

 

 

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS  INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

 We  have  audited  the  annual  financial  statements  of  The  FunDza  Literacy  Trust  which  comprise  the  Trustees’  report,  the  statement  of  financial  position  as  of  28  February  2014,  the  statement  of  comprehensive  income,  the  statement  of  changes  in  accumulated  funds,  the  statement  of  cash  flows  for  the  year  then  ended  and  a  summary  of  the  significant  accounting  policies  and  other  explanatory  notes.    

Trustees’ Responsibil ity for the Financial Statements The  Trustees  of  the  Trust  are  responsible  for  the  preparation  and  fair  presentation  of  these  financial  statements  in  accordance  with  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  for  Small  and  Medium-­‐Sized  Entities.  This  responsibility  includes  designing,  implementing  and  maintaining  internal  controls  relevant  to  the  preparation  and  fair  presentation  of  financial  statements  that  are  free  from  material  misstatement,  whether  due  to  fraud  or  error,  selecting  and  applying  appropriate  accounting  policies,  and  making  accounting  estimates  that  are  reasonable  in  the  circumstances.    

Auditor’s Responsibil ity Our  responsibility  is  to  express  an  opinion  on  these  financial  statements  based  on  our  audit.  We  conducted  our  audit  in  accordance  with  International  Standards  on  Auditing.  Those  standards  require  that  we  comply  with  ethical  requirements  and  plan  and  perform  the  audit  to  obtain  reasonable  assurance  whether  the  financial  statements  are  free  from  material  misstatement.    An  audit  involves  performing  procedures  to  obtain  audit  evidence  about  the  amounts  and  disclosures  in  the  financial  statements.The  procedures  selected  depend  on  the  auditor’s  judgement,  including  the  assessment  of  the  risks  of  material  misstatement  of  the  financial  statements,  whether  due  to  fraud  or  error.  In  making  those  risk  assessments,  the  auditor  considers  internal  controls  relevant  to  the  entity’s  preparation  and  fair  presentation  of  the  financial  statements  in  order  to  design  audit  procedures  that  are  appropriate  in  the  circumstances,  by  not  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  an  opinion  on  the  effectiveness  of  the  entity’s  internal  controls.  An  audit  also  includes  evaluating  the  appropriateness  of  accounting  policies  used  and  the  reasonableness  of  accounting  estimates  made  by  the  Trustees,  as  well  as  evaluating  the  overall  presentation  of  the  financial  statements.    We  believe  tha  the  audit  evidence  we  have  obtained  is  sufficient  and  appropriate  to  provide  a  basis  for  our  audit  opinion.    

Opinion In  our  opinion,  the  financial  statements  present  fairly,  in  all  material  respects,  the  financial  position  of  the  Trust  as  of  28  February  2014,  its  financial  performance  and  its  cash  flows  for  the  year  then  ended  in  accordance  with  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  for  Small  and  Medium-­‐Sized  Entities.    Accounting  and  secretarial  duties  Without  qualifying  our  opinion,  we  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  with  the  written  consent  of  all  Trustees,  we  have  performed  certain  accounting  and  secretarial  duties.      Bruce  Heyns  CA  (SA)  RA  Date:  21  July  2014  

     

 

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES  The  trustees  have  pleasure  in  submitting  their  Trustees’  report  together  with  the  audited  financial  statements  for  the  year  ended  28  February  2014.    

General review The  FunDza  Literacy  Trust  is  a  community-­‐based  trust  and  is  registered  as  a  non-­‐profit  organisation  (095-­‐260-­‐NPO)  as  well  as  a  Public  Benefit  Organisation  (PBO  number  930039651).  The  main  purpose  of  this  Trust  is  to  provide  resources  and  materials  to  enrich  learning  and  promote  literacy  to  black  South  African  youth,  specifically  the  poor  and  needy  based  in  historically  disadvantaged  areas,  and  all  related  or  ancillary  activities.    The  trust’s  major  donor,  the  DG  Murray  Trust,  as  well  as  other  smaller  donors  require  beneficiary  organisations  to  be  subject  to  a  voluntary  audit  to  ensure  that  funding  is  being  spent  in  the  manner  it  was  intended.    

Statements of responsibil ity The  trustees  are  responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  adequte  accounting  records  and  the  preparation  and  integrity  of  the  financial  statements  and  related  information.  The  auditors  are  responsible  for  reporting  on  the  fair  presentation  of  the  financial  statements.  The  financial  statements  have  been  prepared  in  accordance  with  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  for  Small  and  Medium-­‐Sized  Entities.    The  trustees  are  also  responsible  for  the  Trust’s  system  of  internal  financial  controls.  These  controls  are  designed  to  provide  reasonable,  but  not  absolute,  assurance  as  to  the  reliability  of  the  financial  statements,  and  to  adequately  safeguard,  verify  and  maintain  accountability  of  assets,  and  to  prevent  and  detect  misstatement  and  loss.  Nothing  has  come  to  the  attention  of  the  trustees  to  indicate  that  any  material  breakdown  of  the  functioning  of  these  controls,  procedures  and  systems  has  occurred  during  the  period  under  review.    The  financial  statements  have  been  prepared  on  the  going  concern  basis,  since  the  Trustees  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Trust  has  access  to  adequate  resources  to  continue  in  operation  for  the  foreseeable  future.    

Financial results The  financial  results  reflect  funding  receipts  of  R3,568,067  (2013:  funding  receipts  of  R2,450,999)  and  a  net  surplus  of  R1,011,914  (2013:  net  deficit  of  R142,000).  Full  details  of  the  financial  results  follow.    

Trustees The  trustees  of  the  Trust  duing  the  period  under  review  and  up  to  the  date  of  this  report  are  as  follows:    Ms  CM  Hardie  Ms  S  Mgabadeli  Ms  L  Rangaka  Mr  WAR  Weeks  Ms  B  Dlamini    

Physical and postal address 85  Main  Road,  Muizenberg,  7945    

Beneficiaries The  beneficiaries  of  the  Trust  are  Black  South  African  Youth  and  organisations  that  benefit  them.    

Auditors John  Lightfoot  CA  (SA)  RA  will  continue  in  office.        

 

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION    

  Notes     2014  (R)     2013  (R)  

           ASSETS                        Non-­‐current  assets       1     1  Investments   4     1     1  

           Current  assets            Cash  &  cash  equivalents   7.2     1,715,982     899,647  

           Total  assets       1,715,983     899,648  

                       FUNDS  AND  LIABILITIES                        Capital  and  reserves       1,650,464     638,550  Capital  funds   2     500     500  Accumulated  funds       1,649,964     638,050  

           Non-­‐current  liabilities            Loan  payable   5     -­‐     249,367  

           Current  liabilities       65,518     11,730  Provision   6     19,750     11,730  Trade  &  other  payables       45,768     -­‐  

           Total  funds  and  liabilities  

    1,715,983     899,648  

     

 

STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME    

  Notes     2014  (R)     2013  (R)  

           Donations  received   3     3,568,067     2,450,999  

           Less:  Direct  costs       -­‐     -­‐  

           Other  income       152,844     46,908  Income  received       68,433     7,615  Rental  income       -­‐     9,000  Interest  income       84,411     30,293  

                       

Gross  surplus       3,720,911     2,497,907  

           Total  expenses       2,708,998     2,639,907  

           Expenses:  Building  for  sustainable  impact       807,428     1,629,695  Accounting  fees       37,372     31,022  Bank  charges       2,496     2,529  Board  expenses       5,198     12,843  Consulting,  training  and  monitoring  &  evaluation       150,665     8,748  Entertainment       2,297     3,747  General  –  Miscellaneous       10,259     5,082  Legal  fees       1,898     19,525  Marketing  &  promotions       31,820     1,059,045  Office  expenses  –  Miscellaneous    

 4,851     28,022  

Printing  &  stationery       3,576     2,233  Rent  expense    

 37,360     25,700  

Salaries      

412,004     406,198  Telephone  &  fax    

 12,717     8,878  

Travel      

93,615     14,936  Web  hosting    

 1,300     1,185  

     

     Expenses:  Popularising  Reading    

 683,032     467,896  

Book  purchases      

407,839     251,964  Delivery  charges    

 16,886     11,842  

General  –  Miscellaneous      

13,293     1,891  Packaging  Materials    

 676     1,062  

Salaries      

238,768     197,695  Travel    

 5,570     3,442  

     

     Expenses  –  Growing  communities  of  readers    

 964,685     495,840  

General  –  Miscellaneous      

18,395     3,220  Mobi  content  &  development  costs    

 734,838     288,950  

Salaries      

211,452     203,670  

     

     Expenses:  Developing  young  writers    

 253,853     46,476  

Facilitation      

51,140     25,600  Travel    

 13,679     -­‐  

Salaries      

137,909     18,188  Workshops    

 51,125     2,688  

     

     Net  surplus  /  (deficit)  for  the  period    

 1,011,914     -­‐142,000  

   

 

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN CAPITAL FUNDS    

  Capital  funds  (R)   Surplus  /  (deficit)  funds  (R)   Total  (R)  

       Balance  at  29  February  2012   500   780,050   780,550  Net  surplus/  (deficit)  for  the  period   -­‐   -­‐142,000   -­‐142,000  Balance  at  28  February  2013   500   638,050   638,550  Net  surplus/  (deficit)  for  the  period   -­‐   1,011,914   1,011,914  Balance  at  28  February  2014   500   1,629,964   1,650,464  

                 

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS    

  Notes     2014  (R)     2013  (R)  

           Cash  flows  from  operating  activities            

           Cash  generated  by  /  (utilised  in)  operations   7.1     1,065,702     -­‐210,795  

           Net  cash  inflow/  outflow  from  operating  activities       1,065,702     -­‐210,795  

           Cash  inflows  from  investing  activities            

           (Increase)/  decrease  in  loans  receivable       -­‐     -­‐  

           Net  cash  inflow/  (outflow)  from  investing  activities       -­‐     -­‐  

           Cash  flows  from  financing  activities            

           Increase/  (decrease)  in  loans  payable       -­‐249,367     -­‐  

           Net  cash  inflow/  (outflow)  from  financing  activities       -­‐249,367     -­‐  

           Net  increase/  (decrease)  from  in  cash  and  cash  equivalents       816,335     -­‐210,795  

           Cash  and  cash  equivalents  at  the  beginning  of  the  year       899,647     1,110,441  

           Cash  and  cash  equivalents  at  the  end  of  the  year   7.2     1,715,982     899,647        

 

 

NOTES TO THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    

1.   Accounting  policies    

1.2   Basis  of  preparation    

The  annual  financial  statements  have  been  prepared  in  accordance  with  International  Financial  Reporting  Standards  for  Small  and  Medium-­‐Sized  Entities  and  incorporate  the  following  principal  accounting  policies  which  have  been  consistently  applied  in  all  material  respects.    

1.2   Financial  instruments    Initial  recognition  The  entity  classifies  financial  instruments,  or  their  component  parts,  on  initial  recognition,  as  a  financial  asset,  a  financial  liability  or  an  equity  instrument  in  accordance  with  the  substance  of  the  contractual  arrangement.  Financial  assets  and  financial  liabilities  are  recognised  on  the  entity’s  statement  of  financial  position  when  the  entity  becomes  party  to  the  contractual  provisions  of  the  instrument.    Loans  payable/receivable  Loans  payable/receivable  are  recognised  initially  at  the  transaction  price  including  direct  transaction  costs,  unless  the  arrangement  constitutes,  in  effect,  a  financing  transaction.  If  the  arrangement  constitutes  a  financing  transaction,  the  entity  measures  the  financial  asset  or  financial  liability  at  the  present  value  of  the  future  payments  discounted  at  a  market  rate  of  interest  for  a  similar  debt  instrument.    Loans  payable/receivable  are  subsequently  measure  at  amortised  cost  using  the  effective  interest  method.  Loans  that  are  classified  as  current  assets  or  current  liabilities  are  measured  at  the  undiscounted  amount  of  the  cash  or  other  consideration  expected  to  be  paid  or  received.    Trade  receivables  Trade  receivables  are  carried  at  the  transaction  price  including  direct  transaction  costs.  An  allowance  for  estimated  irrecoverable  amounts  is  recognised  in  the  statement  of  comprehensive  income  when  there  is  objective  evidence  that  the  asset  is  impaired.    Trade  payables  Trade  payables  are  carried  at  the  transaction  price  including  direct  transaction  costs.    Cash  and  cash  equivalents  Cash  and  cash  equivalents  comprise  cash  at  the  bank  and  cash  on  hand.  Cash  and  cash  equivalents  are  short-­‐term  highly  liquid  investments  that  are  readily  convertible  to  a  known  amount  of  cash  and  are  subject  to  an  insignificant  risk  of  changes  in  value.  These  are  initially  and  subsequently  recorded  at  fair  value.    

1.3   Revenue    Revenue,  comprising  of  donation  and  project  funding  from  various  donors,  is  measured  at  the  fair  value  of  the  consideration  received  or  receivable  exclusive  of  Value-­‐Added  Tax.  Revenue  is  recognised  as  it  accrues  to  the  entity  in  the  normal  course  of  business.    Interest  revenue  is  recognised  at  fair  value  using  the  effective  interest  method.    

1.4   Comparative  figures    Where  necessary,  comparative  figures  have  been  adjusted  to  conform  with  any  changes  in  presentation  in  the  currrent  year.    

2.   Capital  Funds    

  2014  (R)     2013  (R)  Opening  balance   500     -­‐  Initial  founding  donation  –  Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd   -­‐     500  Closing  balance   500     500    

 

   

3.   Surplus/  (deficit)  from  operations    The  surplus/  (deficit)  from  operations  is  arrived  at  after  taking  into  account  the  following:    

  2014  (R)     2013  (R)  Funding  from  donations  received:        Donations   3,568,067     2,450,999  Building  for  sustainable  impact   1,456,171     1,641,669  Popularising  reading   473,986     135,180  Growing  communities  of  readers   1,189,644     422,250  Developing  young  writers   310,700     101,900  Other   17,566     -­‐  Robust  tracking  instruments  (DGMT)   -­‐     150,000  National  Arts  Council  of  South  Africa  (NAC)   120000     -­‐    

4.   Investments    Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd   1     1    The  Trust  owns  one  (1)  Ordinary  share  of  one  Rand  (R1)  in  Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd.  The  investment  is  carried  at  cost  less  impairment  value.    

5.   Loans  receivable/  (Loan  payable)    Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd   -­‐     -­‐249,367    The  above  loan  is  unsecured  and  bears  no  interest.  The  loan  was  incurred  in  the  ordinary  course  of  business  and  the  terms  are  equivalent  to  those  that  prevail  in  arms  length  transactions.  The  loan  was  repaid  in  full  during  the  financial  year.    

6.   Accounts  payable    Provision  for  employees  tax   19,750     11,730    

7.   Notes  to  the  statement  of  cash  flows    

7.1   Reconciliation  of  net  surplus  to  cash  flows  from  operations    

  2014  (R)     2013  (R)  

       Net  surplus/  (deficit)  for  the  period   1,011,914     -­‐142,000  Operating  surplus/  (deficit)  before  working  capital  changes   1,011,914     -­‐142,000  (Decrease)/  increase  in  trade  and  other  payables   53,788     -­‐68,795  Cash  generated  from/  (utilised  by)  operations   1,065,702     -­‐210,795      

7.2   Cash  and  cash  equivalents    Cash  and  cash  equivalents  consist  of  cash  on  hand  and  balances  with  banks.  Cash  and  cash  equivalents  included  in  the  cash  flow  statement  comprise  the  following  balance  sheet  amounts:    

  2014  (R)     2013  (R)  

       First  National  Bank  –  Cheque  Account   236,530     14,354  First  National  Bank  –  7-­‐Day  Interest  account   1,479,453     885,293  

   1,715,982    

   899,647    

     

 

8.   Taxation    The  entity  is  registered  as  a  Non-­‐Profit  Organisation  (095-­‐260-­‐NPO)  and  Public  Benefit  Organisation  (PBO  Number  930039651).  The  entity  is  exempt  from  the  payment  of  income  tax  in  terms  of  Section  18A  of  the  Income  Tax  Act.  In  addition,  the  entity  is  exempt  from  the  payment  of  income  tax  on  any  investment  income  up  to  a  maximum  of  R50,000  per  annum  per  section  10(1)(e)  of  the  Income  Tax  Act  and,  furthermore,  section  10(1)(cN)  exempts  receipts  and  accruals  derived  from  unrelated  business  undertakings  and  trading  activities  to  the  greater  of  5%  of  total  receipts  and  accruals,  or  R200,000,  during  the  relevant  year  of  assessment.    No  provision  for  taxation  has  been  made  from  unrelated  business  undertakings  and  trading  activities  due  to  the  provisions  of  s10(1)(cN)  whereby  income  received  from  trading  activities,  being  R152,844,  is  exempt  on  the  basis  that  it  does  not  exceed  R200,000.    

9.   Related  parties    During  the  course  of  the  business,  the  Trust  enters  into  various  transactions  with  related  parties.      These  transactions  are  under  terms  which  are  no  less  favourable  than  would  be  arranged  with  third  parties.    

   2014(R)     2013(R)  

Related  party   Relationships        Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd   Associate  Investment        

         Related  party  transactions          Cover2Cover  Books  (Pty)  Ltd     -­‐     -­‐249,367  

 10.   Contingent  liabilities  

 No  contingent  liabilities  or  commitments  satisfying  the  criteria  required  in  Section  21  of  the  international  Financial  Reporting  Standards  for  Small  and  Medium-­‐Sized  Entities  have  been  identified.    

11.   Going  concern    The  financial  statements  have  been  prepared  on  the  going  concern  basis,  since  the  Trustees  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Trust  has  access  to  adequate  resources  to  continue  in  operation  for  the  foreseeable  future.      

 

FUNDZA SUPPORTERS Without  the  generous  support  it  receives  from  foundations,  grant-­‐making  organisations,  corporate  social  investment  entities,  smaller  companies  and  individuals,  FunDza  would  be  unable  to  develop  and  grow  its  programmes.  In  the  words  of  former  President  Nelson  Mandela:  “We  must  use  the  time  wisely  and  remember  that  the  time  is  always  ripe  to  do  right.”  We  thank  our  supporters  for  joining  us  on  this  quest.      

Organisational  grants  and/or  unrestricted  funding  Claude  Leon  Foundation  Cover2Cover  Books  David  &  Elaine  Potter  Foundation  DG  Murray  Trust  Enterpriseroom  Krista  Tuomi  Nussbaum  Foundation  The  Funding  Network  The  Learning  Trust    

General  support   in  kind  Spoor  &  Fisher  (trademark  registration)  Graeme  Hardie  &  anonymous  donor  (accommodation  and  support  for  US  trip)    

Popularising  Reading:  Books  for  schools  Ben  Rabinowitz  Siber  Ink    

Popularising  Reading:  Special  projects  Anglo  American  Chairman’s  Fund  (Extended  Reading  for  Pleasure  project)  Zonke  Monitoring  Systems  (Thandokhulu  Library  project)  DG  Murray  Trust  (Jinqi  Community  Reading  groups)  Khulua  Foundation  (travel  grant  for  conference)    

Popularising  Reading:  Support   in  kind  Patricia  Schonstein    

Growing  Communities  of  Readers:  Programme  support  Indigo  Trust  Harry  Crossley  Foundation  476  Charitable  Education  Trust  Second  Stella  and  Paul  Loewenstein  Charitable  &  Educational  Trust  The  Learning  Trust    

Growing  Communities  of  Readers:  Special  Projects  Harry  Crossley  Foundation  (Breaking  Barriers/Transition  stories  project)  Mutual  &  Federal  Community  Trust  (Migration  &  Transformation  stories)  National  Arts  Council  (Mentoring  Our  Future  Writers  project  –  Western  Cape)  UNHCR  (World  Refugee  Day  Awareness  project)    

Growing  Communities  of  Readers:  Support   in  kind  Blackberry  SA  Catriona  Ross  Hetzner  Mail  &  Guardian  Mxit  Reach  New  Readers  Publishers  New  Africa  Books  The  Lateral  Alternative  UKZN  Press    

Developing  Young  Writers:  Special  Projects  HCI  Foundation  (Workshops  in  the  Eastern  Cape)  Cover2Cover  Books  (Workshops  in  Nyanga/Gugulethu)    

 

FUNDZA BENEFICIARY GROUPS Thank  you  also  to  our  partner  beneficiary  groups  around  the  country  who  inspired  young  people  to  read  our  books,  and  who  reported  back  to  us  on  how  the  books  were  used.  Here  are  the  groups  that  we  supported  in  the  2013  financial  year.    

Eastern  Cape  Axium  Education  Bethelsdorp  Comprehensive  School  Cebe  Junior  Secondary  School  Dept  of  Education  Grahamstown  Diukile  Junior  Secondary  School  Engen  Maths  &  Science  Schools  (East  London)  Friends  of  Lettie  De  Klerk  Primary  School  Gasa  Junior  Secondary  School  Gcinubuzwe  Combined  School  Get  Ahead  College  Holy  Cross  High  School  ITEC  Jabulani  Rural  Health  Foundation  Jingqi  Kantolo  Junior  Secondary  School  Kimbili  Junior  Secondary  School  LoveLife  (P.E.)  Makgato  High  School  Malikhanye  Senior  Secondary  School  Maluti  Combined  school  Mary  Waters  High  School  Masifunde  Learner  Development  Mazakhele  Senior  Primary  Mlambondaba  Primary  School  Mqanduli  Junior  Secondary  School  Mqanduli  Village  Junior  Secondary  School  Mthonjeni  Primary  School  Nelson  Mandela  Institute  at  Fort  Hare  Ntabankulu  Senior  Primary  School  Paterson  High  School  Qunu  Junior  Secondary  School  R.  H.  Godlo  Primary  School  Seaview  Senior  Secondary  School  St  Thomas  Senior  Secondary  School  The  ASAP  Foundation  (African  Solutions  to  African  Problem)  Tyhilulwazi  High  School  Unako  Community  Based  Movement  Upstart  Valelo  Junior  Secondary  School  Zwelidumile  Senior  Secondary  School    

Free  State  Bloemfontein  OOS  Intermediate  School  Inqubela  Foundation  Lesedi  Youth  Empowerment  LoveLife  (Bloemfontein)    

Gauteng  Abrahamkriel  Childcare  Ekupholeni  Mental  Health  and  Trauma  Centre  Glen-­‐cowie  'fun-­‐fun'  reading  club  Ikamva  Youth  Gauteng  -­‐  Ivory  Park  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Mamelodi  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Ebony  Branch  LEAP  Science  &  Maths  School  -­‐  3  LEAP  Science  &  Maths  School  -­‐  4  LEAP  Science  &  Maths  School  -­‐  6  Learners  Representative  Council  Liberty  Community  School  LoveLife  Miyela  Ntswane  Secondary  School  OLICO  Youth  Sekolo  sa  Borokgo  Song  Foundation  The  Khulula  Foundation  The  Maths  Centre  U.J.  Book  Club  Young  Woman  Manyano  (Mabopane  grout  1137)  Zimisele  Secondary  School    

KwaZulu-­‐Natal  Abalindi  Welfare  Society  Africaid  Amoibe  Primary  Blossom  Beauty  Princess  foundation  Cebelihle  Primary  Dumela  Primary  School  Family  Literacy  Project  Greytown  Children's  Home  Harvest  High  School  Hlazakazi  Primary  School  Ikamva  Lisezandleni  Zethu  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Umlazi  Inanda  Seminary  Isandlwana  LoveLife  (Durban)  Mampunga  Primary  Mhawu  High  School  Ntalantala  Secondary  Pietermaritzburg  Children’s  Home  (PCH)  Qiko  High  School  Shiyane  Secondary  Siyanda  Secondary  Springlake  Secondary  Youth  Life-­‐Changing  Development  Center  

 

Limpopo  Joel  Sibasa  Secondary  School  LEAP  Science  &  Maths  School  -­‐  5  LoveLife  (Polokwane)  Matseutseu  Maropeng  Combined  School  Nourish  Rasila  Secondary  Sautini  Community  Library  St  Marks  College  Zingela  Ulwazi    

Mpumulanga  Bethal  Private  Primary  School  Bondzeni  High  School  Chakaza  Primary  School  Edwaleni  Primary  School  Elukwatini  Primary  School  Enkhokhokhweni  Primary  School  Father  Charles  Primary  School  Funindlela  Primary  School  Hlanganani  Secondary  School  Hoechst  Primary  School  Imagine  Scholar  South  Africa  Intfutfuko  Primary  School  Kamhola  Secondary  School  Kwena  Basin  Education  Trust  Lamagadlela  Primary  School  Lamzinyane  Primary  School  LoveLife  (Mpumalanga)  Mbhandule  Senior  Secondary  School  Mgubho  Combined  School  Sikhulile  Secondary  School  Uplands  Outreach  Zama-­‐Zama  High  School    

North  West  Charora  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Ikageng  Keledi  Middle  School  Lebone  II  _  College  of  the  Royal  Bafokeng  LoveLife  (North  West)  Mafenya  Middle  School  Matale  Middle  School  Matsukubjane  Middle  School  Mmanape  Molotlegi  Middle  School  Operation:  Rooigrond  Sekete  Seolo  Middle  School  St  Geralds  Middle  School  Thekwane  Middle  School  Thethe    

Northern  Cape  Hantam  Community  Education  Trust  Lehikeng  Intermediate  School  LoveLife  (Kimberley)  Moholeng  Primary  School  Sediba  Sa  Kitso    

Western  Cape  Alicedale  Primary  School  

Amy  Biehl  Foundation  Beyond  Expectation  Environment  Project  Bright  Start  Buren  High  School  Cape  Town  High  School  Christel  House  Claremont  High  School  COSAT  Desmond  Tutu  HIV  Foundation  Youth  Centre  Education  Without  Borders  Equal  Education  /  The  Bookery  Goedgedacht  Trust  Grassdale  High  School  Greater  Stellenbosch  Development  Trust  Hazendal  Primary  School  Heathfield  Primary  School  Hector  Peterson  SSS  Helderberg  Uitreik  (Uyavula  Literacy  Project)  help2read  Hlengisa  Junior  Secondary  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Makhaza,  Khayelitsha  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Masiphumelele  Ikamva  Youth  -­‐  Nyanga  Isibane  Sethemba  Social  Development  iThemba  Labantu  Kannemeyer  Primary  School  Kuyasa  Empowerment  LEAP  Science  &  Maths  Schools  –  1  and  2  Learner's  Movement  of  South  Africa  Legacy  Community  Development  LoveLife  (Mowbray)  Luhlaza  High  School  Macassar  Library  Manyano  High  School  Masakhe  Community  Development  Programme  Masiphumelele  Library  Masiyile  High  School  Matthew  Goniwe  High  School  Michelle  Faure  MissWrite  Muizenberg  High  School  Oaklands  High  School  Oude  Molen  Academy  of  Science  and  Technology  Parkwood  Primary  PRAESA  Vulindlela  Reading  Clubs  Prince  George  Primary  SCORE  Silikamva  High  School  South  African  Education  and  Environment  Project  Steenberg  High  School  Sullivan  Primary  School  Thandokhulu  Secondary  School  The  Best  Centre  The  Cape  Academy  of  Mathematics,  Science  &  Technology  The  Communiversity  of  South  Africa  The  Kusasa  Project  The  Reading  Room  Thembelihle  High  School  Vision  AfriKa  Vrygrond  Library  Wallacedene  Secondary  School  Woolhope  Secondary  School  Zip  Zap  Circus  School