Corporations, Community, Private-Public Sector Partnerships (PPPs) and Community Foundations: The South African Case

Fikile Kuhlase, Senior Fellow, International Fellows Program ~ 2005

Abstract

In her paper, Fikile Kuhlase discusses the emergent trend of corporations supporting community foundation-like organizations. She highlights the strategic intervention of the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), a development finance institution. The IDC is described as the first corporation in South Africa to adopt the community foundation concept as part of its strategy for socio-economic transformation and “broad-based” black economic empowerment (BEE). Of note in the IDC model is that community foundations take up an equity stake in IDC-funded projects; the South African government through the Minister of Trade and Industry is the sole shareholder; and corporate social investment is viewed as central to business activity.

In conclusion, Ms. Kuhlase argues in favor of a model that places the community foundation at the center of a tripartite alliance between civil society and the private and public sectors. She concludes that community foundations are well positioned to take the lead in forging mutually beneficial partnerships in order to promote the common good, and describes community foundations that choose not to tackle social justice issues as wasting their potential to be catalysts for social change.

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