still very competitive, people like to think that non-profits all work together but the reality is that they don’t always. Of course I share where I can, but at the end of the day we’re all chasing the same money.”

her job. “My job is partly office-based and also spending time out and about. I am always trying to meet people one-on-one. I enjoy getting people involved by taking them to our centres. It can be a challenge, contrary to what people think, the bulk of our work is not our centres. In fact 85% of our work is in statutory services, so we spend time explaining to people that not all of our kids are orphans and they are not all in Homes. They might be being cared for by our social workers, or in foster care, or babies that are being returned to their families.”

Corporate or an organisation or a school, and spending time in their environment, fielding communications both via our website and by email or phone. I have a diverse portfolio, including schools, universities, sports groups, service groups, religious groups and individuals. I also run our local volunteer programme, our international volunteer programme, and employee giving.

It can be over-whelming so I try to think about each person, as each person has a network, each person went to a school, has a job, attends church. I think if you can build and develop a strong relationship with one person, by focusing on that, things usually develop from there. It might be that they are having an event in a month’s time, or that because they love our cause they can come up with an idea for an event. We communicate regularly with donors, but if you want to give once a year that’s also great. Obviously having regular monthly donors, even R10 per month, helps us to budget and plan what we can spend.

there are always lots of things going on. But you need to stay connected to the cause, and it’s great to have the resources we have, for example being able to send out mass mail, or being able to do research on the Internet, we need these resources to continue the cause and to work efficiently.”

I asked Sarah where all the new ideas come from, what makes their campaigns different to what others are doing. “We can approach the board with new ideas. If it’s refreshing then they

The ladies in the training programme are showing off their new skills in the area of nail care.

August 2011 | Management Today 95 Sarah says that she enjoys her role, “It’s fun, “My role also involves getting to know a The bank staff helped to give Thembalethu a much needed face lift. Sarah says that she enjoys the people side of

“On Mandela day we had the support of Standard Bank at our Thembalethu centre, in Johannesburg’s inner city area. The bank brought so many things on our wish list and the employees donated money.”

The bank staff played soccer against the children taking part in our Chance to Play programme.