Corporate social investment (CSI)

As an established fashion retailer, we have a long track record of living up to the responsibility of ensuring that our customers look and feel at their best. In doing so we are aware that we bear the further responsibility of ensuring that sustainable economic development and social upliftment take place in the communities among which we operate.

One of the ways in which the group approaches this latter goal is through the medium of targeted donations, representing social investment.

Social investment spending with which the group is associated makes use of funds derived from the Foschini Foundation, from group resources and from direct donations provided by staff members.

The Foschini Foundation was registered as an independent charitable organisation in August 2006. Its trustees are two independent non-executive directors of Foschini, E Osrin and D Nurek. Its initial capital base was created by a donation from the group. The Foundation has grown as a result of receiving further donations and investment income, and the value of investments under its control at the year-end totalled R83 million. Its objective is to use its investment income to provide donations to selected charitable causes.

Donations made by the Foundation during the past year totalled R3,6 million. Additional donations made by the group to charitable causes totalled R700 000. Merchandise donations for the benefit of public service organisations totalled R24 million at retail value. Additional donations to the value of R1,0 million were made by various divisions of the group in cash, sundry equipment, merchandise and services. Of their own volition and from their own resources staff members and business partners of the group contributed an extra R47 000.

It is well known that women and children are the most marginalised and vulnerable members of society. Women make up the majority of our employees as well as our customers. It is for these reasons that the beneficiaries of our CSI contributions will in the main be women and children. Consideration is also given to the disabled.

Our revised CSI strategy

To enable more meaningful contributions to be made, the group reworked its CSI policy, strategy and selection criteria during the past year. Part of this process involved identifying key areas of concern and concentrating donations largely within these areas. In order to retain an element of flexibility, funding was also set aside for special projects.

This new approach has allowed the group to become more effective in achieving meaningful CSI objectives.

On this basis the group has identified the following focus areas, with specific emphasis on women and children:

Education.
Skills development.
HIV/AIDS.
Arts, culture and the environment.
Special projects.

The allocations of the combined cash donations from the group’s CSI funds and the Foschini Foundation for the year under review are indicated below.

Having a national presence in South Africa, the group will continue to focus on identifying suitably registered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs) that themselves operate on a national basis and are worthy recipients of these donations. Child Welfare South Africa is an example of such a nationally-based organisation that we support.

Education

We believe that one of the keys to unlocking the potential of our country lies in the provision of and access to quality education for all citizens. Consequently the largest portion of the CSI budget is devoted to education. We invest in projects that focus on improving the quality of literacy, numeracy, mathematics and science education at the stage of early childhood, as well as at primary and secondary levels.

Amongst the organisations that benefited from this position are the Rural Education Project (through the University of Cape Town’s schools development unit), the Western Cape Primary Science Programme, LEAP Science and Maths School, ORT Tech South Africa, and READ Educational Trust.

We also continued to donate class-leading jungle gyms and this year the beneficiaries were impoverished rural schools in the Western Cape. All are primary schools participating in the Rural Education Project, chosen on the basis of most improved results in numeracy and literacy. To date we have donated 24 jungle gyms and plan to provide more this year.

Funding to the EQUIP programme, which is run by the National Business Initiative, has been continued, support being given during the year to a cluster of five primary and two high schools in the Western Cape and one school in Gauteng.

Many of the institutions of higher learning provide educational programmes in nearby disadvantaged communities. Amongst those that we support are:

  • Rhodes University – mathematics education in rural schools in the Eastern Cape;
  • University of Cape Town – literacy teaching and learning framework to assist and strengthen literacy in the Mbekweni schools in the Western Cape;
  • University of KwaZulu-Natal – a volunteer mentoring programme in psychology;
  • University of Pretoria – Boipelo community building project; and
  • University of Stellenbosch – a farm schools project.

Programmes that give support to disadvantaged students also receive funding.

Some of the other organisations working within the educational sphere which we supported are SMILE, Carel du Toit Trust and Education Alive.

Skills development

For the economic development of the country it is essential that members of previously disadvantaged groups receive not only school education of good quality, but also training to equip them with entrepreneurial skills to enter the world of work or to start their own businesses. With this in view, the group supports projects that provide skills for employment, job creation and entrepreneurship at post-school level.

Some of the organisations in this category that received financial support are The Big Issue, Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust, Grassroots Educare Trust, Junior Achievement SA, Learn to Earn, Media and Training Centre for Health, Oasis Association, South African Council for the Blind, Tsiba Education, WHEAT Trust, and Zenzele Training and Development.

HIV/AIDS

The group recognises that HIV/AIDS affects our staff, their families, our customers and the nation as a whole. There is an undeniable obligation to contribute to under-resourced programmes to contain this pandemic. Support was accordingly directed to some organisations that assist orphan-headed households and to others that provide training and assistance for home-based care initiatives. These organisations included Cotlands, Lifeline/Childline Western Cape, Ma Africa Tikkun Johannesburg, St John’s Training Foundation, St Luke’s Hospice and the University of Pretoria.

Through their activities and combined skills, these organisations educate the community about HIV/AIDS and train volunteers to counsel people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Arts, culture and the environment

The group firmly believes in the need to support organisations that run projects to educate children about the arts, culture and the environment in order for these to be sustained. Examples of organisations which received funding during the current year under review include the Zama Dance School, Friends of the National Gallery, The National Sea Rescue Institute, Wilderness Foundation South Africa and World Wide Fund.

Special projects

The group again proudly supported the White Ribbon Campaign’s 16 days of activism during which the public is encouraged to “Act Against Abuse”. The campaign focused in the past year on increasing the awareness of the negative effects of violence against women and children. A prime motivator for the group’s support of this campaign is the fact that 78% of our employees are female, many of whom are mothers. The group also made it possible for employees to take part in the campaign.

Rape Crisis’ innovative programme, Safe Space, won our backing in the form of a donation of R350 000 which will go towards ensuring that women and children are able to live in an environment free from fear and violence. A further amount of R150 000 per year for three years was pledged by the Foschini division from the sales of its new clothing range, Global Art, which is to be launched during the first half of next year.

Other special projects for the year included a casual day in aid of the Bel Porto School for the disabled, building a house with Habitat for Humanity for a family in Mfuleni, a Christmas toy drive to benefit organisations affiliated to Child Welfare South Africa, a blanket drive in aid of Disaster Management, hosting a “Cuppa for CANSA” and making special donations to Red Cross Children’s Hospital, Tygerberg Children’s Hospital and the SPCA.

Working together on corporate social investment

The group’s CSI initiative is very much a team effort. We actively encourage a culture of philanthropy and community involvement amongst our employees and business partners. In pursuit of this, the group’s CSI department works with the employees of the various trading and service divisions on their individual projects to maximise effectiveness.

These projects are incentivised. To recognise employees who volunteer for community work in their spare time, the group provides grants to staff members through their “staff community builder” programme, which commenced in 2004.

Individual trading and service division projects are provided with Rand-for-Rand support.

Beneficiaries selected by the staff of our various divisions include St Luke’s Hospice, the Carel du Toit Centre, Goody2Shoes, Solomon’s Haven, Fountain House, Marsh Memorial Children’s Home, Berry’s Kitchen, Fikelela Home for HIV-positive Children in Khayelitsha, Green Park, LifeLine, Colleen’s Place of Hope, and Greenable.

The RCS Group undertook 11 projects during the year in the areas of education, health and welfare, and community development. This division’s flagship project comprised partnering with TSIBA, a free tertiary educational institution, in developing a financial literacy curriculum aimed at empowering students with skills to manage their finances in a responsible way.

In addition, Red Cross Children’s Hospital received R20 000 in children’s books.

Other organisations that received support included the Sunflower Fund, Tygerberg Hospital, Carehaven and Habitat for Humanity.