Tshikululu

Tshikululu Report to Society 2024/2025

This Report to Society covers the period of 1 January 2024 to 15 May 2025. This report integrates Tshikululu’s activities within the context in which the company operates. References to these are carried throughout the report.

View 2024 Annual Report

Introduction

Tshikululu is a social investment fund manager and advisor dedicated to creating sustainable change in South Africa. We focus on addressing critical social challenges through investments that improve communities and empower individuals. Our mission is to drive positive, lasting impact by connecting resources, people, and ideas to create long-term solutions for a resilient society.

 

In our 26th year, we’ve emphasised partnerships, recognising that collective action is the key to achieving sustainable change.

 

We believe that partnerships are essential for driving greater impact as through collaboration with organisations across sectors, we can combine resources, expertise, and innovation to tackle complex challenges. These partnerships help us to extend the reach of our programmes and ensure that our efforts lead to meaningful, lasting outcomes that transform communities, improve lives, and build a brighter future. Working together, we can ensure that every initiative has measurable, long-term impact.

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Why Our Work Matters

At Tshikululu, we believe that real impact comes from working together toward a shared vision for change. In a country facing deep inequalities, high unemployment, and widespread poverty, we see social investment as a powerful tool to unlock opportunities and drive meaningful progress.

Our work is about more than just funding projects; it’s about creating lasting change that helps build a stronger, more inclusive South Africa.

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An Ecosystem of Impact

Transformational social investment happens when people and 
organisations come together with a common purpose. We collaborate with social investors, businesses, and non-profits who are committed to making a real difference. By working in partnerships, we ensure that 
every initiative contributes to long-term, measurable impact that 
strengthens communities and the economy.

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A Tailored Approach to Social Investment

We know that one-size-fits-all solutions don’t work. That’s why we design social investment strategies that address the unique challenges and opportunities of each initiative. Our services include:

  • Managing Trusts and Foundations
  • Strategic social investment planning and programme management
  • Community assessments and stakeholder engagement
  • Independent evaluations and impact measurement
  • Governance and due diligence support
  • Research and thought leadership in social investment
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Sustaining Impact Through Trust and Accountability

Creating lasting change means building trust and being accountable to the communities we serve. It’s not just about financial resources. It’s about forming meaningful relationships, ensuring transparency, and making a tangible difference in people’s lives. By working closely with our partners, we foster solutions that don’t just address immediate needs but also contribute to long-term, systemic change.

 

As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we remain committed to tackling the challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality head-on. We invite both current and new partners to join us in shaping a future where every investment in social impact helps build a thriving, more equitable South Africa. Let’s work together to turn ideas into lasting change.

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson, Godfrey Gomwe reflects on a year of change and growth, and a future of revolutionary social impact.

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CEO’s Report

CEO, Tracey Henry comments on how Tshikululu is creating real social impact and a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

Chairperson's Report

Chairperson, Godfrey Gomwe reflects on a year of change and growth, and a future of revolutionary social impact.

CEO’s Report

CEO, Tracey Henry comments on how Tshikululu is creating real social impact and a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

View full report

Tshikululu’s impact in 2024

We see impact as any deep and sustainable change that increases opportunities for greater numbers of people to thrive.

Over the past year, Tshikululu managed social investments that directly benefited 180 social partners on behalf of our clients spread across the country.

Tshikululu continued to offer bursary management services to our clients who supported 179 students in the pursuit of their tertiary education qualifications, to the value of approximately R28 million in 2024. Some of the key measurements of our work in 2024 are captured in the social investment indicators below.

2024 Social investment indicators

2024
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Maximising the power of social investment through partnerships

We work with social investors and partners to design and implement high-impact social investment solutions.

 

For Tshikululu, and South Africa overall, 2024 was a year that emphasised the importance of partnerships and their role in building a sustainable future. Our work with our clients similarly drew on the power of partnerships to create impact. With over 25 advisory and fund management clients in 2024, our ability to contribute to sustainable social impact continues to grow. We have been able to use our expertise and standing to drive new partnerships and contribute towards collaborative efforts to achieve change:

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Tshikululu is proud to play a role in supporting South Africa’s Just Energy Transition (JET), a strategic initiative by the Presidency aimed at shifting the country’s energy system from being heavily reliant on coal to cleaner, renewable energy sources, while ensuring that the process is inclusive, equitable, and minimises negative social and economic impacts.

 

Tshikululu is supporting the design and development of the JET Funding Platform, which was launched in 2024, to enable projects and donors around the country to be registered and matched to create funding partnerships. In 2025, we will work with the JET team to identify and capture climate change mitigation projects on the national projects register.

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In November, we announced that Tshikululu had been appointed as the administrator of the ground breaking new Digital News Transformation (DNT) Fund. This R114-million initiative, launched by the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) and Google, is set to empower South Africa’s small, local, and independent news publishers with digital transformation and sustainability.

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We are also excited to be partnering with Jozi My Jozi, an exciting initiative aimed at revitalising the Johannesburg CBD. With the support of Standard Bank Group, FNB South Africa, Absa Group, Nedbank, Nando’s South Africa, Anglo American, IQbusiness, and others, we are contributing to addressing housing, economic empowerment, and community upliftment in Johannesburg.

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Tshikululu: shaping social investment

The annual Mining Indaba, which took place in February and attended by over 6 500 public and private sector representatives, set the tone for the year. Tshikululu was represented at the event by Head of Social Impact Dipalesa Mpye, who spoke as part of a panel on the human side of technology, emphasising how the best practice principles in developing and deploying new technologies should also be applied when working with communities. In a subsequent interview on eNCA, she further explored the topic of how mines and innovators should include and support communities in the transition to better and more efficient technology. Centring the conversation on communities in this way is indicative of Tshikululu’s approach to partnerships with stakeholders at all levels.

Tshikululu: shaping social investment

In 2024, we saw an increasing emphasis on the need for collaboration and partnerships in the social impact space, and this became a core theme for our events for the year. We partnered with the Minerals Council South Africa to roll out an Impact Dialogue series focused on community trusts, looking at how the space can move beyond compliance, leveraging strong governance and social impact strategy to maximise the benefit to the communities they serve. These dialogues are set to continue in 2025.

 

In June, Tshikululu hosted a hybrid webinar on the topic of the “Successful integration of the S into ESG in the South African Context”. This webinar brought together stakeholders from multiple industries to explore South Africa’s role in enhancing the implementation and measurement of the social dimensions of ESG globally.

Tshikululu: shaping social investment

In June, Tshikululu hosted a hybrid webinar on the topic of the “Successful integration of the S into ESG in the South African Context”. This webinar brought together stakeholders from multiple industries to explore South Africa’s role in enhancing the implementation and measurement of the social dimensions of ESG globally.

 

Strong partnerships and stakeholder relationships are also the foundation of effective impact management and measurement (IMM) and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). We explored this topic at our second webinar of the year, which focused on what it means for M&E to be “fit-for-purpose”’ in the South African context. We continued to strengthen our partnerships and networks in the M&E space at the biennial conference of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association (SAMEA), where Tshikululu’s M&E team participated as moderators and presenters.

Tshikululu: shaping social investment

The year’s focus on collaboration culminated in the Serious Social Investing (SSI) Conference in October, which took place in partnership with Creative Space Media, Nedbank and Vodacom. The conference’s theme, “Redefining Social Impact: Strategies for a Sustainable Future, focused on innovative approaches to igniting human capacity, enhancing pathways into the economy, and advancing South Africa’s Just Energy Transition. The conference brought together corporate leaders, non-profit organisations, philanthropists, and investors, all united by a shared commitment to addressing social challenges and fostering collaborations aimed at driving impactful change.

Tshikululu: shaping social investment

The conference was followed by the publication of “CSI: The Human of Face of Business 2024” in partnership with Creative Space Media. This annual publication brings together leaders in the social impact sector to share learnings aimed at enriching our practices, and ultimately to maximise the impact of social investments to achieve positive impact.

Looking to the future

In our changing world, it is more important than ever for us to collaborate effectively to create sustainable social impact. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners to build on these foundations in 2025 and beyond.

Our position in the social investment landscape

The social investment landscape is very dynamic, and as Tshikululu we are constantly improving upon our business model to suit the changing needs within the sector in a client-centric way. We will continue to seek out strategic partnerships that place us at the forefront of social investment solutions and use this to broaden our knowledge base and expertise. We will continue to expand the types of clients we work with, diversifying our experience to enhance the value we can provide to our clients, from smaller local investors to national and international companies and development agencies.

Thought leadership, knowledge sharing and collaboration

In 2025, we continue to build and strengthen highly visible platforms for thought leadership, knowledge sharing and collaboration in the sector. There is growing demand to create opportunities for collaboration among our clients and thus broker opportunities for joint investments for greater impact. Tshikululu would like to be at the forefront of future-focused research and innovation, unpacking new ways of deepening social impact.

Technology as an enabler

Alongside ongoing improvements to our grantmaking system, Tshikululu has embarked on a journey to strengthen our M&E systems for efficiency in data management over the course of 2025. The intention is to integrate AI and digitisation for real time data collection, verification and reporting processes for data integrity and accountability.

Collaborations and Partnerships - Feedback from Our Valued Clients

‘’We are a very happy client – keep on going with the professional service”

Discovery Fund Chairperson

“I honestly love the work that Tshikululu does for the Trust. They actually go above and beyond”

Vestas Empowerment Trust Chairperson

“Tshikululu has large teams of highly qualified individuals who between them have extensive experience in managing philanthropic entities”

Optima Trust Chairperson

“Excellent professionalism, turnaround time on difficult issues, excellent knowledge of the specific aspects of the Trust and its beneficiaries, and proactive engagement with beneficiaries”

Discovery Fund Trustee

“Right balance of flexibility to meet requirements… to ensure auditable results and delivery”

Optima Trust Chairperson

‘’Tshikululu is knowledgeable about trusts, investments, governance of trusts, management of endowments, financial advice and recommends programmes that close gaps in society, are sustainable and aligned to the UN development goals’’

South Deep Trusts Chairperson

View our Clients

Our Services

We support our clients to achieve the highest social return for their social investment spend. This is our reason for being, to ensure that we drive social impact to ultimately benefit the development trajectory of the country. We have built unparalleled expertise in delivering cost-effective and efficient solutions that go beyond what clients can achieve internally. We tailor our support to unique goals through three key service lines:

 

  • Management of Trusts and Foundations – secretarial services, governance and financial management including grant management
  • Programme Management – social investment strategy design, programme implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting
  • Advisory Services – standalone short term consultancy services to address social impact needs

 

Through our offerings, we guide clients in setting the right strategy and implementing it seamlessly. We ensure the highest standards of governance, transparency, and integrity, drawing from six key expertise areas that underpin our approach:

Research & strategy

We use baseline assessments, gap analyses, literature reviews, due diligence and feasibility studies, as well as stakeholder engagement, to develop evidence-based and sustainable strategies.

Partnership development & management

We manage logistics and partnerships with beneficiary organisations, suppliers and stakeholders, leaving you free to focus on your core objectives.

ESG advisory and implementation

We offer a range of specialised services to help organisations effectively integrate sustainability and ESG principles into their core business operations.

Programme design & implementation

We collaborate with you to identify key goals, target beneficiaries and measurable outcomes, then develop bespoke social investment strategies that align with your unique social impact mission and objectives, and then efficiently implement your programme.

Fund management 
& governance

We design customised social investment strategies and safeguard and optimise your fund’s assets. We guide you on governance best practices for transparent fund management.

Measurement 
& evaluation

We track the progress of projects and make informed decisions to improve. We create transparent reporting, programme evaluation and communications plans.
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Human Capital Management and Corporate Services Report

At Tshikululu, we value our employees for their specialised skills and the unique contributions they bring to the organisation. Prioritising mental, physical, and social wellness, we partner with Lyra Wellbeing and Reality Wellness Group while offering internal programmes like First Fridays Impact sessions to enhance performance and cohesion. By fostering engagement, self-development, and a strong performance culture, we empower our team to deliver excellence and quality service.
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Our People

Celebrating Excellence: CEO Awards 2024

In 2024, we proudly recognised those who demonstrated exceptional dedication to Tshikululu and our mission of fostering sustainable and impactful social change through the prestigious CEO Awards. These awards stand as a symbol of our collective commitment to driving positive transformation and innovation across our initiatives.

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Governance and Risk Management

Governance and risk management are central to delivering exceptional services to our clients. In 2024, we adapted to significant regulatory changes, updating processes and submitting required information on behalf of our clients. With a robust governance framework and proactive risk management approach, we ensure compliance, transparency, and resilience while safeguarding assets and supporting long-term impact.
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Annual reports

View 2023 Annual report
View 2022 Annual report
View 2021 Annual report

Annual reports

Download 2023 Annual report
Download 2022 Annual report
Download 2021 Annual report
Download 2023 Annual report
Download 2022 Annual report
Download 2021 Annual report

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2024
3
# of evaluations completed
1
# of community assessments commissioned
57
# of site visits conducted
28
# of impact reports completed and submitted to clients
4
# of client strategies developed/refined
1 207
# of proposals/applications for funding received
3 637
# of bursary applications processed
86
# of trustee/committee meetings held
180
# of approved social investment grants
179
# of approved bursaries
100%
% of clean audits
12
# of infrastructure projects managed
9
# of advisory client projects
47 850
# of Individuals Impacted/Reached
R7 723 698
Value of infrastructure projects
R422 000 000
Value of social investment influenced (advisory)
R274 206 679
Value of approved social investments by fund management clients
R696 206 679
Total value of social investments managed/advised
2024
2023
2022
3
1
3
# of evaluations completed
1
2
1
# of community assessments commissioned
57
112
103
# of site visits conducted
28
32
25
# of impact reports competed and submitted to clients
4
9
13
# of client strategies developed/refined
1 207
309
959
# of proposals/applications for funding received
3 637
1 089
3 008
# of bursary applications processed
86
79
74
# of trustee/committee meetings held
180
184
576
# of approved social investment grants
179
95
455
# of approved bursaries
100%
100%
100%
% of clean audits
12
39
64
# of infrastructure projects managed
9
22
24
# of advisory client projects
47 850
# of Individuals Impacted/Reached
R7 723 698
R63 505 783
R80 000 000
Value of infrastructure projects
R422 000 000
R277 624 837
R280 213 935
Value of social investment influenced (advisory)
R274 206 679
R308 651 946
R539 219 860
Value of approved social investments by fund management clients
R696 206 679
R586 276 783
R819 433 795
Total value of social investments managed/advised