Shelagh Gastrow
Shelagh Gastrow provides advisory services to the philanthropy sector, higher education advancement and non-profit sustainability. She works with individuals and families on how to integrate their wealth and their values into meaningful and effective philanthropy. From 2002-2015 she was founder and executive director of Inyathelo and focused her efforts on strengthening civil society and universities through programmes to develop their financial sustainability whilst promoting philanthropy in SA. Her work has gained public recognition locally and internationally.
Your country needs you: Civil society offers challenging career paths for job seekers
The civil society sector provides space for individuals to work with others and become active citizens. People come together, not necessarily to benefit themselves and make money, but to achieve change in society.
We live in a rapidly c...
Drop in giving has ramifications for all kinds of South African entities that rely on donor grants to survive
Recently Nedbank Private Wealth brought out the fifth edition of The Giving Report (2022) which provides the results of a 2021 survey on the giving practices of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) in South Africa. To qualify as a HNWI, pa...
The 10 donor funding red flags for non-profit organisations
While most donors make sure they undertake due diligence to ensure the recipients of their funds are ethical, accountable and transparent, it is rare to find a non-profit organisation taking the same trouble to check their donors’ reputations and ...
Philanthropic investments in education are among our most urgent priorities
South Africa has a wealth of organisations that are involved in the education space and philanthropy recognises that until we fix education, most progress is hindered.
It is a well-known fact that corporate social investment and private philant...
We need to rethink how the non-profit sector is financed
Why should non-profit organisations be expected to operate any differently to private businesses when it comes to covering overheads? Increasingly, philanthropic funders are building into their grants a cushion for funding operating expenses – and...
Good governance, transparency and accountability are thin on the ground in South Africa – civil society must lead the way
Once an organisation receives public benefit status and does not pay tax on its income, how transparent should the public expect it to be? Contrary to the US, in South Africa people prefer to undertake their philanthropy under the radar.
There is...
How to stop the degradation of our museums and cultural infrastructure
We are witnessing the collapse or near-collapse of key museums and heritage institutions in South Africa. How do we remedy this?
This year is the African Union year for Arts, Culture and Heritage. This week the African Experts’ virtual meeting on...
Philanthropy and dubious donors: Should non-profit organisations take the money and run?
The world has become increasingly transparent with the advent of the internet and social media. We can, after all, see child labour and slavery, carbon emissions, river pollution, the impact of plastics and the disappearance of forests through log...