Guidelines for CSI, Donations and Support Applications

 

Forms

          Application for CSI Funding - download

          Guidelines for CSI Funding - download

  TAKING ART TO THE COMMUNITIES

DBSA has embarked on an ambitious national mural project to provide an artistic face-lift to public spaces, especially in townships. The project, which is entitled “DBSA Prosperity murals" entails the painting of murals on buildings with the theme of "A prosperous and integrated region progressively free of poverty and dependency". All the murals are expected to resonate around the major theme of development and will for instance reflect on social issues which artists choose.

 

In each earmarked area, 15 community members and/or Grade 11 - 12 learners are identified by community forums to participate in the project. They then undergo an intensive training course in art and design skills offered by staff and students of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria. During this workshop the designs for the murals are developed, after which the murals are painted by the participants.

Although this initiative is initiated by the DBSA, partnerships were formed with municipalities, universities, art galleries and museums. The initial public spaces were identified in Atteridgeville and Saulsville as part of the City of Tshwane. The murals all carried a positive message based on the overall development theme. The artistic team included 15 community members nominated by the community forum and eight fine art students from the Department of Visual Arts of the University of Pretoria. The team was supported by three lecturers from the university.

The DBSA has funded and sponsored arts and culture projects over the past six years. These include projects such as art research and exhibitions, schools art competitions, arts awareness workshops for educators and an exterior sculpture garden.

 

	“Through the beautification of public spaces initiative, the Bank would like to emphasise the importance of arts education within communities, explore how participation in arts can impact on people’s self-confidence and encourage communities to play an active role in their own and their community’s development and upliftment,” says Manda Bester, the Bank’s project manager for Art initiatives and CSI. Bester adds that involvement in such a project does not only show the Bank’s commitment to be socially connected but also environmentally connected as well.
The second phase of the murals project took place in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal towards the end of April. Community forums nominated community members that are residents in the earmarked region to participate in the project. A two-day short training course was identified for this group followed by two days for the actual mural painting. Apart from the collaboration with the community forums, a further partnership with the eThekwini Municipality, the Fine Arts Department of the Durban University of Technology, Durban Art Gallery, the Fine Arts Department of the University of Pretoria and the Fried Contemporary Gallery and Studio has been formed.
	The project has good potential spinoffs for communities. The project presents an opportunity to impart art skills in communities, thereby exposing people to future career prospects in art. Further, the selected areas benefit from having artistically decorated walls which enhance their beauty. The project intends to cover murals in all the nine provinces around the major cities

  DREAMFIELDS CUP LIVES UP TO THE DREAM

JABU MTHEMBU

For the DBSA, Corporate Social Investment (CSI) is no longer an issue that is separate from the business case or mandate of the company, but has become an essential aspect of the business case itself.

 

Before we delve further into the discussion on CSI, it is as well to remember that Corporate Social Investment should be distinguished from Corporate Citizenship. Corporate Social Investment is the way in which companies care for the well-being of the social and ecological environment of the communities in which they operate. Also referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), it refers to the accountability of companies, to both shareholders and stakeholders, for their utilisation of resources, means of production, their treatment of workers and consumers and for their impact on the social and ecological environment in which they operate as well as how they exercise their legislative and fiduciary duties.

 

Corporate Citizenship on the other hand is concerned with the financial, social and environmental sustainability of business practices. Whilst it includes the beneficial motives of CSI and the ethical and reputational demands of CSR, it also elevates the discussion to a different level by dealing with the increasing realisation that the future of humanity and the planet on which we live are at stake. Therefore businesses ought to join stakeholders in their political, social and environmental domains in charting a way towards sustainability.

 

At the DBSA, the focus is largely on CSI. It is now important to ensure that our CSI programme is more strategic and therefore aligned not only to our mandate but to our key priority sectors as well. The greater focus should be in response to community development and on longer term sustainable commitment as opposed to once-off giving such as only sponsorships and donations. It is further important to know where our funding is going and what our return on this investment will be - a return which ensures a more sustainable outcome for beneficiary organisations and communities. Companies are guided by the BEE Act to contribute 1% of the turnover after tax to CSI.

 

DBSA CSI Steering Committee

 

Currently the CSI function at DBSA resides under marketing and in addition, there is a separate discretionary CSI Fund managed from the CE’s office. A CSI Steering Committee was formed earlier this year to ensure strategic activities that will serve to build, sustain and protect the Bank’s reputation. Many of the objectives mentioned above are also part of the function of this committee. This committee will also provide a platform to assist with integrating CSI across the organisation and agree on the funding principles in evaluating and managing the funding process. It is also imperative that we move away from being a donor to becoming a true investor in sustainable market-based solutions to social challenges.

 

The benefits of a well coordinated and executive CSI plan are among others, an enhanced corporate image, trustworthy brand and goodwill. It is also an opportunity to proactively enter new markets and not always rely on a reactive approach to funding requests.

 

Criteria for CSI funding

 

During 2008, Mamathe Kgarimetsa-Phiri was instrumental in compiling a CSI framework for the DBSA in consultation with a small internal team. To highlight some of the key selection criteria when considering CSI projects, the following is mentioned:

• DBSA will consider funding social enterprises and nongovernmental bodies (NGOs), institutions, or groups, performing services within the national or local communities for the alleviation of hardship and suffering and the assistance of disadvantaged groups.

• In reviewing and evaluating CSI initiatives for funding, the Bank needs to consider the following questions:

• Is the organisation compatible with DBSA’s mission statement and values?

•Will funding add value to communities in which the DBSA operates and to the Bank’s image and relationship building opportunities?

•Is there a social responsibility angle and can it be included in a community development programme?

•Can there be a funding spin-off (i.e. can it lead to other a ctivities)?

•Does it have unique qualities?

•Does it meet the funding guidelines and principles?

Among recent projects which the Marketing unit supported include the Rural Schools Infrastructure Upgrade project which is implemented through a phased approach in collaboration with the Adopt-a-School Foundation. Phase I is now 80 % completed. Two schools, one in Vlakfontein, Gauteng and the other in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal were assisted with the building and renovation of ablution blocks. One school in Idutywa, Eastern Cape, received a palisade fence to ensure better security and safety for the children. Two schools received much needed furniture in the Eastern Cape. Phase 2 – 4 will focus on water and sanitation and ultimately 18 schools will be upgraded.