Abraham Kriel Bambanani (AKB) calls on members of the public to support the organisation with whatever they can afford. The NPO has been in operation in Johannesburg and the East Rand since 1902. It normally cares for more than 1 000 children and youth in two children’s homes, seven group homes, and four programmes for orphans and vulnerable children in the communities of Soweto and Westbury.
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“The public’s support during lockdown literally saved thousands of lives,” said Lara Theron, independent non-executive director and chairperson of marketing committee. The Covid-19 pandemic has had far-reaching and often devastating effects on the South African public, organisations and corporates alike. AKB is not being spared and is feeling the financial pinch of diminishing corporate and organisational funds. The children’s home, with a proud history spanning more than 118 years, has been feeling the financial effect of the diversion of corporate social investment (CSI) funds to Covid-19 relief programmes and the impoverishment of its donor base for some months. Fund-raisers cancelled due to pandemic Due to the pandemic, the organisation has also had to cancel most of its fund-raising events, while corporate funding and support from trusts and foundations have been dwindling. “A number of loyal funders have notified us that they will not be able to support the programmes for orphaned and vulnerable children, or abused and abandoned children in either residential care or community care in the foreseeable future,” says Paul Momsen, AKB’s CEO. A number of funding partnerships with major donors are also coming to an end. “It is clear that the renewal of most of these agreements will not happen due to their need to focus on other industry-related priorities. “We are seriously concerned about the longer-term effect these donor cuts will have on our programmes, and we urgently need to grow our donor base,” says Momsen.
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Calling on the general public for support Momsen says, however, amid this sombre picture, the organisation also has a ray of hope from the support of ordinary South Africans. Mobilising many, smaller donors has already been proven a life-saver. “During the early months of the national lockdown, the need from extremely poor and destitute communities was almost overwhelming,” he says. “We appealed to the general public to support us with whatever they could afford and, as a result, were able to supply thousands of food parcels and essential technology to the poor and destitute in Westbury and Soweto.” Families survived because of the support of individual donors. “There is no doubt that children and families are alive today because of this generosity of ordinary South Africans,” he says. Momsen says that as the organisation regroups to tackle a challenging future in a very different world, it needs to broaden and spread its donor base. “We are therefore appealing to every member of the public to support us with whatever they can afford so that we can continue to ensure that children who have been orphaned, abandoned, abused and impoverished will still be healed, loved and developed into contributing adults,” says Momsen. For more information on how to contribute, contact Hilda du Toit on 082 894 2458 or 011 839 3058 (during office hours) or visit www.abrahamkriel.org 
