Domino Foundation welcomes new leader
With the formal announcement of his appointment, Shaun has spoken about his vision of where he sees the foundation going.
The Domino Foundation heads into the future with a new leader at its helm. Studying part time for his B Comm, Shaun Tait had spare hours which he felt could be put to profitable use and put his hand up to be a driver for the foundation.
Ten years ago, the foundation was running three programmes, one of which, the life skills programme, had a group of British volunteers needing to be ferried to and from Amaoti where the programme was working. “I had my licence, time between study sessions and I had seen the great work Domino was doing, mentoring children who needed to know that they were unique and had futures which were worth living.”
Not able to sit idle waiting for the volunteers, Shaun got involved in curriculum development with the programme. With his studies being focused on marketing, he also undertook the development of a website, newsletter and social media tools to spread the word about the foundation’s activities.
A decade later, he has seen the foundation grow to where it now daily impacts over 12 500 people both in the North Durban and South Basin areas. Its programmes have grown to six, with Shaun having participated in almost every aspect of its activities.
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In 2015, he took on the responsibilities of chief operations officer (COO), overseeing the day-to-day running of the vibrant hub of the foundation’s functions at its offices at Anthem Church in Durban North, and participating in the vital networking with NPOs, civic authorities and local government.
In the early years, Shaun was mentored by the foundation’s founder, Mickey Wilkins, who now runs Domino Business, the NPO’s sustainability plan which works with corporates and businesses to reduce reliance on grants and donations in the long term. “Under Mickey’s wise tutelage and benefitting from his business and people skills, I grew enormously. I was excited by the door God had opened for me when I was asked to step into the COO’s role.”
Under his watch, the annual budget has grown to R9 million, and Shaun knows that growth is vital, to rise to the challenge of addressing the needs of huge swathes of the population, which never diminishes.
In late 2018, Richard Mun-Gavin, the lead elder at Anthem Church and executive chairman of the foundation, felt that the NPO was on such a stable footing that he, with confidence, could relinquish its reins. Shaun was the foundation board’s obvious choice to succeed Richard as CEO.
“The decision was unanimous: Shaun is the man to forge the way ahead. His intimate knowledge of every aspect of Domino and his passionate commitment to see it dynamically change the lives of thousands in our country is inspirational,” said Richard.
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With the formal announcement of his appointment, Shaun spoke of his vision of where he sees the foundation going: “We are moving from being just an NPO to being an increasingly meaningful social impact organisation. We are seeing the development of strategies and collaborative partnerships with businesses and volunteers impacting lives on the ground.”
Far greater numbers of disadvantaged people in the country need to experience mercy and justice and to be empowered. Shaun sees that The Domino Foundation must replicate its work in provinces across South Africa other than just KZN. “What Jesus said about us always having the poor with us is a challenge we cannot ignore. I have a dream that The Domino Foundation will champion the cause of the marginalised and the most vulnerable in our society and we will see the #DominoEffect in other provinces across South Africa.”
If you want to get involved and support the #DominoEffect, visit www.dominofoundation.org.za or follow Domino on www.facebook.com/TheDominoFoundation or on Twitter @DominoRSA. You can also call Lisa Doyle on 031-563-9605 or email admin@domino.org.za.
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