Starfish Greathearts Foundation

Starfish Greathearts Foundation is an international non-governmental organisation formed in response to the tragedy of children orphaned or left vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa. Its mission is to help make a difference to the lives of these children through community-based organisations working at grassroots level. This enables individual communities to develop their own solutions to the challenges they face. As of January 2009, Starfish projects reach more than 36,000 children in 120 communities across South Africa.
Starfish Greathearts Foundation is registered as a charity (1093862) and company (4528018) in the United Kingdom. Starfish Greathearts Foundation UK delivers development programmes through Starfish Greathearts Foundation South Africa, which is a non-profit organisation (039-447-NPO), Section 21 Company (2003/002865/08) and Public Benefit Organisation (930008639) in South Africa. Starfish launched Starfish Greathearts Foundation USA as a full-time office in New York in 2007 and also has a volunteer division in Canada.
Starfish Greathearts Foundation UK is a member of the UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development as well as the Fundraising Standards Board, a self-regulatory scheme to ensure best practice in fundraising.
Types of assistance.
Crisis intervention.
Starfish supports newly orphaned children, or those left to look after sick and dying parents, with food parcels to enable them to stay alive during times of crisis. The parcels typically contain maize meal, beans, peanut butter, sugar and salt to enable a family of four to survive for a month.
Emergency food parcels enable staff to build up a relationship with the children. The parcels are used as a short term tool to enable families and children to survive until they can be linked to a more secure and sustainable source of food such as vegetable gardening and government grants, in addition to long term support structures and social services.
School represents the one sustainable means of building independent and economically active lives for children. As well as enabling orphaned children to apply for school fees exemption, Starfish projects crucially provide the necessary support around education such as the provision of school uniforms, shoes, stationery and books.
Working with communities.
It is widely accepted, based on experience of organisations in South Africa and throughout the rest of the continent where large populations of AIDS orphans exist, that the best models of care for vulnerable and orphaned children are found within the children’s communities, not in institutions.
For centuries, communities in Africa have helped neighbours in crisis. But the huge numbers of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in South Africa needing support mean that community groups require assistance to effectively care for children. Starfish Greathearts provides financial support and expertise to help community-based groups deliver best practice care and assistance to orphaned and vulnerable children.
Starfish project partners provide:
Building sustainable capacity.
There currently exists thousands of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that work to support orphaned children and adults at risk due to HIV/AIDS. These organisations deliver a range of education and health support services. However, donors and the government are unable to work with these CBOs because they have no formal framework, infrastructures such as bank accounts, or non-profit organisation registration. Staff and volunteers require training and skills around budgeting and financial management, fundraising, business plans and codes of conduct. The majority of staff and volunteers have also received little or no training in regards to care of orphans and children's rights.
Starfish works to increase the capacity and impact of these grassroots organisations through the provision of training and mentoring, empowering communities to respond to the needs of orphans in their area in the long term. The aim is to develop a large number of stable and well run CBOs capable of working with the government to ensure delivery of care, resources and services to children made orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Starfish training and mentoring programme focuses on CBOs that have reached a certain level of development, and require a programme of training and support with a capacity building approach to achieve their full potential and output levels. Training includes orphan care, children's rights, bookkeeping and donor acquisition to enable the CBOs to become sustainable in the long term.
Fundraising highlights.
Key income generating activities include:
Campaigns and Community Support
The supporter base of Starfish Greathearts Foundation is based on widespread support from individuals through donations and income generated through successful campaigns. The Dinners of Hope Campaign is the most popular ongoing campaign that Starfish has developed. It is simple in the fact that everyone has to eat and therefore everyone can participate in the campaign. The emphasis of this campaign brings to the table the chance to educate, communicate and fundraise with minimal input and optimal results. The concept is simple in that supporters are asked to host a meal for family, friends or colleagues and then ask guests for a donation rather than a contribution to the meal. The campaign also works as a powerful tool in promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and education at all levels. The campaign has mobilised more than 20,000 individuals and 120 corporations worldwide to participate.
Charitable Trust and Foundations Support
Support from charitable trusts, foundations and development agencies constitutes an important part of maintaining the work of Starfish. The organisation has a track record of securing grants of varying sizes in the UK, USA and in South Africa. The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation donated over R1.2 million to Starfish in 2003 for key projects in KwaZulu-Natal, whilst more recently The Makro Foundation donated R240,000 towards children's educational needs in the Thandanani Programme.
In the UK, the charity is supported by more than 50 charitable trusts and foundations with grants ranging from £200 to more than £70,000 from organisations. Starfish has previously received statuory support from Isle of Man Government Overseas Aid Committee.
Corporate Support
Corporate supporters globally has included Anglo American plc, BP, Coca-Cola, SABMiller plc, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Media, Virgin Megastores and Xstrata. Saracens Premiership Rugby Club, also known as Saracens F.C., are the latest major partner to lend their support to the charity having visited one of their projects in January 2009.
US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
Much of the expansion of the charity's work in South Africa has only been possible through the support of the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, which has donated more than R30 million to date. In 2003, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was launched to combat global HIV/AIDS – the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history.