Sage Foundation’s Enterprise Fund offers new funding for bright ideas from African non-profits

Funds to help small, entrepreneurial organisations to deliver change to the communities who need it most

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, November 1, 2017/ -- Sage (http://APO.af/1NHGpu), the market and technology leader for cloud accounting, people & payroll, and payment systems, has today launched the second round of funding from Sage Foundation’s Enterprise Fund (http://apo.af/fdVrNs). The fund supports the creation of either new or piloted entrepreneurial programmes to help improve the lives of military veterans, young people or women and girls in Africa and Sage’s local communities around the world.

Every day, across Africa, inspiring non-profit leaders, volunteers and their supporters are working tirelessly to make their communities better places to live. Sage Foundation’s Enterprise Fund has been designed to support small non-profits with exceptional, original ideas on the brink of delivering real change, take a bold step forward when they are unable to make their idea a reality due to lack of funds.

After awarding $500,000, through over 30 grants, across 15 Sage countries earlier in 2017, Sage Foundation will open the next wave of $500,000 until November 28; grants between $10,000 - $25,000 will then be awarded to successful applicants. In South Africa, the New Africa Education Foundation (www.NAEF.org.za) has received a $10,000 grant towards a project that will provide mobile libraries to disadvantaged schools.

Says Ahmed Motala, CEO of the New Africa Education Foundation: “We are delighted to partner with Sage Foundation to boost literacy in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Our mobile libraries can be wheeled from one classroom to another, making books more accessible for learners in communities with poor access to libraries. Support from Sage Foundation is helping us to expand a project that will enable many learners to boost their performance at school and work towards a brighter future.”

Sage Foundation is committed to helping small, frontline organisations, therefore the fund is only open to organisations with an income that is less than $2M, and projects or initiatives have been operational for two years or less.

Sage Foundation is especially keen to support organisations that have ambitions to expand, grow and deliver sustainable change. It is also hoped that the fund will support traditionally hard to fundraise needs such as; capital projects and core running costs.

“There are many passionate people in African non-profit organisations who have great ideas that could make a real difference, but they need access to funding to take action,” says Joanne van der Walt (http://apo.af/1U5ird), Sage Foundation Programme Manager for Africa.

“We aim to help small charities bring their innovative ideas to life so that they, in turn, can deliver positive, sustainable change for people and communities who need their support.”

Since January 2016, Sage Foundation has been taking action to build sustainable social, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities in Sage’s local communities around the world. By investing and supporting non-profit partners that are helping people reach their true potential, Sage are committed to doing business the right way.

Click here (http://APO.af/xsF1hg) to check if your non-profit is eligible for Sage Foundation’s Enterprise Fund. Follow @SageFoundation for the latest from our community.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Sage.

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Media contact:
Del-Mari Roberts
Idea Engineers (PR agency for Sage)
+27 (0)11 803 0030 | +27 (0)72 5958 053
DelMari@IdeaEngineers.co.za

Ashmika Panday
Idea Engineers (PR agency for Sage)
+27 (0)11 803 0030 | +27 (0)83 296 1680
Ashmika@IdeaEngineers.co.za

About Sage:
Sage (FTSE: SGE) (www.Sage.com) is the global market leader for technology that helps businesses of all sizes manage everything from money to people – whether they’re a start-up, scale-up or enterprise. We do this through Sage Business Cloud - the one and only business management solution that customers will ever need, comprising Accounting, Financials, Enterprise Management, People & Payroll and Payments & Banking. 

Our mission is to free business builders from the burden of admin, so they can spend more time doing what they love – and we do that every day for three million customers across 23 countries, through our 13000 colleagues and a network of accountants and partners. We are committed to doing business the right way, and giving back to our communities through Sage Foundation.

www.Sage.com/za and www.Sage.com/africa.


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Sage