Our Journey
2021
We continued to dodge the Covid waves and their associated lockdowns, which hindered our fundraising. However with the support of our loyal Friends of the Solstice, numerous corporate funders and a successful Quiz evening, we have managed to continue with our committments to our beneficiaries.
2020
This year, due specifically to Covid – 19, we have not been able to host any live fundraising events but our on-line appeals have been very well supported. Our focus moved to providing food parcels to the families of our beneficiaries. We certainly look forward to being able to host some live events again in the near future as these are still the best (and most enjoyable) opportunities for us to engage with our support base.
2019
We hosted a “Newbie Bowls” tournament in January this year at the very hospitable Mowbray Bowling Club. This was a hugely fun event and we will definitely repeat the exercise. The day was won in a tightly contested final by the Opperman / MacMaster team, narrowly pipping the McKenzie/Barty trio.
This was followed by arranging a talk with Julia Albu – the octagenarian who drove from Cape Town to London in Tracy the Toyota Conquest. She entertained a packed auditorium at the Nassau Centre in Rondebosch with tales from their adventures through Africa. Proceeds went to funding our COSAT bursaries.
During the financial year ending Feb 2019, a generous total of R22 985 was donated to the Solstice Foundation by the “Friends”. All of these donors have received Section 18A tax certificates.This year we enjoyed another successful family Bowls tournament which was a lot of fun.
2018
We are engaging with our individual support base on a more intimate level and are tapping into our wider “Corporate” support base for project funding as and where required. We have held 2 “Solstice Talks” in the past year and these have all proved to be extremely successful. We invited Michael Charton back to tell us another story – that of “The First World Champions” and this was followed by a very different offering from Richard Cock entitled “Conduct Unbecoming”. The aim of all of these is to connect with our support base around a subject that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. It keeps our organization “front of mind” and it has been really encouraging to experience how well these talks have been supported.
2017
This year saw the introduction of the ‘Solstice Talks’ – a series of talks aimed at inspiring us, as well as ensuring that we maintain a connection with our loyal support base.
The first talk – ‘My Father’s Coat’ – was in March 2017 where Michael Charton wove a mesmerising tale spanning 200 years of our country’s history. In May we heard from Toni Stuart whose talk ‘Crossing the M5’ drew on her own experiences and challenges in terms of growing up in a traditionally non-white community and going to school in the ‘elite Southern Suburbs’. And in August we heard about the riveting tale of the ‘Coxless Crew’, an all-female four who rowed unaided across the Pacific Ocean. Lizanne van Vuuren kept us entertained and Edward Snell & Co. provided the Gin Bar.
2016
2016 marked the 14th anniversary of The Solstice Foundation’s existence. We are proud to announce that over the 14 completed financial years of our existence, we have raised just over R6 million and distributed to our various beneficiaries an amount of R5.6 million – with the balance of some R400K held in reserve and earmarked for projects in the current year.
This year, Biblionef was adopted by one of our Corporate Sponsors, “Futuregrowth”, as their particular CSI project. This has meant that they continued to receive the support that they have become accustomed to through our initiative and we continue to have regular interaction with them.
There were no major fundraising events this year, but we continued to receive donations through our ‘Friends of Solstice’ and the Woolworths MySchool scheme.
2015
The Financial Year ending 28 February 2015 marks the 13th anniversary of The Solstice Foundation’s existence. Over all these years, we can proudly reflect that we have never experienced an “unhappy donor”. Our financial accountability has been unblemished and, without exception, our projects have fulfilled their stated objectives. Our monitoring and diligence processes have ensured that our undertakings have not “gone up in smoke” and we have shone brightness into 1000’s of lives. We have stuck within what Warren Buffett refers to as our “circle of competence” and remained true to our core strategies.
We hosted our second ‘Art by the Glass’ event, but this time at Rococoa in The Palms. We managed to show a profit of about R33K – nearly double the amount that we raised the prior year.
2014
Our first ‘Art by the Glass’ fundraising and marketing event was held on 11 March 2014 at the fabulous old Land Bank Building in Cape Town. Twenty three local artists, including Gavin Collins and Mel Elliot, exhibited their artworks, and Iona, Joostenberg, First Sighting and Strandveld wine estates kept everyone happy with tastings of their wares. We sold 28 works of art in three hours and while we showed a profit of only R17K from the event, fundraising was not our main priority. What we wanted to do was create a social gathering and build awareness and profile around what we are about.
Another focus this year was for improved communications with our support-base – both by the introduction of a “Mail Chimp” newsletter and by a major overhaul of our website, as well as our Facebook presence.
We also had a successful collaboration with Bateleur Capital in establishing a bursary for a number of deserving students to complete the Bus Sci (Finance) degrees at UCT. This is a fantastic initiative and we have high hopes that it will be a huge success.
2013
The Solstice Foundation had a relatively quiet year of fundraising in 2013, focusing on reflection and strategy going forward. In spite of this it has still managed to support its beneficiaries generously thanks to various donations received during the year, and ongoing fundraising efforts.
After an extremely successful Ball in 2012 we decided not to hold a similar event this year. Instead we encouraged our supporters to donate to a mock “Virtual Ball” which we named our Crystal Ball – in line with our ‘looking to the future’ theme for the year. Our Virtual Ball raised R76,700.00.
We also held a small breakfast indaba with some of our long-term and committed supporters, asking them for advice as we reflected on our past activities and looked to the future.
2012
In 2012, The Solstice Foundation celebrated its 10th Anniversary, an incredible achievement for an organization that has continued to succeed despite the current economic climate. On 1 September 2012 we held our 10th Annual Ball. In celebrating a decade of fundraising balls we decided to donate the ball funds raised at our 10th Ball to ten of our existing beneficiaries – the KiDS Foundation, Baphumelele – Fountain of Hope, The Busy Bees Rugby Football Club, our UWC bursary student Laura de Wet, Wilge Special Care Day Care Centre, NOAH (Neighbourhood Old Age Homes), Goedgedacht, the Sporting Chance Foundation, SERI (Science Education Resource Initiative) and Biblionef. Our 10th Ball (The Captain’s Table) was by far our most exciting and talked-about Ball, raising nearly R350 000 at the auction and gaining us compliments all around.
When looking back at the great success of the fundraising balls we realize that the formula possibly has run its course and we need to identify a ‘new-look’ fundraising focus for the way ahead. In November 2012 the committee discussed ideas for a new strategy moving forward and currently is pursuing new avenues for securing the funds needed to service our beneficiaries. Our Annual Golf Day planned for 29th February 2012 was cancelled with regret but with the overall sense that in the current tough economic times, many a Golf Day was being passed over until next year.
2011
The eighth Solstice Foundation Golf Day was held on 24th February 2011 at the Mowbray Golf Club and we raised a total of R26 900 which was pledged to the Sporting Chance Foundation and the Busy Bees Rugby Club. In addition to this we received pledges to join Friends of Solstice from 15 golfers, amounting to an annual income of R18 000.
The 9th Solstice Foundation Annual Ball held on 30th July 2011 at the Rotunda, Camps Bay, where we raised R460 000 at the auction. In addition to this we sold trees to offset the carbon footprint of the evening and raised a further R38 000. Our main beneficiary was the Baphumelele Children’s Home Fountain of Hope facility in Philippi.
2010
The eighth Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Westin Grand Cape Town, Arabella Quays, on Saturday, 15th May 2010. The auction alone raised R315,370 and our major beneficiary was The Goedgedacht Farm in Riebeeksrivier Valley. A second beneficiary of the ball was Operation Smile and some of the money was also used to support our ongoing projects, KiDS and our bursary student at UWC.
2009
In 2009, the Committee decided, in lieu of the ball, to introduce a new fundraising event and on Thursday 21st May, our first Solstice Foundation Ladies’ Breakfast was held at the Vineyard Hotel. Our second breakfast was held on Wednesday 28th October 2009 and the profits raised from the Breakfasts was R27 000. Although this is not as much as is raised by some of the other events, the response to the breakfasts was extremely positive and it was a good way to fill some of the Fundraising gap left by our Ball ‘Gap Year’ and to introduce new people to the Foundation.
We also held the seventh Solstice Foundation Golf Day on Friday 4 September 2009 at Mowbray Golf Course where R45,000 profit was raised. Most of this was channelled through Sporting Chance, to be used for their outreach sports clinics and sports infrastructure needs.
2008
Our first fundraiser for 2008 was the fifth Solstice Foundation Golf Day which was held at Mowbray Golf Course on the 29th February and was huge success.
The 2008 Ball was held on 23rd August, again at the Arabella Sheraton and as usual was a grand success! The beneficiaries were the Holy Cross orphanage in Modderdam Road, Salesians and Harmony Addictions clinic.
2007
The sixth Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at Pigalle Restaurant on 25th August 2007 and a record breaking R575,000 was raised! Our primary beneficiary for 2007 was the Schools Environment and Education Development project (SEED).
2006
The fifth Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Arabella Sheraton on the 23rd of June 2006 and R295,000 was raised. Our primary beneficiary for this year was Neighbourhood Old Age Homes (NOAH). Our fourth Golf Day was held on the 1st of September – once again at Royal Cape Golf Club.
2005
The fourth Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Arabella Sheraton on 13 August 2005 and R201,000 was raised. Our beneficiary for 2005 was Baphumelele Children’s Home and Refuge. Our third Solstice Foundation Golf Day was again held at Royal Cape Golf Club and in this year we also held a Movie Premiere at Canal Walk as an additional Fundraiser.
2004
The third Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Arabella Sheraton on 12 June 2004. The beneficiary of funds raised at the Ball was the Wilge Special Care Day Care Centre. We also held our second Solstice Foundation Golf Day which this year was held at Royal Cape Golf Club.
2003
The second Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Cape Town City hall on the Winter Solstice on 21 June 2003 and R114,000 was raised. Our beneficiary for 2003 was Masizame (now called Indawo Yentsikelelo).
In 2003 the Foundation also held their first Solstice Foundation Golf Day at Devon Valley golf course. The objective of the Golf Day was to raise funds for Sporting development projects.
We also held a family picnic at the Barnyard in Franschhoek which was a great opportunity to provide fun, games and entertainment for families of members and to raise money at the same time. The proceeds of this Picnic went to “From the Children to the Children”.
2002
On the 8th of August 2002 the first Solstice Foundation Annual Ball was held at the Cape Town City Hall. R94,000 was raised at this Ball and the first Solstice Beneficiary was Zerilda Park Primary School in Lavender Hill.
