RUGBY icon Siya Kolisi and children supported by KFC Add Hope got South Africa singing and smiling during July with a partnership that aimed to turn ‘indlala’, a Nguni term meaning hunger, into ‘dlala’, or play.
Now the Kolisi Foundation and KFC have announced that the month-long collaboration raised R6,480,460 in donations from customers when they added R2 to their bill for meals at KFC restaurants nationwide.
KFC’s matching contribution, and its pledge that all Add Hope funds raised in July would go to the Kolisi Foundation, has resulted in a R12,960,920 boost for the foundation’s work.
The funds will be directed towards the foundation’s food security programme. Its initiatives include providing breakfast daily to more than 4,000 learners at six schools in Zwide, the Gqeberha community where Kolisi grew up in the 1990s.
It also offers grocery support to survivors of gender-based violence and delivers holistic assistance to more than 34 community kitchens which feed an average of 1,000 women, children and elderly people daily.
“This is a game-changer for the foundation and a massive step towards sustainability,” says Rachel Kolisi, the foundation’s CEO. “It’s all due to the amazing generosity of South Africans and we’re incredibly grateful for KFC’s beautiful gesture in matching its customers’ donations.”
Grant Macpherson, KFC Africa Chief Marketing Officer, said South Africans’ response to a TV commercial and social media posts featuring Siya and Add Hope beneficiaries – all with a catchy iGwijo soundtrack – had been positive.
“KFC Add Hope is marking a double celebration in 2023 – its 15th birthday and its R1 billion fundraising milestone,” he says. “Our partnership with the Kolisi Foundation has allowed us to celebrate this in incredible fashion, as we always do as South Africans – and that is together.”
When Add Hope offered to make the Kolisi Foundation the beneficiary of all donations received in July, it created an opportunity to develop a campaign to educate and inspire South Africans about the power of their R2 contributions.
The ad featured children from Afrika Tikkun’s Wings of Life centre in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, dreaming of a limitless future. The children were overwhelmed when they met Siya, and they went on to interact with him in a classroom. Other videos featured Rachel and Siya meeting older beneficiaries and representatives of some of Add Hope’s 130 partner organisations who operate 3,300 feeding centres.
“Being able to learn more about the phenomenal work Add Hope is doing, and the other organisations it supports, has made me realise what a massive impact it has,” says Rachel.
“The more we can share the incredible impact Add Hope has as a collective effort, the bigger the difference we can make. The Kolisi Foundation is delighted to have played a part in shining a light on what’s being achieved. Incredible numbers of children are being fed every day, and it’s all thanks to the generous South Africans who add R2 at the end of their KFC orders.”
Add Hope, which serves nutritious meals to more than 150,000 hungry and malnourished children every year, has worked with the Kolisi Foundation for the past two years, supporting its efforts to address the food insecurity which affects nearly one in four households nationwide.
Grant says about 60% of Add Hope’s funds come from customers, and KFC contributes 40%. The money goes to the KFC Social Responsibility Trust, which distributes it to partners whose finances and menus are continually audited. The trust’s financial reserves allowed the day-to-day work of Add Hope to continue in July even though the month’s customer and KFC contributions went to the Kolisi Foundation.
“The impact study we’ve just released proves that Add Hope has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children, and the outpouring of goodwill we experienced during our July partnership with the Kolisi Foundation encourages us to do even more,” says Grant.
Like the foundation, KFC doesn’t only feed children: it invests in the whole child. KFC Mini Cricket, the country’s largest grassroots sports programme, gives 120,000 girls and boys between the ages of three and 12 the opportunity to be active. Ikusasa Lethu scholarships provide access to quality education for children who are Add Hope beneficiaries or whose parents work for KFC. And the Streetwise Academy tackles youth unemployment by supporting young people in getting SETA-accredited qualifications.
