Dainfern College Foundation

Dainfern College’s reputation as ‘A World of Education – an Education for the World’ enables us to play a vital role as an established, academically strong, values-driven school. To sustain our high standards of education and promote world-class achievement in all areas, the school needs enduring financial support to ensure that it remains at the forefront of independent education in South Africa.

Three strategic areas have been identified that need financial support:

• Our Community
• Our Campus
• Our Continuity

The Dainfern College Foundation aims to provide a constant flow of funding for the school by raising capital and investing the funds as an endowment to generate interest with which to build the Dainfern College of the future. It is a separate registered trust managed by a Board of Trustees. The Foundation has Public Benefit Organisation status and can therefore issue tax exemption certificates to all its donors. It operates a separate bank account to that of the school, and will be audited on an annual basis.

The Foundation Board of Trustees, working under the authority of the Board of Governors of the College, will drive the strategic funding plan and ensure fiduciary governance of the Foundation.

The Foundation has developed a selection of creative giving strategies known as the Dainfern College Celebration Campaign. This defines the way our Community and Campus will look in the future by providing methods and resources for Continuity. In effect the Celebration Campaign is ‘the menu’ for investment choices in the strategic funding programme for the Dainfern College Foundation.

The Celebration Campaign has identified the following key projects:

OUR COMMUNITY

Of the three areas crucial to the growth and development of Dainfern College, the most significant is our Community. Since 1997, when Dainfern College first opened its doors, the school has been consistent in two central beliefs: firstly, that our school is a centre of excellence; and secondly, that it is our calling and privilege to enrich and engage with our broader community.

Ongoing investment in talented learners and staff is crucial to the sustainability of a world-class independent school, as well as ensuring that the College maintains and further develops those vital community partnerships that are essential to our broader role in the Dainfern-Diepsloot area.

The Foundation aims to fund the following three Community projects:

Our Learner Programme

To ensure the future excellence of Dainfern College we need support in two key components of this commitment:

The Bursary Fund

The College aims to allocate four full bursary awards per year to Grade 8 high school learners from disadvantaged backgrounds who display competitive academic, sporting, cultural or all-round talent.

The Scholarship Fund

The College aims to allocate four full merit scholarships per year to Grade 8 high school learners with exceptional academic, sporting, cultural or all-round talent to strengthen and further boost our reputation as a centre of excellence.

Our Teacher Programme

With the teacher shortage in South Africa, Dainfern College is embracing the challenge to “Grow our own Timber” through an intentional internship programme for prospective teachers. To ensure the future excellence of Dainfern College, we need support in two key components of this commitment:

The Tertiary Bursary Fund

The Foundation aims to raise funds to establish a Tertiary Bursary Fund that will offer tertiary bursaries to deserving Dainfern College students or alumni to obtain their educator’s qualification. These candidates would participate in our mentorship programme throughout their training and be included as staff where possible.

The Teacher Internship Programme

We seek the capital funding or partnerships to provide a sustainable funding platform from which we can recruit and employ intern teachers. Over the last two years Dainfern College has run a successful teacher internship programme and has already placed two teachers in permanent posts within the College.

Our Outreach Programme

Community relations and outreach are an integral part of a Dainfern College education and we are proud of what we have achieved in our short history. How our young men and women discover their future depends on the humanity of all the lessons we bring to them, so we intentionally expose our students and staff to people from different backgrounds, religions, countries and races so that they develop insights and abandon prejudices.

In this important area of Social Responsibility, the Foundation seeks support for these key components of this commitment:

LEAP 4 School in Diepsloot

We partner with the LEAP Schools’ Trust to support the new LEAP 4 School in Diepsloot through a generous sharing of classroom, science laboratory and computer facilities, and constant working together to create opportunities for sharing and interacting across many areas of school life. We seek the funding to enhance this partnership and to help the LEAP 4 School establish its own independent school facilities.

Reshomile Primary School in Diepsloot West

This school caters for over 1200 learners from Grade 0 through to Grade 7, with only 27 teachers. Dainfern College has committed itself to supporting this school through teacher interaction, provision of library resources and shared planning and preparation of lessons. We seek the funding to enhance this partnership and to help Reshomile Primary School strengthen its school facilities.

Feeding Scheme

As we know that hungry children cannot learn, Dainfern College partners with parents, friends and corporate sponsors to run a feeding scheme for more than 300 vulnerable learners at the Itirele-Zenzele High, Reshomile Primary and LEAP 4 schools – all in the Diepsloot area. We seek funding and partnerships to enlarge our feeding scheme in order to make a greater difference to more vulnerable children within our community.

OUR CAMPUS

A critical component of our strategic plan at Dainfern College is to provide facilities that will enable us to excel in every facet of education: academic, sport and culture. Whilst the campus facilities at Dainfern College have improved immeasurably in recent years, the need for further developments in some vital areas is compelling. These additional facilities will benefit our current learners and also attract talented learners from a wider footprint.

Over the next five to ten years, the Foundation aims to raise funds to develop our campus. Facilities identified include:

A five-lane heated indoor swimming pool

To excel in swimming it is essential that we provide an opportunity for our swimmers to train throughout winter. This facility would provide us with an opportunity to become one of the best swimming schools in the country, as well as being a facility where those without access to a community pool can learn vital swimming skills.

AstroTurf hockey pitch

Hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in the College and caters for young men and women of all ages. Regular access to an artificial surface would allow players to develop the requisite skills demanded by the modern game. An all-weather AstroTurf would also be a multifunctional surface as junior learners could play mini-cricket and soccer on the surface, and it could become a central facility for the broader community for the development of both hockey and soccer.

Squash Courts

Squash is played by a number of the learners at Dainfern College at a very high level. There is a great demand to learn the game. Having our own squash courts will enable us to compete in the interschools’ squash league and accelerate the growth of squash as a sport in the College.

OUR CONTINUITY

To build financial sustainability for Dainfern College, the Foundation trustees have established a College endowment fund – The Celebration Fund - to guarantee a steady income over the long term. Capital in the Celebration Fund is raised through donations and bequests, whilst the interest is used to fund projects critical to the objectives of the school.

Funding for each of the Dainfern College Celebration Campaign areas is sought through once-off, monthly or annual donations, bequests and sponsorships. Funds and donations in kind can be contributed for dedicated projects within a specific area or for general investment and use, at the discretion of the trustees. Donations are tax deductible in terms of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act and as a Public Benefit Organisation, we can offer a tax certificate for your donation.

Irrespective of size or shape, all gifts, bequests, donations or sponsorships are acknowledged and much appreciated. The joy of a partnership with you is far more important than the size of the donation.

Each and every contribution will reinforce Dainfern College’s position as a world-class centre of educational excellence.

Click here to download the Foundation Brochure for more detailed information about the Celebration Campaign. Click here to see our Celebration Campaign film.

Please contact Deidré Proxenos, Director of the Dainfern College Foundation, for further information.