CHARITY: Tekkie Tax Day

inVOLVED:

Words: Cornèl Theron

TEKKIE TAX DAY FRIDAY, 31 MAY 2013

Tekkie Tax is taking place on Friday, 31 May 2013, so buy a sticker (or five) or a pair of funky shoelaces (Tekkie Tags), and wear your favorite pair of tekkies for the day to show your support of this fantastic fundraising cause. Tekkie Tax is an annual fundraising campaign for a large mix of carefully selected welfare sectors - animals, basic community welfare, children, disability and education - in South Africa that will benefit from your donation. Only those NGOs that are accountable, reliable and have a history of good service, will be selected as beneficiaries of this campaign.

During May, members of the public are encouraged to purchase a Tekkie Tax sticker for a R10 donation, from any of the participating outlets or participating welfare organisations, which can be found on the Tekkie Tax website. There will be five different kinds of stickers, each representing a beneficiary sector. People can choose which of the five sectors they would like to support:

Animals

In this sector we reach out to our furry friends, the ones that cannot fend for themselves. From domestic animals to wildlife and everything in-between. Let's make the world a better place for animals and also "keep it green" by focusing on the environment.

Basic community welfare

The welfare organisation (NGO) field in South Africa stretches across hundreds of thousands of organisations, covering numerous areas of need. This is a section for organisations that, amongst others, render various services in the poorest of the poorest communities in our country. Services to older persons, poverty alleviation, HIV Aids and just what the name of this sector says: Basic community welfare.

Children

Children have the right to a safe environment where they can grow and develop into responsible adults who contribute to society. Sadly, this is often not the case. Our beneficiaries in this sector focus on the needs of children and aim to put a smile on the face of every child in South Africa.

Disability

People with disabilities are one of the most marginalized groups in the world. Our beneficiaries cover all kinds of disability and render services, run homes and provide education, training and job opportunities to children and adults in each and every corner of our country.

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Education

Education is one of the biggest challenges in South Africa – and unless we win this battle a lot of other problems will stay with us. Our beneficiaries strive to provide early childhood development as well as education to adults and children to launch them into a successful, sustainable future.

Get involved

So how can you get involved? Well, it’s as easy as • getting permission from your office to participate in the Tekkie Tax campaign on Friday, 31 May 2013.

• promoting the campaign with our free publicity material: posters and brochures to ensure that each person in the office will know about the campaign and gladly participate.

• choosing the beneficiary sector/s you and your colleagues would like to support and get the appropriate stickers. Ensure that each of your colleagues have one.

• wearing your tekkies! Now that you each have a sticker, show the world where your heart lies by wearing your sticker and favourite pair of tekkies on Friday, 31 May 2013.

• sending a SMS with your choice of beneficiary SMS A, B, C, D or E to 44400 and donate R20.

Annelise de Jager, project organiser, said, "As experts in our field of service, we know that running a fundraising campaign is expensive, labour intensive and holds a lot of risk factors for the organisation running it. Now we have brought together a mix of the most accountable welfare organisations in the country to do one big campaign where the public has the choice of who they want to benefit from their donations. This will save a lot of money and create a platform for organisations that normally do not have the infrastructure to organise this kind of campaign."

All the beneficiary organisations render a service in South Africa. They have been carefully selected and checked out to ensure that no matter which sector you choose to support, your donation will be used in the best possible way. The Tekkie Tax campaign will be conducted under the auspice of a Charitable Trust called 'The Foundation for Social Change through Choice' (FSCC) - 116-048 NPO and PBO 930041253.

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For more information on this worthy cause and a detailed list of the various local beneficiaries representing each sector, visit www.tekkietax.co.za

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