4.9. Development and Fundraising

4.9. Development and Fundraising

The Wits Development and Fundraising Office (DFO) provides strategic development and fundraising advice and assistance to executive leadership and academics across all five Wits faculties, as well as professional administrative departments. Depending on the priority assigned to a project, assistance can be provided from project conceptualisation, proposal writing and prospect research through to working with key University executives and academics on implementing fundraising plans and approaches to prospects. The Wits Centenary (Wits100) Campaign entered its third year at the beginning of 2020. Despite coinciding with the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic shutdown, Wits100 fundraising and development activities continued to be implemented in line with the campaign plan - albeit that certain critical projects that required ad hoc funding were incorporated into the plan as part of the University’s emergency response to the pandemic. These projects includedthemanufactureofsorelyneededPPEfacemasksforhealthcare-andrelated-workersattheonsetofthe pandemic (which received almost instantaneous support from more than 200 individual and five major, corporate donors) and the purchasing and distribution of more than 5000 mobile learning devices to Wits students in largely ruralareaswhocouldnotaffordthesedevices.Wearedeeplyappreciativeofthesupportreceivedfromtwomajor South African philanthropies who assisted to make this project a reality. TheWits100Campaignplan,withambitioustargets,hasguidedtheSouthAfricanandinternational(todatelargely in the United States and United Kingdom) fundraising efforts with an emphasis on growing income from existing sources, whilst driving a major focus on securing sizeable gifts from high net worth alumni and other individuals. All cash donations, gifts-in-kind and associated sponsorships received since the beginning of 2018, as well as future pledges of support within the Campaign period, are counted in the campaign income. The Campaign

met its first income target of R1,1 billion at the end of July2018and,despitetheconsiderablychangedexternal circumstances, had raised more than R1,75 billion against the next income target of R1,8 billion set for the end of 2020.

As the campaign enters 2021, considerable work has beenputintorefininganenticingCase-for-Support-and arangeofrelatedpriorityprojects-thatreflectthevision of the incoming Vice-Chancellor and will underpin the campaign as advancement and fundraising efforts are accelerated leading up to, and beyond, the University’s centenary in 2022. TotaldonorandsponsorincomeintoWitsin2020wason par with the income received in 2019 – at around R400 million.Witsisfortunatetoreceivegeneroussupportfrom a wide range of corporate, foundation, government and individual donors - including bequests from alumni and others. There were, however, some fairly large fluctuations in the amounts received from certain key donor sectors.Aswasprobablytobeexpectedgiventherather dismal external climate, there was an average decrease of around 30 percent off the record amounts received in 2019fromthelocalcorporatesector(comprisingcorporates and corporate foundations), Sector Education and Training Authorities and local philanthropic foundations. Thankfully, these decreases were compensated for by a significant150percentincreaseinincomefromoffshore foundations - which brought the income received from them back into line with the level of income previously recorded from this sector in the four years preceding 2019. Building on the positive ‘major gift’ donations and pledges already received from five wealthy alumni and “friends”oftheUniversitysincetheonsetoftheCampaign, approaches to potential major gift donors are being stepped up across all of Wits ‘global’ fundraising offices and there are positive indications that a suitable, though limited, number may gain traction during the campaign – or in future years. A very positive development that will add additional impetus to this is the expansion of these activities into Australia during the second half of 2020. Over time,weexpecttheAustralian