Toolkits, Guidelines and Case Studies
IPASA has developed toolkits for funders in key funding focus areas. These toolkits provide funders with succinct information on key topics and connects them with additional resources for further reading.
By making these toolkits and guidelines available, we would like to encourage good funding practices that will help funders to achieve the best possible impact through their giving.
Toolkits, Resource Packs and Guidelines
Guidelines for Funding ECD Programmes in South Africa
IPASA has developed ECD Funders Guidelines based on our research and engagements with ECD funders in our ECD funders workshops.
Trust-Based Philanthropy – A Growth Pack to Support Trust-Based Partnerships
This growth pack has been crafted to support funders and implementing partners to deepen trust, connection and mutual support in your partnerships.
Good Governance and Foundations – A Practical Guide
This guide includes tools to assess your board’s current state of good governance, demystifies governance codes and provides practical advice.
Grant Craft Toolkit
This toolkit is organised into two main sections: the context in which grant making and grant management takes place; and grant making and grant management practices.
Grant Craft Toolkit
This toolkit is organised into two main sections: the context in which grant making and grant management takes place; and grant making and grant management practices.
After-School Programmes Funders Guidelines
These guidelines have been created by The Learning Trust following the release of the report: ‘Funding After School Programmes in South Africa’. They are designed to support funders who either wish to fund ASPs or who are already funding ASPs.
Climate Change Resource Pack and Toolkit
The Climate Change Resource Pack: Equipping Funders to Effectively Respond to Climate Change and the Climate Change Toolkit: Supporting Funders to Take Climate Action have evolved from the initial version, The Climate Crisis – A Toolkit and Resource Pack for Funders in South Africa: Why, How, and the Role of Philanthropy. These resources have its genesis in the IPASA climate initiative and are aimed at assisting funders to take climate action.
Climate Action Entry Points for Early Years and ECD Funders_A Practical Guide
This guide emerged from the collaborative efforts of IPASA’s Climate and Early Years Dialogue Circle. This guide provides funders with practical strategies to integrate climate adaptation into Early Childhood Development initiatives.
Guidelines for Funder Collaboration in Literacy and Numeracy in the Early Grades
Synthesis of Learnings from Caregiver Support Programmes A Report for Funders
IPASA Climate Pledge Implementation Guide 2025
Higher Education Bursary Funding Toolkit
For funders new to supporting bursaries, this resource offers insight into the landscape, helps define focus areas, and guides the selection of a funding model and potential partners. For existing bursary funders, it supports reviewing programme effectiveness, strengthening support models, improving monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) practices, and managing risk.
Higher Education Bursary Knowledge Brief
This brief supports philanthropy, private funders, trusts, scholarship programmes, corporate social investment initiatives, and other ecosystem stakeholders in better understanding South Africa's postgraduate and research funding landscape.
Quick-Start Resources
Designed to complement the Toolkit and serve as an entry point for funders new to bursary funding, this set includes a practical quick-start roadmap plus five editable templates to support implementation.
Case Studies
Towards Trust-Based Partnerships – A Case Study
This Case Study captures the Emerging Collective Partnership between a Philanthropic Network and a National Association of Social Change Entities in South Africa
2023 IPASA Collaboration Case Studies
This compilation of three case studies about impactful collaborations within the philanthropy sector was developed as part of IPASA’s 2023 Collaboration in Philanthropy Series. The case studies provide insights in the collaborations that makes SmartStart, The Hamba Nathi Initiative, and the Jakes Gerwel Technical School and Bonnievale 418 possible. It also includes a section on IPASA’s learnings about enablers for effective collaboration.
Climate Change – A Series of Case Studies on South African Funders’ Climate Journeys
IPASA has initiated case study projects in 2022 and 2023 to document members' climate change responses, aiding those already engaged and supporting newcomers. Five studies showcase seven members' diverse efforts across various themes.
Reflections on IPASA’s ECD Dialogue Circles Catalysts for Collaboration or Another Talk Shop Long Version - July 2025
In 2023, IPASA decided to do things differently - we invested time, funding and energy to design and
implement an initiative that experimented with implementing “dialogue circles” in our ECD Funder
Initiative. This was possible because the Standard Bank Tutuwa Community Foundation trusted IPASA
to implement an ECD Funders initiative that did not have the same structure as previous initiatives.
Collaboration in Education Case Studies
Collaboration has become one of the most important strategies in education philanthropy today. IPASA has documented and analysed a set of education collaborations that offer powerful insights into how funders and partners are working together to strengthen education outcomes across the country.