By Louise Driver, Executive Director, IPASA
Some periods ask more of us than others and this is one of them. South African civil society is navigating a world of deepening complexity and uncertainty: a world where the conditions shaping our work are shifting faster than our systems were designed to handle, and where the familiar frameworks for planning, funding, and collaboration are being tested in new ways. The pressures this brings — on organisations, on communities, and on the sector as a whole — are not entirely new. But their intensity, and their convergence, is. This is the environment in which we find ourselves, and it is the environment that makes the question at the heart of this year’s IPASA annual Symposium so urgent: how do we as private philanthropy move together from uncertainty to opportunity?
In moments like these, the work of IPASA is more important than ever before in strengthening local philanthropy to navigate uncertainty successfully and to make real sustainable impact in times of deep complexity and unpredictability. As international funding and global aid priorities shift, the work of building a confident, capable, and connected South African philanthropic sector is not simply complementary to that landscape, but it is essential to it. This quarter’s newsletter reflects that spirit: the courage of organisations holding steady under pressure, the commitment that helps make their work possible, and the collective effort needed to strengthen South African philanthropy for the road ahead.
This issue also arrives at a meaningful moment for our organisation as we reflect on the significant milestone of having reached 10 years of our existence. Our ten-year review is more than a record of our successes. It is a chance to pause, look back honestly, and recognise how far organised philanthropy in South Africa has come, as well as where we still have important work to do. Ten years ago, we were asking whether a distinct South African philanthropic identity could take shape. Today, that conversation has grown deeper: how do we strengthen that identity so it can meet the scale and complexity of the need around us? The review offers lessons we are carrying forward with care, including the reminder that capacity-building, peer learning, and sector infrastructure are not simply support functions; they are part of the work of building a stronger, more connected sector.
These reflections will also find a natural home in the conversation we are building toward at this year’s Symposium, Transforming Philanthropy: From Uncertainty to Opportunity, taking place from 17–19 November 2026. The theme is not intended as a simple call to optimism, but as an invitation to think together about what this moment requires of us. Uncertainty is real, and many in the sector are feeling its weight. Yet moments of disruption can also open space for renewal, collaboration, and innovative and new ways of working. At the Symposium, we plan to create room for honest conversation about how philanthropy can respond not only with resilience, but with imagination, curiosity, and courage. Philanthropy operates in a world where the future is fundamentally unquantifiable and rather than treating that ambiguity as a risk to be avoided, we believe we can learn to embrace it as a catalyst for creative problem-solving and systemic change.
The unknown is not only a place of risk; it is fertile ground for growth, innovation, and possibility. What would it mean for philanthropy to treat uncertainty not as a threat, but as the very space in which it can thrive?