1. Why did TNHF develop the Community Impact Model?

From its inception, TNHF has been committed to supporting local youth empowerment programs in South Africa and providing college scholarships for ambitious township youth. But in 2009, the TNHF team realized that a more deliberate and holistic model was necessary to directly empower township youth to reduce poverty in their own communities. 

A substantial amount of academic research was done, and alongside collaboration with South African partners and international development experts, the TNHF Community Impact Model was created to fit the specific needs of the Cape Flats townships.  

While college educations are proven to have a substantial impact in pulling people out of poverty, when coupled with community service, mentoring, financial literacy, and reinvestment, the possibility for social change increases exponentially. 

Furthermore, These Numbers Have Faces saw an important need to think about long term sustainability. The Community Impact Model promotes sustainability with our South African students, partners, and the organization as a whole.

2. Why are all the community service projects run through the church?  Do you require that students affiliate with a certain religious tradition? Is TNHF a religious organization?

JL Zwane Memorial is a large Presbyterian church in the heart of Gugulethu, South Africa. The church has a long history of activism and service within the community and acts as a faith-based social service agency in order to meet the growing needs of the township. A longstanding commitment to combating the HIV/AIDS crisis and the struggle against apartheid makes JL Zwane an ideal partner for community development in the Cape Flats. 

Learn more about the incredible work being done at J.L. Zwane here: http://www.jlzwane.sun.ac.za/default.aspx.

Because of JL Zwane's long history in the community, the church acts as a stable, engaging, and supportive place for students to complete community service projects. Alongside the unyielding commitment to their community, JL Zwane's continued support of These Numbers Have Faces makes the church an ideal partner.

Furthermore, rich religious traditions are a core value of South African townships. This fact makes community service through the church more culturally appropriate than many other service opportunities.

Students are not required to affiliate themselves with any religious tradition, nor is These Numbers Have Faces a religious organization. We are guided and sustained by faith-based values, but do not require or demand religious affiliation of any kind. We value the fact that people of diverse faiths and backgrounds have worked for, with, and through These Numbers Have Faces.  

3. Why is financial literacy so important?

Financial literacy is a crucial step to economic advancement in all cultures. For many underprivileged communities, learning how to wisely manage, save, and give money is a key to economic success.

Learn more from our global partner Operation Hope.

4. Where did you get the 1% figure? How do students give the money?

The 1% is an appropriate starting point to get our students giving back to fund other scholarships. We realize that 1% doesn't seem like much, and even less so in South Africa. But it's a starting figure that all our students & partners agreed on wholeheartedly. We ask for 1% and we hope our students give more.

We want to be very clear - students will not be writing checks out to These Numbers Have Faces and mailing them to America. After graduation, students will begin giving monthly to a South African based fund set up to collect donations for student scholarships. 

While 1% seems like a meager amount, according to Giving USA, Americans, on average, only donate 2.3% of their yearly income to charity. http://www.razoo.com/articles/Americans_Give_to_Charity

5. How do you plan on going out of business if your students are only investing at a rate of 1% of their yearly income? What's the sustainable strategy for this?

The first steps toward sustainability include active student participation in the Community Impact Model and the hiring of staff that are exclusively township residents.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the 2008 annual per capita income in South Africa is $10,100 per year. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html 

The annual income in South Africa has been increasing year by year for the last 5 years and research shows that educated individuals make substantially more than those without education. If current TNHF students, along with the 2-3 we add per year, commit to giving 1-3% of their yearly income, they would have enough to provide a full college scholarship for another student each year. 

The annual giving of graduated TNHF students will increase exponentially as new students join & graduate the program, thus providing for more college scholarships. To cover overhead costs, TNHF also aims to eventually give the program over to a established church or organization in South Africa that can work daily and locally on the Community Impact Model, enriching the lives of township youth.