[SN-ANNOUNCE] CELEBRATE AND SUPPORT OUR 25 YEARS OF CHANGING THE WORLD!

[Ashoka]

TO ALL SANGONeT USERS

CELEBRATE AND SUPPORT OUR 25 YEARS OF CHANGING THE WORLD!

Ashoka is an international, non profit organization founded twenty five
years ago by Bill Drayton, based on the belief that there is no greater
leverage for social change than a new idea in the hands of a leading social
entrepreneur.  Ashoka helps emerging social entrepreneurs launch their ideas
by electing them, after a rigorous selection process, to an international
Fellowship and providing significant financial and professional support.
Social entrepreneur describes individuals who combine the pragmatic results
oriented methods of a business entrepreneur with the goals of a social
reformer.

Ashoka has presently about 1900 Ashoka Fellows around the world,
representing a global network of changemakers, who through their social
innovations have changed many social systems providing viable  and
successful alternatives for the global fight against poverty and
disenfranchisement.  The Southern Africa programme initiated in 1990 has to
date elected over 90 Fellows spanning Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Zambia. In a region consistently challenged by poverty,
disease, poor governance and drought, Ashoka Fellows are empowering people
to create their own economic and civic opportunities, addressing the
pandemic of HIV/AIDS and other health concerns, protecting the rights of
women and children, introducing alternative effective education systems and
learning tools, protecting the environments and natural resources, and
resolving conflict. Attached are brief profiles of some of our Southern
African Fellows.

In South Africa, Ashoka Fellows are providing an alternate means for
development and succeeding where traditional methods have failed. Our work
in building a critical mass of these leading social entrepreneurs is an
important component in creating a vibrant and prosperous South Africa by
intensifying the fight against poverty and making democracy a substantive
reality for many of our citizens who are still marginalised.

To celebrate our success over the last 25 years, the Southern Africa office
is embarking on a massive and ambitious campaign to raise awareness and
support for our work and that of our Fellows. Over the next two years Ashoka
will have extensive media and marketing coverage and a calendar of events to
highlight the many achievements and impact of our Fellows.  In addition the
campaign will take our message of "Everyone a Changemaker" (Ashoka's vision)
to a million people and raise funds for local operations and support for our
existing Fellows. We believe that each one of us has the responsibility of
being a Changemaker, and need to take that small first step in this regard.
We are urging all to take that step, be it in how we relate to and respect
people in our private and business spaces, in how we function in our
communities, in becoming more civilly responsible and responsive, by
becoming a volunteer, or in a myriad ways of contributing to the greater
good.

Ashoka's work is wholly dependent on funding from external sources.  We do
not accept funds from government, multilateral organizations and the so
called "sin" organizations as many of our Fellows work is geared to changing
the policy of these very institutions.  We are funded by private
foundations, successful business entrepreneurs and individuals. This
unfortunately makes our work completely reliant on external funds. In our
endeavors to change this reliance, we are setting up an endowment fund which
will service as long term financial source. The interest on the endowment
will cover our regional operational costs and support to our fellows. This
ensures security for our work in the region and sustainability of the
interventions of our Fellows. 

There are many ways in which you can contribute towards making this campaign
a success. The first being buying a table at  a dinner  which will be held
on the 4th of October 2006 at the cost of R2,500.00 per table of 10.
Individuals are also able to buy a seat at the table for R250.00. We will be
launching our campaign as well as celebrating our Citizen Based Initiative
(CBI) Program Award winners. The Citizen Based Initiative is an Ashoka
programme that empowers the citizen sector to achieve maximum social impact
by promoting innovative approaches to building sustainable foundation of
support by cultivating a broad resource base of people, information,
services, and financing within their immediate communities

Two critical benefits result from this strong relationship between an
organization and its citizen base:

* Organizations become rooted in their local constituency instead of
remaining perpetually dependent on foundation and government funding, and
* Citizens are empowered to become active change-agents in their community,
working with the very organizations that have become responsive to citizen
needs.

The second way in which you can support our campaign is to text the keyword
"Changemakers" from a cell phone to the number 39888 and contribute R15
immediately. Alternatively contribute a once off donation of R25 or more or
sign up on a monthly debit order of R25 or more. You can also assist us to
leverage more support by sharing this letter with your network.

Banking Details:

Bank Name: First National Bank
Name of Account: Ashoka Innovators for the Public
Account Number: 62104696523
Branch Code: 251905
For more information on Ashoka, and/or social entrepreneurship and to check
on the progress of our campaign, visit our websites on: www.ashoka.org.za

We challenge you to walk this fulfilling journey with us by showing your
support and making your contribution to changing the world. We thank you in
advance for your support for our work. Should you have any questions, our
contact person for the campaign is Nelisiwe Ntlhola on info at ashoka.org.za or
+27 11 880 5592

33a Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, 2196
PO Box 30653 Braamfontein 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa
Telephone +27 11 880 5592 | Fax +27 11 880  8950 | Email: info at ashoka.org.za
| Website: www.ashoka.org.za
Reg. no.: 1999/021424/08 | NPO no: 017 106/NPO