Help children in care, together
Sparrows is a children’s home in Tarkastad in the Eastern Cape. At the moment 30 children live with us, placed by the court. Our aim is always to return each child to their family. While they are with us they have a safe home, schooling, therapy and people who care about them.
Many of the people who stand behind us do so as part of a group: a church or congregation, a school or class, a club, a business forum, a sports team or a circle of friends. This page is for groups like yours. It shows how a group can help, what to know before you plan a collection or an event, and what you can expect from us. If you are giving as one person, see For Individual Partners. If you are a company, see For Corporate Partners. If you are a trust or foundation, see For Grant-makers.
Ask us first
What we ask
Please do not raise money, collect goods or hold an event in Sparrows’ name until we have agreed to it. Ask first, using the form on this page or by e-mail to [email protected], and wait for our reply.
Why we ask
Asking first protects the children, your group and the people who give. It lets us check that your appeal is honest, tell you how to pay in what you raise, and record the gift correctly. Without our agreement we cannot vouch for an appeal, and the people who give have no way to check it.
Ways your group can help
Raise money
Collect among your members, or hold an event such as a market, a walk or a dinner, once we have agreed to it. Planning something for Christmas? See Christmas and Advent Giving.
How to pay in what you raise
Sparrows does not accept cash payments, because cash is harder to trace and verify than an electronic payment. Please bank the money your group collects, then pay it to us by electronic transfer (we send our bank details on request) or securely through PayFast on our home page, from R50.
Give every month
Tell us your group would like to give monthly and we will send you our bank details so that you can set up a standing order. Regular gifts are what we can plan around.
Collect goods
Please ask us before you buy or collect anything. We cannot accept an item that would break a standard we must meet for the children’s care, such as a mattress thinner than the required 15 cm. Where an item is useful to someone else, we pass it on to people in the community who need it.
Give time or a skill
If members of your group have a skill to offer, tell us what it is and we will talk. Anyone who would spend time with the children goes through our safe recruitment steps first.
Why a group’s support matters
The Department of Social Development (DSD) pays Sparrows R4 285 a month for each child. In 2024-2025 that came to R1 542 600 for 30 children. It covers nutrition, but the other items leave little room, and it does not fully fund salaries. Regular contributions from individuals and businesses came to nearly R428 000 that year. (Source: our 2024-2025 annual report.)
What to know before you plan
No raffles or lucky draws
Please do not run a raffle, lucky draw or similar game of chance for Sparrows. In South Africa a raffle open to the public is lawful only for a society registered with the National Lotteries Commission, and Sparrows is not registered.
Section 18A receipts
Sparrows is a public benefit organisation (PBO 93000-5523) approved by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to issue section 18A receipts. We can issue one for a genuine gift of money or goods, for which the donor receives nothing in return. We cannot issue one for:
- a ticket to a fundraising dinner, dance or golf day;
- something bought at an auction, or an item donated to be auctioned;
- a raffle or lottery ticket;
- prizes or sponsorships donated for a fundraising event;
- a membership fee;
- time or professional services given free;
- an amount that has been promised but not yet paid.
If your group or its members will want receipts, tell us before the event.
Be honest about what the money is for
An appeal must not overstate our need or describe wrongly how the money will be used. If your group gives for a stated purpose, we use the money for that purpose.
Protect the children’s privacy
Please do not use a photograph, name or story of a child in our care in your posters, messages or social media.
No fundraising on commission
If you hire an organiser or a fundraiser to raise money for Sparrows, they cannot be paid a percentage of what is raised. They can be paid only a salary, an hourly rate or a fixed fee.
Faith and other groups
We welcome support from churches and other faith groups. A child’s taking part in a group’s religious, cultural or similar activities is never a condition of our accepting or continuing its support, and we say so plainly if it ever seems that a group believes otherwise.
What you can expect from us
We thank every donor by name in our annual report, unless you ask us not to, and we never publish the value of an individual gift. Sparrows is a registered non-profit organisation (NPO 026-901). Our financial statements are audited every year, and we record donations separately from the Department of Social Development’s payments.
We use your name, group, e-mail address and message only to reply to your enquiry. How we handle personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.