An exploratory study of the governance and management processes of family foundations in South Africa
type: CreativeWork
description: Family foundations are important vehicles that make a positive impact in society both locally and globally and can be a unifying force in which family members can work together for a common altruistic purpose. The same governance and management principles that are applied by families in family businesses should also pertain to family foundations. In the United States (U.S.) there exists various organisations that serve to guide family foundations with best practices on foundation governance and management principles. In South Africa much less information is available to family foundations. This research study explores the governance and management processes of family foundations in South Africa. I reviewed extensive literature on the governance structures and management processes of family foundations particularly in the U.S. Based on the literature review and the research questions, a suitable research methodology was selected. A convergent parallel mixed method approach was used. Ethics clearance was obtained from the University of Cape Town and a sample of ten family foundations was purposively selected to be part of the study. Data was collected from 15 respondents, eight of whom were non-family members and seven were family members related to the founding donor. A semi-structured interview schedule was used and the same research participants completed a survey. The data was analysed using Tesch's (1990) adaptation for data analysis. The contribution that this study makes is an enhanced understanding of the governance and management processes of family foundations in South Africa and the challenges that some face in this regard. The study makes a number of findings including: Family foundations felt that the fiduciary duties and responsibilities, fiscal oversight and internal controls were duly executed. Family foundations were satisfied that the board knew enough about investment principles, however environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices was not h…
abstract: Family foundations are important vehicles that make a positive impact in society both locally and globally and can be a unifying force in which family members can work together for a common altruistic purpose. The same governance and management principles that are applied by families in family businesses should also pertain to family foundations. In the United States (U.S.) there exists various organisations that serve to guide family foundations with best practices on foundation governance and management principles. In South Africa much less information is available to family foundations. This research study explores the governance and management processes of family foundations in South Africa. I reviewed extensive literature on the governance structures and management processes of family foundations particularly in the U.S. Based on the literature review and the research questions, a suitable research methodology was selected. A convergent parallel mixed method approach was used. Ethics clearance was obtained from the University of Cape Town and a sample of ten family foundations was purposively selected to be part of the study. Data was collected from 15 respondents, eight of whom were non-family members and seven were family members related to the founding donor. A semi-structured interview schedule was used and the same research participants completed a survey. The data was analysed using Tesch's (1990) adaptation for data analysis. The contribution that this study makes is an enhanced understanding of the governance and management processes of family foundations in South Africa and the challenges that some face in this regard. The study makes a number of findings including: Family foundations felt that the fiduciary duties and responsibilities, fiscal oversight and internal controls were duly executed. Family foundations were satisfied that the board knew enough about investment principles, however environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices was not h…
author: Najjaar, Sufiya
keywords: Social Policy and Management
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:41Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Social Development

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32300