How we give back
Free To Grow is passionate about making a difference and giving back to our communities. We do this through:
- Our CSI initiatives
- The Free To Grow Foundation
1. CSI Initiatives

Serving the communities of Elsies River, Ravensmead and surrounds, this amazing initiative creates a safe space where children come to learn maths and leave having learned much more. This is achieved by employing and training mothers in the immediate area to give extra mathematics lessons to learners at selected schools, during and after school hours.
Our contribution, in collaboration with the Klara Project, is to equip the moms with much needed personal development by means of our 4-day FTG Lifeskills programme. The Klara Project came to be after the tragic passing of a young Swedish philanthropist, Klara Ekuland, who always dreamed of partnering with Free To Grow in South Africa to plant seeds for a better future. To date, we have co-sponsored seven workshops for 75 of the MathMoms. We presented the programme at 25% of our standard rates, with the Klara Project carrying this cost.
For more on this initiative:
MathMoms receive help from Sweden
Free To Grow help MathMoms become catalysts of change in their communities
MES addresses the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of the homeless and unemployed, challenging individuals to take responsibility for their lives and implement the skills provided and learned. They began their inspirational journey in Hillbrow in 1986. The MES model of Intake and Prevention, Intervention and Sustainable exit believes that every person is on a developmental journey and MES aims to provide what is needed to ensure that they are able to leave MES and lead a self-sustained life.
Vocational skills development is vital to becoming skilled and employed. MES – however -prioritises the development of the individual’s self-awareness and social skills to ensure that they are able to implement the skills that they have learned and taken their rightful place in their community. With this objective in mind, MES started implementing Free To Grow’s Lifeskills programme in 1999.
The impact of the Free To Grow Lifeskills programme was so overwhelming, that MES made it a prerequisite to all their vocational skills training. “We saw a much-increased commitment towards the vocational skills development programmes, increased confidence in preparing for job interviews and greater commitment to addressing other personal challenges such as addictions.”
In 2006, Free To Grow sponsored the training of MES facilitators in our Money Sense programme. This programme has added vital personal financial skills enabling the people who attend to make better decisions regarding their money management.
Since 1999, MES has trained 4 060 unemployed and unskilled individuals in Free To Grow Lifeskills and 3 717 in Money Sense. Twenty-four members of MES staff have also benefitted from the programmes. “We are deeply appreciative of our partnership with Free To Grow that contributes to our plight to “Change the Heart of the City!,” says MES.
Like a watering can that runs empty when not refilled regularly, caregivers often suffer from stress, fatigue and burn-out due to the giving nature of their work.
The staff of the Hospice Palliative Care Association (HPCA) pour themselves into offering those with terminal illnesses quality, meaningful lives in the time that they have left. Wanting to support Hospice in their worthy but challenging task, Free To Grow approached André Wagner, Organisational Development Manager HPCA with the offer of sponsoring Free To Grow’s Lifeskills and StressWise courses for Hospice staff throughout South Africa.
Fifty-two training days, valued at close to R500 000 were volunteered by 14 Free To Grow facilitators. Part of this intervention included a Leadership Development programme for their regional managers.
“Thank you, Free To Grow for helping us as carers to remain whole and for ‘filling up’ our tanks again. You will never realise the difference this makes to us in both our personal and professional lives,” enthused Andre Wagner, national Organisational Development Coordinator of HPCA.

The Free To Grow Foundation is a non-profit entity established with the objective of attracting donor funding and corporate sponsorships to develop people and grow communities.
Our purpose is to strengthen psychological capital (Psycap), consisting of hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy and develop skills aimed at improving quality of life. We empower people from the inside to take action and to change their circumstances.
- Positively impact communities from which our donor organisations attract their workforce. We help create a more stable and constructive environment for our donor organisations to operate and draw potential employees from.
- Offer growth opportunities for employees outside working hours. We accelerate the development of your employees without you having to carry the loss of man-hours when programmes are presented during work time.
- We offer sustainable initiatives through partnering with our donor organisations to create community-based “Growth hubs”, which form the basis for skills development. Over time, hubs develop the skills to deliver products and services to organisations in their geographical areas, thus supporting supplier development strategies.
- We embrace a philosophy of “through the community, by the community”. We encourage empowered sustainability of our programmes, by equipping people to facilitate our programmes and manage the hubs in their communities. “We teach people to fish”.
- We optimise the spend of CSI, skills development and enterprise development funds in the true spirit of black economic and social empowerment.
- We have the resources to deliver training, support and manage the hubs nationally, thus making the programme scalable.
Together we can inspire dreams, empower people and grow communities. Join us in planting the seeds for a better future.