Annual Reports & Financials

For the Nelson Mandela Foundation the report year 2021-2 has been one of rebuilding and consolidation. In my last Annual Report message, I reflected on the buffetings of the previous year which exacted a heavy toll on the Foundation. I think we can say with some confidence that we have reckoned with the toll and are well-poised to move the organisation into the next phase of its growth.

I began my last Annual Report message with the words “twelve months can change everything.” They were meant descriptively, but from the vantage point of 2021 they do read presciently. For, change and challenge have been the signatures of the year 2020-21 for the Nelson Mandela Foundation family.

Twelve months can change everything! The environment the Nelson Mandela Foundation entered at the beginning of

the 2019-2020 financial year in March 2019 will be materially different from the one we will find ourselves in at the end of February 2021. COVID-19 and the world’s response to it have drawn humanity to the brink of an epoch-changing moment of a kind rare in the span of global history. In the post-COVID world no country will simply return to its usual habits of behaviour. There is much to learn and unlearn.

For the Nelson Mandela Foundation 2018 was a year full of historical significance and of concomitant institutional challenge. The centenary of our Founder’s birth loomed large globally and placed extraordinary demands on both our resources and our imagination. Its intersection with the fifth anniversary of Madiba’s passing forced us to emotionally dig deep, especially as on 5 December what had been a tiring year was coming to an end and we were already reflecting both on what had been achieved during the centenary and what lay ahead for the Foundation.

The year under review saw the Nelson Mandela Foundation focus on three priorities: having an impact in a rapidly changing South African reality; positioning the Foundation to meet all the objectives of its five-year strategic plan; ensuring a successful start to the year marking the centenary of Nelson Mandela's birth.

Welcome to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's second online annual report. We're excited to present a successful financial year.

Welcome to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's first online annual report. We're excited to present a successful financial year in this new and innovative way, which we hope will allow you as the reader to browse through its contents with greater ease.

The year 2014/15 was the moment in the Foundation's history when it confronted the reality of life and work without our founder. All the hard work over a decade to ensure the sustainability, relevance and impact of the organisation after his passing was given its first test.

The year was dominated by Mr Mandela's hospitalisation in June 2013, his passing on 5 December, and the national mourning period that followed. The Foundation ended the report period in mourning but determined to keep Mr Mandela’s legacy alive by pursuing the mandate he gave us, with passion and endurance.

The business plan for 2012/13 was crafted in relation to the Foundation’s strategic plan for making the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory the core business of the organisation. For the Foundation, 2012/13 was a year of great challenge and of great achievement.

In line with the Foundation’s five-year (2007-2012) strategic plan aimed at making the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory the core business of the organisation, the 2011/12 report period focused primarily on consolidation.

The year under review marked the organisation’s name change to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. Alongside this comes our increased commitment to take up any challenges as we forge ahead to meet the call of our Founder to pursue “memory and dialogue for justice”.

The year under review was the third of the five-year strategic realignment that the Nelson Mandela Foundation embarked on in 2007. It also marked 10 years since the Foundation was established in 1999.

The year under review marks the first of a five-year transitional plan adopted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in November 2006. The key objective is to establish a world-class Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue as the Foundation’s core work.