About JDI

Frequently Asked Questions

JDI: Membership
Why join JDI?
Many reasons. Here are a few:

• To feel part of your city, and to learn about your country.
• To see projects and organisations that interest and inspire you.
• To make a difference in South Africa.
• To feel empowered, through a simple, yet unique network.
• To meet and engage with like-minded people.

How do I join JDI?
Please email our administrator on admin@jdi.org.za and someone will contact you.

JDI: Group Dynamics
How do I set up a JDI group?
You need to get 10 interested people together, be they friends, family or colleagues. A JDI member will then chat to you about the foundation, explain how it works and answer any questions.

How does a group work?
A JDI group gets together on an ad hoc basis, typically every four to six weeks. Normally a group debates which organizations or types of projects they would like to help. Some groups source the projects themselves; others ask the JDI trustees for ideas or information on certain projects.

Once the group is interested in a project, they find out more about it by meeting the people involved, or inviting someone from the project to come and talk to the group. The group tries to ascertain what the project needs. Once the person leaves, the group decides if they are going to help and to what extent. The group then goes out to visit the project and deliver that help. That's the rewarding bit.

How many people do I need in my group?
There is no size requirement, but we find the optimal size to be between 7 and 15 people.

How do I find projects?
You can ask the trustees for some ideas, but groups are encouraged to investigate projects they have heard about or have an interest in. This is obviously very fluid, as organizations' needs change regularly.

What do we donate to these projects?
A group can partially or fully meet the needs of a welfare project or organisation. Funding should preferably be for a specific once-off need of a capital nature (rather than an operational cost which is often difficult to monitor).

How much money do I need to donate each month to belong to JDI?
There is no minimum amount, but the average currently donated is R100 per person per month.

Is JDI mostly about donating money?
No, quite the contrary. Many members / doers contribute time, energy and skills to projects... involvement which can often have a greater impact than money.

JDI: Governance issues
Where does my money go?
The money goes to a central account at Nedbank, where it is held in trust. Each donation made by the members is then accounted for and allocated to your group. Thus if you have 10 members donating R100 per month, you will have R 1000 in your account at the end of the first month.

Are there any administration charges?
At this stage there are no charges, as administration is covered by trustees and a volunteer administrator. The donations from two trustees go into a central account to cover any bank / miscellaneous charges. This ensures that all money donated by members is allocated to their group. It is then up to that group to spend all the money that they raise.

How is money distributed to welfare projects?
JDI does not simply hand over money, we try to donate goods or pay for services to meet the specific needs of the chosen welfare project.

This is how it works: the group contacts the administrator who, together with authorized signatories (trustees), makes payment to facilitate the purchase of the goods. This is only done after a request for payment form has been completed in full by a group, and then authorised.

Is JDI registered?
JDI is registered as a Welfare Trust (IT2031/98) in terms of the trust laws of South Africa.

Are my donations tax deductible?
No. We find the legal requirements outlining what constitutes a tax deductible donation to be too narrow for our purposes, unduly limiting the scope of the projects JDI could support.

Who audits the trust?
Deloitte and Touche.