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RMB continually strives to be a good corporate citizen and to secure a sustainable future for all our stakeholders.

The RMB Fund, a member of the FirstRand Foundation (FRF), is our corporate social investment vehicle, contributing 1% of net profit after tax, towards selected projects within four focused development sectors.  In the pursuit of doing good business and good work, the RMB Fund enjoys executive level representation and participation.

The four focus areas are Maths Leadership and Development; Arts, Culture and Heritage; the Environment and Conservation; and staff initiatives linked to the FirstRand Group’s employee volunteer programme.

Maths Leadership and Development

Believing it is crucial to enhance the industry’s future skills base with highly qualified people proficient in mathematics, our maths education programmes strive to increase the number of school leavers with impressive mathematics skills.

For example, the FRF SA Maths Education Chairs Initiative aims to:

• improve the quality of teaching of in-service maths teachers
• increase the number and quality of maths passes in our selected secondary schools
• explore and research solutions to the maths crisis
• increase the dialogue around the maths education crisis.

The Fund also supports a range of other educational initiatives, including outreach programmes run by independent schools and other centres of excellence for the benefit of less privileged schools.

 

Arts, Culture and Heritage

RMB aims to encourage a healthy balance between the promotion of equitable access to arts and heritage, and the achievement of excellence. This programme supports and celebrates our country’s diversity by funding projects that focus on development and training in key sectors of music, dance and heritage, encouraging the emergence of new, inclusive and eclectic cultural expressions.

 

The Environment and Conservation

Aligned with FirstRand’s commitment to environmentally sensitive practices, the RMB Fund provides meaningful support to environmental and conservation initiatives that demonstrate strong educational and local community development and buy-in.

Focus areas within this programme include:

• conservation of vulnerable indicator species
• the protection of biodiversity
• environmental education and skills training
• contributing to addressing climate change
• research
• transformation of the sector.

Beyond the cheque book – RMB NGO Leadership Network Sessions

RMB knows that long-term success in development goes beyond grantmaking. With this in mind, the RMB Fund launched a programme of knowledge-sharing events for project partners in April 2008. These NGO Leadership Network Sessions bring together delegates from throughout our CSI programme, to share current trends and relevant thinking. Guest and in-house speakers provide new perspectives on topical issues, enabling continual learning and growth.

 

Staff initiatives linked to the FirstRand Volunteers Programme

The RMB Hug Fund was started during the Mozambique floods in 2000, and has spent a total of almost R5 million on various charity organisations and community initiatives since then.  Most Hug Fund relationships are staff driven, with donations (including time and skills) going towards wish lists of practical, daily, or even big needs in a variety of organisations and initiatives classified under Community Care, Children/Education, Animal Welfare and The Elderly.

To find out more about the RMB Fund, contact Yvette Nowell on +27 11 282 4648.

To apply for a funding partnership, please visit Tshikululu Social Investments (www.tsi.org.za), fund managers for the FirstRand Foundation.