Urban Poverty Fund
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Funds surplus food recovery and delivery to community kitchens serving informal settlements, in a country where formal unemployment stands at 33.6%, the highest of any G20 economy.
Source: Statistics South Africa — Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q2 2026 (2026)
Why this matters in South Africa
Informal settlements on the edges of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Gqeberha house millions of people in shacks, often without secure tenure, reliable electricity or indoor water. Residents include young people who have never held a formal job, recent arrivals from rural provinces and neighboring countries, and pensioners supporting grandchildren. Casual work, informal trading and social grants are the main sources of income, and few households have savings to absorb a lost week of work.
Food prices have risen sharply in recent years, and the cheapest diets in poor households lean on maize meal, with little protein or fresh produce. At the same time, large volumes of edible food are wasted on farms, in factories and in supermarkets. Community kitchens, creches and soup kitchens inside the settlements do much of the feeding, usually on volunteer labor and irregular donations. Steady deliveries of recovered food let these kitchens and creches feed more people through the worst weeks of the month.
What your gift pays for
- Collection of edible surplus from farms, manufacturers and retailers before it goes to waste
- Refrigerated transport that moves surplus food to community kitchens quickly
- Warehouse handling and food-safety checks at regional distribution centers
- Support for vetted community organizations distributing food inside informal settlements
Organization
FoodForward SA · South Africa
South Africa DSD NPO register / SARS PBO / CIPC (Section 21 company) · No. NPO 025-709; PBO 130003715; CIPC 2000/014314/08
Founded 2009 · Headquarters: Cape Town
South Africa's largest food bank, redistributing surplus food to community organisations serving poor households.
How they work: FoodForward SA recovers edible surplus from farmers, manufacturers and retailers and moves it through regional warehouses in several provinces, where vetted community organizations collect food for the people they serve. Its FoodForward Connect platform links individual supermarket stores to nearby organizations, so surplus that would otherwise be thrown out is picked up locally. Partner organizations are trained in food safety and in running their feeding programs.
Track record: Over 15 years FoodForward SA has redistributed surplus food equal to 452 million meals, working via 2,500 vetted beneficiary organisations reaching 920,000 vulnerable people daily.
✓ Verified by our team on 14 April 2026
Giving in South Africa
Inequality between townships and the rest of South Africa is the thread through its four causes. Formal unemployment stands at 33.6 percent, the highest of any G20 economy, and the funds respond with surplus food delivered to community kitchens serving informal settlements and daily meals for township children. On the health side, they support integrated treatment for people co-infected with TB and HIV and staffing for overstretched public clinics. Partners are South African organizations such as FoodForward SA and TB HIV Care.
4 causes are listed in South Africa, each with its own verified organization. $394,893 has been distributed to causes in South Africa since 2021.
Our guide to giving in South Africa · all 4 causes
Donate Crypto to South Africa: 4 Verified Causes to Support
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How your gift reaches this cause
- You send crypto to DonateCrypto’s verified wallet for the coin you choose. No platform fee is taken; blockchain network fees still apply.
- Your transaction ID ties the gift to this cause. Our team checks it on the blockchain and emails your official receipt once it’s confirmed.
- We then convert the funds for this cause and send them to FoodForward SA, the organization named above, by bank transfer to its registered bank account, within 24 hours of confirming your donation.
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