​The James 1:27 Trust was founded by Robert Botha, who served as first secretary political at the South African Embassy in Paris from 1999 to 2003. During this season Robert was asked to speak on the orphan crisis at a fundraiser in Oxford. He based his presentation on the multiplication of the loaves and fish brought by the small boy in John 6:1-14. Struck by the enormity of the problem, he began the process of founding the James 1:27 Trust.

Reflecting on the multiplied loaves and fish, the Trust decided to place a strategic focus on enlarging the efforts of others. This led to the vision of a crowdfunding service to connect caring organisations with potential donors and the development of world-class software and systems to strengthen the reach and effectiveness of their care.

Since its beginnings, the Trust has gained the confidence of other care-based organisations, several government agencies, and numerous corporations and individual donors both in South Africa and abroad. As the first in the world to use life cycle management and the first in Africa to use enterprise resource planning software, the Trust continues to search for innovative solutions in the field of Orphans and Vulnerable Children care.

The Trust understands that financial management is the bane of many non-profit organisations and that few organisations have the resources to employ a full-time accountant, and rely on volunteers or staff with limited training. As a result, the finances often end up neglected.

The James 1:27 Trust fills this void with its agency services. Financial management, based on Sage One, helps organisations demonstrate integrity and reliable service delivery while paying a fraction of the cost of a full-time chartered accountant. The Trust is able relieve some of the administrative burden like payroll, accounting, and annual bookkeeping, allowing organisations to focus their energy on the work they and their funders are passionate about.

But when giving money, how does one know who to give to? Thousands of ordinary people want to give back- to let their resources make a difference. How can they know which organisations are honest and doing good work? Where does one even begin looking?

The James 1:27 Trust stands in the gap between the resourced and the vulnerable. We provide visibility for credible organisations who are serving their own communities at the Social Market. The Social Market is a "crowdfunding" web space where would-be donors and trustworthy civil society organisations can find each other, to the benefit of children and families in our most vulnerable communities.

So when funds are received, how can civil society organisations effectively coordinate budgets against projected income, plan their inventory and service delivery, and measure the quality and impact of what they do? The James 1:27 Trust, believes that whoever is serving our nation’s children deserves the best planning and management tools because of the eternal value of our children.

The Trust has partnered with Soweto Care Systems, a case management platform built with non-profits and social work organisations in mind. Using Soweto Care System supported by the James 1:27 Trust, organisations will be able to plan holistic care for children and their families, line up activities against budgets, track completion of tasks and service delivery, and use powerful reporting tools for monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting against national and international requirements.

For more information Contact the James 1:27 Trust here  012 844 0489 
 info@james127trust.org