The Community Foundation for South Sinai (CFSS) is a new not-for-profit organization that will benefit communities across South Sinai. CFSS was registered in November 2006 as the first community foundation in Egypt, part of a fast-growing global movement which enables people to bring lasting benefits to their own communities. Our job is to bring local people together to prioritize and tackle community needs, and to provide opportunities and good stewardship to people who want to support South Sinai. CFSS is currently an entirely voluntary enterprise.

Our vision is to create a fund of substantial value for the varied communities of South Sinai, providing a lasting resource for grassroots community activity. We are keen to identify companies, individuals and funders with an interest in South Sinai, who want to be part of an initiative to safeguard its unique environment and heritage for the future.

We aim to build an endowed fund from the pooled gifts of many donors. Endowment is the key to a successful community foundation: gifts are invested in the fund, and only the investment returns spent each year to make small grants to community projects or individuals. It's a simple principle, and it works. As donations increase and the fund grows, the returns for grantmaking increase year-on-year. Eventually, a successful community foundation becomes sustainable, meeting its own running costs from a small percentage of the return on its endowed funds, and having a substantial annual budget, independently managed by local people, for accessible grants that meet community needs.

Endowment is a concept familiar in Islam, which has a strong tradition of philanthropic giving. As a Jebeliya omda, or headman, explained to us:

'If you have a cow and kill her, you will have meat for a week. If you look after her carefully she will give you milk for a lifetime.'

Find out more about community foundations at

www.wingsweb.org (worldwide)
www.tcfn.efc.be (Europe/North America)
www.communityfoundations.org.uk (UK)
www.cof.org (USA)
www.cfc-fcc.ca (Canada)