How SAS-P funding contributes to improving lives of millions of people. A conversation with SAS-P's general manager.
Sint Antonius Stichting Projecten (SAS-P) is the owner of AHAM Vastgoed. Dividends from the real estate company flow into the foundation’s fund, which supports around fifty social initiatives in Africa. But which organisations does the fund support? A conversation with SAS-P's general manager philanthropy, Suzanne van der Velden.
SAS-P (Sint Antonius Stichting Projecten/Sint Antonius Foundation Projects) supports millions of people living in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa with their charitable donations. It is a sizable charity fund in the Netherlands, but hardly anyone is aware of that. Why is the fund so unknown?
We prefer to stay under the radar. That is how it has evolved historically. The Schopman family has never sought much attention for their philanthropic activities. Incidentally, the family ceased to have a private interest in the property company and the foundation a long time ago; the fund has been managed by an independent board for years.
Did the humility of founder J.H.F. Schopman perhaps have something to do with the Dutch Calvinist culture? An American like Bill Gates tends to profile himself as a do-gooder with his Gates Foundation.
Bill and Melinda Gates have weighed the pros and cons differently; they want to make visible what they support and thereby encourage others to give. Our board is continuing the tradition of operating with a low profile. We select the initiatives and keep the overhead costs as low as possible. Marketing costs time and money, and we prefer to spend that on good causes instead. We don’t need name recognition.
But surely it would contribute positively to the reputation of the AHAM real estate company if the fact that dividends are spent on development aid was more widely publicised?
Maybe; the AHAM Vastgoed homepage does clearly state that the dividends flow to social initiatives.
How did you end up working for SAS-P?
Prior to this tenure, I was head of Humanitarian Innovation and Technical Advice at the Netherlands Red Cross. Until I was approached in 2016 to join the supervisory board of the Sint Antonius Foundation. I had never heard of it before. My professional experience is in international cooperation and have worked for several other non-profits. In 2028, I took on the general management of SAS-P. My work includes the pre-selection for initiatives, monitoring the portfolio, relations and quality control. Further to that, I advise the board on strategy and policy. We work in a small team of freelance part-timers. The supervisory board decides which initiatives will be awarded.
And do you enjoy it?
Definitely! It’s meaningful work. We contribute to improving the lives of millions of people in need.
Do the foundation’s funds focus particularly on people in Sub-Saharan Africa?
There, most people still live in extreme poverty. Our objective is that with our funding, people will be able to improve their lives in a lasting way through education, better health and dignified housing opportunities.
What do you mean by ‘dignified’ homes?
Dignified homes refer to a safe and healthy home. Extreme poverty is often accompanied by a lack of hygiene in and around the house. For example, bugs and filth are potential causes of deadly but preventable diseases. A clean floor prevents all sorts of health problems. Young children who crawl around and stick everything in their mouths are especially vulnerable. Child mortality under the age of five is often caused by diseases that could be prevented with better hygiene, which also includes a clean floor. Earth Enable is an organisation that makes cheap, affordable floors for people living in poverty. We support them in this.
Your website includes a list of organisations that you support, varying from the more well-known War Child, to an unknown organisation like Kwangu Kwako which builds affordable and safe housing in the slums of Nairobi.
We support around fifty initiatives. We strive for multi-year collaborations with a diverse range of organisations, small, medium-sized, and large. We now donate between one hundred thousand and approximately five hundred thousand euros per year per organisation. Depending on the size and the stage of an initiative.
You just spoke about a sustained improvement in the plight of the poorest of the poor. Can these kinds of improvements be measured?
Absolutely; over the past years, the scientific approach to measuring social impact in low-income countries has taken off enormously. Researchers have reasoned that if medical science can measure so effectively what treatment works and what does not, shouldn’t that be the case for social interventions as well? Nowadays, control groups are used to measure whether, and to what extent, aid programmes are having an effect.
SAS-P also donates substantially to research into the effectiveness of aid programmes. For instance, we support Innovations for Poverty Action, Evidence Action, Niera (Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa) and researcher Michael Kremer. In 2019, he, Esther Duflo and Abihijit Banerjee were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for their pioneering research into the impact of aid.
‘Our contribution is modest, but if you translate it into human lives and the people who have benefited from the fantastic work of our partners, it is a tremendous success.’
Do you support mostly Western-founded or local African organisations?
A part of our portfolio comprises international organisations, such as the Tuberculosis Fund, the Leprosy Foundation, Dorcas, SeeYou, Camfed and Pharm Access. They have their head offices in the West. But you see that international organisations are gradually moving more of their headquarters to Africa.
Is there a shift taking place in this respect?
Yes, and we are increasingly giving directly to African organisations, where decisions are made by Africans. As far as we are concerned, they are in the best position to solve problems there. We see that the African organisations in our portfolio also achieve the same or even better results with lower costs, and that they have a stronger network with governments, the business community and institutions -an essential condition for the roll-out of successful projects. Our African partners are, to name a few, Reach a Hand, No Means No, Food for Education, Kwangu Kwako, PEDN, Niera, Earth Enable and Lwala Community Alliance.
Other examples from our portfolio are Give Directly and 100Weeks. Both organisations distribute money directly to the very poorest, in the belief that people themselves know best what they need to do to get out of poverty, if they have some means to do so. Giving money directly is also a proven, cost-effective approach.
This immediately puts an end to the criticism by skeptics who say that while development aid may be well intentioned, it is of no use whatsoever.
Exactly. We also use scientific evidence to assess an initiative. All impact organisations that the supervisory board selects are required to fulfil a number of criteria. We look at: ‘What are the costs per person? Can the initiative be replicated or even scaled? What partnerships are needed to make it a success? What is their track record? Is the organisation strong?’ There are plenty of initiatives that have clearly proven their added value.
Can you give an example of such a proven approach?
The positive effect of clean drinking water on health is evidence-based. That’s why we support the organisation Evidence Action, which uses dispensers to add chlorine to the drinking water for the poorest communities in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi.
We also fund Living Goods, Lwala and Muso, who are providing door-to-door healthcare on a large scale to people in Kenya, Uganda, Mali and Ivory Coast by well-trained and well-equipped local healthcare workers. And the End Fund receives our funding to deworm millions of children in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
What have been the experiences with giving money directly?
Very positive. A number of studies from numerous universities showed that giving people money directly is a very effective way of helping them out of poverty.
And how do poor people use that money?
Most of them follow the Pyramid of Maslow. The first money they spend is on getting enough food and basic healthcare. Then they send their children to school and improve their home by buying a corrugated iron roof or a floor. And then they start looking into: ‘How can I make sure that this money can be increased? Could I become financially independent?’ People start saving, buying chickens, a cow or a piece of land. They start investing in something and thanks to the cash, they become truly financially independent within a year. More cost-effective compared to many other development programs.
That really is a tremendous success!
I think so too, all our partners are bringing education, healthcare and dignified housing opportunities to millions of people. Look, by Dutch standards, the Sint Antonius Foundation may be sizeable, but internationally speaking, we are not that big. Our contribution is modest, but if you translate it into impacted lives by the fantastic work of our partners, it is a tremendous success.