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Download the Collaboration & Media Kit: 2.2 MB

Speak to All of South Africa Through Any of Our Initiatives.

Do you have products or services with a national footprint?
Our initiatives allow you to reach all of South Africa’s diverse audiences while making a profound difference in the communities you serve.

Who Are We Talking To?

Our publications transcend demographics and lifestyles because they address common issues in a way that can be heard by both sides of the divide. While we otherwise may have little in common with each other, we all have a vested interest in the well-being of our country – if only because our own well-being is closely tied to it.

All our publications and events carry information that fosters understanding and compassion, along with suggestions for practical actions that can be taken by individuals, families, communities, concerned onlookers, businesses and policy-makers to help create a better world for all of us.

Community Conversations
Our primary audience, by default, is the people in townships who are in the neighbourhood at that moment in time. They just come. They are people from all walks of life: poor, middle-class, uneducated, educated, in tatters or dressed up. There is a great, relaxed freedom and acceptance of others in poor communities. Visitors from outside the township consist of curious, affluent, yuppie and mostly white South Africans, committed change-makers of all ages (social workers, preachers, activists, etc.), and eager tourists, curious about township life.
South African Conversations – the magazine
Our primary buying audience is affluent. They initially buy the magazine as a ‘compassion’ purchase and/or because of the intriguing product name and compelling message on seller T-shirts: A thought-provoking read about the stuff no one talks about. We are told that the second purchase is because they want to read the magazine. Our primary reading audience is readers from historically disadvantaged backgrounds because the magazine deals very specifically with their lived realities and the challenges they experience. The magazine is made available to disadvantaged audiences through corporate, institutional, educational and library subscriptions.

The Resource Directory
- User audiences
  - People in resource-poor South African communities who do not have meaningful access to the internet. They won’t know that they need the book and they don’t have money to buy it.
  - Professionals and individuals who serve society:
  - Community workers
  - Early Childhood Development practitioners
  - Grandmothers
  - Healthcare professionals, nurses and doctors
  - Human Resource professionals
  - Librarians
  - NPO workers
  - Nurses
  - Police
  - Policy-makers
  - Preachers
  - Social workers
  - Teachers/lecturers
- Buying audiences
  - Government departments:
    - Departments of Agriculture, Education, Correctional Services, Health, Human Settlements, Land Reform & Rural Development, Small Business Development, Social Development, Sport, Arts and Culture, Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.
  - Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes for the NPOs they support.
  - Organisations & institutions that serve humanity:
    - Churches & faith-based organisations
    - Clinics/hospices/hospitals
    - Community centres and homeless shelters
    - Orphanages
    - Government offices
    - Human Resource departments
    - Libraries
    - Municipal offices
    - Non-profit organisations
    - Police stations/courts
    - Schools/universities
    - Student representative councils
  - Individuals in mainstream society who want to help make a difference, who frequent bookstores and have money to buy the book – either for themselves or for their domestic workers or low-income employees, or for NPOs where they work or that they support.

What Topics Do We Cover?

Ancient & Traditional Knowledge
Animal Welfare
Appropriate Technology
Child Welfare
Civil Society
Crime & Justice
Crisis Support
Cyber Safety
Disability
Education
Employment Solutions & Sustainable Livelihoods
Entrepreneurship
Environment
Food Growing
Food, Hunger & Nutrition
Gender & Violence Issues
Health
Human Rights
Labour Matters
Land, Housing & Essential Services
LGBTQI+
Men
Mental & Emotional Health
Migrants & Refugees
Money
Senior Citizens
Social Welfare & Humanitarian Support
Women & Family
Youth

Our focus is practical and solutions-oriented with suggestions for actions that can be taken by individuals, families, communities, concerned onlookers, businesses and policy-makers to help make the world a better place.

Read some samples of our work in one or all of the following places:

Who Should Advertise?

Companies with products and services with a national footprint that are of interest to a general audience, such as food, cleaning materials, banking, telecommunications, etc.
solutions to economic and social challenges caused by poverty, such as water purification, alternative energy sources, solar ovens and hand tools… gardening systems to help with food production … nutritionally dense food and supplements for people with immune-deficiency diseases … life insurance for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Job placement agencies that work with unskilled labour or people with disabilities or that offer a bridge between training institutions and the workplace.
Training and skills development from organisations and educational institutions with affordable or sponsored offers that can be accessed by marginalised individuals.
Affordable South African holiday destinations – especially if they are accessible to people with disabilities.
CSI projects that address the needs of the ‘other half’ of society, that invite participation from affluent audiences, and that inspire action and celebrate excellence.
Banks and wealth management firms that offer investors a way to give back.
Organisations involved in transformation and development: to promote their projects, resources, events, training, volunteer opportunities, fund-raising appeals, manpower requirements and more.
National, regional and municipal government programmes that are designed to alleviate poverty, promote literacy, health, skills development and education, and provide resources for unemployed and self-employed people.
Products that can be bagged with our publications or handed out as free giveaways at our events and Community Conversations.

Advice for Advertisers

South African Conversations is dedicated to making available practical solutions to the problems presented by poverty and marginalisation.

We are interested in advertising that adds to the solutions presented to people who are marginalised for any of the following reasons: poverty, race, gender, old age, disability, illness, migration, geographic isolation, etc.

Don’t just tell readers about the good that you’re doing in the world. Tell them how to access and participate in what you have to offer. For instance: If your CSI project has enabled a raw talent to develop into a fully-fledged opera singer, let other aspirant opera singers know how they, too, can access the benefits of your programme.
Invite participation:

Challenge other businesses to match or join your efforts.
Tell concerned individuals how and where to volunteer their time and skills or where to make monetary or in-kind donations.
Publish your wish list and, if you invite monetary donations, stipulate what the money will be used for.

If you’re an NPO, please don’t just ask for money. South African Conversations is about entrepreneurship, self-reliance, collaboration, community participation and mutually beneficial business-community partnerships.
If you just want to build brand awareness, let your advertising carry thoughts, ideas and information that uplift, instruct and inspire independence, sustainable self-reliance and positive social change.
Share your CSI stories of success, triumph and goodwill on the pages of South African Conversations … making sure to inform readers how they can either access, participate or duplicate what you have created.
Please think twice before placing information that encourages reliance on hand-outs or that is devoid of meaningful information. Example: don’t brag about how much you have already spent on helping people in need. If you want to brag, make sure to also include information about how people can access the resource you provide … or how they can help themselves or duplicate your success.

What Does it Cost?

The short answer:

It costs R1 per full-page advertisement per magazine or directory.
It costs R200 per Community Conversation attendee, up to a maximum of 30 people.

The long answer: Take a look and download our rate card here

Use Your Marketing or CSI Budget!

Collaborating with South African Conversations offers the best of all possible worlds because you can use your Marketing or CSI budget for national advertising and brand exposure, and earn B-BBEE Scorecard points at the same time!

Enterprise Development (ED) and Supplier Development (SD) points
(ED = 1% NPAT + SD = 2% NPAT)

South African Conversations is a certified majority Black-owned, Level 2 B-BBEE Exempt Micro Enterprise, ED beneficiary. This means that any monetary, non-monetary, recoverable or non-recoverable contributions to South African Conversations count 125% towards ED scorecard targets. Any contributions towards our development fall under Supplier Development. Your company receives bonus points when we graduate from being an Enterprise Development Beneficiary to being a Supplier.

Preferential Procurement points

Purchases from South African Conversations – such as advertising or subscriptions – not only count 125% towards Preferential Procurement scorecard targets but can be multiplied by a 1.2 enhancement factor.

To buy from South African Conversations is to make use of the B-BBEE legislation in a way that positively impacts the lives of people who seldom get any benefit from B-BBEE and illustrates your company’s commitment to transformation.