Wellington Wines has just signed a partnership with StreetSmart, the independent NGO, in administering donations received from the public through its wine tastings, R5 at a time.
This partnership started with a request for donations from StreetSmart, and after some discussions the agency and Wellington Wines decided to form a significant fundraising partnership.
Growing year by year, the StreetSmart mandate has been to support education, skills training and family reunification since 2005.
Aside from supplying refreshments at organisational events, Wellington Wines is also devising innovative ways to contribute much more.
One way is to induce its mainstream patrons to donate to this worthy cause, by adding R5 when settling their wine tasting bill, a concept that took off in November. Wellington Wines’ Marketing Manager Xania van der Merwe says, unlike other wineries, the company doesn’t have a restaurant, but still wants to be part of this initiative.
“Free wine tastings are unfortunately not sustainable,” she explained, “and the request for donations is continually increasing, clearly indicating a larger need. The responsibility to give back to the community rests on the shoulders of all organisations, and the StreetSmart partnership addresses everything Wellington Wines stands for.
“We had to re-evaluate our operations to incorporate increased donations, and are confident the idea we came up with will be highly effective.” Rates for wine tastings start at R30, and once paid, guests will see their donation to StreetSmart on their receipt, which they also have the option to remove. “This makes Wellington Wines the first to participate through wine tastings,” Van der Merwe pointed out.
“We challenge restaurants and wineries to follow suit, by adding a donation to a popular product.”
The R5 donations accumulated for StreetSmart during 2016 amount to more than R1 million, once again showing the impact of a combined small donation. StreetSmart allocates all funds generated in restaurants back to the local communities through a reputable charity closest to the area where the money was donated.
This year, StreetSmart donations will support 25 charity organisations and, starting with Wellington Wines donations, hopes to support a Drakenstein charity.
