Upcycle Foundation (NPC)
Upcycle Foundation NPC
Turning waste into skills, and skills into livelihoods, through mentoring that lasts beyond the training room.
What the Foundation does
Upcycle Foundation NPC exists to move people from unemployment towards self-sustaining work. It does that by convening free community programmes, funding them, and wrapping them in ongoing mentoring and guidance.
The Foundation’s own contribution is the mentoring. It is the relationship that begins when someone joins a programme and continues well after the technical training ends, as participants build confidence, find markets for what they make, and grow towards earning a living.
The hands-on technical instruction, the sewing, the glass work, the craft itself, is delivered by trainers from Upcycle Creative (Pty) Ltd under a training agreement. The Foundation brings the people, the funding and the long-term support. Upcycle Creative brings the technical skill. Together that gives a participant both a craft and someone in their corner while they learn to earn from it.
Why it exists as a separate entity
The Foundation is a non-profit company, registered separately from Upcycle Creative (Pty) Ltd. It does not trade and it carries out no commercial activity.
That separation is intentional. Community mentoring should not depend on whether a trading company has a good quarter, and corporate clients should know exactly which entity they are contracting with. Keeping the two apart protects both.
The full entity structure, including registration numbers and governance detail, is set out on our Company Information page.
How the two entities work together
The Foundation convenes and funds. Upcycle Creative delivers the technical training.
Where Upcycle Foundation NPC procures training delivery from Upcycle Creative (Pty) Ltd, it does so at a market-related rate under a signed written agreement. The arrangement is disclosed rather than absorbed into either entity’s accounts.
This is a structure donors and funders look at closely, and rightly so, since it involves a non-profit paying a related commercial company. We have built it to withstand that scrutiny. The rate is market-related, the agreement is written, and the relationship is disclosed here rather than hidden.
The pathway it creates is the point of the whole model. Someone mentored through a Foundation programme learns a craft from Upcycle Creative trainers, and can then earn from that craft through Upcycle Creative’s production network, making products for corporate clients. Free mentoring and training at the start, paid work at the end.
The Newlands sewing programme
The Foundation’s longest-running programme runs at the corner of 12th Street and Newlands Road in Newlands, Johannesburg.
Free sewing lessons are offered to anyone willing to show up consistently, practise, and learn over time. There is no fee and no entry requirement beyond commitment. The Foundation convenes the programme and provides the mentoring; the technical instruction is delivered by Upcycle Creative trainers. Participants work with textile waste, learn techniques they can build a living on, and many go on to paid production work.
Supporting the Foundation
The Foundation is applying for non-profit organisation registration with the Department of Social Development, and for public benefit organisation status with SARS. Once PBO status is confirmed, donations will qualify for Section 18A tax certificates.
If your organisation is considering supporting the work, whether through funding, materials or equipment, we would like to hear from you.