Institute for Security Studies, 1997

The second file grouping of administrative files includes materials related to various organizations with whom The Africa Fund coordinated to support projects and campaigns in southern Africa. The Africa Fund networked with organizations, including local anti-apartheid groups, religious groups, student groups, trade organizations, and governmental groups. Organizations within the files include theAfrican National Congress (ANC), National Community Funds, Riverside Church (New York), Artists for a New South Africa, Center for Constitutional Rights, Afrapix, among others. In general, these organizations sought to end apartheid in South Africa and promote the reconstruction and development following apartheid. As shown by the files, many of these organizations relied on each other for funding to support their projects that sought to inform the public on developments in southern Africa, provide analysis through reports, as well as advocate and provide resources to partner organizations.

Main topics include funding, ending divestment campaigns post-Apartheid, reconstruction and development campaigns in South Africa, economic development, trade, human rights, democracy in South Africa, and the United States' role and policy in Africa.

These administrative files show the changes in organizational programming, funding, and political leadership in South Africa. The bulk of the organization administrative files range from the years 1990-2000. Common items within the files include invitations and flyers for events hosted by various organizations, reports, agendas from conferences and meetings, informational brochures and flyers, as well as correspondence related to events, conferences, funding, general organizational information, and legislation. The files also include collected publications, such as pamphlets and reports.

The largest collection of materials within the file group is from the African National Congress (ANC) and encompass documentation that show the changing initiatives of the ANC as the organization moved from fighting for the end of apartheid in South Africa to becoming the leading political party of the country. For instance, in a copy of correspondence from Nelson Mandela to Jennifer Davis, the executive director of The Africa Fund, on July 27, 1993, Mandela asked Davis to prepare for the lifting of economic sanctions by the United States. In this letter, Mandela expressed the importance of moving from withholding trade to South Africa to end apartheid to motivating trade in South Africa to ensure that the country would be competitive in the world economy following apartheid. Additionally, the ANC files contain reports, publications, and correspondence related to reconstruction and development for post-apartheid South Africa. Of note, there are several publications that discuss development post-apartheid, including a guide to The Reconstruction and Development Programme of the A.N.C. from 1994.

The most common topic throughout the files centers on funding and in particular, approvals and denials for grant proposals that The Africa Fund submitted to other organizations, as well requests for assistance from other organizations. For instance, the files contain an item of correspondence from the Benton Foundation in 1988 that denied funding for South Africa Now, a weekly TV show documenting developments in South Africa, on the grounds that they are already funding other video projects. This denial letter illustrates the sentiment shown through many other items of correspondence that funding was limited and organizations were using their networks to support each other.

Furthermore, files from the Southern Africa Grantmakers Affinity Group show the coordination and cooperation between organizations campaigning to support southern Africa. The group was established in 1988 and served as an informational association of 55 private United States foundations and corporate giving programs that expressed interested in southern Africa. The primary objective of the group was to facilitate communication and collaboration among funders and increase private American grant-making to the region of southern Africa.