Corporate investment in projects should ideally go beyond making a financial contribution to a chosen NGO if the corporate is serious about fulfilling its triple bottom line responsibilities.

Onyi Nwaneri, development executive at MaAfrika Tikkun, believes partnerships between corporates and NGOs (as well as between NGOs and government) are essential if the basic purpose of CSI - to make a difference - is to be fully realised.

MaAfrika Tikkun is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation that cares for vulnerable children and helps them develop into well-adjusted, productive members of society.

It operates in several of the country's most deprived peri-urban areas, including Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Alexandra and Hillbrow in Gauteng; and Delft and Mfuleni in the Western Cape.

"We recognise the value of partnerships," added Nwaneri. "We form alliances with specialist NGOs, drawing on each other's skills, resources and expertise.

"We have also found that a similar approach works well with the government, with whom we have developed several public-private partnerships in Gauteng and the Western Cape."

It is with corporate partners that MaAfrika Tikkun believes partnerships can make the most immediate, and sustainable, difference to the children with whom it works.

"NGOs and corporates have different skills that can be harnessed. By doing so, the impact of the activities will be far stronger and more sustainable," she explained.

Nwaneri says many corporates fail to recognise the impact they can have on the communities they support - an impact that can go beyond the construction of a library or a community centre, the installation of computers or money to support a feeding scheme.

Her organisation has found that direct corporate involvement in its projects can go a long way towards filling the mentorship gap in the deprived communities in which a company operates.

When corporate partners visit MaAfrika Tikkun centres and interact with the children, the children gain an insight into a life and possibilities beyond their own difficult circumstances, she said.

"A visit from our corporate partners motivates the children to be the best they can become. The returns on that investment are immense," she says.

"At the same time, our corporate partners find this interaction boosts employee morale. It gives employees a sense of ownership that would not be possible if the corporate simply wrote out a cheque - as welcome as that cheque would always be."