Chris Bertish – Nothing is Impossible South African adventurer and Guinness World Record holder Chris Bertish set off alone from the coast of Morocco on a stand-up paddle board. Ninety-three days and 7,500km later, he arrived in Antigua, the first person in history to make a solo SUP crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. We were privileged to support his fundraising efforts, with funds directed to The Lunchbox Fund, Operation Smile SA, as well as our Literacy Support Project.

“I’d focus on one stroke at a time; that was one smile and one lunchbox.”
— Chris Bertish

Pebbles Project – Changing Lives In the Western Cape winelands, the Pebbles Project builds empowered communities and safe, stimulating environments for children. We supported their Hermanus facility with books for the library and rain boots to keep children warm and dry through winter, small gestures that made a very real difference.

“Signature of Hope Trust continues to help us make it happen. We thank you for being part of our story.”
— Charmaine Gola and the Pebbles Team

Finding True North – ECD in Marginalised Communities True North works alongside the marginalised communities of Vrygrond and Overcome Heights, supporting early childhood development and pre-school leadership. Our support helped them build stronger ECD communities and deepen the impact of their work with young children who need it most.

“Thank you for believing in and enhancing our dream.”
— The True North Team

Love of Literacy – The September Book Drive Signature Of Hope ran a community book drive that put books directly into the hands of children who needed them. Donations were distributed to the Pebbles centre and to True North for their ECD work, a simple act of giving with a ripple effect that reached far beyond the page.

Shine Literacy Hour – One Child at a Time Through a partnership with Shine Literacy, we worked to bring individual reading support to under-resourced primary schools. Shine’s award-winning programmes operate across multiple provinces, giving children one-on-one attention to strengthen their reading, writing, and speaking skills, because every child deserves someone in their corner.

Kimberley Hospital Burns Unit – A Brighter Chapter 

Signature of Hope hosted its inaugural Gala Dinner at The Test Kitchen in Cape Town, raising close to R1 million in a single evening. Every rand went directly to the Avela Foundation and the Smile Foundation, to fund the complete refurbishment and expansion of the Burns Unit at Kimberley Hospital in the Northern Cape, a facility serving some of South Africa’s most vulnerable children. By December 2019, that refurbishment was complete. A room that once fell short now stands as a place of healing, dignity, and possibility for children who have already faced more than most.

Standing Between a Species and Extinction 

In early 2021, Selati Game Reserve in Limpopo lost two white rhino bulls to poachers in as many days. We stepped in to fund an emergency dehorning operation through Nkombe Rhino, a frontline conservation NPO with deep expertise in the field. Within weeks, more than thirty black and white rhinos across the reserve had been safely dehorned and returned to the bush, removing the very thing that puts a target on their backs. Dehorning is not a silver bullet, but the pattern across protected reserves is clear: incursions drop, poaching drops, and rhinos are given the one thing they need most, which is time.