Our story
ZA Difference was started by Theresa Muller nearly two years ago. The first issue of the magazine was published in December 2010. Between then and March 2011, we published 4 issues: 67 000 copies in total! Then we ran out of money, changed to non-profit status and did not appear for a full 5 months while we were looking for funding.
The Media Development & Diversity Agency (MDDA) then came to our rescue, sponsoring the next 3 issues of the magazine, from September 2011 till January 2012. We are looking for additional funding to continue with this work.
If you believe that ZA Difference represents something of value, then engage with us to help bring the full value of this project to all of South Africa.
We won’t need help indefinitely: the operation is set up to become self-sustaining — something that few other non-profit organisations ever achieve. However, we can do this only with a little help to get off the ground. Unless you are a grant-maker, it is not even help we’re asking for.
We’re asking for a fair exchange of value for value: your sponsorship for branded association with a project that will create tremendous goodwill;
your financial support in exchange for advertising exposure; your subscriptions for a great and informative read.
Here are some ways you can support our work:
(Click on the option you are interested in, for more information. Or scroll down to read the whole thing.)
Click here to find out who benefits from the work of ZA Difference.
Donate. Every drop counts ... for us and for the people who count on us. R100 is what it takes to post 15 magazines. To date we have distributed more than a thousand copies in response to requests from life orientation teachers and entrepreneurs in Soweto, Kimberley, Nelspruit, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and all across the country. more »
We’ve sent hundreds of magazines to potential contributors ranging from a mine-worker in Stilfontein who had heard about the magazine and wants to send a story that must be told, to a Shangaan blogger from Mpumalanga who stumbled upon our introductory copy on the web and who would like to get her work exposed to a broader audience, to a man from Lenasia who, inspired by “Beyond the colour of our skins” — an essay submitted by a coloured teenager — wants to participate in our writing competition, to a single, unemployed mother on the KZN coast somewhere, who wants to write and take photos for us in order to generate a freelance income for herself ...
R100 000 is budgeted per month to pay for work from external contributors — like that of the 17-year-old AIDS-orphan and head of a tin-shack household who wrote to us from Potchefstroom, whose real-life story can be read in the next issue of ZA Difference ... once it is published.
R100 or R100 000: every bit helps. A receipt will be issued for your contribution, to substantiate your score card claims.
Click here to download a donation pledge form.
Sponsor a page. For a minimum of R5 000, you can get your brand associated with this empowering venture.
Sponsoring a page (or more) helps us enormously with printing costs. Your one-liner sponsorship message would include your URL, a promotional message or simply:
‘This page is sponsored by Name’ printed at the bottom of the sponsored page/s, with your business or product logo displayed next to it. .
more »
You can sponsor any page of the magazine that you wish and thus link it with a relevant value, goal or initiative that you or your company supports. For example, if you promote public opinion and communication, you can sponsor a letters page, giving voice to people who would otherwise never be heard by mainstream society.
If you are in entertainment, you could sponsor the calendar of events page in which we publish information about cultural and community experiences that are free or very affordable.
Depending on your brand and market, you could consider the language, book review, celebrity / VIP interview, or self-help pages. Or you could sponsor any number of pages in the Resource Directory. Choose from skills development, resources for entrepreneurs, support for the unemployed, crisis support, health information and human rights resources. This information is compiled to assist the 90% of our population that does not have Internet access.
Click here to download a Page-sponsorship pledge form. More editorial options listed on the form itself.
Order a Business-in-a-Box ... and help create jobs in your community. Perfect for chambers of commerce, faith-based organisations, schools, retirement homes, charities, stokvels and anyone who cares about creating jobs for unemployed people. more »
Your investment of R1 000 will generate a 100% return to be shared by your community. Individual sellers invest a minimum of R100. This buys them 10 magazines, which they then sell for a total of R200. Their profit: R100 (or R10 per copy sold).
There is no risk to you or the street sellers as anything not sold can be returned for a refund. We even pay the postage to get the magazines back to us!
Click here to download a Business-in-a-Box order form. You will not be invoiced until the magazines are printed, but your pre-print order will help ZA Difference establish a more accurate print-run.
Sponsor the production, printing and distribution of 1 000 copies ... and help sustain this vital resource for South Africa.
Sponsor the production and printing of 1 000 copies for free distribution to marginalised communities. These magazines will be labelled “Promotional Copy sponsored by Name — Not For Sale” and will be distributed during the month in question, so that people can get time-related information while relevant.
Cost of sponsorship: R15 000 per issue. Sponsor for one, three, six or 12 issues.
Click here to download a pledge form.
Get unsold back-copies of the magazine to a disadvantaged community and help introduce new possibilities to people who are isolated.
Every issue of ZA Difference contains inspiring, practical, useful and sometimes life-changing information that (we are told) no-one wants to part with. Getting this information to a disadvantaged school, community center or clinic can open new windows of possibility for many individuals, families and communities.
Minimum sponsorship: one box, containing 100 magazines for you or your agent to collect either from our printer or from our offices in Johannesburg, and deliver to its target.
Click here to download a form to sponsor the distribution of old or promotional copies of ZA Difference to people who may not be able to buy the magazine for themselves.
Sell ZA Difference in your shop. Make the magazine available to your community, wherever that is in South Africa.
You make R10 per magazine sold. Minimum order is 10 magazines at a cost of R100. No magazines will be sent out on consignment.
Click here to send us your details.
Subscribe. Stay in touch with this essential conversation. It costs only R20 per issue. That is R240 for 12 issues.
Go one better: take out a bulk subscription for all your staff, VIPs, clients … or for your reception rooms, canteens and any places inside your buildings where people congregate. Bulk subscriptions (6 and more) qualify for a 15% discount.
Click here to complete the subscription form. DO NOT MAKE A PAYMENT YET: Choose the EFT payment option. We will invoice you as soon as we go to print with the next issue, so that there is no risk that we won’t deliver.
Donate or sponsor something on our wish list. We need:
- A venue for a proper launch of the magazine.
- The launch itself: VIP invites, MC, entertainers, food ...
- A good quality, professional camera.
- A customer relationship management (CRM) system to keep track of advertising sales.
- A multi-function, full-colour printer / photocopier.
- Toner for the printer / copier.
- Photocopy paper (we have many proofing stages).
- A professional’s salary for a minimum of one month.
- A switchboard.
- Laptops
- A car
- Street-seller uniforms (bibs, caps, T-shirts, jackets). (Talk to us about co-branding possibilities.)
- T-shirts for subscribers. (Co-branding / marketing possibilities.)
- Prizes for a writing or photographic competition.
- A utilitarian prize for the monthly winning letter.
- A courier account ... you set the limit.
- Pro-bono accounting services — at least for the first year of operations.
Click here to download a form to sponsor or call us on 0860 92 0000 if you’d like to first discuss our requirements..
Advertise! Speak to all of South Africa from one platform.
Highly competitive rates for a publication of which not a single copy gets wasted. Unlike 99% of unsold publications that get pulped, ZA Difference gets re-distributed free to marginalised communities after the “sell-by” date on the cover.
The ABC ratings will come. Right now, what is needed is for the big industry players to give us the benefit of the doubt and listen to the incredible feedback we’re getting from readers across the country, across all social strata and across all demographics. There is no risk: you will get billed only once the magazine has been printed. Sufficient advertising commitment will, however, help secure the continued existence of a publication that serves all of us.
Click here for a quick look at who should advertise in ZA Difference.
Click here to download our rate card.
Click here to download a booking form.
Or call us on 0860 92 0000 if you would like to talk it over before making a decision.
List your offering in the Resource Directory. The only printed directory of poverty relief services in South Africa. Listings are free to NGO / NPOs who subscribe to the magazine.
There are innumerable programmes and services available to support poor and marginalised individuals and families. Alas, information about most of these programmes are available only on the Internet which is inaccessible to the majority of people who need the information.
Use the directory to tell South Africa how to access your CSI, NPO, community, municipal or government programmes and offerings. Listings are available for public offerings that are either free, cost very little or for which support is offered so that marginalised individuals can participate ... or take action that will lead to a solution to their particular problem.
Listings are charged at R244 per column x cm. Inclusion of a small logo (no wider than the column), for any organisation, is charged at R3 000. All listings are subject to the Editor’s approval.
Click here for a sample listing to use as a guide in compiling your own. Only submit information that is relevant to your particular offering. Feel free to add additional fields or to suggest a new category of information.
To get started: Simply e-mail your finished listing to advertising@zadifference.org Please indicate from which month to which month the listing should appear. If approved for placement, we will edit and typeset the listing for you. You will receive a proof of the typeset listing, along with a quotation based on R244 per column x cm. Once we receive your signed approval, you will be invoiced — unless, of course, you are a non-profit, non-governmental organisation. Proof of payment or of paid subscription is required before listing will be placed.
Promote the magazine! Share the knowledge. Show you care. Give a copy to someone who may need it. Tell everyone you know!
Like us on Facebook: ZA Difference Magazine.
Follow us on Twitter:
Volunteer your time, skills or contacts. Help make a difference where it counts.
Please write to us at info@zadifference.org and tell us what you are able
and willing to do. We will call you to discuss the possibilities.
We particularly need people who are well-connected, good marketers and able to sell advertising space in ZA Difference. If that’s you — call us on 0860 92 0000. This does
not necessarily need to be a volunteer position.
The many South Africans who have given up hope of ever bridging the widening chasm that divides South Africa.
They are mostly black and coloured, though increasing numbers of white people are joining the ranks of the marginalised.
Thank you for your support.
With a little help from South Africa, ZA Difference will keep going!
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot;
together we can do great things.” — Mother Teresa
