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About the Javett Foundation
Michael, Rebecca, Stanley and Samuel Javett.
The Javett Foundation is a South African charitable organisation established in 2013 to continue the Javett family’s long-standing interest in, and support for, education, training and skills development, and their ongoing commitment to the arts.
The impetus behind the establishment of the Javett Foundation can be traced back to the philanthropic activities of Samuel and Rebecca ‘Chix’ Javett and their children Stanley and Michael Javett. Chix Javett was central to shaping the family’s early philanthropic activities, instilling a commitment to social change and development.
This commitment led first to the establishment of the Sunshine Foundation, a charitable organisation that primarily supported educational organisations, focussing on skills and vocational training.
With the subsequent establishment of the Javett Foundation, this educational focus expanded to include support for the arts and culture sector, in recognition of the family’s love of art and music.
Today, the mission of the Javett Foundation is to help South African organisations in the education, arts and culture sectors to be sustainable. The Foundation’s art collections are now made available to the public at the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria, including those founding artworks originally collected by Chix Javett. The Javett Foundation supports beneficiaries both through direct grants, and through partnerships with other philanthropic foundations.
The Javett Foundation does not accept unsolicited applications for funding.
What we fund
The Javett Foundation chiefly supports beneficiaries operating in the spheres of education, skills development, arts and culture. Learn more about some of the organisations we fund here:
Enlighten Education Trust
One of the most significant projects funded by the Sunshine Foundation Trust, the forerunner to the Javett Foundation, was the building of the Enlighten Education and Training Centre, to house programmes aimed at improving education in the Overstrand.
Image: Enlighten Education Trust
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra
The
JPO was formed in 2000 by a group of musicians following
the demise of the National Symphony Orchestra. It performs regular
series of symphony seasons, featuring international and local
soloists and conductors.
Image: JPO
Johannesburg Children's Home (JCH)
The JCH provides a safe refuge for up to 64 children of all races, found in need of care by the Children's Court. They start a new life at the JCH, living with trained childcare workers in a cottage system that creates a more personal, less institutionalised environment.
Image: JCH
Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria
Opened in September 2019, the Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria (Javett-UP) is a publicly accessible accessible centre where the art of Africa is exhibited, preserved, discussed, interrogated and celebrated.
Image: Mathews & Associates Architects
Kids Haven
Founded in 1982, Kids Haven is focused on protecting children on the street and others in need in Ekurhuleni, giving them a future by providing guidance, therapy, training and support through pre-care, in-care and after-care programmes.
Image: Kids Haven
Salvazione Christian School
Founded in 1991, Salvazione Christian School is an independent outreach school in Mayfair West, Johannesburg, offering cost-effective, quality education to the children from Slovo Park informal settlement and surrounding areas such as Brixton, Crosby, Langlaagte, Soweto and Roodepoort.
Image: Salvazione
The Sunshine Association
The Sunshine Association is a non-profit organisation committed to the development and inclusion of children with disabilities, as well as those with intellectual, developmental and physical delays, in partnership with families and communities.
Image: The Sunshine Association
Governance
The Javett Foundation is registered as a non-profit organisation (registration no. 123-248-NPO) in terms of the Non-Profit Organisation Act (No. 71 of 1997), and a public benefit organisation (registration no. 930043262) in terms of the Income Tax Act (No. 58 of 1962).
The Javett Foundation is also a registered non-profit trust (registration no. 851/2013), in terms of the Trust Property Control Act (No. 57 of 1988). As such, it is governed by a board of trustees, as detailed below.
Michael Javett
Michael Javett (1936 - 2022) was a businessman, philanthropist and patron of the arts. He studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand, initially practising as an attorney at Webber Wentzel, before moving to London to join Allen & Overy. Michael then began a career in finance, joining Hill Samuel as a merchant banker.
He returned to South Africa in 1969, ultimately establishing the Unisec Group, which was subsequently sold to Standard Bank. He also established Tolux SA, which has since become Brait. He returned to the United Kingdom to pursue his business interests, before relocating to South Africa in 2006 to focus on philanthropy. He was instrumental in establishing the Sunshine Foundation Trust and, more recently, the Javett Foundation.
Leigh Bregman
Leigh Bregman is a businessman with extensive financial sector experience, having worked for Rand Merchant Bank and, later, Morgan Stanley. He left banking in 2014 to focus on his own interests.
Leigh attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where he completed a Bachelor of Science joint honours degree, in zoology and philosophy. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, and a doctorate in the history and philosophy of science from University College London.
Leigh has a long association with philanthropy through, amongst others, his close links with the Sunshine Foundation Trust and, more recently, the Javett Foundation.
Nicole Jaff
Nicole Jaff is an academic, author and specialist in the fields of menopause and global women’s health. Nicole has a degree in applied clinical psychology, and obtained her doctorate in chemical pathology from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where she is an honorary lecturer. She is a research scientist at the Aurum Institute, the editor of "Menopause E-consult" for the North American Menopause Society, and serves on the editorial board of "Women’s Midlife Health" (published by Bio Med Central.)
Her research has appeared in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and she has published four well-received consumer books on menopause. Nicole chairs the Bright Kid Foundation, and serves on the board of trustees of the Javett Foundation.
Stewart Shaw-Taylor
Stewart Shaw-Taylor is a chartered accountant with more than three decades’ experience in investment banking and real estate, encompassing asset management and administration, as well as property development and financing.
Prior to his retirement, he served as managing director of Standard Bank’s property finance division and as global head of property for the group’s corporate and investment banking division, responsible for the division’s equity-related real estate activities.
Stewart currently serves on a number of boards of listed and unlisted entities, including on the board of the Javett Foundation.
Ed Southey
Ed Southey is a practising attorney. He was formerly a partner (and from 2002 to 2007 the senior partner) of Webber Wentzel, and is currently an executive consultant to the firm.
Ed was a member of the Council of the Law Society of the Transvaal (subsequently known as The Law Society of the Northern Provinces) from 1980 to 1995, and was President in 1983 and 1984. He served as president of the Law Society of South Africa for 1993. He maintains an interest in legal professional affairs and serves as trustee on a number of charitable and educational trusts.
Contact us
Tel: 011 550 4080
Email: info@javettfoundation.org.za
Address
Ground Floor, Cradock Heights,
21 Cradock Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg, 2196, South Africa