ABOUT THE REPORT
Every year, we take time to look back — not just at numbers and outputs, but at what we’re seeing, hearing, and learning from the communities and organizations we support.
The data and reflections gathered here come from three primary sources: in-depth qualitative check-ins and touchpoints with our Program Partners (our grantee partners) and youth across Southern Africa, our 2025 Partner Feedback Survey, and post-summit surveys. Together, they offer a textured, grounded picture of what’s changing in communities, what’s working in our partnerships, and what we’re continuing to learn and adjust.
We’ve organized these insights around the sections of our annual impact report — from themes and shifts that emerged from community- and individual-level data, to the value of CTAOP gatherings, to how our partners experience working with us. Our hope is that this document serves not just as a record of impact, but as a living reflection of our shared commitments: to trust, to equity, to relationships, and to the young people at the center of this work. Where possible, we’ve let the voices of our partners speak for themselves. Their words convey something our data summaries cannot.
Here’s a look at our 2025…
771,501
YOUTH SERVED BY CTAOP-SUPPORTED PROGRAMS
$1,336,000
IN GRANTS
25
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATIONS
SUPPORTED
PROGRAMMATIC THEMES IN 2025
CTAOP’s Youth Leaders Fellowship and Scholarship empower young leaders to create meaningful change while building lasting skills. The Fellowship places young people within community organizations for a year of hands-on experience, mentorship, and wellness support. The Scholarship, nominated through CTAOP-funded organizations, funds tertiary education and leadership development. The Fellowship launched in 2024 and the Scholarship in 2018; together, they’ve cultivated a growing network of thoughtful, socially conscious changemakers.
The Swidler Summit is CTAOP’s signature convening — a multi-day gathering where the leaders at the heart of social change are given the rare gift of being cared for themselves. In 2025, two Regional Summits brought together Program Partners in KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town for intimate, restorative experiences rooted in healing, community, and practical wellness. CTAOP also held dedicated Summits for its Youth Leaders community, gathering Fellows and Scholars separately for leadership development, skills-building, well-being, and peer connection.
In 2025, CTAOP’s advocacy and accompaniment work was as wide-ranging as it was meaningful, spanning high-profile media moments, grassroots partner support, thought leadership in philanthropy, and everything in between. The team shared over 50 funding, scholarship, job, and capacity-strengthening opportunities with partners. We also hosted two regional Swidler Summits and two Leadership Summits for youth leaders, led trust-based philanthropy workshops, drafted concept notes, and reviewed grant applications.
Every year, we ask partners we’ve supported to tell us how we’re doing. This section reflects what respondents anonymously told us in 2025. Their words shape how we show up — because trust-based practice doesn’t mean less accountable. It means accountability runs toward communities, not just toward funders.
We are so grateful for our CTAOP community. Join us in making an impact in 2026!
