Johannesburg — WHAT poor and marginalised people lack most is access to society's decision makers, says philanthropist Peggy Dulany, founder and chairwoman of Synergos.

Synergos is an international nongovernmental organisation dedicated to helping bridge this divide.

"Too often philanthropists see (only) giving and giving money," says Dulany, daughter of US banker and statesman David Rockerfeller.

"Philanthropists have the potential to give that access, or make those connections."

Dulany, in SA to support and endorse a small Western Cape-based educational initiative that is set to launch a Gauteng chapter in May, founded Synergos in 1987 to do just this: facilitate relationships between grassroots leaders and political and business leaders so that they could work together to develop long-term solutions to poverty.

Go for Gold, established in Western Cape in 1999, has given training and employment to people in construction. SA is desperately short of skilled workers. The programme starts with high-school pupils and mentors them through post-school education to employment.

"What I like about Go for Gold is what's being asked: mentorship, time and skills. There's a more holistic connection (than when people simply provide funding) between those who lack work or academic skills and those who need a workforce," says Dulany, who relinquished the Rockerfeller name years ago.

SA's transition from apartheid to democracy epitomises the bridging strategies in which Dulany believes, because a solution was reached through careful negotiation.

The ability to listen with an open mind is crucial for a philanthropist. Dulany says she learned this in her late teens when she lived in a Brazilian favela (shantytown).

"I had the great privilege in my late teens of, among other things, living in a squatter settlement in Brazil. It's a great thing for all young people to do, it will stay with you forever," she says.

"If we could create the forum in which people could really communicate, it would open people's hearts and open a field for creating new and creative solutions (to the world's problems). Solutions need to be created collaboratively." It takes a long time for Dulany and Synergos to decide whether to lend help to a project.

"We smell a good one with our nose, but I think that's too glib. We have six staff (members) in the region, and we've been here for 20 years or more.

"You get to know who's trustworthy, who's effective, who's willing to cross divides. For example, in our focus on orphans and vulnerable children we are not taking a lead, we are helping a group of young adults called Convene to enhance their ability to do this.

"We held discussions with them for two years before we made a commitment. And that's another thing, we give time to let these initiatives mature and that's where our experience and intuition comes in."

Using Dulany's definition of giving, everyone can be a philanthropist. For the woman, who has a PhD in education from Harvard University, it is the time and skill given that is most important.

Everyone is responsible for their piece of the social fabric, and there are risks and weaknesses in each weave, says Dulany. "We need to focus on each piece of the fabric, even if it is close to home. If we don't, at best we will get passive acceptance of solutions that come from on high. At worst we will get resistance to them (the solutions) because they were not created 'here'.

"Money is the last piece of my involvement. We (Synergos) are focused on decreasing poverty and increasing social justice and collaborative ways of getting there."

Philanthropy is a family trait, says Dulany. "Perhaps it's in the genes. I got it from my father. He sees it as something you do. When he travelled for Chase Manhattan (the bank now known as JP Morgan Chase, where David Rockerfeller was board chairman and CEO) he was always promoting socially responsible behaviour among his peers. My passion is more personally in the civil society sphere," she says.

The world in general, and SA in particular, is full of poverty and huge discrepancies between rich and poor. The Gini co-efficient, a figure between 0 and 1, where the closer the number to 1, the more unequal the society, rose in SA from 0,68 in 1991 to 0,77 in 2001, according to the Human Sciences Research Council.

Statistics SA this month put the figure at 0,72.

"On the one hand, unless we expose ourselves to that we are not facing it (and can't help find solutions), on the other, yes, it's painful," says Dulany.

"Personally, I've learned to take time and space for deep reflection. I also stay optimistic because I get to meet so many wonderful people who are making a difference, even if they are not taking that to scale.

"Our (Synergos') job is to try to connect them with others so that they can go to scale," she says.