It all started in 2015, when Malgas, herself a first-generation graduate from humble beginnings, decided to do something to support 'resource-constrained students' who needed small amounts of money to keep going with their studies.

She explains, “Growing up in a modest home in Mitchells Plain I am well aware of the challenges of trying to get into and stay in the higher education system. I had wise and loving parents and the love and support of extended family. But in families where resources are even more constrained, university education can be seen as an unnecessary luxury.

"I knew full well that the obvious need for funds was something I couldn’t address on my own. On Mandela Day 2016, two of my students and I managed to generate R2 500 from baking lemon meringue pies and selling them for R67 to create a bursary for a student in need. Some people paid far more when they heard what we were trying to do, and I quickly realised that people would support a cause if it aligned with their values and they could trust where the money would go."

Malgas floated the idea of starting a crowdfunding initiative with a colleague, who responded by saying that she would be the first to back the idea if Malgas ran with it. She ran with it, and today this colleague is one of the Fund’s board members. 

Malgas managed to secure crowdfunding for her initiative and by 2020 support for students increased exponentially. She then approached two long-time supporters, Ms Monika Basson and Dr Ethel Phiri, both SU staff members in the Faculty of AgriSciences, to join her in formalising the organisation. The Small Things Fund was registered that same year. Two other board members, Rejeanne Louw (BA [Theology]) and Angel Goldsmith (MSc [Forestry]), both SU alumni, joined in 2021. 

"Most of us are first-generation graduates or pioneers in some way or the other, and most of us are from resource-poor communities. We know from experience that taking care of the small things such as a food voucher, a small loan or a second-hand device at the right time can go a long way to ensuring academic success," she says.

According to Malgas, they serve between 10 and 20 students per year, and thus far have helped nearly 1 000 students from 2015 to 2023.

She says most of their support manifests at SU and in Stellenbosch, simply because of their physical presence there. “Our mandate includes university students at any university or any other registered higher education institution anywhere in South Africa,” she says. The Fund is open to any student of any race, gender, class, background, country, ethnicity or faith – as long as they are the first one in their family to get into a higher education institution in South Africa and are in need of help.

"At the moment, we have three donors who consistently donate between R100 and R1 000 per month. Two of them are members of SU staff, and the other is a total stranger to us who sends money from a rural area in the Western Cape. We have had significant ad hoc contributions of up to R10 000 from staff and public donors, the latest of which came from a professor at SU who does similar work elsewhere. We are so grateful for the support."

Malgas says it is their goal to see a chapter of the Fund on every campus in South Africa, and to inspire others to start a similar service wherever they find themselves among students. They also dream of owning a local property where first-generation students could be accommodated. "For this, we need 1 000 donors to offer us R1 000 to secure land, and a partnership with a sustainable housing construction company in Cape Town."

 About Dr Rhoda Malgas

This Mitchells Plain native attended the University of Cape Town (UCT) from 1999 to 2000, majoring in archaeology and environmental and geographical science. A two-year stint at Clanwilliam’s Living Landscape Project introduced her to public archaeology and how it can be integrated into the school curricula for social and natural sciences. After receiving a bursary from UCT for her master’s degree in botany under Prof Timm Hoffman, she was introduced to the Heiveld Co-operative, a small-scale rooibos farmer co-operative involved in sustainable wild harvesting from fynbos. That experience, together with her mentorship by local non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners, launched her career in conservation and ecology. By the time she joined SU in 2009, she had worked with small-scale farmers, local residents and school learners on participatory learning and communal research methods. Today, she teaches some of those principles to her students in the Conservation Ecology Teaching Programme at the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology at SU. Malgas also obtained a PhD in Conservation Ecology from Stellenbosch University in December 2022.