Where it started
What started out on Gary and Vivienne Player’s farm, has evolved into an early childhood development centre for underprivileged children in the community. Today, the Foundation continues to support the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School as one of its primary beneficiaries with the vision to grow its philanthropic impact and efforts to make a difference in many more lives.
The Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School
For over 30 years, the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School has been providing education, nutrition, and medical care to underprivileged children living in the Lanseria area of Johannesburg.
The school has been in operation since 1990 and is dependent on private funding. It caters for 125 learners from the ages of 3 to 6. As there are very few other pre-schools in the area, it performs the vital task in ensuring the children from the surrounding impoverished communities receive stimulation and education in preparation for their entry into formal schooling.
Read more about the school here:
Blair Atholl School
Our Tustees
REON BARNARD
Certified Director with the Institute of Directors in South Africa, a Certified Ethics Officer with The Ethics Institute.
Reon joined the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School board in early 2018 with the encouragement of Gary and Vivienne Player and the Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation (Formerly known as the Gary Player Foundation). He holds a Tsinghua INSEAD Executive MBA, and B.Com in Finance from Stellenbosch University.
Reon has more than a decade’s experience as an executive director of BCR Holdings Pty Ltd and is the Chairman of the board of Sekta Group.
Reon uses his innovative thinking, drive for good governance, and broad network to serve the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School and Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation. Reon enjoys family time, travel, reading extensively, golf, and running when he is not changing the world
ALEX MADITSI
BProc (University of the North), LLB (Wits), HDip Company Law (Wits), LLM Company and Labour Law (Pennsylvania, USA), LLM international Commercial Law (Harvard, USA)
Alex Maditsi became lead independent non-executive director in 2015. He is managing director of Copper Moon Trading (Pty) Ltd. Previously he was employed by Coca-Cola South Africa as a franchise director for South Africa, country manager for Kenya, and senior director: operations planning and legal director for Coca-Cola Southern and East Africa. Prior to that, he was legal director for Global Business Connections in Detroit, Michigan. He also spent time at Lewis, White and Clay, The Ford Motor Company and Schering-Plough in the USA, practising as an attorney. Alex was a Fulbright scholar and member of the Harvard LLM Association.
His directorships include African Rainbow Energy and Power (Pty) Ltd, Bidvest Group Limited, Murray & Roberts and Sterling Debt Recoveries (Pty) Ltd
CHARNÉ VERSTER
CA (SA), Registered auditorCharné’s involvement with the Foundation started in 2017, first as external auditor and then as trustee from 2020.
Charné is the founder of Unathi VDP Incorporated, an audit and accounting firm started in 2012. Her experience in financial management and auditing in the private and public sphere adds to the balanced management of the foundation. Charné has a passion for education. She believes that skills and knowledge, should be transferred to next generations.
Therefore she spends time embarking in school projects with disadvantaged children to ensure the transfer of skills and knowledge.
How to donate
To be in the position to give back to the world in moments of success is priceless.
The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation greatly appreciates any and all financial donations as we work to provide quality education to children in need.
The Gary & Vivienne Player Foundation (GVPF) is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) with SARS. Therefore a taxpayer making a bona fide donation in cash or of property in kind to the GVPF will receive a Section 18 (A) certificate and is entitled to a deduction from a taxable income as per the requirements of the Income Tax Act, 1962.