Frank Julie is an author, activist, organizational development practitioner, consultant, advisor, strategist and facilitator, known to many in the nonprofit sector in South Africa through his regular fundraising workshops.
His journey in the development sector started in the late 1970’s as a volunteer, organizer and programs manager for various CBOs.
Professional Activity
In the early 1990’s he launched the Resource Action Group (RAG), a youth development agency focusing on building capacity amongst young marginalized youth to access sustainable livelihoods. He was the executive director for 10 years.
Apart from his own consulting business, Frank Julie & Associates, Frank is very active in several other organisations, often volunteering his time and resources.
Frank is passionate about youth, which is why he is the founder and executive director of YoungPeople@Work, an organisation designed to empower unemployed youth through life-long learning and connecting them with opportunities. While initially operating from Belville, Western Cape, since 2012, YoungPeople@Work opened a branch in Kimberley, Northern Cape, in December 2017.
Frank was a founding trustee of the YDN, a consortium of 6 youth development agencies, where he served for 5 years.
People First Foundation was co-founded and is chaired by Frank. The foundation consists of a group of highly experienced development practitioners sharing their skills and experiences with survivalist and marginalized CBOs.
Having co-founded and served as a trustee of SAFULA, Frank went on to be founder of the Master Fundraising Mentoring Forum and the Music Academy for Rural Youth.
Books Authored
Frank is the author of “The Art of Leadership and Management on the Ground” and “The Roots of the NGO Crisis in South Africa – A Look Beyond the Surface”. He is currently (January 2019) busy with a third book.
He regularly contributes articles on development to various magazines, journals and websites around the world. Some of the articles include “18 Ideas to Avoid a Funding Crisis“, “23 Sins of Management“, “13 Less Known Habits of Highly Effective Leaders“, “Effective People Development in a Non-Profit Organization“, “Networking by Design not by Default” and many more.
Education
Frank studied Social Science at the UWC in the early 1980’s, and Adult Education and Learning at the UCT in the early 1990’s, culminating in the completion of a MPhil(Adult Education). His thesis focused on the NGO Crisis, Leadership Discontinuity and Learning over 3 Historical Periods in South Africa, where he explored the evolution of the NGO sector and how different modes of learning impacted on leadership continuity over a period of about 40 years.
He also studied the practice of development at the CDRA and fundraising and development at the CEDPA based in Washington DC in the USA. Frank traveled extensively in different parts of the world to study development models on the ground over a period of 20 years.
