Russell Ford hopes that British nurseries will back his Auntie campaign by fundraising and 'twinning' with creches.
His plan is to get 2,500 nurseries in the UK and Ireland to take part, raising £500,000 for South African children.
Mr Ford said, 'Childcare practitioners are an amazing group of people. I realised that what we should do is tap in to that potential in the UK to not only fundraise but also to implement projects via established non-profit organisations already doing this kind of work.'
Auntie - the name was inspired by how female 'auntie' elephants support the mother and her babies - has linked up with two South African charities, Ikamva Labantu, which runs early years and schools projects, and the Amy Biehl Foundation, which provides after-school programmes.
The aim is for the projects - which include sponsoring primary education, mentoring for children and vocational training to help young people into jobs - to become self-financing. One idea is to set up workshops making furniture to sell to UK nurseries.
In the run-up to Christmas, the charity's fundraising campaign is based on 'Share + Care', an Advent calendar featuring EYFS activities to teach children about giving, with a different gift appearing behind each window.
When donating £5 to Auntie, parents will be able to choose a gift to give to a child in a South African township.
Further information: www.theauntiefoundation.org.
