The Mafela Trust collection consists of paper-based materials, digital materials, photographs, oral history interviews (audio cassettes and Hi8 video cassettes), and VHS video material.

The original order in which materials were received was not retained. A discussion with the Mafela Trust's national coordinator revealed that no proper filing system was in place in the office of origin, and his subsequent artificial order (defined by sections Vatican A, B, C etc.) did not allow for effective and systematic arrangement and retrieval of archival materials. (Meticulous record-keeping allows for reversal of current arrangement). The current system of arrangement embarks on an attempt to reflect the organisation's developmental history in terms of its aims and objectives, and thus allows for more effective access to the materials.

The paper-based and digital collections of the Mafela Trust archives have been arranged as two separate series. Although some duplication of documents exist, especially with materials created around 2000 onwards, the first series of paper-based materials contain archives that were generally created prior to 2000, and includes a fairly large number of handwritten and manuscript material. 49 items (625pp) from this series have been digitised to facilitate access. The digital collection commences circa late 1990s/2000+. It should be noted that the arrangement of the paper-based collection does not correspond with that of the digital collection.