Grantmaking Criteria
01 Basic Eligibility
To be considered for funding from the African Collaborative, organizations must meet the following key criteria. These are the foundational requirements we look for in all compelling applications.
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We prioritize organizations with Executive leadership (Executive Director, CEO, or Co-CEO) and governance rooted in the communities they serve, ensuring decision-making authority remains local while reporting to the board. We are currently focused on supporting organizations based in and serving communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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Generally, we provide grants to and partner with organizations registered as not-for-profit entities. While we recognize that registration requirements vary by country, we aim to accommodate these differences on a case-by-case basis. Please note that we do not fund individuals, for-profit organizations, social enterprises, or other business-oriented entities.
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Tackling complex social problems is a marathon and not a sprint. We believe that to do this work well, employees need to be compensated enough to sustain themselves and so we prioritize organizations whose at least part of its employees receive fair compensation for the work they do.
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Tackling complex social problems is a marathon and not a sprint. We believe that to do this work well, employees need to be compensated enough to sustain themselves and so we prioritize organizations whose at least part of its employees receive fair compensation for the work they do.
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We believe that in addition to being a legal requirement in most countries, financial audits provide a fair assessment of an organization’s financial health and therefore prioritize organizations with at least 2 consecutive years of audited financials.
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We believe that financial management practices support an organization’s sustainability and ability to deliver effective services. We therefore prioritize organizations that employ clear processes for annual budgeting, use basic accounting software, and incorporate regular financial reporting to the board and leadership team.
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We believe that a minimum track record of 3 years gives most African social changemakers the chance to pivot when needed. We do not have a maximum number of years of operation because we have found that the start-up phase for many African-led organizations can be much longer due to being chronically under-resourced by a biased system of funding.
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We seek to support organizations with diverse revenue sources and therefore encourage application from organisations with at least an annual budget of $150,000.
02 Organizational Foundation & Stage
We support organizations across a broad spectrum of organizational stages through two tracks, ignite and fuel. We also believe that a clear purpose, model, and impact are an important foundation at any stage.
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We recognize that clear models of impact do not always mean models focused on one particular issue but we seek organizations who can clearly define their model and know what works. Holistic models can be just as clear, intentional, and aligned to a theory of change as those with a singular focus.
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We look for leaders who are clear on why their organization exists and can clearly articulate the problem(s) their organization seeks to solve with intention.
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We aim to support transformative, community-driven, and systems-strengthening change, recognizing that such impact unfolds over time and can be challenging to measure with precision. We value organizations that can articulate their impact and are committed to enhancing their capacity to document, measure, and track results when needed. While we appreciate strong evidence of impact, we do not require Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) or highly rigorous evaluations, acknowledging that these can be costly and impractical at the stage at which we provide funding.
Ignite Track
Sparking Growth
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Founding board refers to the initial board formed during the establishment of the organization.
We believe that the importance of an organization’s board development is critical to their success. We are looking for organizations who are at least at the initial founding board stage.
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Tackling complex social problems is a marathon and not a sprint. We believe that to do this work well, employees need to be compensated enough to sustain themselves and so we prioritize organizations that are striving towards fair compensation for their team. We know that in the early stages of an organization's journey they may rely on some volunteer time or have aspirations to pay better market rates as their budgets grow. We do not fund organizations that have no paid staff.
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We recognize that early-stage organizations may not yet have a fully developed strategic plan. In these cases, we look for clear evidence of an intention to establish one. This includes a commitment to setting strategic priorities, identifying key goals, and outlining a plan for future growth and impact.
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We believe that organizations within a $150,000 to $500,000 annual budget size are most likely at the right size and stage for our funding.
Fuel Track
Building Momentum
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Governance board refers to a board that provides strategic direction, ensures financial and legal accountability, and monitors effective organizational operation performance whilst ensuring the organization stays true to its mission.
We are looking for organizations who are growing past the initial founding board stage to a more structured governing board stage with basic systems and structures in place. We prioritize organizations on a pathway to ownership of strategic and governance roles by the board.
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We prioritize organizations that ensure full staff compensation, as this demonstrates a commitment to equitable support and organizational stability. Compensating all employees not only reflects the organization’s investment in its team but also fosters a stronger, more resilient workforce dedicated to achieving long-term impact.
Seasonal volunteers and other kind of workers receiving a form of compensations from government/the organisation are allowed.
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We believe that a vision without a strategy and a plan will remain largely unrealized and so we look for evidence of an organization’s strategic choices about where they will focus to achieve their goals.
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We consider organizations with an annual budget of $500,000 or more to have established systems, scale, and operational capacity that align well with our funding objectives. This budget size suggests that the organization may be at an advanced stage, with the resources needed to support complex initiatives and sustain impact. While not a strict requirement, this budget range serves as an indicator of the organization’s capacity to effectively utilize and manage funding.
03 Organizational Resilience
We recognize that there are organizational assets that contribute to a lasting impact, while factors beyond funding can hinder an organization’s progress. We identify these elements of organizational resilience to help build upon an organization’s strengths.
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We recognize and value the knowledge and expertise of social changemakers with lived experience of the problem they seek to solve as well as demonstrated and persistent commitment to their mission. We prioritize organizations with proximate leadership teams who are guided by their own lived experience and care deeply about their organization’s mission.
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We believe that proximity matters in improving lives and we want to fund organizations that are deeply rooted and invested in the communities they serve.
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We believe that learning at the individual and organization level are critical to success and we look for leadership teams that display self-awareness and humility. We look for examples of the ways organizations have used new information or data to change or improve their programs or operations.
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We believe that advancing gender equity is essential to achieving transformative, systemic change. We seek to partner with organizations that intentionally mainstream gender equity across their programs and strategies—ensuring women, girls, and gender-diverse people have equitable access to resources, opportunities, and outcomes. Even when an organization’s work is not explicitly focused on gender, we value those that apply an intersectional lens, actively work to address disparities, and are committed to fostering fairness and inclusion both in their communities and within their teams.
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We believe that the choice and cultivation of an organization’s leaders is vital to its long-term health and ability to deliver impact and seek to fund organizations with a deep commitment to leadership development and succession planning, regardless of budget size.
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We look for organizations with a board of directors who serve as strategic thought partners and active fiduciary stewards of the organization’s resources. We seek to understand what structures, systems, and reporting mechanisms have been implemented at the board level thus far. We recognize this will be different for each organization based on their board development stage.
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