Investing in youth- and community-led change
Annual Report 2022–2023
Thank you to our supporters and partners for helping to build a world where all children and youth are safe, strong, and valued.
Welcome!
This was a year of tremendous growth at Global Fund for Children.
With your support, we awarded over $7.4 million in grants to 293 organizations in 40 countries. We launched new initiatives focused on climate action, post-pandemic education recovery, and youth leadership. We also supported our partners as they responded to crises around the world, including by increasing our assistance for grassroots groups helping Ukrainian children and families.
Over the past year, we saw record revenue growth, including a one-time $10 million gift from MacKenzie Scott that recognized the effectiveness of GFC’s model and our potential.
In this report, you’ll learn about how we:
- Invested in education, climate action, and youth leadership: We launched a new round of our youth-led Spark Fund initiative, focusing on climate action in Southeast Asia, and began an initiative in Thailand to foster youth leadership at the grassroots. We also partnered with seven peer funders to help children in Central America overcome educational barriers that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Learned, influenced, and connected: Our partners have asked us to encourage other donors to embrace trust-based philanthropy, and we have expanded our efforts to influence how the philanthropy and development sectors operate. We engaged a record number of grassroots partners and youth leaders in promoting child and youth participation, the power of community-led change, and trust-based philanthropy, which shifts power to grantee partners to best support their needs and goals.
- Implemented our five-year vision: We continued to make progress toward achieving our five-year vision, which emphasizes community-driven systems change and the role of children and youth as leaders and changemakers. We recruited new members for our Youth Leadership Council, which now includes youth activists from 11 countries. We also deepened community participation in our work, including by fostering increased community involvement in addressing the root causes of child exploitation in India and violence against girls in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
- Supported partners responding to wars, natural disasters, and economic crises: To help children and youth affected by crises, we provide emergency grants to our grassroots partners. Over the past year, we awarded emergency grants to 58 grassroots organizations in Ukraine and neighboring countries that are helping children and families impacted by Russia’s war. We also supported partners responding to earthquakes in Türkiye, floods in Pakistan, and an economic crisis in Sri Lanka.
We are proud to continue to host Funder Safeguarding Collaborative, which supports grantmaking organizations that want to ensure that their work and the work they fund keep people safe. Over the past year, the collaborative provided its membership – which grew to include 70 grantmaking organizations – with a unique community to learn about and share information on safeguarding practices and policies.
As the world’s growing youth population grapples with major challenges, our work becomes more critical. We are inspired every day by our grassroots partners’ dedication to their communities and by the positive changes they achieve with and for young people. Thank you for your partnership as we continue to build a future in which all children and youth are safe, strong, and valued.
Sincerely,
Co-Chair, Global Board of Directors
President and CEO
Co-Chair, Global Board of Directors
Chair, Youth Leadership Council
Chair, UK Trust Board of Trustees
We invite you to watch the video below, in which kids interview GFC’s President and CEO, to learn more about our work.
Learn more about our work supporting grassroots organizations in Ukraine that are helping children and families impacted by Russia's war.
Learn more about our Spark Fund round focused on climate action in Southeast Asia.
Learn more about our work supporting post-pandemic education in Nepal and other countries in South Asia.
Learn more about our work supporting grassroots organizations in Moldova, and other countries neighboring Ukraine, that are helping children and families impacted by Russia’s war.
Learn more about our work supporting post-pandemic education in Ghana and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more about our work supporting post-pandemic education in Brazil and other countries in the Americas.
Learn more about our work supporting girls' rights and education in Côte d’Ivoire.
Year in Review
2022-2023
With your support, we provided flexible funding to 293 grassroots organizations around the world.
Here is a closer look at the partners worldwide that received financial support and capacity development assistance from GFC over the past year.
We are committed to gender equity and youth leadership, including investing in groups led by young people and women, who have traditionally been excluded from formal leadership positions.
For 83% of our partners, we were the first funder to offer flexible cash. GFC has been committed to flexible funding for 30 years. We were one of the earliest proponents of this approach, which allows our partners to determine the best use of their resources and gives them greater ability to innovate and adapt in response to challenges facing children and youth.
The newest partners to join the GFC network are based in 15 countries across the globe, from Colombia to Namibia to Thailand.
Nearly 80% of our new partners this past year had annual budgets under $50,000. We fill a gap in philanthropy by supporting nascent organizations that other funders are not yet ready to support. We also strategically fund organizations at more advanced stages of growth that contribute invaluable experience to our initiatives.
We build networks of community leaders through regional and thematic initiatives on a range of issues impacting children and youth, including access to education, gender equity, and trafficking prevention. This past year, we supported 16 initiatives that brought together grassroots leaders and organizations around shared challenges, geographies, and opportunities.
We hosted 18 gatherings to encourage collaboration among partners working on similar issues or within the same region, as well as 131 workshops on topics ranging from wellbeing to community-led change. These events enabled our partners to deepen their knowledge, learn from one another, and build networks, increasing their capacity to create long-term systemic change with and for children and youth.
In a survey of our grassroots partners, 81% reported that they had changed aspects of the way they do their work after receiving support from GFC.
On a scale from -100 to +100, GFC received a Net Promoter Score of 84 for the survey question “To what extent does GFC do what it says it will do?” This score means that most GFC partners strongly agree that we follow through on our commitments.
Celebrating Our 30th Anniversary
In 2024, we will celebrate our 30th anniversary.
GFC’s story began when a chance encounter with a grassroots group helping homeless children on a train platform in Bhubaneswar, India, inspired Maya Ajmera to found the organization.
Since then, we’ve invested over $63 million in more than 1,000 grassroots organizations, reaching millions of children and youth worldwide. Many of our partners were nascent organizations when we began supporting them. By providing flexible funding and capacity development services, we’ve helped them grow stronger and more responsive to challenges on the ground. We invite you to watch the video below to learn more about how we find our partners.
As we get ready to celebrate our 30th anniversary, we are also focused on the future we envision. We are committed to creating a world where children and youth have more spaces to lead and make decisions in their communities. With your support, we can drive the change young people want to see.
Leadership Spotlight
Ian Glasner
Ian Glasner began supporting GFC in 2005 at the age of 12, when he donated his bar mitzvah gifts from friends and family to the organization. Later, as a 17-year-old, he interned at GFC, and in 2019, he joined the Global Ambassadors program to amplify GFC’s work.
Ian was elected to GFC’s Global Board of Directors in 2022, bringing not only his longstanding passion for GFC’s mission but also valuable business expertise accrued throughout his career, including from his role as a Group Head of Innovation, Ventures, and Digital Partnerships at HSBC.
GFC’s work taught me from an early age that with the right strategy and execution, I could make a difference in the lives of others. Over the past 18 years, I’ve seen GFC grow its reach and impact while strengthening its unique model of partnering with local organizations and enabling local leaders to make an impact in their communities.”
Learning, Influencing, and Connecting with Partners and Youth
In the philanthropy sector, only a small percentage of funding makes it to the grassroots. Even then, it often comes with many strings attached, including onerous reporting requirements and rigid grant restrictions.
GFC is committed to influencing other funders to ensure our partners can get the flexible support they need to best support children and youth. We are also committed to creating more opportunities for young people to lead efforts to address the issues that impact them.
Our peers recognize us as a trusted resource. Over the past year, we spoke at 56 events and published articles in key sector publications. More GFC team members, partners, and youth leaders than ever before raised their voices on child and youth participation, the importance of trust-based philanthropy, and other important topics. We also raised awareness about the needs of civil society organizations in Ukraine and the importance of flexible funding in responding to crises.
In September 2022, GFC President and CEO John Hecklinger spoke to an audience of global and emerging leaders at the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting in New York. He announced GFC’s commitment to resourcing youth-led climate resilience initiatives in communities around the world that are disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change.
We continued to draw inspiration from our CEO Circle, which brings together grassroots leaders to share experiences and lessons learned. We first launched this group during the height of the pandemic, and it has continued to foster solidarity and shared learning. Participants have built connections with each other and shared ideas that have helped other grassroots leaders respond to challenges in their communities.
We also continued to learn from our Partner Advisory Group, a network of partners that acts as a sounding board for GFC in programmatic, learning, and influencing areas. This past year, Partner Advisory Group members led a training for GFC partners in Uganda and met with GFC’s Europe and Eurasia team to help them develop a regional programmatic strategy.
This past year, we carried out a learning review to better understand the impact of our five-year anti-trafficking initiative in India. We collaborated with our partners from the initiative, and we found opportunities to incorporate capacity development and learning. This initiative strengthened our partners’ relationships with their communities in combating trafficking and hazardous child labor, paving the way for a new regional initiative focused on engaging communities to address the root causes of child exploitation.
We also spent time developing a new theory of change that honors the agency of children and youth as powerful changemakers. It emphasizes that GFC, our grassroots partners, and the children and communities we serve are part of a larger ecosystem that we can influence.
To ensure that grassroots voices lead our efforts to shift power in the funding ecosystem, we brought together partner leaders and youth activists to develop a strategy. We listened to their priorities, and together we will advocate for change to make sure that grassroots organizations have the resources they need to thrive.
Throughout all our work, we continued to implement our five-year vision for 2022–2026. We invite you to watch the video below to learn more about our vision for the future.
Funders have so much less to lose, and so much more power to weather the consequences if a development project fails. Rather than asking local partners to mitigate funders’ and intermediaries’ risks, we need to structure our partnerships to support local groups’ capacity to face and mitigate the additional risks they take on for social change.”
– Kimberly McClain, GFC’s Regional Co-Director for the Americas, arguing for trust-based philanthropy in an op-ed published in Devex
Supporting Post-Pandemic Education
The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to education systems worldwide. GFC is committed to addressing learning gaps and helping children access quality education.
Over the past year, GFC supported global and regional initiatives to help children overcome pandemic-related education disruptions and prepare for future success.
Partnership to Educate All Kids (PEAK)
Our Partnership to Educate All Kids (PEAK) initiative, which brings together 66 grassroots organizations in ten countries across Latin America, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, continued to help children readjust to in-person learning and acquire skills that will enable them to become creative, lifelong learners.
The organizations in the PEAK initiative, which is supported by the LEGO Foundation, are integrating play-based learning into their programs to make education more enjoyable for kids. They are engaging children through sports, music, dance, storytelling, art, Native games, meditation, and more. They are also using play as a tool to reclaim Indigenous cultures, challenge gender norms, and prevent violence.
This initiative, which we launched in 2022, has already inspired innovation. During its first year, our grassroots partners experimented with novel ideas and implemented 168 new activities or substantial programmatic changes, many of which were sparked by GFC’s capacity development support or exchanges with other GFC partners.
We use drama displays, poetry, singing, and dancing to highlight the importance of education and promote an interest in learning for children after having spent over a year out of school as a result of the pandemic.”
– Joseph Afangbe, Executive Director of Young Visionary Leaders Ghana, which is a PEAK initiative partner
RECARGA
In Central America, GFC teamed up with seven other funders to support the recovery, renewal, and improvement of learning environments for children in Guatemala and Honduras. This initiative, known as RECARGA for its initials in Spanish, supports 12 grassroots organizations. It is a collaboration between GFC and Tinker Foundation, The Summit Foundation, International Community Foundation, Luis von Ahn Foundation, Focus Central America, Vibrant Village Foundation, and The Ward Foundation.
We invite you to watch this video to learn more about what education means to our partners in Central America and the young people they support.
Donor Spotlight
Tinker Foundation
The Tinker Foundation is proud to be a founding supporter and co-designer of the Educational Recovery in Central America: Supporting the Critical Role of Civil Society Organizations (RECARGA) Donor Collaborative. RECARGA provides a space for funders to maximize our collective contribution to education recovery in Central America, learning from and alongside dedicated grassroots organizations and insightful GFC staff in the process.”
Sparking Youth-led Change
We deepened our youth-led participatory grantmaking work over the past year and launched a new initiative to foster youth leadership in Thailand.
We believe in creating opportunities for young people to lead efforts to address the issues that impact them.
Over the past year, our Spark Fund initiative continued to support youth-led and youth-focused efforts to address critical issues such as inequality, LGBTQ+ rights, and mental health.
This initiative, which we launched in 2021, put key grantmaking decisions in the hands of youth activists in the Americas, Europe and Eurasia, South Asia, and Southern Africa. To date, the youth panelists have awarded over $1.1 million to 56 organizations in their communities.
The youth panelists chose organizations fighting to end period poverty in Lesotho, building climate resilience in Pakistan, protecting Indigenous cultural identity in Mexico, and much more. No matter what issue they focus on, these grassroots organizations are achieving inspiring changes in their communities. Frontline Youth Network, for example, supports peacebuilding work in the conflict-affected border regions of Armenia. This youth-led organization convinced the Armenian government to approve its peace education curriculum so that it can be taught in schools across the country.
More than a process to provide funding, it was a window to give a hand to many youth organizations so that they could continue to fight hunger, the environmental crisis, and violence, among other issues in their communities. It was also an opportunity to learn about and make visible thousands of problems and how youth leadership is willing to confront them. Thank you for allowing us to be part of it.”
– Flor Campos Rivas, a Spark Fund panelist from Peru
This past year, GFC also launched an initiative in Thailand that fosters youth involvement and elevates youth voices in local communities and organizations. Through this initiative, which is a partnership with the Algot Enevoldsen Foundation, GFC is providing seven grassroots groups with flexible funding and capacity development to support their efforts to center youth leadership. The organizations in this initiative work with a number of different communities, including stateless and undocumented children and youth, Myanmar refugees and migrants, ethnic communities, and teenage parents.
Leadership Spotlight
Khalid Ahmad Tamu
Khalid Ahmad Tamu, a youth activist from Sierra Leone and the Executive Director of the Network for Children’s Empowerment, joined the Spark Fund youth panel in Southern Africa. He collaborated with other youth activists from his region to select 16 partner organizations in Lesotho, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
We invite you to watch this video to learn more about Khalid and his experience with the Spark Fund.
Investing in Climate Action
GFC expanded its support for youth-led and youth-focused climate action, launching a new initiative in Southeast Asia.
Climate change disproportionately impacts children and youth, who have taken a leading role in driving climate action in their communities and around the world.
In 2023, GFC launched a round of the Spark Fund focused on climate action in Southeast Asia. This initiative, a partnership with the Avery Dennison Foundation, Lien AID, and Porticus, fuels youth-led climate resilience efforts in the region. A panel of 15 young people who represent their communities will lead the fund’s design and select a cohort of youth-led and youth-focused partner organizations.
We invite you to watch the video below to learn more about this initiative. Stay tuned for more information in next year’s annual report.
Over the past year, GFC also partnered with climate-focused grassroots organizations that educate children and youth about sustainability, promote climate change mitigation measures, and carry out environmental protection projects.
Some of these grassroots organizations were chosen by the youth panelists who led GFC’s Spark Fund. They awarded grants to youth-led and youth-focused organizations in Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, and Peru that are promoting sustainable agriculture and the conservation of natural resources; addressing the impacts of climate change on marginalized communities; and educating young people about climate action.
Everything we do is always about sustainability, not just growing our own food, but also to be independent in your home, in your own village.”
– Rosalie Tieges, Executive Director of Thai Child Development Foundation, which promotes sustainability and organic farming while also providing learning opportunities for children with disabilities
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Responding to Emergencies
When disaster strikes, GFC’s flexible emergency grants enable our partners to quickly respond to the needs of children and youth in their communities.
Through our Emergency Response Fund, GFC supported grassroots organizations helping children and youth affected by natural disasters, war, and economic crises.
While we are not a humanitarian aid organization, we are committed to ensuring our partners can continue to support the children and youth in their communities during crises.
Over the past year, we continued to support grassroots organizations in Ukraine and neighboring countries that are helping children and families impacted by Russia’s war. We approved 78 emergency grants to support 58 grassroots organizations.
Our partners in Ukraine and neighboring countries are focused on both the immediate and long-term needs of children and families. They are providing shelter, long-term housing, and educational spaces; offering emotional support to children living under incredible stress; assisting LGBTQ+ youth facing discrimination; and much more.
In the fall of 2022, GFC supported grassroots organizations responding to an economic crisis in Sri Lanka that caused widespread hunger, enabling them to provide food and other assistance to impacted families. We also offered emergency funds to a partner in Pakistan providing humanitarian aid in response to devastating flooding.
When massive earthquakes struck Türkiye in February 2023, GFC provided emergency funds to support one of our partner’s efforts to offer humanitarian aid, including baby formula and diapers, as well as long-term support for children in impacted areas.
Sometimes we have to do our planning from inside bomb shelters, but the end result is so rewarding – we see children who came in scared, closed, and even a little aggressive become vibrant, open up, and smile again.”
– Oleksandra Volakova, Coordinator and Method-Trainer at Theatre of Contemporary Dialogue in Ukraine, which has received emergency funding from GFC
Promoting Gender Justice
GFC supports grassroots organizations that promote girls’ education, redefine masculinities, address the needs of LGBTQ+ youth, and ensure that all children and youth can reach their full potential.
For me, I think gender justice has to do with the search for equal justice and conditions for men and women and different groups. That way, we can come together and find different paths in that search for new opportunities for everyone.”
– Alejandra Teleguario, Coordinator of Red de Jóvenes Artistas por la Justicia Social, which is part of the healthy masculinities initiative in Central America
Over the past year, we supported 17 grassroots organizations in Central America and the United Kingdom that are engaging boys and young men in exploring and promoting healthy masculinities. With support from the Summit Foundation and the Kendeda Fund for work in Central America, and from the #iwill Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund for work in the UK, our partners engaged boys and young men in meaningful social action in their communities and created safe spaces for them to address harmful gender stereotypes.
In Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States, we worked with 12 grassroots organizations that are committed to protecting the safety and rights of adolescent migrant girls. This initiative is supported by Tides Foundation and Comic Relief US. We invite you to watch the video below to learn more about Jóvenes por el Cambio, one of the organizations in this cohort.
In West Africa, thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, GFC supported seven partners in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea to increase access to education for girls. Our partners empowered girls with the knowledge and skills to become changemakers in their communities and advocated against harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital cutting, that create barriers to girls’ education.
We also supported five grassroots organizations in Liberia and Sierra Leone that are tackling violence against girls while empowering them to exercise agency and autonomy over their bodies and their lives. This initiative is supported by Tides Foundation and People’s Postcode Lottery. We invite you to watch the video above to learn about the 2022 West Africa Adolescent Girls Summit, which was designed by a group of adolescents from Liberia and Sierra Leone who participate in this initiative.
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Donor Spotlight
People’s Postcode Lottery
Funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery and awarded by Postcode Education Trust support the Educating and Empowering Girls initiative in West Africa, which has brought together a cohort of women- and youth-led community-based organizations across Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea to address the barriers girls face in reaching their full potential.
Adolescent girls face a range of challenges when seeking to access education – from early marriage to gender-based violence. Through support for this initiative, we are seeking to ensure a safe return to school for girls, create complementary learning spaces, and advocate for their fundamental right to education.”
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Our Award Winners
GFC was founded on the idea that providing flexible funding to grassroots organizations can transform the lives of children and youth worldwide. Our annual awards celebrate some of these outstanding organizations and further catalyze their success.
Juliette Gimon Courage Award
This past year marked the fifth year of the Juliette Gimon Courage Award, which recognizes innovative grassroots organizations that are positively impacting children in especially challenging circumstances. The award was established in honor of the late Juliette Gimon, a GFC Board Chair and dedicated advocate for children’s rights.
AMI-East
Luhansk Regional Organization – Association of Women, Youth, and Families with Disabilities of the Eastern Donbas (AMI-EAST) provides comprehensive assistance to children and youth with disabilities in Ukraine. Among its many achievements, the organization has created an inclusive hybrid school and developed training programs for children and teachers to foster inclusion, in addition to facilitating the evacuation and support of thousands of families during Russia’s war on Ukraine.
SPMUS
Suprava Panchashila Mahila Uddyog Samity (SPMUS) works with and advocates for women and children in West Bengal, India, which has one of the country’s highest rates of trafficking and child marriage. SPMUS offers a range of programs that rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked women and girls; prevent domestic violence and early marriage; and care for and support abandoned women.
Donor Spotlight
Flora Birdzell
I first learned about GFC from my mother and my sister over 20 years ago. Our extended family’s commitment to GFC runs deep, as we value both the impact of this vital work on the lives of people in communities around the world as well as the grantmaking model itself. It is therefore fitting that my current association with and support of this phenomenal organization continues in an effort to honor the legacy of my cousin, Juliette Gimon, through the Courage Awards.
Over the last five years since Juliette passed away, the Juliette Gimon Courage Awards have been awarded to 12 innovative and distinctive organizations located across five continents. The global nature of this organization surely appealed to Juliette, as it does to me still, but what’s most inspiring and telling is the way GFC supports courageous communities to form and grow: with love, strength, compassionate care, and – of course – financial resources. Juliette would be proud.”
Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award
The annual Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award – named in honor of our Founder – recognizes the accomplishments of outstanding GFC partners while providing an investment in their long-term stability.
CASE SALONE
Center for Advocacy and Sustainable Empowerment (CASE SALONE) is dedicated to removing barriers to girls’ education in Sierra Leone by empowering girls to stay in school, realize their potential, and take on leadership positions. Working in schools and communities, the organization establishes student empowerment clubs, trains girls in leadership and public speaking, and provides girls with safe spaces and counseling services.
Robert D. Stillman Dignity Award
The Dignity Award, established in 2020 in honor of former GFC Board Chair Bob Stillman, recognizes exceptional organizations responding to risks and challenges affecting the wellbeing of children and youth.
Faith Foundation
Faith Foundation works in and around the city of Shillong in India’s Meghalaya state to prevent child sexual abuse and early marriage; rescue, rehabilitate, and reintegrate trafficked women and girls; prevent domestic violence; and support abandoned women.
Our Donors
Our work would not be possible without you: global citizens who want to make positive, lasting change in the lives of children and youth. Thank you.
We are immensely grateful for all contributions, large and small. This list includes donors at the $1,000 level and above.
Family Foundations & Funds
Adrian & Connie Dillon Family Foundation
Bridgemill Foundation
The Brimstone Fund
Brooklyn Community Foundation
Cafaro Foundation
Capital for Good
Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation
Don & Iris Kim Foundation
Early Opportunities Child Development Fund, a Donor-Advised Fund of the US Charitable Gift Trust
Elder Family Partnership Ltd. Foundation
Enkel Foundation
Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund
Flora Family Foundation
Gimon d’Ansembourg Foundation
Girls Rights Project
God My Silent Partner Foundation
The Grace Jones Richardson Trust
Harrington Family Foundation
Hawk Rock Foundation
Hurlbut-Johnson Charitable Trusts
Hutton Family Foundation
Indus Charitable Foundation
Kenyon Family Foundation Trust
Leslie L. Alexander Foundation
Mahoney Tallman Family Foundation
The Manifold Fund
Marc Haas Foundation
Network for Good
New York Community Trust
Oakmark Funds
Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc.
Sal & Andrea Marino Family Fund
Sanghera Foundation
Sasha W. Khalaf Fund
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Individuals
Anonymous (6)
Gary Abel
Maya Ajmera & David H. Hollander Jr.
Irfan Alibhai
Jennifer & Peter Altabef
Esther & Michel Antakly
Barbara & William Ascher
Cathy Barnes
Angela Bednarek
Flora Birdzell
Bernadette Black
Elizabeth Bostock
Billy Brown
James M. Cain, Esq.
Julie & Kevin Callaghan
Dylan Collins
Blake & Michael Daffey
Jonathan Darling
Stephanie & Antoine de Guillenchmidt
Swatee Deepak
Emily Esau
Jennifer & James Esposito
Lynn Foden
Marc Friedman
Taylor Fujimura
Eleanor H. Gimon
Ian Glasner
Susan Gutchess
Gail Ewing Hall
John Hecklinger
Richard Hecklinger
Mike Hutchinson
Lisa Issroff
Sanjiv Khattri
Karen & Gregory King
Richard Launspach
Teresa Luchsinger
James Mahoney
Daniel Marolda
Charles Kyne McCabe
Celine-Marie G. Mechain
Shweta Siraj Mehta & Amish Mehta
Richard Meier
Stacey Mitchell
Kiran Moorthy
Douglas Newton
Kelli O’Brien & Michael Kolotylo
Margot Perot
Anjali Pichai
Thomas Platford
Sonal Priyanka
Maximilian Regner-Bleyleben
Derek Robinson
Mary & Timothy Rooney
Lila & Andrew Rymer
MacKenzie Scott
Miriam Sexton
Margaret Stillman
Alex Taurel
Lee Veitch
Greg Wallig
Sasha & Howard Weinstein
Stephanie Wilder
Caroline & Mark Wilson
Christopher Wolz
Leonardo Zancani
Corporations
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Charlesbridge Publishing
Estée Lauder Companies
Goldman Sachs Gives
InDrive
Lemongrass Consulting
Lloyds Bank Foundation
PJT Partners
TOMS
Foundations & Trusts
Anonymous (1)
Algot Enevoldsen Foundation
Avery Dennison Foundation
Bainum Family Foundation
Circle of Service Foundation
Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan
Co-op Foundation
Crosscurrents International Institute
Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation
Emplifi (Helter Skelter)
Etsy Impact Fund
Focus Central America
Fondation CHANEL
The Fund for Global Human Rights
Fund for Southern Communities
GEN Foundation
GHR Foundation
The Giving Block
GlobalGiving
Hearthland Embers Fund
International Community Foundation
#iwill Fund
Kendeda Fund
Laudes Foundation
The LEGO Foundation
Lien AID
Luis von Ahn Foundation
National Lottery Community Fund
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Open Hands
Opus Prize Foundation
People’s Postcode Lottery
Porticus
Red Nose Day Fund at Comic Relief Inc.
The Summit Foundation
The Tides Foundation
Tinker Foundation
Two Lillies Fund
UBS Optimus Foundation
US Charitable Gift Trust
Vibrant Village Foundation
WE Trust
Wellspring Advisors
Youth Endowment Fund
Matching Gifts, Workplace Giving
Benevity Community Impact Fund
Charities Aid Foundation America
Global Impact
Network for Good
World Bank Community Connections Fund
Pro Bono Partners
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
bonafide hr
Eversheds Sutherland LLP
Lex Mundi
Legacy Gifts
Maya Ajmera & David H. Hollander Jr.
Antonella Antonini & Alan Stein
Colleen Brinkmann
Warren L. Kessler
Iara Lee
John Presley
Adele Richardson Ray
Funder Safeguarding Collaborative
We believe that all funders have a role to play in keeping the communities they support safe.
Funder Safeguarding Collaborative, housed within GFC, has shown us the growing role and influence grantmakers can have in efforts to keep people and communities safe.
In 2021, GFC joined forces with four peer grantmakers to create a new funder collaborative to strengthen the ability of grantmaking organizations to prevent abuse and exploitation.
Over the past year, Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) grew to include 70 grantmaking organizations working on a range of issues, from climate change to human rights and from child protection to arts and culture.
The collaborative connects funders to knowledge and expertise, including webinars and working groups, and provides support tailored to their needs. More than 70% of FSC members contributed membership fees that help sustain the collaborative. Nearly a quarter also took advantage of the opportunity for individualized consulting that supports funders to advance safeguarding within their organizations.
As FSC membership has grown and diversified, so has the FSC team. FSC now includes team members from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.
FSC in Action
Promoting Safety and Wellbeing in Participatory Grantmaking
One of FSC’s aims is to generate knowledge and close evidence gaps on safeguarding. With grantmakers increasingly committing to participatory grantmaking, FSC members highlighted the need for guidance to ensure that these efforts do not cause harm.
In February 2023, FSC published a manual on safeguarding in participatory grantmaking. The manual, developed with the support of the Participatory Grantmaking Community, offers guidance for funders on how to identify and mitigate risks while embedding safeguarding within their participatory grantmaking processes.
Expanding Local Safeguarding Expertise in Asia and Africa
Integral to FSC’s work is the belief that safeguarding measures should consider the social, economic, cultural, and legal context in which organizations operate. FSC members have shared, however, that it can be difficult to access high-quality safeguarding expertise in the regions where they work.
To address this challenge, and with generous funding from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Laudes Foundation, FSC identified safeguarding specialists in five countries across Asia and three countries in Africa. The collaborative brought these experts together for a 12-month program of peer learning and capacity development, enabling FSC to further strengthen access to high-quality, contextually relevant safeguarding expertise.
Funder Safeguarding Collaborative Members
Founding Members
Comic Relief UK
Global Fund for Children
The National Lottery Community Fund
Oak Foundation
Porticus
Network Members
Amplify Change
Association of Charitable Foundations
B&Q Foundation
Battersea Cats & Dogs Home
BBC Children in Need
Big Change
Big Win Philanthropy
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Choose Love
CHOSA
Comic Relief US
Community Foundation Tyne & Wear and Northumberland
Conservation Collective
Cumbria Community Foundation
Disability Rights Fund
DWF Law Foundation
Education Outcomes Fund
Elevate Children Funders Group
EMpower
End Violence Against Children
Epic Foundation
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
European Programme for Integration & Migration
FADICA
Foyle Foundation
The Freedom Fund
The Fund for Global Human Rights
GHR Foundation
Girls First Fund
Global Fund for Women
Global Fund to End Modern Slavery
Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation
Halifax Foundation
The Henry Smith Charity
Howden Group
IDP Foundation
Ignite Philanthropy
Just Beginnings Collaborative
KPMG Foundation
Laudes Foundation
LightEn
Malala Fund
Masonic Charitable Foundation
Mastercard Foundation
Maudsley Charity
New Venture Fund / Arabella Advisors
Old Dart Foundation
Openwork Foundation
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Pears Foundation
People’s Health Trust
People’s Postcode Lottery
Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts
Samworth Foundation
Segal Family Foundation
Sir John Fisher Foundation
Stewardship
Sweaty Betty Foundation
Swiss Philanthropy
Virgin Unite
Wellcome Trust
Wereldkinderen
Youth Futures Foundation
Youth Music
Steering Committee Members
Angela Albornoz
Children’s Investment Fund Foundation
Stephen Birtwistle
Laudes Foundation
Oge Chukwudozie
Resource and Support Hub
Adriana Craciun
Oak Foundation
Kathleen Flynn
Gladys Onyango
Segal Family Foundation
Coline Rapneu
CHS Alliance
Hayley Roffey
Global Fund for Children
Diederik Slot
Porticus
Deogratias Yiga
Impact and Innovations Development Centre
Our Financials
Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | ||
| Cash | $ 21,874,076 | $ 7,859,830 |
| Receivables | $ 13,344,990 | $ 5,401,232 |
| Investments | $ 2,403,227 | $ 2,286,068 |
| Right-of-Use Asset (Net) | $ 1,293,199 | $ 0 |
| Other Assets | $ 467,266 | $ 400,060 |
| Total Assets | $ 39,382,758 | $ 15,947,190 |
| Liabilities and Net Assets | ||
| Liabilities | ||
| Accounts Payable and Accrued Expenses | $ 440,229 | $ 289,188 |
| Notes Payable | $ 493,676 | $ 500,000 |
| Grants Payable | $ 602,328 | $ 755,957 |
| Other Liabilities | $ 1,578,806 | $ 311,286 |
| Total Liabilities | $ 3,115,039 | $ 1,856,431 |
| Net Assets | ||
| Net Assets without Donor Restrictions | $ 12,274,580 | $ 2,518,804 |
| Net Assets with Donor Restrictions | $ 23,993,139 | $ 11,571,955 |
| Total Net Assets | $ 36,267,719 | $ 14,090,759 |
| Total Liabilities and Net Assets | $ 39,382,758 | $ 15,947,190 |
Assets
Liabilities
Net Assets
Statement of Activities
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ||
| Individuals and Family Foundations | $ 1,871,342 | $ 2,388,960 |
| Individuals and Family Foundations - Special Gift | $ 10,000,000 | - |
| Corporations and Institutional Foundations | $ 23,246,792 | $ 11,908,315 |
| Events | - | $ 395 |
| Investment Earnings | $ 398,707 | $ (349,077) |
| Foreign Exchange Gain (Loss) | $ 762,742 | $ (185,099) |
| Royalties and Other | $ 95,851 | $ 127,971 |
| Total Revenue | $ 36,375,434 | $ 13,891,465 |
| Expenses | ||
| Program Expenses | ||
| Grants | $ 7,498,864 | $ 5,385,934 |
| Capacity Building | $ 4,441,929 | $ 3,187,311 |
| Communications | $ 560,353 | $ 428,419 |
| Total Program Expenses | $ 12,501,146 | $ 9,001,664 |
| Management and General | $ 883,531 | $ 605,025 |
| Development | $ 813,797 | $ 657,773 |
| Total Expenses | $ 14,198,474 | $ 10,264,462 |
| Increase in Net Assets | $ 22,176,960 | $ 3,627,003 |
Revenue
Program Expenses
Total Expenses
Funder Safeguarding Collaborative Statement of Activities
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ||
Institutional and Corporations | $ 600,703 | $ 568,848 |
Membership | $ 39,967 | $ 32,136 |
Consulting | $ 42,701 | $ 67,944 |
In-Kind Gifts | $ 4,219 | - |
| Total Revenue | $ 687,590 | $ 668,929 |
| Expenses | ||
| Program Expenses | ||
| Capacity Building | $ 402,627 | $ 170,773 |
| Grants | - | $ 416,732 |
| Communications | $ 857 | - |
| Total Program Expenses | $ 403,484 | $ 587,505 |
| Management and General (IDC Plus Exchange Rate Loss or Gain) | $ 41,781 | $ 57,686 |
| Development | $ 14,179 | $ 25,096 |
| Total Expenses | $ 459,444 | $ 670,287 |
| Change in Net Assets | $ 228,146 | ($ 1,358) |
Opening Balance in Net Assets | $ 610,865 | $ 612,223 |
Closing Balance in Net Assets | $ 839,012 | $ 610,865 |
Revenue
Program Expenses
Total Expenses
Our Leadership
Global Board of Directors
Swatee Deepak – Co-Chair
London, United Kingdom
Greg Wallig – Co-Chair
Grant Thornton LLP
Washington, DC
Shweta Siraj Mehta – Chair*
Elements Inc.
Atherton, CA
Lila Rymer – Treasurer
Beazley
New York, NY
Chris Wolz – Secretary
Forum One
Washington, DC
Jennifer Altabef*
Dallas, TX
James M. Cain
Eversheds Sutherland
Washington, DC
Mete Coban, MBE**
My Life My Say
London, United Kingdom
Antoine de Guillenchmidt
Goldman Sachs & Company
London, United Kingdom
Maulik Doshi
RiskSpan
Washington, DC
Jaclyn Foroughi
Brazen Impact, LLC
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Palo Alto, CA
Ian Glasner
HSBC
London, United Kingdom
John Hecklinger
Global Fund for Children
Washington, DC
Nicole Kamaleson
Koya Leadership Partners
Chicago, IL
Joan Lombardi
Early Opportunities LLC
Washington, DC
Stacey H. Mitchell
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Washington, DC
Milena Rusu
Feminismd
Global Fund for Children's Youth Leadership Council
Chisinau, Moldova
Marijana Savic
NGO Atina
Belgrade, Serbia
Mark Wilson
Goldman Sachs & Company
London, United Kingdom
* Term ended in May 2023
** Term ended in November 2023
UK Trust Board of Trustees
Mark Wilson – Chair
Goldman Sachs & Company
Antoine de Guillenchmidt – Treasurer
Goldman Sachs & Company
Marine Abiad
Goldman Sachs & Company
Michel Antakly
PJT Partners
Mandy DeFilippo
Morgan Stanley
John Hecklinger
Global Fund for Children
Manju Lulla*
Eros International & Eros Foundation
Kiran Moorthy
Citi Investment Banking
Sonal Sachdev Patel
GMSP Foundation
Muna Wehbe
Strategic Advisor
* Term ended in August 2022
Partner Advisory Group
Bishnu Hari Bhatta
Director
Partnership for Sustainable Development
Nepal
Tatiana Costev-Cosuleanu
Executive Director
Institute for Rural Initiatives
Moldova
José Wiliiam Cuxíl
Youth Program Coordinator
Asociación Pop No’j
Guatemala
Amanda Hall
Development and Partnerships Coordinator
Organization for Youth Empowerment
Honduras
Muhammad Shahzad Khan
Founder and Executive Director
Chanan Development Association
Pakistan
Irma González Neri
Executive Director
Center for Integrated Care for Women
Mexico
Emmy Zoomlamai Okello
Founder and Executive Director
Foundation for Inclusive Community Help
Uganda
Kolawole Olatosimi
National Coordinator and Senior Program Officer
Child and Youth Protection Foundation
Nigeria
Camelia Proca
Founder and Director
Asociația pentru Libertate și Egalitate de Gen
Romania
Prableen Tuteja
Executive Director
The YP Foundation
India
Jesús Villalobos
General Director
Utopia
Mexico
Youth Leadership Council
In March 2023, we were thrilled to welcome eight new members to our Youth Leadership Council. The council, which advises GFC and ensures that young people inform our work, launched in 2019.
Our Team
Over the past year, we continued to invest in hiring team members based close to the partners we serve.
Our growing team now spans 17 countries – from Liberia to Honduras to Bangladesh. We have also increasingly embraced a co-leadership model, and we now have regional co-directors for our Africa, Americas, and Europe and Eurasia programs teams. We invite you to explore our team’s global reach in this map.
Contact Us
Global Fund for Children
Global Fund for Children UK Trust
Funder Safeguarding Collaborative