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GRANTMAKING

WHERE & WHAT WE FUND

Our decision to focus our grantmaking on eastern and southern sub-Saharan Africa was based on an assessment of the existing need combined with the opportunity for the greatest impact.

Of all the regions in the world, sub-Saharan Africa is by far the worst affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Home to only 12 percent of the world’s population, more than 80 percent of the children orphaned by HIV and AIDS worldwide live south of the Sahara Desert.

Despite the fact that grassroots organizations operating throughout Africa are providing the frontline response to this crisis, very little funding actually reaches them.

Firelight has responded to this situation by providing funds directly to the community-based organizations (CBOs) serving children and families affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty.

Firelight accepts unsolicited proposals from seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In addition, Firelight awards grants to CBOs in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda through solicited proposals. Our decision to focus on these countries is based on several criteria, including where the highest levels of need for support to vulnerable children are and where community access to donor funds is limited.

WHO WE FUND AND WHY

From the beginning, our approach to grantmaking has been: child-centered, family-focused, and community-based.

We believe that children grow best in families and that the most effective strategy for addressing the needs of children made vulnerable by HIV, AIDS and poverty is to strengthen the capacity of families and communities to provide for their care. This is why we fund grassroots organizations that support households and communities to meet the material, educational, and psychosocial needs of children.

We look for organizations that have local leadership, engage the community in forging solutions to problems, and strengthen the community’s capacity to address its own needs and support its members.

HOW MUCH WE GIVE

Firelight provides initial one-year grants of between $1,000 and $10,000 to CBOs serving vulnerable children and families.

We strive to make grants that support local initiatives, and are sensitive to the capacity of smaller organizations to absorb and utilize funds.

Once a relationship with a grantee-partner has been established, Firelight makes one-year and multi-year renewal grants of up to $25,000 per year based on program effectiveness and funding needs.

We are now in the process of trying to raise additional funds from foundations and individuals to be able to:

Extend the upper range of our grant sizes to approximately $25,000, with most of our renewal grants falling between $10,000 and $15,000; and
Expand our funding to reach a larger number of smaller organizations through community-based intermediary grantmakers.

Because of the ailing global economy, the United Nations estimates that nearly 400 million of the poorest Africans will see their incomes drop by 20 percent, to about 50 cents per day per person. Because the hardest hit are those who are already poor and vulnerable, locally run organizations that have a direct, positive, and immediate impact on suffering children and families will make a bigger difference than ever before.

In order to meet the increasing needs of organizations struggling to address worsening poverty and suffering from HIV and AIDS among their community members, we are making a concerted effort to raise enough funds to be able to increase the number of organizations we support, as well as the level of support we provide.

Please consider donating to Firelight to help us help CBOs reach more children and families in need (click here for more information on how to donate.)

Investing funds over time enables organizations to develop their programs and strengthen their organizational capacity, and provides them with increased stability for long-term planning. Firelight also provides capacity-building grants to organizations that need further assistance.

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