Eligibility Criteria and Selection Guidelines

The Global Fund for Children selects our grantee partners based on their demonstrated potential to produce sustainable improvement in the lives of vulnerable children and youth and to serve as a resource or model for other organizations.

Eligibility Criteria

Prospective grantee partners must meet the following eligibility criteria in order to be considered for GFC support.

Appropriate size and stage of development

With rare exceptions, a prospective grantee partner’s annual budget should not exceed $200,000. In most cases, new grantee partners have budgets in the $25,000 to $75,000 range. Our aim is to identify organizations at a relatively early stage in their development.

Direct involvement with children and youth

Prospective grantee partners must work directly with children and youth. We do not support groups engaged exclusively in advocacy or research. (We do, however, support organizations that perform both advocacy and direct service.)

Capable management

Prospective grantee partners must have systems and processes for ensuring responsible management of funds. At a minimum, an organization must have basic accounting and reporting systems as well as phone and email access.

Local leadership

Prospective grantee partners must be led by individuals who live and work in the community. We prioritize organizations whose leaders were born and raised in the community. We do not fund the local offices or affiliates of national or international organizations.

Legal status

A prospective grantee partner must be registered with the local or national government as a non-profit organization. If the political context makes legal registration unfeasible, the organization must demonstrate non-profit equivalency. We do not provide start-up funding for the creation of new organizations.

Selection Guidelines

Beyond these basic eligibility criteria, GFC uses the following selection guidelines in identifying organizations that are truly exceptional.

A focus on the most vulnerable

GFC grantee partners reach the children of “the last mile”—those who are economically and socially outside the reach of mainstream services and support, including street children, child laborers, AIDS orphans, sex workers, hard-to-reach rural populations, and other vulnerable or marginalized groups.

Community involvement

We prioritize organizations that are rooted in their community and operate with community input, involvement, and investment, embracing the community as an integral part of their success.

Effectiveness

We prioritize organizations that can demonstrate sustained, meaningful improvement in the lives of the children and youth they serve.

Empowerment

We prioritize organizations that engage children and youth as active participants in their own growth and development, rather than as passive recipients of services.

Innovation and creativity

We prioritize organizations that tackle old problems in new ways, demonstrating innovation and creativity in their program strategies and approaches.

Strong leadership

We prioritize organizations that have committed, respected, and dynamic leadership with a vision for change.

Adaptability

We prioritize organizations that generate models, methodologies, and practices that can be adapted and applied to similar issues and challenges in other communities.

Potential for sustainability

We prioritize organizations that have a strategy for ensuring the long-term sustainability of their programs, through donor diversification, mobilization of government funding, community investment, income-generating activities, and other creative measures.

Reputation

We prioritize organizations that are recognized and trusted in their communities.