PROGRAMS

Grantmaking

Our grantmaking approach is child-centered, family-focused, and community-based. Throughout Africa, grassroots organizations are strengthening the traditional safety nets of the extended family and community through a range of programs. Firelight supports these efforts by providing one-year initial grants of $500 to $10,000 to organizations that support the needs and rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS. The Firelight Foundation makes regrants up to $15,000 to partner organizations based on funding needs and a program’s potential for a wider application.

Who We Fund and Why
Local communities and organizations provide the frontline response to 90% of the children who are orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV and AIDS. Yet very few funds are reaching the grassroots organizations, where even small dollar amounts can make a tremendous difference. The Firelight Foundation seeks to support community-based, under-funded organizations and initiatives. These are the groups that can best identify the needs in their own communities and come up with their own dynamic solutions. We have found that getting our dollars directly to the “ground,” where communities know children’s needs and are familiar with the caregivers, is the best use of our resources. We look for programs that have local leadership, engage the community in creating solutions to problems, and build on the capacity of a community to address its own needs.

We prefer to fund programs that include youth participation in decision-making and leadership. Youth can more easily influence and reach their peers and are effective advocates for social change. They have optimism and energy, and care for adults and children with determination and will. Programs that develop leadership, experience, and knowledge among youth create a ripple effect. Young leaders inspire and educate other youth and help communities prepare for the long-term impact of HIV/AIDS.

Many of the organizations that we fund are small and new to the foundation funding world. Firelight believes in taking responsible risks by funding organizations that offer innovative solutions to specific problems in their communities. Firelight has created a straightforward set of narrative and financial reporting guidelines, and provides training in how to fulfill these guidelines in order to enable organizations to develop their skills and meet these requirements.

Where We Fund and Why
Since our incorporation in December 1999, Firelight has made 173 grants to 120 organizations, totaling more than 1.8 million US dollars in support. Grants have been awarded to organizations in the United States and in 12 countries of Africa: Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In our first year (2000), we accepted unsolicited proposals from locally-run organizations in any country in Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2002, we were inundated with proposals and needed to concentrate our grantmaking in countries that had limited access to funding resources and that allowed staff to travel efficiently. Consequently, we stopped accepting unsolicited proposals from Kenya and Uganda, since those countries have greater access to donors (we continue to consider existing grantee-partners’ regrant proposals and invited proposals). We also stopped accepting unsolicited proposals from Namibia, Cameroon, and Ethiopia because of the difficulty of traveling to a number of dispersed countries and our limited staff resources. We currently accept applications from Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Firelight Foundation pursues a strategy of funding gaps. Each year our staff prepares a country analysis that includes data on current donors, access to funding for locally-run organizations, and level of need. Lesotho was added to our roster of funded countries in 2002 when we became aware of the high percentage of children affected by AIDS in that country and the lack of funding for programs to address their needs. We work closely with our Board to ensure that we direct our dollars to where they will have the greatest impact.

How Much We Give
After two years of grant awards, Firelight capped first-time grant awards at $10,000 and regrants at $15,000. We have learned that smaller grants are less likely to overwhelm a new organization and stifle local initiative. Smaller grants also help ensure that an organization does not become dependent on one source of funding. In order to support organizational growth and development over time, we now make more regrants and multi-year grants than we did in the first years of Firelight’s grantmaking. In helping to support the sustainability of the organizations we fund, we also favor those that have strong local support as demonstrated through volunteer labor, in-kind support, increased local capacity, strong networking, and active partnerships.

What we have Learned
Firelight has learned a great deal from our African grantee-partners about the value of grassroots change. We have learned that the most successful change starts from the ground up. We have learned to measure success in increments, and that small steps over a long period of time lead to larger achievements. We have learned that community groups can inspire action and create a domino effect in broadening responses to critical problems. And, we have learned that community-driven social change is indeed influencing the way nations tackle the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.