Global Fund for Children brings together funders and donors to pool resources to address complex issues affecting children and young people more effectively. These ‘collaborative funds’ combine financial contributions and expertise, enhance impact, foster innovative solutions, and promote collective accountability. This approach amplifies efforts, leverages diverse perspectives, and increases the potential for transformative change.
Current Collaborative Funds
RECARGA
Recuperando la Educación en Centroamérica: Activando Redes y Grupos Asociados (Educational Recovery in Central America: Supporting the Critical Role of Civil Society Organizations) – is a collaboration between GFC, the Tinker Foundation, The Summit Foundation, International Community Foundation, the Luis von Ahn Foundation, Focus Central America, and Vibrant Village Foundation, supporting a cohort of 12 civil society organizations in Guatemala and Honduras. They are focused on advancing the recovery, renewal, and improvement of learning environments for children who have faced diverse barriers to accessing education and that empower these children to reach their full potential.
Our ‘Empowering and Educating Girls’ initiative runs primarily in the rural border areas of Liberia and Sierra Leone in West Africa, where girls and young women often face higher rates of violence and more limited access to education than in the capital cities. This initiative is a partnership between Tides Foundation, People’s Postcode Lottery, and GFC and supports a network of five community-based organizations in West Africa that are tackling violence against girls in their own communities, while empowering girls to exercise agency and autonomy over their bodies and their lives.
The Spark Fund is a pioneering approach to philanthropy that truly represents Global Fund for Children’s values and vision for the philanthropy sector.
A collaborative fund designed and decided by youth that invests in youth-led and youth-focused groups around the world tackling important issues such as inequality, climate change, and mental health. The Spark Fund places key funding decisions in the hands of young people representing their communities.
The first US-based round of the Spark Fund focused on the mental health and well-being of Black boys and young men in Atlanta, Georgia is a partnership with The Imperative and provides flexible funding to youth-led and youth-focused groups at the forefront of addressing mental health and wellbeing issues impacting Black boys and young men. It is supported by the Annie E Casey Foundation via the Fund for Southern Communities, the Texel Foundation, and TOMS.
This comprehensive response is a partnership between many of our donors, including Comic Relief US, Enkel Foundation, GlobalGiving, UBS Optimus Foundation, and several individual donors including the Leslie L. Alexander Foundation, Adele Richardson Ray, Flora Family Foundation and more. GFC has cultivated a network of trusted partner organizations in Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania over many years. These partners have been responding to the needs of young people affected by the war in Ukraine since the outbreak in February 2022. In less than a month we distributed over $1 million in small flexible grants to this network of partners. Our local partners are providing lifesaving support to children and families across the region – children with disabilities, orphans, and refugees are now – unexpectedly, suddenly, and tragically – relying on our partners for help evacuating dangerous areas, obtaining food, warm clothing, heat and fuel, and other necessities. In the longer term, our partners are also providing access to education, resettlement services in border countries, wellbeing and psycho-social support to young people in hundreds of communities, addressing the core needs of families caught in a prolonged crisis.
Adolescent girls face a range of challenges when seeking to access education – from early marriage to gender-based violence. Through support for [The Ending Violence, Empowering Girls] 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.
People’s Postcode Lottery
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.
The Tinker Foundation
We are proud to support the climate resilience work at Global Fund for Children. Their approach to centering youth-led solutions is innovative and critical to address this global challenge.
Avery Dennison Foundation
We are proud to support Global Fund for Children’s work to address the root causes of trafficking and exploitation in communities throughout Bangladesh.
WE Trust
Join a Collaborative Fund
For more information about any of GFC’s current collaborative funds or to discuss ideas or opportunities, please contact Christine Burkhart, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships
RECARGA
Educating and Empowering Girls in West Africa
The Spark Fund
Solidarity in Emergency: Ukraine
