General Grantmaking
TFI currently supports almost three dozen grassroots organizations in eleven different countries. These projects are located in Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda, and the USA. Nearly all of these projects and organizations are funded through our General Grantmaking efforts, however in some instances we use other funding sources to assist in their work, such as our Medical Assistance Fund. To learn more about these organizations and the countries where we work, just click on the photo or country below.
Our General Grantmaking Criteria
To ensure the best use of donor funds, we carefully choose the organizations we support. There are many valuable programs addressing poverty and inequality around the world, hence we try to select ones we are able to work with efficiently to make sure our small funds can have the largest impact. To do so, we have developed the following set of criteria:
- Is the organization working in one of the poorest countries in the world or with one of the most underserved communities?
- Is the organization locally recognized as an NGO or as a US-based non-profit?
- Is the organization committed to the cause of poverty alleviation, particularly as it affects women and children?
- Is there a strong and trustworthy leader for their staff?
- Is the organization open to visits and questions for the purposes of monitoring and evaluation? Are they secure in their location, both in the country’s stability and the land rights to the building/space they occupy?
- Does the organization’s proposed project help to lift people out of poverty or break the cycles of poverty that have affected their community?
- Is the project manageable? Does the organization have limited resources and support? If we did not help with this project, would they survive?
- Does the proposed project fall within the SMART development goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound)?
- Will the proposed project have an impact on a significant number of people?
- Does the proposed project fall within our means? If not, can we connect the organization to any other resources or funders?
- Does the organization requesting our help have more money than we do?