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CO-CEO LETTER

AVFUND BY THE NUMBERS Insights into our 2022 achievements

DIRECTORY OF PARTNERS Where you can find our partners across the continent

IMPACT STORIES Discover how two of our partners and AVFund are making a difference

OUR OPEN APPLICATION SYSTEM Learnings from our third grant cycle

ADVOCACY 13 An update on our current advocacy efforts and how we pl an to infl uence funding trends

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023

Our 2023 new fund and bespoke portfolio service strategies

Bless a Child Foundation

OUR PEOPLE Get to know our team of bold, brilliant women and our core-aligned board of directors

FINANCIAL UPDATE

CONTENTS

TABLE OF

LETTER FROM OUR CO-CEOs

I t i s wi th h e a rt f e l t g ra ti tu d e t h a t w e s ay th a nk y o u . W e ar e a st art-up o rg a niz at io n th at c a r e s d e e p l y a b ou t t h e r el a t i o n s h i ps w e b u ild. Thro ug h y o u r su pp o r t, o ur vi si o n t o d r i ve r e so u r c e s & p o w e r t o A fri ca n s oc i a l ch an g em a ke rs h a s be c om e a re al it y . T h i s y e ar w as o u r m os t f as t -p a ced ye a r t o da te a s w e sp r un g in to o ur s ec o nd full ye ar o f o p e r a ti o n s . L i ke m a n y o rg a n i z a t i on s, w e fa ce d co m pl ex ch a ll en g es w hi le a d ap t ing to the n e w n o r m a l . Bu i l d i n g o u r t e a m rem o tel y an d ac r o ss d iff er en t l o c a tio ns r a ise d im po rtan t q u e st i o n s : H ow ca n w e s u s t a i n a bl y s ca le u p ou r w or k ? Wh a t a r e t h e l e sso ns w e ar e l e a r n i n g a n d h ow d o th e y s h a p e our vi si o n fo r th e fut u r e ? W e a r e e m br ac i ng o ur g row th j o u r n e y a n d kn ow w e w i l l c on t i n u e to u n co ver answe rs to t he s e q ue st io ns fo r y e ar s to come. A m i d st t h e s e c h a l l en g e s , w e a re h umb le d a nd e xc it ed t o c e le br at e ou r bi g w i ns : W e l a u n c h e d ou r o p en a p p l i c a ti on sy st em a nd re ce iv ed o v e r 80 0 a pp li c atio ns fo r o ur th i r d g r a n t m a ki n g ro u n d . Fro m th is i nc r e di ble a p pl ic an t p oo l, w e we lc o m e d 1 0 n ew o r g a n i z a t i on s i nt o ou r p or t f o l i o. Just i m ag in e th e im p a ct we co ul d un lo c k i f e ve r y one o f t h e s e or ga ni z a t i o n s re c e i v e d t he r es o u r c e s th ey d e se r v e! A s t h e w o rl d op en ed u p o n t h e h ee ls of COVID - 19 , w e h ad th e o pp or tu ni ty t o c o nn ec t w i th o u r pa rt n er s a n d fu nd ers a t v a rio us ev e nt s! W e v is it e d s e ve n o f o ur pa r tne rs i n U ga n d a a n d K e n y a . W e w e l c o m ed f o u r n ew b o a r d m e m bers, f our t ea m m e m be r s , a nd we gr e w o ur fun di ng b a s e t o 1 6 a c t i v e f u n d i n g p a r t n ers. O u r s u c c e s sf u l y e a r i s a r ef l ec t i o n o f t he tr us t w e ’v e built with our p ar tn er s, te a m , an d f u n d e r s . W e d ee p l y a p p r ec i a te t h e tr us t o ur p a r tn e r s pl ac e in u s a nd the r e mar kable w o r k t h e y d o . Ap p re ci a t i on f or our tea m an d b o a r d fo r th e ir c om m i tm en t t o o u r m issio n a nd t h e h a r d w o rk to m a k e i t ha pp en . An d fin al ly , a p pr ec ia ti o n fo r o u r fu nd e rs f o r b eli e ving in o u r w o r k a n d p ro v i d i n g f l ex i bl e , t ru st -b a se d s u pp or t w h ic h a llo w s u s the fr eed om to dream. W i t h G r a ti t ud e, Atti Worku Co-CEO

Katie Bunten-Wamaru Co-CEO

2022

BY THE NUMBERS

OUR PORTFOLIO

of funding is multi-year

25 11 PARTNERS

ACROSS

AFRICAN COUNTRIES

24% Emerging Sectors Technology & Climate

By the Sectors

People reached through our portfolio

28% Human Rights

36% Health

44% Education

60%

In leveraged funding to date

Livelihoods

52% WOMEN-LED

Speaking engagements

ACROSS

GRANT CYCLE 3

800+ 33

ORGANIZATIONS REVIEWED

AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Articles published by or featuring 2 AVFund

PARTNER DIRECTORY SaCoDé

Kidame Mart

Friendship Bench

AkiraChix

This Ability Trust

Uwezo Youth Empowerment

Dandelion Africa

Clean Start Solutions

ACADES

Rays of Hope

Impact Africa

Wandikweza

Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO)

Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh (DRASA) Health Trust WAVE Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER)

Msichana Initiative Shule Direct The Community Forest Conservation Network of Tanzania (MJUMITA)

BarefootLaw Bless a Child Foundation Kajo Keji Health Training Institute Fundi Bots Wezesha Impact COBURWAS International Youth Organisation to Transform Africa (CIYOTA)

This Ability Trust

PARTNER

IMPACT

BOLD. INNOVATIVE. LOCALLY-LED.

A Snapshot of the Incredible Impact from two of our Partners in 2022 Fundi Bots

WAVE NIGERIA

Cohort 2

Youth Employment Livelihoods Technology

WAVE addresses widespread youth unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria through an innovative approach that empowers youth through skills training and connects them to employment opportunities. Since 2013, WAVE has trained over 65,000 youth across Nigeria.

2 202

A YEAR OF AMPLIFYING IMPACT

WAVE & its growth partners trained 2,395 youth in essential life skills to thrive in the formal economy. 70% WAVE alumni employment rate 200% year-on-year income transformation for WAVE alumni WAVE expanded into 5 states across Nigeria: Ekiti, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Calabar & Ibadan WAVE partnered with the Lagos State Technical & Education Board and trained 75 TVET teachers on the principles of competency-based education. Students taught by these trainers performed better on assessments, understood the concepts better & were able to teach others effectively. As a result, the Lagos Ministry of Wealth Creation & Employment invited WAVE to train all TVET teachers in Lagos State.

WAVE graduate, Chukwuebuka Ebozue, used his training to launch his online side business in social media management. With his business, Chukwuebuka increased his monthly income by 10% from 25,000–30,000 to 30,000-45,000.

“

WAVE graduates that get placed at our organizations have improved the efficiency of our operations, reduced the amount of additional on-the-job training required, and reduced the risk of high staff turnover.” - WAVE Employer Partner

LOOKING AHEAD WAVE TURNS10 in 2023!

Over the next 5 years, WAVE plans to: Increase employment & economic opportunities for 250,000 youth Expand its training offerings to include more technical training programs Scale its impact & reach by expanding its growth partnership model

“ Cohort 2

Youth Education Technology

Unrestricted multiyear funding gives me & my team peace of mind! It also allows us to be innovative and respond to our beneficiaries needs. For example, unrestricted funding gave us the flexibility to pilot a technical IT training program which was different from our core program offering. It was really successful - many of those graduates went on to start their own businesses using the skills they acquired. Unrestricted funding gave us the flexibility to test this type of programming out and we now have the pilot’s success to inform future programming.” - Molade Adeniyi, CEO

FUNDI BOTS UGANDA

Fundi Bots provides hands-on robotics and STEM training in and outside of the classroom that gets students excited about STEM and opens greater career opportunities for youth in the technology sector. Fundi Bots’ programs have a strong focus on rural and underprivileged regions and girls. Since 2014, Fundi Bots has trained over 35,000 students and teachers. 6

“

2022

A YEAR OF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

In 2022, Fundi Bots directly impacted and trained 10,500 students and 147 teachers. To put this achievement into perspective, between 2014 and 2021 Fundi Bots trained 11,500 students! Fundi Bots completed the first year of its Enhanced Science Curriculum (ESC) pilot, working with 72 teachers and 5,602 learners across 34 schools. Results from the preliminary assessments include: • • •

Up to 93% improvement in science learning More positive attitude towards science learning Improved critical thinking, problem solving, innovation & literacy

The Fundi Bots team grew from 40 staff to 118 staff across its 4 regional offices. Fundi Bots was accredited by Uganda’s Directorate of Industrial Training as a certified skills development center!

“

Unrestricted funding is extremely important in making sure that all our programs run. We receive a lot of funding for our Fundi @ School program, but other programs such as Fundi Girls and Fundi @ Work receive limited project funding. Unrestricted funding allows us to invest in these programs and achieve key milestones & targets despite that.” - Mary Helda Akongo, Fundi Girls Program Lead

LOOKING AHEAD In the second year of its ESC pilot, Fundi Bots will work with ~14,000 students in 50 schools across the country. Fundi Bots is looking forward to further developing its internal processes to meet the needs of the communities they serve and its growing team. Fundi Bots is on a mission to accelerate science learning and skill training for 1 million African children & youth by 2030.

The Fundi Bots Enhanced Science Curriculum (ESC) is our big bet that we can significantly improve and accelerate learning outcomes for science students across Africa by providing practical, hands-on learning material that is embedded directly in the official curriculum. These ESC tools are used by both teachers and students to create a real-time, practical learning period during a specific science lesson.” - Solomon King Benge, CEO 7

“The AVFund facilitated funding conversations for us in the past year. One in particular is [a new foundation], who now funds us. This is greatly appreciated because we had no idea who they were.”- AVFund Partner

AVFUND

IMPACT

SaCoDé

e believe that our role as a funder is to support our partners to sustainably achieve their visions and remain resilient amidst major challenges. We evaluate our organizational impact by measuring our progress in two key areas: increasing funding to African visionaries and transforming philanthropic practices to be more equitable & just. The impact and systemic change we’re working towards is realized over the long term. As a relatively new organization, we are actively collecting data over time to establish our baseline, but here is a snapshot of the impact we’ve seen so far:

$3,778,491 in leveraged funding to date

Leveraged funding is funding that our partners receive in part due to connections or referrals made by the AVFund team.

Cohort 1

32%

Annual revenue growth on average between 2020-2022

COHORT 1 IMPACT People reached 2020- 875K people 2021 - 1.26M people 2022 - 1.45M people

Cohort 2

11%

Annual revenue growth on average between 2021-2022

The African Visionary Fund has, for us, truly become a model for the ideal type of grantor – both in the nature of the grant and the engagement/relationship with the grantor. In many ways, the trust and flexibility with which you allow has given us time and resources on our work which we do not take for granted. There is also the element of who you choose to fund and you being deliberate about funding proximate leaders. Over the years, we have interacted with funders who made us jump through hoops to secure them and another grueling process of reporting. We appreciate that that is the nature of the space in which we operate however, having funders like the AVFund was a welcome, encouragement. - AVFund Partner 9

OPEN APPLICATION

SYSTEM

“[AVFund] helped us appreciate and strive for the same kind of partnership with all our prospective funders. We know the kind of relationship we would like to have with our partners, and it has primarily stemmed from our partnership with the AVFund.” - AVFund Partner Dandelion Africa

In September 2022, we launched our third grantmaking round and piloted our open application system. This system aims to diversify our portfolio beyond the referral process used in our first two rounds and provide more opportunities for applicants to showcase their work iand impact earlier in the process - while being relatively short and mobile-accessible to make the process less burdensome for African visionaries. An open application system connects us to more promising innovators with the skills, and expertise Africa needs for long-term change. We are pleased to have met over 400 local organizations beyond our usual referral networks and expanded our geographical reach this year. We plan to share this expanded pipeline with our network of funders in 2023 and are excited to improve the system to be more responsive, accessible, and shareable next year. With support from our partners and funders, we believe that an open application system will be instrumental in promoting an equitable funding landscape that amplifies the voice, power, and visibility of African social change leaders.

The application garnered over 4,000 views and we received 849 applications. Of that 849, we were only able to make ten grants. That means there were 839 incredible, innovative, and impactful organizations that we could not support that deserve to be well-funded for their transformative work.

OPEN APPLICATION SNAPSHOT 849 Applications Represented Across 33 Countries

OF ALL ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

TOP TEN COUNTRIES

GENDER TRENDS

53%

Women-Founded

61% Women-Led

19.8

Nigeria 18.1

Kenya 12.9

Uganda

Tanzania

7.5

South Africa

Malawi

Zimbabwe

4.3

Ghana

3.8 3.4

Zambia

3.2

Cameroon

9.5

2.2

ADVOCACY

CIYOTA

eyond driving unrestricted resources to proximate African-led organizations to accelerate their impact, the African Visionary Fund’s secondary mission is to advocate for systemic change in the global development and philanthropy community. As with all parts of our work, our advocacy work centers our portfolio partners’ experiences, challenges, and successes to unearth key insights and ideate trust-based investment interventions that make funding partnerships more equitable, efficient, and impactful. Our aim is to share our learnings with other funders within and beyond our networks. We want to see significant shifts in the funding trends for community-based African organizations, and big shifts in how African leaders are viewed by funders in the West; innovative, capable, powerful, and critical actors in the philanthropic system. We are deeply engrossed in the work of identifying sector-wide challenges that can be solved with intentional conversation, mindset shifts, and measured action over time:

RETHINKING Funding and Trust: African social innovation leaders face multiple visible, invisible, and hidden challenges when fundraising due to a lack of trust in their relationships with funders. How might more funders adopt trust-based philanthropy principles in decision-making? Capacity Development: When capacity development frameworks are designed as part of a funder’s program design, it is often done with a focus on deficit diagnoses rooted in unconscious bias rather than clinical analysis. How might funders alleviate prescriptive and context-deficient capacity development? Processes: Grant application processes are typically overly-burdensome and time consuming, and frustrations arise when funders aren’t transparent during the relationship cultivation and decision making process. How might funders design more efficient and equitable grantmaking and decision making processes? Scale: The pressure to scale programs from funding partners can come at the detriment of impact on the ground, yet organizations feel pressured to grow fast in order to attract more resources. How might funders ease the pressure to scale to attract and keep funding?

ADVOCACY HIGHLIGHTS In April 2022, African Visionary Fund hosted an Ecosystem Event at the Skoll World Forum, Redefining Scale: A Smarter Way to Scale for Greater Impact in Africa, which culminated in a Skoll.org featured article, How Traditional Philanthropy’s Obsession With Scale Too Often Excludes African Innovators. Looking ahead to 2023: African Visionary Fund has been chosen as the International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA)’s Lead Learning Partner for their work in Charting A Path Forward at the Intersection of Equity & Innovation. Through our partnership with IDIA, we will be closely engaged with some of the world’s largest and most influential funders as they grapple with how to improve, implement and measure equity-centered practices in the way that they fund local social innovation. We are honored to be able to advance our advocacy agenda on these platforms and connect with our peers across the philanthropy and development ecosystem. Although wide scale systemic change that deals primarily with mindset shifts and interpersonal relationships is difficult to quantify, we believe that any shifts in funding trends that do occur as a result of our work will have far reaching implications on the field as a whole in the years to come.

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2023 NEW FUND STRATEGY

African visionary leaders are driving impact and The African Visionary Fund is laser-focused on shifting capital and decision-making systems change across the continent, undeterred by power to African-led organizations that, despite being best positioned to deliver being chronically overlooked and underfunded by innovative and cost-effective impact, are chronically underfunded when compared to Western philanthropy. At the African Visionary Fund, their foreign-led peers. Our founding goal was to raise $10M in three years to fund and we believe sustainable organizations enable locally-led organizations on the continent. Over that the last three years, we haveare built by empowering and supporting the knowledge and sown the seeds necessary to catalyze widespread systemic change in how funders view innovativeBut qualities thatisAfrican visionary and fund visionary African-founded and led organizations. the work far from being leaders possess. done.

Our Visionary next fundFund will be dedicated to continuing our mission and realizing our vision on amodel that In 2023, we will design a Portfolio Services The African is laser-focused on larger scale. In 2023, we will undergo a visioning and strategy exercise where we dream is grounded in our values of equity and collaboration shifting capital and decision-making power to and scheme about shifting more resources and power and putsto thelocally-led needs andAfrican insightsorganiz of our visionary African-led organizations that, despite being best tions. Dubbed internally as the “2024 and Beyond” Strategy, we are committed toThe core partners above our own assumptions. positioned to deliver innovative and cost-effective ensuring that the fund evolves, our team grows, and our programs expand with equity principles of the strategy will reflect the work we have impact, are chronically underfunded when at the center. been doing to support our partners: compared to their fo eign-led peers. Our founding goal was to raise $10M in three years to fund and enable locally-led organizations on the continent. Over the last three years, we have sown the seeds necessary to catalyze African visionarywidespread leaders aresystemic driving impact and systems change across the continent, change undeterred in how funders view fund visio ary by being and chronically overlooked and underfunded by Western philanthropy. African-founded and led organizations. But the At the African Visionary Fund, we believe that sustainable organizations are built by work is far from done. the knowledge and innovative qualities that African empowering andbeing supporting visionary leaders possess. Our next fund will be dedicated to continuing our mission and realizing our design vision on a larger Services scale. In model that is grounded in our values of equity In 2023, we will a Portfolio and puts the needs and insights of our visionary partners above our 2023, weand willcollaboration undergo a visioning and strategy assumptions. principles exerciseown where we dream The andcore scheme aboutof the strategy will reflect the work we have been doingresources to support our partners: shifting more and power to locally-led We ADOPT equity-centered methodologies African organiz tions. Dubbed internally as the We HELP partners when we’re asked “2024 and Beyond” Strategy, we are committed to We LEAN into trust-based philanthropy, ensuring that the fund evolves, our team grows, and our approach will be ever-evolving and and our programs expand with equity at the experimental by design center.

BESPOKE PORTFOLIO SERVICES STRATEGY We ADOPT equity-centered

methodologies We HELP partners when we’re asked We LEAN into trust-based philanthropy, and our approach will be everevolving and experimental by design

MJUMITA

144

OUR TEAM

Our core strength lies in our team of bold & brilliant women. We started 2022 with 4 team members and by the end of the year our team had doubled! Our growing team helped us nurture deeper relationship swith partners, launch our open application system, cultivate relationships with new funders, and up our advocacy game.

Atti Worku Co-CEO

Katie Bunten-Wamaru Co-CEO

Aisha Onsando Portfolio Manager

Shamira Lukomwa Strategic Partnerships Manager

Sibabalwe Mona Systems Change Strategist

Stacey Gunderman Administrative Coordinator

Isatta Coomber Communications Coordinator

Julie Khamati Programs Associate

Our board also grew in 2022 and continues to be full of fierce advocates for our values and diverse perspectives & expertise. We are grateful for their ongoing support, guidance, and stewardship.

OUR BOARD

Evelyn Omala, Board Chair Africa Portfolio Manager, Partners for Equity

Dr. Suzy Puplampu CEO & Wealth Manager, Octanedc Ltd.

Misan Rewane Executive Director, Stanford Impact Labs

Wawira Njiru Founder & Executive Director, Food for Education

Amy M. Brakeman President, Umsizi Fund

Milton Speid Community Manager, The Impact

Melizsa Mugyenyi CEO, Graça Machel Trust

Jailan Adly Managing Director, GoodCitizen

FINANCIAL UPDATE STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES

Individuals

Foundations

General & Admin Fundraising & Development

Grants & Programs

DRASA Health Trust

GRATITUDE TO OUR FUNDING PARTNERS

TAKE A JOURNEY WITH US ON SOCIAL MEDIA @AfricanVisionaryFund @africanvisionaryfund @TheAVFund African Visionary Fund

Wandikweza