Insider Report
January - June 2023
Table of Contents
Le er from the Co-CEOs Dear Friends of the Fund,
02
Our Portfolio
03
Inspirational Impact: Responding to Cyclone Freddy
04
Beyond the Grant: AVFund’s Bespoke Portfolio Services
05
AVFund Behind the Scenes
06
Financials
Over the past six months, we’ve been reminded of the transformative power & significance of community. We kicked off the year by welcoming our third & largest cohort to date of 10 Visionary Partners from seven countries. We had the opportunity to connect with many of our Visionary Partners in person during this period and connect our partners to each other. The potential for collective impact is immense, and we remain committed to fostering opportunities for our partners to support each other, collaborate, and forge partnerships. We are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded 501(c)(3) status – a significant milestone and win for the Fund and our sustainability. In the first half of the year our team has grown considerably, enabling us to achieve greater fundraising success, provide enhanced support to our partners, advocate more effectively, and lay a solid foundation for our future growth. Equally exciting is the community of funders we have cultivated to support our mission. We appreciate their active engagement and their commitment to practicing and promoting equity in their grantmaking and among their funder peers.
Atti Worku
Over the next few months, we’re looking forward to welcoming 12-14 new Visionary Partners to our portfolio, closing our $10M by 2023 fundraising goal, furthering the reach of our advocacy, and co-creating our next strategy with our partners, funders, team, and board. Every member of our community has a unique contribution to our work, and we thank you for being in partnership with us on this remarkable journey. With gratitude,
Katie Bunten-Wamaru
Atti Worku
Katie Bunten-Wamaru
Co-CEO
Co-CEO
01
Our
Portfolio
$5.4M
24
invested in
PART NERS
across 10 countries
100% African-founded & led By the
Sectors
46%
33%
29%
25%
Education
Human Rights
Health
63%
Livelihoods
Emerging Sectors
54%
Of our partners are women led
83%
Of our partners serve youth
58%
Of our partners have a gender equity focus
$587k
Partners’ median annual budget in 2022
Photo: Friendship Bench
02
Directory
of Partners Burundi SaCoDé
DRC
COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa (CIYOTA)
Ethiopia Kidame Mart
Kenya
AkiraChix, Clean Start, Dandelion Africa, This Ability
Malawi
ACADES, Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO), Rays of Hope, Wandikweza
Nigeria DRASA Health Trust, WAVE, Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER)
Rwanda
Uwezo Youth Empowerment
Tanzania
Msichana Initiative, The Community Forest Conservation Network of Tanzania (MJUMITA), Shule Direct
Uganda BarefootLaw, Bless a Child Foundation, COBURWAS International Youth Organization to TransformAfrica (CIYOTA), Fundi Bots, Wezesha Impact
Zimbabwe Friendship Bench
03
Inspirational Impact
Responding to Cyclone Freddy In February & March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy swept through Madagascar, Malawi & Mozambique with multiple landfalls. The longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded and Earth’s most energetic storm ever observed, Cyclone Freddy occurred
Chipembere Community Development Organizations (CCDO) Cohort 3 Health
Education
Human Rights
against the backdrop of a cholera outbreak in Malawi & Mozambique and food insecurity in parts of all
While CCDO’s headquarters were not damaged by
three countries. The cyclone caused over 500 deaths
the cyclone, some of the communities CCDO serves
and caused catastrophic destruction that displaced
were - with some community members losing their
thousands of survivors and left many without basic
crops, livestock, belongings, and even their homes. In
needs and medical care. All four of our Malawi-based
the immediate aftermath, the CCDO team distributed
partners were impacted in some way by the cyclone
basic relief items such as blankets and food to
and participated in varying types of relief responses.
displaced people that were temporarily sheltered at a
Here’s a closer look at how two of our partners,
primary school in Malauli. With funding from one of
Chipembere Community Development Organization
their existing donors, CCDO was able to help repair
(CCDO) and Wandikweza, contributed to relief &
the homes of 144 people who were finally able to
recovery efforts.
return to their homes at the end of June.
Photo: CCDO
04
Wandikweza
Wezesha Impact1
Cohort 3 Health
Wandikweza swiftly mobilized its team to provide emergency assistance in Blantyre, Chiradzulu & Phalombe – three southern districts hit hardest by the cyclone. After conducting a needs assessment, Wandikweza began providing immediate lifesaving needs, including:
Establishing mobile clinics in three relief camps that provided basic medical care including
Friendship Bench Photos
maternal and child services. Providing nutrition assistance to vulnerable populations including infants, pregnant women & lactating mothers. Offering counseling and psychological support services to survivors & relief workers. Providing PPE, other supplies, and response & rescue support to government & other relief responders.
Both CCDO and Wandikweza emphasized that unrestricted funding was pivotal in their disaster response efforts. It not only allowed them to respond quickly, but also gave them the flexibility necessary to adapt to changing circumstances and needs. As the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters increase worldwide, its integral – now more than ever – for locally-led organizations to have the tools they need to effectively respond to crises and actively contribute to ongoing resilience-building efforts.
Photos: Wandikweza
05
In May 2023, Bless a Child Foundation opened Aladina Home, Uganda’s first palliative care home for children with cancer.
Clean Start Founder & CEO, Teresa Njoroge, was named a 2023 Elevate Prize winner and Acumen Angel, an early-stage capital award designed to advance a community of impact driven individuals around the world.
This Ability Founder, Lizzie Kiama, & Friendship Bench Founder, Dixon Chibanda, took the stage at the 2023 Skoll World Forum. Lizzie spoke on a panel about health equity and Dixon moderated a panel on health & wellbeing for changemakers.
BarefootLaw celebrated 10 years of operation! Since its founding, BarefootLaw has provided tech-enabled legal support to over 940,000 people.
Msichana Initiative expanded its One Girl One Bike program to include a self-awareness program called One Girl+. In just 3 months of implementation, the program has reached over 300 girls.
SaCoDé launched the Oky Burundi app, a sexual & reproductive health app designed by and for girls.
06
Beyond The Grant Our Portfolio Services are grounded in our values of equity and collaboration. The monetary resources we provide are just one of the inputs needed for social impact. The other crucial inputs—knowledge, context, proximity, and innovation—come from our incredible Visionary Partners.
As a trust-based impact catalyst, we see our role as supporting our partners to do what they do best. Our Portfolio Services approach is partner-driven, which means that it's grounded in our partners’ self-identified needs and requests. At every touchpoint, we actively seek partner feedback to understand our effectiveness and make improvements accordingly.
Our Partners Top Portfolio
Services Requests in 2022: Connections to aligned funders
Skills training for junior staff
Access to learning and sharing platforms
Promotion for increased visibility and traffic to their website
Photo: Fundi Bots
07
Core Principies and Services Relationship Deepening Our team is always available as listeners, thought partners, and advisors to our partners - from spontaneous calls with a light agenda to scheduled problem-solving sessions.
Photo: Uwezo Youth Empowerment
We conduct an annual survey that asks partners to identify their core support needs. We send our partners quarterly update emails, holding ourselves accountable to them as our primary stakeholders. We create in-person & virtual spaces to foster stronger relationships with our partners.
Resource Mobilization
Photo: MJUMITA
We offer an additional annual Organizational Development grant to all our partners. This is unrestricted funding that can be used for any self-identified organizational resilience project. Our team offers bespoke advisory services to enhance fundraising capacity. We actively facilitate connections and introductions between partners and priority-aligned funders in our network. When requested, we willingly offer endorsements and serve as a reference during funding application processes.
Partner Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing We create in-person & virtual spaces to build a strong partner network that fosters collaboration & knowledge sharing. Photo: CIYOTA
We
encourage
and
and
regularly
make
introductions where we see potential for partnership.
08
AVFund Behind the Scenes Building Our Team Julie Khamati joined AVFund in January 2023 as our first Program Associate based in Kenya. Serving on the programs team, Julie brings a process-driven and pragmatic approach to her work and a passion for bridging the gap between vulnerable communities and donor agencies. Julie adds laughter to our team and has an impressive ability to quickly build positive relationships with our partners.
Board Transitions and New Leadership After 3 years of leadership, Evelyn Omala has concluded her term as our first Board Chair and we are grateful she will continue her tenure as a board member. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Evelyn for her guidance and dedication since our founding in 2020. It will be our pleasure to continue our collaborative work as she transitions into her role as board member.
We also want to congratulate and welcome three current board members as they step into their newly appointed positions.
Melizsa Mugyenyi Seasoned Development Executive and Former CEO of the Graca Machel Trust Chair
Dr. Suzy Puplampu
Jailan Adly
CEO & Wealth Manager at OctaneDC Ltd Treasurer
Managing Director at GoodCitizen Secretary
Thank you to our incredible board for your outstanding service, passion and hard work. This talented group has been a key part of our work and reach and we look forward to carrying it forward into 2024. 09
First Team Retreat in Kenya! In January 2023, we held our first in-person retreat. Team members from the U.S., South Africa and Ethiopia joined our team in Kenya for an engaging two-weeks of team building, collaboration and intensive strategy planning. In addition to the sessions, we welcomed 10 new partners to our portfolio at our third cohort announcement event. Over 400 attendees from across the globe joined the virtual celebration! Following the announcement, we hosted a celebratory dinner with our partners in Nairobi, both new and old. It was a great opportunity to connect a small corner of our community and celebrate the power of African-led social innovation in person.
We’re now a 501(c)(3) Organization African Visionary Fund is officially registered as a non-profit in the United States. After two years of diligence and six months of waiting, our 501(c)(3) application was approved by the Internal Revenue Service. We will go through an intentional transition process over the next several months to transition all of our operations and finances to our 501(c)(3) entity and we look forward to the new opportunities and growth this will open up for us!
$1M Commitment to Action Progress Report As part of our Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action to find, fund and accelerate 6 African health organizations by 2024, AVFund has committed to supporting 6 health organizations over the next 3 years, including five new health-focused organizations in our portfolio: Bless a Child Foundation, Chipembere Community Development Organization (CCDO), DRASA Health Trust, Wandikweza, and Womens’ Health and Equal Right
Photo: DRASA Health Trust
Initiative (WHER).
Extending Support to Our Partners for the Skoll World Forum We were thrilled to partner with Skoll Foundation to extend support to 15 of our partners to attend the 2023 Skoll World Forum in Oxford, UK in celebration of Skoll’s 20-year anniversary. During the Forum, our partners had the opportunity to meet in person and connect with value-aligned funders during our hosted events. During this captivating week, Lizzie Kiama and Dixon Chibanda, the brilliant minds behind our partner organizations, This Ability and Friendship Bench, contributed to powerful and educational sessions on bias and empathy. Additionally, AVFund co-CEO, Atti Worku, moderated the panel session "Chain Reaction: Localizing Value Chains to Drive Impact," which stimulated critical conversations about localization.
10
Speaking Engagements Catalyst 2030 Catalysing Change Week (CCW) The annual Catalyst 2030 Conference brings together social innovators, entrepreneurs, and others championing systems change to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and accelerate collaborative systems change. In a virtual fireside chat, moderated by Atti Worku, the panel shared their journeys on intentionally shifting power to those most impacted by centering their voices, needs and agency.
International Development Innovation Alliance (IDIA) As the Lead Learning Partner of IDIA's Equity and Innovation activities, Atti attended a closed session hosted in Accra, Ghana, where she presented a framework of equity principles co-designed by African Visionary Fund. Outlined in three themes, our work within this framework is underpinned by the belief that fair funding practices will lead to more equitable partnerships, which in turn will contribute to greater agency to address the root causes needed for systems change.
International Education Funders Group (IEFG) Atti Worku and Rebeca Gyumi, founder of Msichana Initiative, attended the 2023 IEFG Conference at the University of Edinburgh. Over the course of three days, attendees explored systems change meanings, implications and solutions. Rebeca kicked off the conference as a panelist during the opening plenary and Atti joined a panel on the same day for a discussion about philanthropy’s place in systems change.
Photo: This Ability
Photo: Msichana Initiative
11
What’s Next for AVFund
AVFund and Video Consortium’s Solutions Storytelling Project Collaboration AVFund is excited to announce that we have teamed up with Kenyan filmmaker, Eric Mwangi, to produce a short documentary about our work and the work of one of our Visionary Partners. The Solutions Storytelling Project is a collaborative initiative made possible by the Skoll Foundation. This program will deliver solutions-focused short documentaries that catalyze positive change.
Photo: Wandikweza
Upcoming Grant Cycles This year, 12-14 additional organizations are
Open Application System Enhancements
expected to join our portfolio. A shortlist of
As part of enhancing our open application system,
applicants from Grant Cycle 3 will be considered.
AVFund will consolidate our 2022 applicant data
In the upcoming year, we will introduce a new
to get a better understanding of all applicants and
open application system to begin our next grant
make this data set easily shareable to other
cycle.
like-minded funders. We will also expand our
At
that
point,
organizations
apply/reapply for AVFund support.
can
Programs Team to support us in the iteration of the open application system and improve overall
Photo: Shule Direct
user experience.
Catch the AVFund Team at… Segal Family Foundation Annual Meeting in Kigali (July) African Philanthropy Forum podcast (August) Innovations in International Philanthropy Symposium in Boston (September) Clinton Global Initiative Meeting (September) United Nations General Assembly (September)
12
Financials $8.45M cumulatively raised towards our $10M goal by the end of 2023 Since 2021, committed $4.1M total in unrestricted multiyear funding to 23 African-led organizations
81% of funding raised is unrestricted
55% of annual revenue target reached
79% of funding raised is multiyear
74% programmatic spending from January to June 2023
We welcomed 3 new funding partners: 11