Global Fund for Children

What Global Fund for Children does

Global Fund for Children (GFC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1993 by Maya Ajmera, headquartered in Washington, DC, with a UK Trust entity in London. GFC operates as an intermediary funder that identifies, funds, and strengthens community-based organizations advancing children's rights across six focus areas: education, gender justice, safety and wellbeing, youth power, climate resilience, and solidarity in emergencies. In FY2025, GFC partnered with 405 community-based organizations across 45 countries, disbursing $11+ million through 654 grants, and has cumulatively supported over 1,000 partners reaching more than 11 million children since 1994.

GFC's revenue model is donation-based, drawing from individual donors (one-time and monthly giving in USD and GBP), foundation and corporate grants (HSBC, The LEGO Foundation, Oak Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Estée Lauder Foundation, General Atlantic, Porticus, Tides Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Fondation CHANEL, among others), donor-advised funds, planned giving, and newer instruments including cryptocurrency donations. The organization does not sell technology products or platforms; its core offering is trust-based flexible funding combined with capacity strengthening and peer network facilitation. GFC also publishes Global Fund for Children Books, a program producing over 30 award-winning children's titles.

GFC's go-to-market operates as a community-led model in which it discovers grassroots organizations often overlooked by traditional funders, provides multi-year flexible funding with light reporting requirements, and weaves networks among peers and institutional funders. As of 2025, GFC has expanded its platform model by serving as fiscal host for two additional initiatives: The Iris Project (a youth-led environmental grantmaker, since February 2025) and Girl Up (a global youth gender-justice movement across 155+ countries, since November 2025). The organization is co-led by Co-CEOs Hayley Roffey and John Hecklinger, with regional co-directors across the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Name

Global Fund for Children

Legal name

Global Fund for Children

Website

https://globalfundforchildren.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1993

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Global Fund for Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds and strengthens community-based organizations advancing children's rights, serving 405 partners across 45 countries with $11M+ in grants in FY2025.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Philanthropy and Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Child and Youth Services (62411), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Child Protection & Child Rights (BPAGABAG), Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)

Keywords

• Nonprofit grantmaking
• Children's rights philanthropy
• Community-based partnerships
• Trust-based philanthropy
• Youth empowerment grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: GFC receives donations from individual donors who contribute through the website (one-time or monthly), check, wire transfer, or stock contributions. These donations support the organization's grantmaking to community-based organizations worldwide.
2. Foundation and Corporate Grants: GFC receives funding from foundations (HSBC, The LEGO Foundation, Oak Foundation, Porticus, Tides Foundation, etc.) and corporations (General Atlantic, Estée Lauder Foundation, Goldman Sachs, Avery Dennison Foundation, etc.) through core funding, collaborative funds, and initiative-specific grants.
3. Planned Giving and Endowments: GFC accepts planned gifts and endowments, allowing donors to include the organization in their estate planning for long-term sustainability.
4. Donor-Advised Funds: GFC receives contributions through donor-advised funds, allowing philanthropists to recommend grants to the organization through their DAF providers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Global Fund for Children is a nonprofit intermediary grantmaker that finds, funds, and strengthens community-based organizations working to advance children's rights and youth empowerment worldwide. It provides flexible, long-term, trust-based grants combined with capacity-strengthening support, peer networking, and safeguarding guidance to grassroots CBOs across more than 90 countries, and it accepts donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations to fund this grantmaking.

Product overview

Global Fund for Children (GFC) is a nonprofit grant-making organization that does not offer a traditional software product. Instead, GFC provides flexible funding, capacity strengthening support, and networking opportunities to community-based organizations serving children and youth worldwide. The organization also publishes GFC Books, a children's book program with over 30 award-winning titles.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Global Fund for Children Books Publishing program that produces award-winning children's books for readers from birth to age 12, with content that exposes children to diverse cultures worldwide and with proceeds supporting Global Fund for Children's grantmaking mission.
• Flexible Long-Term Grants for Community-Based Organizations Multi-year, flexible, unrestricted grants disbursed to community-based organizations advancing children's rights across six focus areas: education, gender justice, safety and wellbeing, youth power, climate resilience, and solidarity in emergencies. For more than 80% of partners, GFC is their first flexible institutional donor.
• Capacity Strengthening and Safeguarding Support Non-financial support for grantee partners covering organizational development, peer learning and networking opportunities, and safeguarding guidance, delivered alongside GFC's grantmaking.
• Fiscal Sponsorship for Hosted Initiatives Fiscal hosting services that provide financial oversight, operational infrastructure, and grantmaking administration for hosted initiatives such as The Iris Project (youth-led environmental grantmaking) and Girl Up (global movement of youth leaders advancing gender justice across more than 155 countries).

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 11 million children reached since 1994 through partnerships with 1,000+ local organizations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SC JohnsoncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026SC Johnson, the U.S. Department of State, and the Global Fund announced a three-year partnership to expand access to SC Johnson Guardian, an innovative spatial repellent malaria prevention tool, across approximately 10 priority countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the goal of protecting more than 60 million people. The partnership leverages SC Johnson's $120 million investment in developing and manufacturing the not-for-profit product, including high-speed production lines at its Nairobi, Kenya plant capable of producing 20 million units annually.
• U.S. Department of StatecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026The U.S. Department of State joined SC Johnson and the Global Fund in a three-year partnership to deploy malaria prevention tools across Sub-Saharan Africa, aiming to protect more than 60 million people from malaria.
• Girl UpcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025Girl Up powers an interconnected global movement of youth leaders advancing gender justice across more than 155 countries. GFC assumed the role of fiscal host for Girl Up in November 2025, supporting its leadership development programs and global convenings.
• The Iris ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025The Iris Project is a youth-led, trust-based grant-maker that enables young people to protect and restore nature in their local communities. GFC began serving as its fiscal host in February 2025, providing essential financial oversight and operational infrastructure while The Iris Project maintains its participatory, youth-first approach.
• Funder Safeguarding CollaborativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFSC is the only philanthropic support organization dedicated to safeguarding, creating spaces where funders can share learnings and provide bespoke technical support to improve safeguarding practice in grant-making organizations.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Aga Khan Foundation: Aga Khan Foundation is a major international development organization supporting education, health, and civil society across South Asia, Central Asia, and Africa. It is comparable to GFC because of overlapping geographies, focus on marginalized children and communities, and use of trusted local partner intermediaries.

Direct peers

• Tides Foundation: Tides Foundation is a major fiscal sponsor and grantmaking platform for progressive social-justice initiatives. It is a direct peer to GFC because of overlapping fiscal-sponsorship services, shared donor base (Tides Foundation is itself a GFC funder), and similar donor-advised fund infrastructure.
• Global Greengrants Fund: Global Greengrants Fund is an intermediary grantmaker that distributes small, flexible grants to grassroots environmental groups worldwide. It is highly comparable to GFC because it previously hosted The Iris Project (which transferred fiscal sponsorship to GFC in 2025), shares the trust-based funding model, and operates as a peer intermediary.
• New Venture Fund: New Venture Fund is a 501(c)(3) fiscal-sponsorship and grantmaking nonprofit that hosts and incubates multiple mission-aligned initiatives. It is directly comparable to GFC because it shares the multi-initiative fiscal-host model that GFC is now building through Girl Up, Iris Project, and GFC Books.
• United Nations Foundation: The UN Foundation connects philanthropists with United Nations causes and previously served as the fiscal host for Girl Up. It is comparable to GFC as both organizations operate as intermediary funders for youth and global-development movements, with overlapping donor and partner networks.

Broad incumbents

• Oak Foundation: Oak Foundation is a major philanthropic foundation that funds children's rights, among other causes, and is also a direct funder of GFC. It is comparable because of overlapping thematic priorities (children, gender justice) and shared grantee ecosystem, but operates as a grantmaker rather than intermediary.
• Plan International: Plan International is a large multinational NGO advancing children's rights across more than 80 countries. It is comparable to GFC as both organizations work on the same beneficiary population (children/youth) and similar themes (education, gender justice, safety), though Plan delivers programs directly rather than intermediating through community partners.
• Save the Children: Save the Children is a large international NGO delivering programs on children's rights, education, and emergency response. It overlaps with GFC's mission and geographic footprint but operates at significantly greater scale and as a direct implementer rather than intermediary grantmaker.
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation: W.K. Kellogg Foundation is a large US foundation focused on children, families, and equitable communities; it funds GFC's Strength of Girls' Initiative. It is a thematic peer in the children-and-youth funding space and shares a common grantee and donor community.

Emerging players

• Echoing Green: Echoing Green is a fellowship and seed-funding organization for social entrepreneurs, and was the fellowship that supported Maya Ajmera when she founded GFC. It is comparable because it operates a parallel model of seeding early-stage leaders and is part of the same philanthropic pipeline.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/globalfund4children
• Facebookfacebook.com/GlobalFundforChildren
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/global-fund-for-children
• Instagraminstagram.com/globalfundforchildren
• Xx.com/Global4Children

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global Fund for Children