Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF)

What Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF) does

Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF) is a private nonprofit grantmaking fund and donor learning community founded in 2020 and headquartered at 4312 Knott Street, Beltsville, Maryland. It directs philanthropic resources to youth-led children's rights movements globally through three thematic grantmaking portfolios — decolonize! (resources Black youth workers and activists opposing racism, colonialism, and anti-Blackness), What's Possible (a pooled fund and donor learning community that has allocated over $1M USD via youth collaboratives alongside co-conspirator We Trust You(th)), and Seeking Safety (a participatory grantmaking portfolio developed with Just Beginnings Collaborative, focused on safety for children in institutionalized care, migration, detention, foster care, and refugee settings). Governance is exercised through Youth Collaboratives — cohorts of young activist leaders who decide how funds are allocated — and an advisory hub (HUB) of innovators from across the field.

CRIF's business model is philanthropic grantmaking: it receives contributions from donors and pooled-fund participants, then redistributes funds to youth-led organizations and movements. It also generates ancillary learning resources (learning briefs, year-in-review publications) and has launched a children's book, The Tiny Cave, as a narrative product. Its go-to-market is community-led, relying on participatory grantmaking, multi-channel digital presence (website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube), multilingual web support (seven languages), and convenings — five gatherings have been held to date, with 100+ youth organizers engaged and $500K USD moved to youth movements globally across 14+ countries.

Since 2024, CRIF has operated as a "project with" Purposeful under shared co-leadership of Dr. Ramatu Bangura and Rosa Bransky, with Purposeful providing fiscal management and administrative operations while CRIF retains its standalone brand, programmatic autonomy, and grantmaking focus. CRIF is not a technology company; it has no proprietary AI/ML capabilities, no app or API surface, and its differentiation rests on values-driven positioning, youth-led governance, and reputational assets in the participatory philanthropy space.

Name

Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF)

Legal name

Children's Rights Innovation Fund

Website

https://crifund.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF) is a nonprofit grantmaking fund and donor learning community founded in 2020 that directs philanthropic resources to youth-led children's rights movements globally through participatory, youth-collaborative portfolios (decolonize!, What's Possible, Seeking Safety).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Philanthropic Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Justice & Human Rights Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAN)

Keywords

• Youth-led grantmaking
• Children's rights philanthropy
• Participatory grantmaking
• Donor learning community
• Youth movement funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Beltsville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants: CRIF is a grantmaking fund that mobilizes resources and moves money to youth activists globally. As a donor learning community and pooled fund, they receive funding from donors and redistribute to youth-led organizations and movements through thematic grantmaking portfolios.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CRIF is a grantmaking fund that mobilizes resources from donors and redistributes them to youth activists globally through participatory grantmaking portfolios (decolonize!, What's Possible, Seeking Safety). It also operates a donor learning community that brings funders together to learn alongside youth activists and reimagine children's rights philanthropy. The organization's grantmaking decisions are made by youth collaboratives, with CRIF providing administrative and fiscal support.

Product overview

The Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF) is a grantmaking fund and donor learning community focused on transforming the global children's rights field by building power with youth activists and their allies. CRIF offers a portfolio of thematic grantmaking programs (decolonize!, What's Possible, Seeking Safety), a funder learning community for collective engagement, and creative resources like The Tiny Cave children's book. The organization operates through Youth Collaboratives—cohorts of young activist leaders who participate in grantmaking decisions—and has moved $500K USD to youth movements globally, engaging over 100 youth organizers in their community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• decolonize! CRIF's flagship grantmaking portfolio that resources Black youth workers, children and youth activists working against racism, colonialism, and anti-Blackness. The portfolio traces the trans-Atlantic slave trade and funds Black youth in West Africa and the Americas.
• What's Possible An experiential pooled fund and donor learning community, co-created with We Trust You(th), that demonstrates what is possible when donors follow young people's lead. Youth collaboratives have allocated over $1 million USD through this portfolio.
• Seeking Safety A grantmaking portfolio developed in partnership with Just Beginnings Collaborative (JBC), focused on how children and youth actively seek, create, and cultivate safety, including those in institutionalized care, detention, migration, informal economies, homelessness, foster care, or refugee settings.
• Learning Community An open invitation for funders to learn alongside children and youth activists, invest directly in their leadership, and leverage collective resources and momentum. Features gatherings and collaborative learning events.
• The Tiny Cave A children's book created by CRIF that grew out of observations about how donor practices can quietly constrain youth movements' potential. The story follows a child protagonist into activism.
• Youth Collaboratives Cohorts of young activist leaders who decide how and where funding is allocated within CRIF's grant portfolios. Currently includes the decolonize! Youth Collaborative and the What's Possible Youth Collaborative.

Quantifiable outcome

• $500K USD moved to youth movements globally
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• PurposefulcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024In 2024, CRIF will join forces with Purposeful to strengthen collective and individual philanthropic reach, operations, and influence. CRIF will become a 'project with' Purposeful, maintaining distinct brand identities while sharing leadership under co-CEOs Dr. Ramatu Bangura and Rosa Bransky. The partnership includes fiscal management, administration, programmatic/grantmaking alignment, and advocacy with CRIF maintaining autonomy.
• We Trust You(th)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023CRIF collaborates with We Trust You(th) on the What's Possible experiential Pooled Fund & Donor Learning Community to demonstrate what is possible when donors follow young people's lead.
• Just Beginnings Collaborative (JBC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022CRIF partnered with Just Beginnings Collaborative (JBC) on the Seeking Safety portfolio, posing questions to young activists in Brooklyn about what safety means and how to move money to create safety for children and youth. This was a global project designed to be replicated in multiple sites.
• Just Beginnings CollaborativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership focused on participatory grantmaking around children's safety, with learnings documented in Seeking Safety learning briefs.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Elevate Children Funders Group: Funder learning community mobilizing resources for children's rights and well-being. Directly comparable to CRIF's Learning Community product in mission and funder-collaboration model.
• With and For Girls Collective: Grantmaking collective funding girls'-led organizations, with CRIF's Gabrielle Bailey having served as a panelist. Operates a similar funder-and-youth co-led model for participatory grantmaking in the children/youth space.
• Mama Cash: One of the original pooled women's-rights funds globally, known for participatory grantmaking to movements led by those most affected. Highly comparable in pooled-fund design, intersectional feminism, and shifting power to activists.
• Global Fund for Children: Long-established grantmaker funding youth-led organizations globally. Highly comparable in mission (children/youth rights), participatory grantmaking practices, and global geographic scope, though with a much larger institutional footprint.
• Just Beginnings Collaborative: Strategic partner on CRIF's Seeking Safety portfolio. Operates as a participatory pooled fund for child-safety and gender-based violence initiatives, sharing CRIF's model of youth-led grantmaking and funder learning community engagement.
• NoVo Foundation: Major children's-rights grantmaker and CRIF's Executive Director Dr. Ramatu Bangura's prior employer (Advancing Adolescent Girls' Rights initiative). Direct overlap in adolescent girls' rights funding and a closely aligned philanthropic strategy.
• Purposeful: Sibling organization under the 2024 'project with' partnership, sharing co-CEO leadership with CRIF. Purposeful operates a similar pooled fund model for adolescent girls' movements, making it the most directly comparable peer in mission, structure, and pooled-fund donor learning community approach.
• International Youth Foundation: Global nonprofit focused on youth opportunity and leadership, with grantmaking, partnerships, and programs across many of the same countries CRIF serves. Comparable youth-development mission and global footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Ford Foundation: Major global foundation with significant funding in racial justice, youth, and human rights. Acts as a broad incumbent whose grantmaking addresses root causes parallel to CRIF's thematic portfolios.
• Open Society Foundations: Large, established global foundation supporting human rights, racial justice, and youth-led movements including across CRIF's geographies. A broad incumbent in the same philanthropic space with overlapping thematic priorities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/crifund1
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCpxQGwXVF6u-u9Fwpyi1zZg
• Facebookfacebook.com/crifund
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/children-s-rights-innovation-fund-crif
• Instagraminstagram.com/crifund1
• TikTokvm.tiktok.com/ZM8LGLFYu

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Children's Rights Innovation Fund (CRIF)