CIFF is a catalytic funder that works with mission-aligned nonprofit partners to pursue its philanthropic priorities. Over time, CIFF develops multiyear partnerships with nonprofits that demonstrate the ability to focus on transformative change and integrate their work into the government’s social-development efforts. As part of its annual planning exercise, CIFF rebalances its portfolio to prioritise initiatives with potential for systemic change.

CIFF evaluates nonprofits on key parameters, including potential for sustainable impact at scale; use of evidence-based approaches; focus on monitoring, learning, and evaluation; and cost-effectiveness.

CIFF has evolved its grantmaking practices over the years, recognising the importance of trust in working effectively with its grantee partners. As CIFF makes bigger, longer, and bolder investments with trusted strategic nonprofit partners, it helps them build the organisational capabilities essential to deliver the desired impact. For example, CIFF reports that an organisational development (OD) grant made it possible for a leading global sexual health and reproductive rights organisation to develop actionable and realistic goals as part of its strategic plan. OD support also has helped its nonprofit partners increase their resilience to withstand both internal (e.g. leadership transition) and external (e.g. closure of a significant grant) shocks. Given the effect OD support has on unlocking growth and impact, CIFF has found that providing such support has helped it build trust and credibility among nonprofits.

For CIFF’s staff, making longer, larger grants has brought clarity to the foundation’s funding strategy and helped them to develop clearer impact objectives. Moreover, CIFF has observed how multiyear funding mitigates the fundraising risk for its nonprofit partners and allows them to increasingly focus on serving communities. CIFF has also seen its multiyear support help nonprofit partners raise more funding from others.

CIFF’s experience working on a range of thematic areas with different implementation models and partners of different scales and sizes has informed its “no-one-size-fits-all” budgeting approach. It works closely with nonprofits to develop tailor-made budgets that reflect their true costs and helps them build cost efficiencies. Programme managers report that they are able to play more of a strategic advisor role to nonprofits, moving away from a “comptroller” role.

CIFF also recognises that embedding an equity approach in its operations will produce better policy and programmatic outcomes. To that end, it has created an Equity, Gender, and Youth team that supports the organisation’s efforts to embed equity in its grantmaking, advocacy, and partnerships.

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