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African Collaborative Open Application Now Live
Are you an African-led, African-founded, and Africa-based organization driving bold, transformative change? The African Collaborative is now accepting applications to join its network of forward-thinking partners across Sub-Saharan Africa. redefining philanthropy in Africa—one that centers African voices, leadership, and innovation.
This opportunity is tailored for grassroots organizations, community-rooted initiatives, and visionary changemakers from across Sub-Saharan Africa who are committed to solving Africa’s most urgent and complex challenges from within.
This is not just a funding opportunity—it’s a gateway to unrestricted, multi-year financial support, high-visibility collaboration, and lasting partnerships that prioritize and respect local expertise. The African Collaborative seeks to disrupt traditional philanthropy by shifting power to African leaders, ensuring that resources reach those who are closest to the work and most capable of transforming systems.
Application Deadline: 17 September 2025 (UTC-1)
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Submitting early increases your likelihood of being considered in this cycle.
What the African Collaborative Offers
The Collaborative provides more than just financial backing. This opportunity is designed to nurture long-term impact by removing the restrictions often placed on funding. Selected partners benefit from:
- Unrestricted, multi-year funding to give organizations the flexibility to direct resources where they are most needed.
- Connection to a peer network of bold changemakers committed to community-led solutions and long-term transformation.
- Increased visibility among aligned donors and philanthropic networks who are eager to support African-driven impact.
- Amplification of your work, unlocking new opportunities for scaling, innovation, and deeper community engagement.
In addition to these core benefits, the African Collaborative is committed to learning from and alongside its partners, encouraging open dialogue, trust-building, and accountability grounded in shared values—not conditional metrics
Who Should Apply
This opportunity is open to organizations that meet the following criteria:
- Led by Africans – Leadership and decision-making must be driven by individuals who are African nationals and part of the communities they serve.
- Founded in Africa – Organizations must be locally established, not satellite offices of international NGOs.
- Based on the continent – Operations must be rooted in Sub-Saharan Africa, with work addressing local or regional issues.
- Driving transformative work – Your organization must be delivering bold, creative, and community-rooted responses to systemic issues such as poverty
Why This Matters
Across the African continent, too many visionary leaders are forced to work within restrictive donor frameworks that prioritize compliance over community impact. The African Collaborative believes in funding trust—not just projects. By offering flexible resources and centering African expertise, it aims to shift the dynamics of power and make space for African-led innovation to thrive on its own terms.
When funders act as partners—not overseers—local organizations are empowered to act swiftly, experiment, adapt, and grow in ways that traditional funding models rarely permit. This approach isn’t just more equitable—it’s also more effective in achieving lasting, meaningful change.
A Movement of Pan-African Solidarity
Joining the African Collaborative means becoming part of a pan-African network of peer organizations that are learning together, collaborating across borders, and tackling shared challenges with solidarity and resilience. This network values:
- Community leadership over top-down strategies
- Liberatory and decolonial approaches to development
- Sustainable, regenerative impact over short-term wins
- Cultural context, local wisdom, and ancestral knowledge as powerful tools for change
Share the Opportunity
Not applying yourself? Share or tag organizations in your network that are doing bold, impactful, community-driven work across Sub-Saharan Africa. Whether they’re youth-led collectives, rural cooperatives, feminist movements, or indigenous knowledge initiatives, they deserve to be seen and supported.
A Future of Social Change for Africans, by Africans
The African Collaborative envisions a future where African changemakers are not merely recipients of aid but are architects of their own progress. This is an invitation to help shape that future—on your terms, in your voice, and rooted in your community.
Together, we are building a future of social change for Africans, led by Africans.
APPLY NOW
Not applying yourself? Tag or share this with organizations in your network that are creating bold, community-driven impact.
Together, we’re building a future of social change for Africans, led by Africans.
