Co-Impact pools capital from more than fifty funders to make large, flexible, multi-year grants for systems change. It does not currently accept unsolicited proposals — partners are sourced through regional teams.
Co-Impact is a collaborative rather than an endowed foundation. More than fifty funders across sixteen countries put capital in; Co-Impact’s regional teams source and manage the partnerships. Founded in 2017, it says its two funds have mobilized over $910 million to more than 140 initiatives.
The structure explains the behaviour. A pooled vehicle exists to make commitments larger than its individual members would make alone, which pushes it toward fewer, bigger, longer relationships — and away from open application cycles, which are expensive to run and produce a pipeline poorly matched to that kind of commitment.
So the answer to the practical question is: no, you cannot apply. Co-Impact states that it does not currently accept unsolicited proposals.
Two things changed in 2026. First, Co-Impact is adding money through named partnerships with specific scopes rather than open calls. The LEGO Foundation committed US$30 million in May for locally rooted and refugee-led organizations, and in September the two announced seven program partners in Kenya and Nigeria. In June, Pivotal committed $40 million for organizations integrating mental health into maternal and primary care. If your work sits inside one of those scopes, that is the sourcing channel to watch.
Second, the leadership is changing. Olivia Leland, who founded Co-Impact, steps down as CEO at the end of 2026 and moves to the board; President Awo Ablo takes over in January 2027.
Co-Impact funds systems change, and it means something specific by that. The target is how a public system functions — the policies, institutions and norms that determine outcomes for a whole population — not the delivery of a program operating alongside that system.
This is the filter that matters, and it eliminates a great many excellent organizations. A high-performing NGO running schools is delivering services. An organization changing how a national education ministry trains and deploys teachers is changing a system. Both are valuable; only the second matches this thesis.
If you are unsure which you are, the useful test is what happens if your organization disappears. If the improvement disappears with you, it was service delivery. If it persists inside the public system, it was systems change.
Co-Impact’s own home page names the kind of partner it means: Last Mile Health, CAMFED, TaRL Africa, Harambee, RySS and the GQUAL Campaign among them.
Organizations outside Africa, Asia and Latin America. The geography is not flexible.
International intermediaries. The model centres locally-rooted organizations and, in the Gender Fund, predominantly women-led ones. Northern NGOs implementing in these regions are a different profile from the one Co-Impact is built around.
Anyone needing a decision this year. Sourcing is relationship-led and slow by design.
Smaller organizations. With more than $910 million mobilized across 140-odd initiatives, the typical commitment is large, which implies partners with the capacity to absorb it. At the other end of the scale, the Mulago Foundation backs leaders of smaller organizations with $200,000 unrestricted fellowships, by referral only, and the DRK Foundation takes applications year-round from early-stage organizations in Africa and India, among other places.
Co-Impact spent its first five years as a fiscally sponsored project of New Venture Fund, so its early finances are reported inside that organization’s returns. Its own U.S. public charity, Co-Impact Philanthropic Funds Inc. (EIN 88-2408684), was set up in April 2022, and the spin-off finished in 2023. That entity’s 2024 Form 990 reports $71.2 million in grants paid, $84.9 million in total expenses and $272.9 million in total assets at year end. More than half of its 2023 revenue of $360 million was the transfer of funds from New Venture Fund, so do not read it as one year’s fundraising.
Co-Impact is widely summarized secondhand, and the figures drift — including on its own site. When this page was last checked, in August 2026, the about page said $870 million mobilized; in October it says $910 million. The same page still carries an older block quoting $430 million, and the home page’s counter strip shows $420 million, 100 initiatives and ten funding partners across fifteen countries.
The “840 million people” figure that circulates is on the home page. It is a projection of people who will benefit, not a count of people reached. Grant-size ranges quoted elsewhere, including a “$10 million to $50 million per initiative” figure, are not published on Co-Impact’s funding pages, so this guide does not repeat them as fact.
The figures this page uses are the current about page’s: over $910 million mobilized, 140-plus initiatives, 50-plus funding partners from sixteen countries, and $1 billion to deploy by 2030.
Co-Impact funds Africa, Asia and Latin America. Organizations working elsewhere, including in the U.S. and Europe, are outside scope regardless of fit on every other dimension.
Co-Impact funds efforts to change how public systems function — not programs that deliver services alongside them. This distinction decides fit more than any other.
Co-Impact funds locally-rooted and women-led organizations, and the Gender Fund's partners are predominantly women-led. International intermediaries running programs in these regions are a different profile.
Sourcing is regionally led. Visibility with Co-Impact's regional staff, its co-funders and existing program partners is the realistic route, since there is no form to submit.
Co-Impact ran an open call for the Gender Fund in 2021, and new money now often arrives through named partnerships, such as the LEGO Foundation's in Kenya and Nigeria. Monitor its news page rather than assuming any listing that calls it open is current.
