Children's Investment Fund Foundation

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OVERVIEW: The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) was founded by hedge fund billionaire Christopher Hohn and Jamie Cooper. CIFF works to support vulnerable children in developing countries. Key areas of work include neonatal survival, HIV transmission, malnutrition, and deworming.

IP TAKE: Projects with the capacity to deliver large-scale impact driven by measurable evidence and data are crucial here. Although CIFF has ramped up its giving, it only contributes to pre-selected organizations and states that it does not "normally" accept unsolicited proposals. CIFF is not particularly accessible or approachable, but reach out, expecting a delay in response.

PROFILE:  Established in 2004 by co-founders Chris Hohn and Jamie Cooper, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) seeks to "improve the lives of children living in poverty in developing countries through strategies that have lasting impact." Headquartered in London, with offices in Nairobi and New Delhi, this funder is one of the largest in the United Kingdom. CIFF’s founder, Chris Hohn, was born in Surrey and attended Southampton University in the U.K. before going on to get his M.B.A. at Harvard. Hohn worked for Apax Partners and Perry Capital, where he was made head of operations in London. Later, with his then-wife Jamie Cooper, Hohn established the Children's Investment Fund (TCI) and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. Before the couple divorced, Hohn steered more than $2 billion to the charity, including around £800 million in 2007 and 2008, making him one of the U.K.'s largest charitable donors.

Grants for Global Development and Climate Change

Using a rigorous business approach to philanthropic funding, the foundation heavily supports treatment and care for pediatric AIDS in developing countries. As a result of its support in this area of global development, the CIFF has helped to shape the market for children’s antiretroviral medications, a long neglected area in children’s health. The result helped reduce the wide disparity between AIDS treatment offered to adults and children.  

CIFF emphasizes "quality data and evidence," and as a result, before making an investment and throughout the grant process, "CIFF works with partners to measure and evaluate progress to achieve large scale and sustainable impact." The foundation often looks to support organizations that have the potential to catalyze change for children in market areas that are either neglected or largely uncrowded.

CIFF focuses on six main funding priorities in developing countries: 

  • Nutrition. Awards organizations that address undernutrition, stunting reduction and innovative solutions to both issues.

  • Health. Focuses on diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, improving prenatal outcomes, adolescent reproductive health, and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

  • Climate Change. Concentrates its grantmaking on "smart urbanization" and "energy sector transformation" mainly in Europe, China, and Latin America.

  • Early Learning. Focuses on early childhood education and also examines the link between severe worm infection and nutritional and cognitive impairment.

  • Humanitarian. Offers “fast and flexible funding,” in emergent situations such as the recent Ebola crisis.

  • Deworming. Focuses on large scale deworming efforts.

Through CIFF, Hohn's philanthropy aims to help transform the lives of poor and vulnerable children in developing countries. One recent partner is Ethiopia SURE!, which aims to reduce stunting in children under five in four agrarian regions by up to 26 percent. CIFF made a $45 million grant to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation towards a multiyear program that supports efforts by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care to lower the number of new HIV infections among infants. CIFF has also worked with Nigeria’s Federal and State Ministries of Health and UNICEF on a program in Northern Nigeria that delivers nutrient-rich peanut paste to children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. 

CIFF committed $20 million in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and $50 million to the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases partnership, as well as partnering with partnered with UBS and UNICEF to announce the opening of a $1 billion Power of Nutrition Fund.

Hohn has also donated large sums to the San Francisco-based donor-advised fund, the Tides Foundation perhaps also in service of this work.

Important Grant Details:

CIFF tends to generously support organizations doing work in all of its priority areas. Grants range from $1 million to $90 million. To get a more concrete idea of the types of projects CIFF funds as well as their size and scope, explore the foundation’s helpful Grant Portfolio tool. Grantseekers are advised to delve into this funder's complex and excellent website. 

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