Indigo Trust: Grants for Global Development

OVERVIEW: Indigo Trust supports technology-driven projects that narrow the income gap and digital divide in Africa.

IP TAKE: Indigo is an excellent resource for grassroots organizations and those just starting out.

PROFILE: An autonomous member of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trust, the Indigo Trust, established in 1999 by Fran Perrin, is a U.K.-based foundation that seeks to create a "[w]orld of active, informed citizens and responsive, accountable governments that together drive positive change in society."

Grants for Global Development

The Indigo Trust has several programs dedicated to global development. Three of four of it’s programs focus on Visual Impairment, Access to Justice in sub-Saharan Africa and Better Grantmaking.

Visual Impairment grants tend to focus on addressing most common causes of visual impairment and blindness, which are cataracts and uncorrected refractive error (URE). To address this work, the Indigo Trust also works alongside practitioner organizations as “funder-advocates” Recent grantees focused on visual impairment include the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s International Centre for Eye Health. Access to Justice in sub-Saharan Africa grants help legal experts, such as judges, lawyers and law students, gain access to legal information that cannot be accessed for free. Better Grantmaking grants aim to “increase the availability, quality and use of information by donors in decision-making processes and to support better ways of grant-making.”

Indigo's grantmaking supports projects with "[l]ow operating costs or sustainable business models and which use appropriate technology that is widely adopted locally." Indigo awards grants to nonprofits in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Indigo ultimately supports organizations using technology to reduce the digital divide that persists between developed and least-developed countries. Areas of interest include projects that leverage the power of mobile and web technologies to foster active, informed citizens and accountable governments, as well as, technology innovation hubs and civic tech communities "that use information communication technologies for positive social change." 

Grantseekers should make certain that their proposals reflect a "[s]trong potential for replicability and sustainability," tackle unmet needs through deep research, and full transparency.

Important Grant Details:

Indigo grants are generally limited to £10,000 (around $11,000USD); however, it has previously awarded grants up to about £30,000, or roughly $33,000 USD. For an idea of the types of technology-driven projects the trust supports, explore its list of grants awarded.

The trust does not outline specific areas of technological focus in its grantmaking, and thus appears receptive to various ideas. it no longer awards grants for health, education or agriculture projects. It also does not offer grants to support infrastructure, equipment costs or generic information communication technology training. Beyond this, Indigo is a very approachable funder that accepts brief letters of inquiry throughout the year.

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