The Children's Investment Fund Foundation Explained

The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (UK)
Type:Private Foundation
Founded Date:2002
Location City:Addis Ababa, Beijing, London, Nairobi & New Delhi
Area Served:Global
Focus:Climate Change, Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights, Child Health & Nutrition, Child Protection, Girl Capital
Method:Grants
Endowment:£ 5.2 billion, $ 6.65 billion

The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (UK) (CIFF) is an independent philanthropic organisation with offices in Addis Ababa, Beijing, London, Nairobi and New Delhi. It is a registered charity in England and Wales and in 2021 disbursed $468 million and committed $772 million in charitable investments. With assets of GBP £5.2 billion (USD $6.6 billion), it is the 5th largest global development philanthropy in the world based on annual disbursements.[1] [2] According to OECD published data, it is the world's second largest private funder of reproductive health and environmental protection globally and the largest philanthropy that focuses specifically on improving children's lives.[3] [4] In 2021, CIFF pledged $500 million towards gender equality over five years as part of the generation equality forum.[5]

CIFF was established in 2002 by Sir Chris Hohn and wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn as the philanthropic arm of Hohn's hedge fund, the Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI Fund Management), which in 2019, topped the list of the most profitable hedge funds in the world.[6] [7] By utilising a hybrid fund-and-foundation model, Hohn sought to bring a private sector-like approach to philanthropy with intellectual rigour and commercial acumen to attain clear returns for children from the outset.[8] The foundation's approach emphasises a high appetite for risk to invest in bold ideas for transformative and scalable solutions and reliance on high-quality data and evidence.[4] It has pioneered the use of several innovative financing tools and catalytic funding mechanisms within development contexts and has become one of the leaders in venture philanthropy for global development.

Unlike other foundations of similar influence, CIFF is known for avoiding press, though it is most commonly in the news for its climate action, in partnership with co-founder Chris Hohn and TCI Fund management, particularly the Say on Climate campaign which has enlisted global investors to press dozens of companies to set out their plans for dealing with their greenhouse gas emissions and to allow investors to regularly review the strategy.

Jamie Cooper-Hohn managed CIFF until 2013 when Michael Anderson was appointed Chief Executive Officer.[9] The CEO is now Kate Hampton, a key figure behind the creation of the 2016 Paris Agreement.[10] [11]

The Children's Investment Fund Foundations is within the Partner Circle of the Foundations Platform F20, an international network of foundations and philanthropic organizations.[12]

History

In an example of "venture philanthropy" or "philanthrocapitalism", CIFF was set up to automatically receive a portion of profits from TCI fund management.[13] [14] [15] The original formula involved transfers of 0.5 percent of the fund's assets each year, with a further 0.5 per cent of assets for every year during which the fund achieved returns of more than 11 per cent. It is reported that Hohn established the formulaic charitable link in order to motivate himself.[16] Coinciding with the couple's divorce proceedings, changes set in motion in 2012 led to the splitting up of the fund and the foundation. The fund no longer donates money to the foundation on a contractual basis, though it may do so on a discretionary basis.[17]

Activities

CIFF focuses on transforming the lives of poor and vulnerable children living in developing countries. CIFF's investment priorities are childhood and adolescence, child protection, and climate change.[18] Within childhood and adolescence, areas of work include empowering girls and boys to control their sexual and reproductive health and to avoid unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS; improving children and mothers' health and nutrition; preventing low birthweight babies; eliminating deaths from severe acute malnutrition, nested within a more integrated approach to childhood development; and deworming efforts to break transmission for good. In 2019, CIFF in partnership with Wellcome Trust also launched a joint Lancet-Financial Times Commission on Artificial Intelligence in global health expected to be published by end of 2021.[19]

CIFF's child protection work focuses on ending child labour and sexual exploitation by enabling an environment that reduces vulnerability of communities and increases protection of children. The organisation’s climate portfolio is driven by a vision of a climate-safe future for today’s children and future generations that also bear the benefits of cleaner air, energy security and sustainable jobs.[18]

Highlights from CIFF's portfolio in 2018 include:

Some of the grants CIFF made in 2014 include:

In 2013, CIFF committed to spend $787 million over 7 years to tackle malnutrition. This was part of a total pledge of $4.1 billion towards reducing malnutrition announced at the Nutrition for Growth summit in London, co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Brazil and CIFF.[31]

In 2012, CIFF was one of the signatories of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases, a WHO inspired collaborative disease eradication programme of 10 neglected tropical diseases.[32]

The Clinton Foundation lists CIFF among 7 organisations from which it received more than US$25 million.[33]

According to the OECD, CIFF provided USD 253.4 million for development in 2019, of which 98.9% was provided in the form of grants and 1.1% in the form of non-grants.[34]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Top 10 Charities. 14 February 2015. 15 February 2015. Charity Commission.
  2. Web site: Top 10 Philanthropic Foundations: A Primer. 1 August 2011. 15 February 2020. Devex. Salazar . Noel.
  3. Web site: OECD Private Philanthropy for Development.
  4. Web site: Who we are. 20 February 2020.
  5. Web site: Chiu . Bonnie . Over $40 Billion Pledged To Advance Gender Equality During The Generation Equality Forum . . 7 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703164411/https://www.forbes.com/sites/bonniechiu/2021/07/03/over-40-billion-pledged-to-advance-gender-equality-during-the-generation-equality-forum/ . July 3, 2021 . en-us . Jul 3, 2021 . live.
  6. News: Leader of the swarm. 12 July 2007. The Economist. 15 February 2015.
  7. News: Hedge-Fund Titans Hohn, Mandel Lead $178 Billion Year of Profits. 20 January 2020. Bloomberg. 28 February 2020.
  8. News: A Hedge Fund With High Returns and High-Reaching Goals. Anderson. Jenny . 13 November 2006. The New York Times. 15 February 2020.
  9. Web site: CIFF Announces Expansion of Leadership Team. 15 July 2013. 15 February 2015. CIFF .
  10. Web site: GOVERNANCE. 27 June 2018. CIFF .
  11. Web site: Kate Hampton. 28 February 2020. CIFF .
  12. Web site: F20 – For a transformation that leaves no one behind – F20 – For a transformation that leaves no one behind. 2020-11-18. en.
  13. News: A Little Fund with Big Demands, Businessweek, May 23, 2005. Businessweek.com.
  14. News: Feared fund turns to business of charity. 2 June 2007. Financial Times. 15 February 2015.
  15. Web site: The new new philanthropists. 1 October 2007. 15 February 2015. Management Today.
  16. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/da1a54f0-5277-11e1-9f55-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2DEp8INcg TCI goes where other funds fear to tread - FT.com
  17. Web site: TCI Hedge Fund in Britain Ends Ties to Charitable Arm. 18 June 2014.
  18. Web site: Priority Impact Areas. ciff.org. 12 February 2015.
  19. Web site: The Lancet and Financial Times partner for first joint Commission on Governing health futures 2030: Growing up in a digital world. 30 October 2019 . 28 February 2020.
  20. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  21. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  22. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  23. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  24. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  25. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  26. Web site: CIFF 2018 Annual Report. 30 August 2019. CIFF .
  27. Web site: Uniting to Combat NTD's website.
  28. Web site: PEFAR and CIFF Launch $200 million Accelerating Children's HIV/AIDS Treatment Initiative to Save Lives. 16 August 2014 . 15 February 2015 . PEPFAR .
  29. Web site: Guardian Ebola Tracker. Galatsidas. Achilleas. .
  30. Web site: First Development Impact Bond Is Launched. 17 June 2014. 15 February 2015. Center for Global Development.
  31. News: Hedge fund foundation pledges £500m-plus to fight malnutrition. 8 June 2013. The Telegraph. 14 February 2015.
  32. Web site: Table of Commitments. 30 January 2012. 15 February 2015. World Health Organisation.
  33. Web site: Contributor Information. 15 February 2015. William J. Clinton Foundation.
  34. Web site: Children's Investment Fund Foundation Development Co-operation Profiles – Children's Investment Fund Foundation OECD iLibrary. 2021-04-28. www.oecd-ilibrary.org. en.

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