In recent years, food insecurity has become a growing challenge, disproportionally impacting low-income and marginalized communities across the globe. The second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2) established by the United Nations in 2015 is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” worldwide by 2030. However, global conflict, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturns have slowed progress towards achieving SDG2 in recent years.
The magnitude of the food crisis and the need in communities across the world requires the public, private, civic, and philanthropic sectors to collaborate in new ways and build momentum to effect meaningful change at more intensive speeds than ever before. This new philanthropic initiative is one of several ways that Citi and the Citi Foundation are working to bring our resources as a global financial institution to address hunger and food insecurity, and we are interested in supporting NGOs with innovative, evidence-based ideas that can move the needle on what has become a crisis of unprecedented proportions.
Funding Overview
The Citi Foundation is focused on the role that NGOs play in addressing food insecurity in communities around the world. This is a purposefully broad question intended to surface locally relevant and potentially game-changing ideas. In this first Challenge, Foundation support will include:
- Grants of $500,000, to be used over a 24-month period, to 50 finalists in select communities where Citi has a presence.
- Grants are meant to be catalytic in nature, supporting the piloting or expansion of ideas and projects in the field of food security. In addition, the Citi Foundation will offer postfunding support by connecting grantees to Citi subject matter experts and employee volunteers as well as hosting learning opportunities to promote shared lessons and best practices on the topic of food security
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant organizations must be registered as nonprofit entities under local law. For example, for U.S. entities, applicants need to be tax-exempt public charities as per Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
- Applicant organizations must be able to submit at least one year of externally audited financial statements, covering all or part of calendar year 2021.
- Applicant’s proposed program must align with the Foundation’s mission of supporting low-income communities as defined by local standards and definitions.
- Applicant’s proposed program covers one or more of the target geographies (see Q5).
Eligibility
- Africa
Algeria, Cameroon, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia.
- Asia Pacific
Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam
- Europe
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Jersey Islands, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom
- Middle East
Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates
- Latin America & the Caribbean
Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad & Tobago, and Uruguay
- North America
Canada, Mexico and select U.S. states and territories: California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington DC
For more information and application.