FIRELIGHT FOUND ATION

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FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION

“Children give us hope—
hope that as a community,
when we stand together,
we can overcome our fear.
In the togetherness, we give one
another courage to take action.”
Mathabo Tsepa
Founder & Coordinator
Mohoma Temeng, Lesotho

Mission & Vision ................................................................................................................ 3
Letter from the Founder & President ..................................................................................... 4
Letter from the Executive Director ........................................................................................ 6
News from Firelight ........................................................................................................... 8
News from Grantee-Partners ........................................................................................... 10
PROGRAMS
GRANTS 2007
FINANCIALS,
SUPPORTERS & STAFF
Grantmaking ................................................................................................................... 12
Monitoring, Evaluation & Technical Assistance ................................................................... 14
Advocacy & Strategic Alliances ......................................................................................... 18
Communications & Development ...................................................................................... 24
Funding Guidelines & Review Process ................................................................................ 27
Countries Reached in 2007 .............................................................................................. 30
Ethiopia .......................................................................................................................... 31
Kenya ............................................................................................................................. 33
Lesotho ........................................................................................................................... 35
Malawi ........................................................................................................................... 39
Rwanda .......................................................................................................................... 43
South Africa .................................................................................................................... 47
Grantee Profile: Tholulwazi Uzivikele ........................................................................... 51
Tanzania ......................................................................................................................... 53
Uganda .......................................................................................................................... 57
Grantee Profile: CETRUD .............................................................................................. 59
Zambia .......................................................................................................................... 61
Zimbabwe ...................................................................................................................... 67
Grantee Profile: Ray of Hope ...................................................................................... 71
United States ................................................................................................................... 73
Grant Awards by Year ...................................................................................................... 75
Financial Information ....................................................................................................... 83
Donors ........................................................................................................................... 86
Donor Profile: Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Contribution Fund ..................... 88
Donor Profile: The Tsadik Fund ..................................................................................... 90
Donor Profile: The Wexler Family ................................................................................. 92
Board of Directors, Advisory Board & Visiting Scholars ........................................................ 94
Advisory Board Member Profile: Mulugeta Gebru .......................................................... 98
Staff ............................................................................................................................. 100
Volunteers ..................................................................................................................... 101
Make a Difference ......................................................................................................... 102
Please note that this Annual Report covers the period from October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007,
except for the Board of Directors and Staff lists, which have been updated through July 2008.

MISSION
The mission of Firelight Foundation is to support and advocate for the needs and rights of children who
are orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Firelight strives to increase the resources
available to grassroots organizations that are strengthening the capacity of families and communities to
care for children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
VISION
Firelight envisions a world in which
children’s rights are recognized,
protected, and upheld. Every child,
regardless of race, creed, or country,
is provided with a safe environment,
adequate food, shelter, and health
services, a sound education, nurturing
care, and a supportive family.
Governments, nongovernmental
organizations, communities, and
individuals work together to guarantee
children’s sustained quality of life.
Children are recognized for their
strengths and their voices are valued
and heard.
Joop Rubens
Firelight envisions a just, compassionate,
and equitable world in which there is
widespread awareness of, as well as the will and ability to address, the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS
in Africa. Africa is not written off as a “lost cause” or a hopeless situation. Governments, international
organizations, and donors value African lives and respond accordingly. There is a universal belief in the
power of grassroots organizations and a corresponding investment in their work. A strong and growing
African civil society is recognized, valued, and supported.

Firelight Foundation has come a long way in more than eight years of funding and providing support to grassroots-level
services for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. When we started out with the modest goal of funding
community-based organizations serving these vulnerable children, it was impossible to imagine that Firelight would be
regarded as a model of international philanthropy and sought after for its ideas and experience, as is now the case.
The year 2007 saw the highlighting of Firelight’s work in a feature article in
Barron’s Magazine on foundations from across the United States selected by
a philanthropic consulting firm, Geneva Global, as models of “wise giving”
(pages 8-9). In addition, Firelight is increasingly asked to mentor and share
knowledge and expertise with other funders in our community-based approach
to grantmaking. Firelight has learned a great deal from its strategic partnerships
with other grantmakers, and we in turn have welcomed opportunities to leverage
our impact by sharing our work and the lessons we have learned. Over the last
several years, we have worked with both private and corporate foundations
seeking to make effective international grants to community organizations
serving children.
While we are very gratified by this kind of recognition, we continue to face the
reality that grassroots efforts to serve and protect vulnerable children are still
chronically under-recognized and under-funded. There are still too few donors
who are ready and willing to invest in the community-based services that we know
are making a vital difference in the lives of so many children who suffer from the
daily consequences of poverty and HIV/AIDS.
Joop Rubens
We hope that this report contributes to making the case for the support of
community-based organizations working on the frontlines to respond to HIV/AIDS
in Africa. We are proud of our association with the courageous and innovative
grantee organizations profiled in this report (pages 51, 59, and 71). The work
of the organizations highlighted here is but a small sampling of the outstanding
work of hundreds of our grantee-partners who mobilize community support to
sustain life-transforming activities for children. These activities include helping children to stay in school; supporting homebased
health care for households without access to facility-based care; comforting children and young people in their
bereavement; and helping young people who are not in school to develop vocational skills.
While the core of Firelight’s work remains making grants to support services such as these, our impact is also greatly leveraged
through our Advocacy and our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance Programs (pages 14-23). Exciting strides have
been made in each of these areas, resulting, for example, in greater awareness of community- and family-based approaches to
orphan care and in better support to help build the capacity of organizations serving the needs of children.

In this report, we also celebrate the outstanding Africa-based experts—such as our colleague, Mulugeta Gebru (profiled on
pages 98-99)—who serve to guide Firelight as members of our Advisory Board. And we are grateful to our donors (including
those whose work is highlighted on pages 88-93), who have stood with us over the years and shown through their actions their
commitment to supporting the rights and needs of vulnerable children.
Friends of Firelight Foundation will know that we ended an era in 2007 with the departure of Jennifer Astone, the Foundation’s
long-time executive director (see Jennifer’s farewell remarks on the next page). Under Jennifer’s leadership and with the
support of a dedicated staff, generous donors, and a widening circle of partnerships and alliances, the Foundation has grown
beyond all of our expectations. This growth is evident in the increasing reach of our grantmaking and other program activities,
as well as in the respect that Firelight has earned from many quarters. We are very grateful to Jennifer for her seven years
of service to Firelight, and also extend our deepest thanks to Joanne Csete, Firelight’s director of programs, for so capably
stepping into the role of interim executive director. We look forward to the leadership of Peter Laugharn, who will begin his
work as Firelight’s new executive director in July 2008.
I hope that readers of this report will be inspired to join us—together with our many partners—as we continue to support
efforts to build a safe and healthy world for children, their families, and their communities.
In appreciation,
Kerry Olson

This letter is adapted from Jennifer Astone’s remarks delivered on March 20, 2008, at the farewell dinner held in her honor, in Santa Cruz, California.
...............................................................................
Just over eight years ago, Kerry Olson and Dave Katz made a generous decision to set up a foundation for disadvantaged
children. While most small, new foundations in the US focused on domestic issues, Kerry and Dave made the bold choice to
focus on children affected by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa by making small grants to communities.
In October 2000, I found myself sitting around a kitchen table with Kerry, Natasha Martin, Tammy Moody, and Suzi Peel
at Firelight’s first Advisory Board meeting. We drank tea, talked for two days, and made 23 grants totaling US$370,000.
I remember our excitement at the potential of these small grants to enhance the work of community-based groups serving
children and their families.
Little did we know at the time how seminal that meeting was. Many other meetings followed, the organization grew and
evolved, and in the next eight years, Firelight awarded more than 700 grants totaling more than US$8.6 million dollars to
community-led efforts. Donors came to recognize the crucial role of communities in supporting children affected by AIDS.
As I look back over seven amazing years at Firelight, I am struck by a few insights and lessons from the past, as well as some
thoughts about the future.
Effective grants are about more than money. At the beginning, we were focused on the details of how to write an award
letter, evaluate an organization’s legal status, and transfer funds to a grantee. Yet, from the grantees’ perspectives, it was our
encouragement, e-mails, and site visits that made the grants truly effective. In response, we instituted networking meetings for
grantees as part of our regular site visits, and later, organized technical assistance workshops and exchange visits to enhance
grantee learning and information-sharing.
I will never forget Odette Mukansoro’s (Rwanda) response, when asked what made the biggest difference to children: “We
provide children with a place to play and counseling, but what they need most is love. No dollars can ever buy that. Our
volunteers genuinely love and care for the children—that is the best thing about this organization.”
Individuals working together can support community initiatives.Firelight reached out and responded to hundreds of people
who wanted to make a difference by investing in community-led solutions. In so doing, we managed to mobilize a community of
individuals who brought their passion, expertise, and resources to the issues faced by children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Staff, board members, donors, friends, volunteers, interns, African-based organizations, consultants, advisors, colleagues, and granteepartners
have all contributed to building the network, resources, and capacity that make Firelight the driving force that it is today.
Communities and their leaders are doing extraordinary things. Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting
and spending time with some of the most dynamic and unsung heroes and heroines of the AIDS movement. Their creativity,
sacrifices, and courage inspired and pushed me to see that Firelight could do more. One key to these leaders’ success was
their ability to listen to their community members, both young and old. They listened and developed programs that were based
on local ideas, innovations, and efforts.

It was her ability to listen that enabled Betty Makoni (Zimbabwe) to transform a selfesteem
program for high school girls into a nation-wide program to fight rape and
sexual violence. The capacity to listen also enabled coaches at EMIMA 1 in Tanzania
to understand the importance of owning something. They teach children how to
transform scraps of material and plastic trash into hand-sewn soccer balls for their
drills. By making something out of nothing, the children build their self-esteem.
Listening to community leaders from Africa articulate their communities’ strengths
and their ideas for achieving a more just future deeply inspired me. It reminded me
of the noteworthy series on National Public Radio in the US called This I Believe.
The program gives ordinary people a public “voice” to articulate their personal
philosophies on a wide range of topics—from the simple and everyday to the
complex and faraway. As I close, I want to share one of my beliefs with you:
I believe in motherhood, parenthood, caregiver-hood. I believe that to know is to
love. I am on that journey now. Slowing down to raise a child is to remember the
daily work of those who are taking on caregiver roles thousands of miles away—
those who fight for the education, dignity, health, and happiness of those they love.
These caregivers are very diverse: they are community leaders, teenagers, street kids,
home-based care workers, activists, grandmothers, and grandfathers.
Who’s done it
Jennifer Anderson-Bähr
In philanthropy, I believe we must understand that fighting for human dignity—the dignity of all individuals—requires listening
to all human beings. In her This I Believe essay, Gloria Steinem hit the mark in asking: “What would happen if we listened to
children as much as we talked to them” I would add to that a second question: “What would happen if we listened to people
in Africa as much as we talked to them”
Working for a foundation that believes in the value of listening to its local partners has led not only to the opening of a crucial
dialogue on the challenges faced by communities, but has also produced very good results in terms of putting funds to more
effective use, reaching children and caregivers in critical need, and ensuring more lasting solutions.
It has been an honor to work for a foundation that holds at its core the value of listening, learning from, and respecting the
very individuals and communities that we seek to support.
With gratitude,
Jen Astone
1 EMIMA stands for “Elimu, Michezo na Mazoezi” (or “Education, Sport, and Physical Activity” in Kiswahili).

Firelight Recognized by Dow Jones’ Barron’s Magazine for “Wise Giving”
Firelight Foundation was profiled by the national financial weekly Barron’s Magazine as a model of “giving wisely” in a
November 2007 cover story.
Barron’s, the influential magazine of Wall Street giant Dow Jones, profiled 10 philanthropists identified by Geneva Global, a
top philanthropy consulting firm, as those that “epitomize thoughtful and effective giving.” The article notes the uniqueness of
Firelight’s vision and courage in taking a risk on “community projects, not the large nongovernmental organizations already
getting [AIDS] funding.”
Geneva Global points out that it’s not just how much you give, but what you accomplish with your contributions that really
counts. They selected Firelight’s founders, Kerry Olson and Dave Katz, from among 100 individuals, for their philanthropic
passion and effectiveness.
To make the selection, nominations were gathered from cutting-edge thinkers, advisors, and experts in philanthropy. They
looked for living individuals who were actively, directly, and deeply involved in choosing how their money was allocated.
According to Geneva Global, the 10 finalists are not only generous, but combine tough-minded analysis with good
stewardship to get the most possible out of their contributions. Their practices serve as models to others who don’t have
hundreds of millions to give away.
Firelight Founder and President, Kerry Olson, observed, “Making it into Geneva Global’s top 10 list is a great honor. Firelight’s
success in achieving its mission and gaining this recognition is the direct result of the efforts of very many individuals. Our staff,
donors, partners, and grantees should all be applauded for their unflagging dedication, expertise, and hard work.”
(Geneva Global’s feature article “Wise Givers: Kerry Olson Brings Firelight to Children Orphaned by AIDS,” by Tim Ogden and
Carrie Lauppe is available at www.firelightfoundation.org)

BARRON’S
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2007
Giving Wisely By Suzanne Mcgee
BILL GATES AND WARREN
BUFFETT MAY get all the ink,
but it takes more philanthropists
than that to make the world
go ‘round. Hundreds of others
also are leaving big marks—not
necessarily because they have
giant foundations but because
they give wisely. They know how
to make their dollars go far.
B a r r o n’ s a s k e d G e n e v a
Global, a top consulting firm
in philanthropy, to identify 10
donors who epitomize thoughtful
and effective giving….The
works of all 10 donors stand
as valuable object lessons as
this year’s season of giving gets
under way….
“There are lists everywhere of
who the biggest philanthropists
are, but that doesn’t answer
the real question; the biggest
givers may not be the most
effective,” says Steve Beck, chief
executive officer of Geneva
Global. After all, he points out,
no one measures the caliber of
an investor by the size of the
portfolio, but by the returns.
The consulting firm, based
outside Philadelphia, assembled
the list from its own research
and the insights of experts
on philanthropy in five broad
areas: higher education, international
health, domestic
poverty, international poverty
and disaster relief. Assisted by
IFF Advisors, Geneva Global
closely examined more than
100 candidates, looking for
giving that has had measurable
and important impact on
people’s lives….
“We narrowed the list down
to people who have made
a sustained and significant
commitment over a period of
many years, because people
FIRELIGHT FOUNDATION PROFILE
International Health
Kerry Olson and David Katz
Kerry Olson and David Katz became beneficiaries of the Silicon
Valley boom in 2000 after the initial public offering of Juniper
Networks, the software company at which Katz remains a
“distinguished engineer.” The couple chose to finance community
groups helping children orphaned by AIDS in Africa. “We saw it
as an opportunity to have a significant impact with relatively small
grants,” says Olson, 50.
STRATEGY: The Firelight Foundation, set up with $12 million of
Katz’s IPO profits, funds only community projects, not the large
nongovernmental organizations already getting funding. Grants
have covered home-based care for orphans, vocational training,
and programs to fight the stigma that goes along with AIDS in
the region.
REACH: In the six years 2 since the foundation’s launch, it has made
more than 700 grants totaling $8.6 million to more than 300
entities, assisting hundreds of thousands of children.
EFFECTIVENESS: The Firelight Foundation won’t initiate programs;
it only responds to requests for funding from grassroots groups.
“We need to be careful not to undermine the sense of local
ownership,” Katz says. Only 20% of the proposals survive Firelight’s
screening for high-potential impact.
2
As of July 2008, it has been eight years since the foundation’s launch.
who aren’t willing to focus their
efforts and stick to it for a while
will not produce real change,”
says Tim Ogden, Geneva Global’s
chief knowledge officer.
Geneva spells out its methodology—and
offers expanded
information about the 10
donors—on one of its Websites,
www.beyondphilanthropy.org….
These donors share more than
a passion for their causes:
Regardless of how much wealth
each may bring to bear on a
particular problem, all 10 want
to see real, noticeable change
within their lifetimes….
Being effective means finding
the right way to give.
“We saw that we could have
a significant impact with small
dollars, if they were given to the
smaller rural organizations that
also worked most closely with the
people who needed help,” says
Kerry Olson, who along with
husband David Katz launched
the Firelight Foundation to
help children infected with
or orphaned by AIDS. “Most
donors don’t want to give small
gifts, but that money hits the
ground running.”

FIRELIGHT GRANTEE-PARTNERS RECEIVE NATIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION
Firelight’s recent recognition by Barron’s Magazine is an endorsement of the crucial importance of the work of grassroots
organizations on the frontline of Africa’s struggle against HIV/AIDS—groups that most international donors do not reach.
Most of Firelight’s grantee-partners began as tiny volunteer efforts in small, often rural settings. But they offer the kinds of
services for vulnerable children that can only be designed and provided by people from the same communities as those
children. Both the effectiveness of these community organizations and the strength of their leaders have drawn the world’s
attention in the past year.
Girls’ rights activist Betty Makoni of Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe was chosen as one of the Outstanding Young
Persons of the World of 2007 by Junior Chamber International (JCI), a worldwide federation of young leaders and
entrepreneurs. She received the award at the JCI World Congress in Antalya, Turkey, for her “humanitarian and voluntary
leadership.” Makoni became a Firelight grantee-partner soon after she founded the Girl Child Network. Today, the Girl Child
Network operates 450 clubs serving 30,000 girls in most of the rural districts of Zimbabwe. During the year, she also was
elected to the Ashoka Fellowship of global change-makers, featured in the book Women Who Light the Dark and profiled in
the documentary film, “Tapestries of Hope.”
Makoni was also awarded the Global Friend’s Award and was named the winner of the annual World’s Children’s Prize
for the Rights of the Child in 2007. These two awards were established by the Swedish Children’s World Association to
recognize the outstanding contributions of those who defend youth rights.
Maxwell Matewere of Eye of the Child in Malawi was appointed by the Malawian government to serve as a law
commissioner developing national human trafficking legislation. He is working to reform and strengthen Malawi’s
contradictory laws governing adoption in an effort to protect the nation’s orphans and vulnerable children. Matewere and Eye
of the Child were in the international news when the organization questioned aspects of pop singer Madonna’s fast-tracked
adoption of a Malawian orphan in
2007. “Madonna might have good intentions, but we must follow the law to the letter to avoid a situation where criminals
with money might take advantage to abuse our children,” he told the BBC. Firelight supports Eye of the Child’s programs that
mobilize communities and provide training in child rights, child care, and vocational skills for youth.
Firelight grantee-partner Lydia Muso of the Lesotho Child Counselling Unit (LCCU) won a South African Community
Award for her leadership of efforts to provide a temporary safe home for the care of sexually, physically, and emotionally
abused children. She placed second out of 1,000 competitors. Since 2004, Firelight has supported LCCU’s efforts to offer

trauma therapy and legal advocacy to children and families
dealing with abuse, and its community-training sessions to
promote awareness and action for abused children.
Firelight grantee-partner Youth for a Child in Christ
(YOCIC) in Zimbabwe has been selected as a Partner
in the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships
(OIYP) program. YOCIC will join a global network of
young people representing organizations working for
social change. Over the next three years, they will have
opportunities to develop skills and knowledge, to meet
other young people in the OIYP Network and to gain
support for their work for social change, beginning with
an event in Sydney, Australia. Selected from more than
3,000 applicants from more than 100 countries, YOCIC
was chosen for its experience, vision, and commitment to
collaborative community-based work to address injustice.
Dickson Chifamba and Valerie Maasdorp of Island
Hospice and Bereavement Service of Zimbabwe received
the first annual STARS IMPACT Award from the Stars
Foundation for their work in health care. Chosen on the basis
of effectiveness and impact, the award provides US$100,000
as well as technical assistance. The International Journal of
Palliative Care also honored Maasdorp and Island Hospice
with its Multidisciplinary Teamwork Award. Firelight
supports Island Hospice both for its service delivery and for
its mentoring of smaller organizations.
Jennifer Anderson-Bähr
Social worker and child from Lesotho Child Counselling Unit.

PROGRAMS
In our first eight years of grantmaking (2000-2007), Firelight made 705 grants to organizations serving children in 12
countries in eastern and southern Africa. These grants totaled more than US$8.6 million. In Fiscal Year 2007 (October
1, 2006 through September 30, 2007), Firelight awarded 69 new grants and 112 renewal grants to community-based
organizations in 10 countries, totaling US$2.15 million.
WHERE WE FUND AND WHY
HIV/AIDS has taken its greatest human toll in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the heavily affected countries of eastern and
southern Africa. According to the latest United Nations statistics, even though just over 10 percent of the world’s population
lives south of the Sahara, close to 68 percent of the world’s adults living with HIV/AIDS and nearly 90 percent of the world’s
HIV-positive children live in the region. UNICEF estimates that by 2010, some 16 million African children will have lost one
or both parents to AIDS. Millions more face pressures to leave school to care for a parent who is ill or to seek work to bring
income into the household.
Millions of the African children and families affected by HIV/AIDS are assisted by small, community-based organizations
that work on a shoestring to help children stay in school; ensure that they have food, clothing, and shelter; and comfort
them in their bereavement. Although research has shown that grassroots organizations are providing the lion’s share of
services to children affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa, traditional donor support rarely reaches these organizations.
Firelight Foundation is one of a very few foundations that accepts unsolicited proposals from small, grassroots groups in
Africa. Our priority countries for grantmaking are the heavily AIDS-affected countries of Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South
Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. From Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, Firelight accepts only renewal requests and
solicited proposals.
Our Advisory Board—made up of Africa-based experts in programs for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS—guides
Firelight staff in directing grant support to organizations and communities where it will have the greatest impact. For many of
Firelight’s new grantees, our support is the first external donor funding they have received. Many foundations deem it too risky
or too logistically demanding to fund small, grassroots organizations in Africa. In Firelight’s experience, however, granteepartners
have shown again and again that they are well-placed to make the right decisions to help a small grant go a long
way in assisting extremely vulnerable children.
WHAT WE FUND
Children already living in poverty who lose a parent or other family member to AIDS have a wide range of needs: material,
educational, and psychosocial. Organizations with local leadership that work with members of the community to assess
problems and create solutions are best placed to know how to meet children’s varied needs and to protect their rights. Firelight
seeks organizations that have earned the trust of households affected by HIV/AIDS because they listen respectfully to those
affected and strive to offer services that are appropriate and accessible.

Because children’s and families’ needs are so varied, the range of activities supported through Firelight grants is broad. In
2007, these included helping children stay in school; providing vocational training for orphans and other young people with no
adult breadwinners in their families; supporting youth clubs and drop-in centers; providing income-generating activities for foster
families; offering psychosocial support for bereaved children; and facilitating community volunteer home-based health care.
PROGRAMS
Total Value and Number of Grants Awarded by Fiscal Year
$2,066,590
(140)
$2,153,500
(182)
$1,185,900
(108)
$1,372,300
(100)
$656,999
(48)
$431,301
(47)
$735,350
(78)
$22,500
(2)
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
With the grants awarded by Firelight in Fiscal Year 2007, our total grantmaking since 2000 reached $8,624,440, disbursed through
705 grants. The considerable growth depicted in this figure represents both numerous grants to new partners and a significant number
of multi-year grants designed to enable existing grantee-partners to build on their achievements over time.
Firelight especially appreciates the efforts of grassroots organizations that endeavor to keep children in the care of families
rather than seeking to place them in orphanages and other institutions. While in some extreme circumstances there may be
little choice but to place children in orphanages, Firelight tries to embody in our grantmaking our conviction that helping
children stay in family-based care is essential to their well-being.
HOW MUCH WE GIVE
For new grantee-partners, Firelight provides an initial one-year grant in the amount of US$1,000 to US$10,000 (an average
of US$7,000). We try to determine an amount that takes into account what may be the limited capacity of some grassroots
organizations to absorb a lump-sum grant. Firelight most often continues its support beyond a first grant, making subsequent
grants of up to US$15,000 per year based on the reports we receive from the grantees and from in-country site visits. In many
cases, Firelight has also provided small grants for technical support activities, such as study visits, meetings, or workshops with
more established organizations, and for attending conferences.

PROGRAMS
TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO NURTURE STRONG
AND SUSTAINABLE PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
One of Firelight’s most important goals is to nurture strong, sustainable
grassroots organizations in order to contribute to a richer, more expansive
community response to the needs of vulnerable children and families
affected by HIV/AIDS. Firelight has a stated commitment both to meet
groups ‘where they are’ and also to leave groups stronger than when we
first entered into partnership.
To this end, Firelight’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Technical Assistance
(META) Program remains focused on strengthening the organizational
development of grantee-partners, especially their capacity to monitor and
evaluate their own programs. Because our partners are at various levels of
capacity, are at different stages in their partnership with Firelight, and are
carrying out a variety of programs, we strive to have realistic and appropriate
expectations for the diverse set of organizations that we fund. Firelight’s META
Program has a direct role in helping to prepare grantee-partners to sustain their
programs and mobilize other resources, thus aiding their eventual transition
from reliance on Firelight funding.
TRAINING IN EASY-TO-USE MONITORING & EVALUATION
(M&E) TOOLS BUILDS CAPACITY TO ACHIEVE
POSITIVE RESULTS
Firelight’s monitoring and evaluation training module for community-based
organizations is an important step forward in building the capacity of
our grantees to measure their own achievements in a more meaningful
way. We are offering our partners training in a practical and effective
approach to program monitoring specifically tailored to the needs of
small organizations and designed to help them in their day-to-day
management, planning, and evaluation. We believe that this will
not only enable our grantee-partners to better reflect upon their
work, but will also result in better information for Firelight, which
will, in turn, allow us to more accurately evaluate and improve
our programs.
Monitoring & Evaluation

The training conducted by the South Africa-based consulting firm Insideout
reached 41 of our grantee-partners and two network organizations serving
orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho, Malawi, and Zambia during
Fiscal Year 2007. The cost-effective training consisted of a three-day
workshop, a two-day follow-up on the workshop to share and discuss
how to implement lessons learned, as well as two site visits and ongoing
technical assistance to each participating grantee-partner. Partners
responded very positively to the training and are committed to the overall
process. Specifically, they told Firelight that they appreciated Insideout’s
approach to adult learning, which is practical, applied, and experiential
rather than theoretical. The partners also shared that understanding their
information needs enables them to better manage their programs.
TRAINED PARTNERS RECEIVE ONGOING SUPPORT
Firelight has established consultancies with local, qualified organizations
(referred to as “META facilitators”) to enable ongoing support for all of our
grantee-partners who have participated in trainings. Through visits and
telephone calls during the period between workshops, META facilitators
help grantees apply concepts from the workshops, and advance the
development of M&E frameworks and data collection tools. The facilitators
share the results of the partners’ M&E plans with Insideout, which provides
them with technical feedback and advice. Partners tell us that this type
of follow-up support is vital for the “uptake” of the skills and knowledge
acquired in the trainings.
Firelight’s investment in the organizational and programmatic capacity of
the META facilitators fits into the larger picture of building local institutions
focused on orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. For example,
the Copperbelt Health Education Project (CHEP) in Zambia started out
as a local community organization and has now become a national
nongovernmental organization in its own right, specializing in providing a
wide range of technical assistance, training, and mentoring to community
organizations to facilitate effective HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria
programs. CHEP’s work as a META facilitator for Firelight flows directly into
their existing efforts to support community organizations.
Insights shared by META workshop
participants:
“I learned that we are already doing
monitoring, and we can build on that.”
“I learned how to use the information
to manage the programme, and that
monitoring is not about policing.”
“I learned to think about more than
outputs: that it is important to think about
the ‘so whats’ of what we do.”
“I used to get indicators, outputs, and outcomes
confused, but now I know the difference.”
“We will be able to share our work with
others because our progress is easier to
understand.”
“I learned that I can quantify anything and
that it doesn’t mean that I lose quality.”
“The facilitators have taken something
complicated and made it accessible.
Other training that we have attended was
confusing, but now everything is clear.”
“Firelight was a good role model, and I
learned what they expect from us.”
“I appreciate that there will be support
after the training, and that we will not
have to carry on alone.”
PROGRAMS

PROGRAMS
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND META GRANTS
MEET PARTNERS’ SPECIFIC NEEDS
Firelight’s META Coordinator also responds to the specific requests
of grantee-partners as identified by the grantmaking team. Such
requests include linking partners with other organizations, receiving
access to relevant resources and publications, and receiving funds for
activities that support grantee-partner organizational development.
Highlights of Firelight META grants in 2007
Care for Children in Need’s (CAFCHIN)
programs have grown and developed during
their five-year relationship with Firelight,
resulting in an extension of their reach, stronger
community ties, and increased respect from the
community in an under-served region of Lundazi
in northeast Zambia.
Firelight staff identified CAFCHIN’s challenge
in mobilizing resources as tied to a lack of a
strategic plan that would articulate their vision
and provide a comprehensive description of
their programs. Firelight gave CAFCHIN a
META grant to cover an in-country consultant
who facilitated the organization’s strategic and
resource mobilization planning.
Joop Rubens
This enhances the ability of Firelight to respond to partners’ varied
technical assistance needs by providing partner-specific advice and
META grants when necessary. This assistance includes one-on-one
mentoring between grantee-partners, exchange visits or “study tours”
The Project Director of Nehemiah AIDS Relief
Project in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, requested
Firelight’s support to attend a three-week
course on monitoring and evaluation in order
to strengthen the organization’s capacity in key
administrative areas. The grant complemented
the strategic planning support that Nehemiah
received from the Global Fund for Children.
The Firelight META grant enabled the Director
to attend the META course and follow-up
meetings, and also to share the lessons learned
with six other Firelight grantee-partners in the
Bulawayo area when she returned home.
between grantee-partners, or the hiring of consultants to help grantees with specific issues such as financial management or
strategic planning. These grants enable Firelight to proactively and purposively help our grantee-partners become stronger
organizations over the course of their partnership with us, and ultimately lead to better and more effective services for children.

WEEKLY “NEWSFLASH” LINKS GRANTEE-PARTNERS TO FUNDING SOURCES,
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND EVENTS
Firelight staff share information with our active grantee-partners via weekly “Newsflash” emails. These bulletins include information
on relevant resources, publications, funding opportunities, donor profiles, upcoming events and conferences, tips and tools
to enhance programming, and news of grantees’ special accomplishments. Firelight has received almost 100 unsolicited
commendations from our grantee-partners about the usefulness and pertinence of the information and about how the “Newsflash”
demonstrates Firelight’s commitment to enhancing the work of our grantees and to providing access to important information to
all community organizations, especially those working in isolated rural areas. A few are noted below.
PROGRAMS
“Thank you so much for the vital information sent to us. We hope it will assist us in our programming and resource mobilization to help children.”
Loving Hand, Zimbabwe
“This information is useful for young organizations like ours—keep on.”
Mara Widows Development Group, Tanzania
“Thank you very much....Our program is now showing its brighter future through the materials acquired and the relationship which is between
you and us.”
Women and Orphans Care Group, Malawi
“I find your Newsflashes quite helpful and empowering. Implementing what we read in your articles is bringing a face-lift to our
organization.…Keep up the good work.”
Simukai Street Youth Programme, Zimbabwe
“The Firelight Newsflash has been very helpful and inspiring. It has afforded us access to information around donors, training and
development networks, access to resource people and advisors, and lately, on personal development issues. Please continue using it to assist
us to develop in all possible ways.”
Diketso Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust, South Africa
“We have been able to access relevant information to our program and to link with networks globally. We have found it useful to pull out and
organize topical issues from the newsletter for easy accessibility to stakeholders and partners. This is a real value added to our program.”
WEM Integrated Health Services, Kenya
“We truly appreciated some of the articles such as stress and burn-out. Your newsletters have played a huge role in putting things into
perspective. We would like to say, well done and congratulations to the team that is behind the Newsflash.”
Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, South Africa
“The information through the Newsflash is really empowering....It has really helped us to build our capacity and that of the stakeholders.”
Uganda Community Based Association for Child Welfare, Uganda
“I have been dealing with a number of organizations…and have not seen this type of empowerment like what I am getting from Firelight.
The topic on chairing meetings could not have come at a better time.”
Livingstone Anglican Children’s Project, Zambia
“When we receive the Newsflash, there is always something new for us to share with our members and for all of us to learn from.”
Teens Against AIDS, Tanzania

PROGRAMS
Advocacy Initiatives Multiply Firelight’s Impact
Firelight is convinced that services provided by community organizations for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS are
extremely effective but under-recognized and under-funded. It is clear that there are too few mechanisms for getting resources
to these life-saving activities. Through our advocacy, we strive to share our grassroots-focused approach to grantmaking with
other funders by participating in conferences, committees, and other forums.
From Faith to Action
From Faith to Action was born in response to
an urgent need.
As extended family members struggle to
provide for the increasing numbers of children
orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS, this
traditional family safety net is weakening as the
death toll continues to rise and resources are
stretched to the limit.
In the midst of this mounting crisis, faith-based
and community groups have been a source of
hope by responding to the needs of orphans
and vulnerable children. But one of the biggest challenges faced by these groups
is that their work is under-recognized and under-funded.
From Faith to Action describes the strategies used by community- and faith-based
groups in Sub-Saharan Africa to support the families and communities providing
care for the 13 million children affected by HIV/AIDS. The report brings to life
the important work done by these organizations and offers a guide to US-based
groups and individuals seeking to contribute resources to supporting vulnerable
children.
The key message of From Faith to Action is that investing in community-based
approaches enables children to be provided and cared for within families—where
they grow best—and reduces the number of children who are left without care or
are placed in institutions. While recognizing that institutional care is sometimes
needed as a temporary response for children who have no other means of
support, the report illustrates the ways in which a growing number of institutions
are adapting their programs to become more family- and community-based.
On key issues such as the limitations of orphanages and
benefits of community care, we engage in advocacy
through our outreach, publications, and participation
in joint campaigns. And we seek to provide a platform
for our grantee-partners to share their expertise and
perspectives through publications, conferences, and
networking.
From Faith to Action:
Community Care Message
Reaches Growing Audience
In July 2006, Firelight published its first major advocacy
document, aimed at promoting family- and communitybased
responses among the growing numbers of US faithbased
organizations interested in addressing the orphan
crisis in Africa.
From Faith to Action: Strengthening Family and Community
Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children informs
readers about the limitations of institutional care, offering
examples of the strategies used by community- and
faith-based organizations to ensure that children remain
in family care. The report was written and published by
Firelight Foundation, with financial support from UNICEF,
American Jewish World Service, the Bernard van Leer
Foundation, and Save Africa’s Children/Pan African
Children’s Fund.
In the year following the launch of the full-color, 32-page
publication, more than 15,000 copies were distributed
through the 23 organizations that signed on as endorsers.

Joop Rubens
PROGRAMS
From Faith to Action was also shared at a number of influential faith-based gatherings including the Willow Creek Association
Leadership Summit, US Catholic Missions Conference, National Association of Evangelicals, Saddleback Global Summit on
AIDS and the Church, New Baptist Covenant Celebration, and Gateway Church.
Firelight’s website experienced a significant number of downloads of the electronic version of From Faith to Action in the
months following its publication. A one-page brochure summarizing the publication’s key points was also produced and widely
disseminated. Due to successful distribution and continuing demand, From Faith to Action will be updated and reprinted in
2008, with additional endorsers including: Better Care Network, Global Action for Children, Africa Faith and Justice Network,
and the Presbyterian Church of the USA.

PROGRAMS
Better Care Network-Faith Based Organization Outreach Committee:
Promoting Best Ways to Care for Orphans
Firelight Founder and President Kerry Olson chairs the Better Care Network’s Faith-Based Organization Outreach Committee,
which promotes better care practices among faith-based organizations headquartered in the US that work with orphans and
vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although Firelight is a secular organization, it believes in the power and efficacy
of faith-based and community groups in supporting the families and communities caring for orphans and children affected by
HIV/AIDS.
The Committee was formed in 2006 in response to a growing concern about the proliferation of orphanages in Africa initiated
by US faith-based organizations lacking information about more appropriate alternatives to meeting the needs of orphans and
vulnerable children.
In particular, the Committee strives to promote family- and community-based approaches to care. The Committee engaged
a consultant (jointly funded by Firelight Foundation, World Vision, and the Better Care Network) to facilitate an outreach
plan, develop case studies, gather materials on best practices prepared by and for faith-based organizations, and work with
Committee members to publish articles in key faith-based media.
Family Care Alliance:
Helping Keep Children in the Care of Families
Firelight participates in the Family Care Alliance (FCA), an advocacy initiative comprised of a coalition of organizations
dedicated to raising awareness and resources needed to help keep in family care children made vulnerable by poverty,
orphanhood, and other causes. In addition to Firelight, organizations serving on FCA’s steering committee include Global Action
for Children, the Better Care Network, Family Health International, Displaced Children and Orphans Fund USAID, and Kidsave.
FCA aims to conduct a joint campaign through media outreach and the sharing of key messages regarding the importance
of family-based care as the best way to develop a child’s full potential, both immediately and later in life. The campaign will
emphasize how community organizations can help prevent the conditions that lead to reliance on orphanages, including
the provision of daycare for children with working caregivers; small loans and training to enable caregivers to earn better
livings; cash transfers to pay for food, medicine, shelter, and children’s school fees; and social workers to facilitate families’
access to services.
Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS:
Working to Focus International Attention on Children and HIV/AIDS
Firelight played a leading role in funding and organizing the Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA), which has
made significant progress in planning and preparing for the XVII International AIDS Conference (IAC) and CCABA Symposium
taking place in August 2008 in Mexico City. The goal of the symposium is to provide a forum for information-sharing,

collaboration, and networking in order to strengthen the
response to children’s needs, which is critical given the growing
numbers of children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
CCABA has also developed relationships with the leadership
of the International AIDS Society—the body that organizes
the IAC—which has established CCABA as a key resource on
children’s issues.
PROGRAMS
In an effort to bolster CCABA’s contributions to increasing
the quality and quantity of children’s programs, Firelight
Foundation, Bernard van Leer Foundation, and the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund supported grantee-partner attendance at the
AIDS Impact Conference held in Marseilles, France, in July
2007. Following the conference, grantee-partners and invited
guests participated in a full-day CCABA meeting where
they explored the barriers preventing stronger links among
research, policy, and field work, and discussed ways to bridge
the gaps.
Hewlett Funders Group on Education:
Influencing the Quality and Availability
of Primary Education
Firelight staff participated in two gatherings of funders
interested in improving education in developing countries
hosted by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The
meeting also included representatives of ELMA Philanthropies,
the Open Society Institute, Wellspring Advisors, Novo
Foundation, and the Blaustein Foundation.
The group found that private funders stand to play a strategic
role in improving access to and quality of education if they
take risks and develop new ways of supporting and delivering
quality education. With growing school enrollment, declining
quality, and high attrition rates, participants agreed that there
is an urgent need to collaborate and invest strategically in
education in order to fulfill one of the basic human rights of
all children.
Joop Rubens

PROGRAMS
The Interagency Learning Group on Engaging
with Communities for the Wellbeing of Children (ILI):
Sharing and Promoting Best Practices in Working
with Communities
As an active member of the steering committee of ILI, Firelight
brings its experience and perspective on working with grassroots
organizations to a wider discussion about how external agencies
can best engage with communities to protect children and support
their well-being.
Launched in May 2007, this multi-agency initiative aims to identify
and more broadly share appropriate, effective practices used by US
agencies in their work with communities in the Global South. ILI’s
key goal is to solicit community feedback on how external agencies
can best work with and listen to community groups and members in
developing sustainable, child-focused initiatives, and also on how
donors can create a space to empower communities to lead and
manage their own projects.
Strategic Alliances Conference Calls:
Building the Capacity of Grantee-Partners
Firelight continues to facilitate the bi-monthly phone meetings of the
Strategic Alliances group of foundations and organizations focused
on children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan
Africa. The goal is to share information to improve our effectiveness
as donors. Recent conference calls focused on grantee-partner
capacity building, reporting, and exit strategies.
The Strategic Alliances organizations, in collaboration with Funders
Concerned About AIDS, reached the final stages of writing and
editing a report on the impact of HIV/AIDS on NGO staff and
workplaces in Africa. Co-funded by the American Jewish World
Service, Stephen Lewis Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and
Firelight Foundation, the report reviews the challenges faced by many Africa-based NGOs as staff are increasingly affected by
HIV/AIDS, and suggests concrete actions that donors can take to support these organizations. Release of the report is planned
for late 2008.
Joop Rubens

Conferences and Presentations:
Expanding Firelight’s Influence
Staff members Jennifer Astone and Zanele Sibanda Knight attended the Africa Grantmakers Affinity Group (AGAG)
annual meeting in New York in January 2007. Jennifer served as a panelist in a session entitled “Working with Local
Advisors,” and Zanele participated in the panel “Civil Society and Countries in Transition: Liberia, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe.”
PROGRAMS
Staff members Jennifer Anderson-Bähr, Jennifer Astone, and Jennifer Lentfer attended the Global Philanthropy Forum in
Mountain View, California in April 2007.
In May 2007, Firelight President Kerry Olson, Jennifer Astone, and Christine Reyes represented the Foundation at the Council
on Foundations Annual Conference in Seattle.
Also in May, Jennifer Anderson-Bähr delivered a presentation in New York at a Grantmakers Without Borders (GwoB)
member learning meeting on site visit protocols.
Staff member Aili Langseth attended the GwoB conference in New York in June 2007, participating in sessions on fostering
indigenous leadership and the power dynamics inherent in the donor-grantee relationship.
In August 2007, Kerry Olson participated in the Global Philanthropy Forum’s Summer Seminar for International Donors
held in Napa Valley, California. The highly-interactive three-day seminar provided a rich forum for the exploration of ideas,
values, and methods for achieving social change and impact while addressing the challenges of international giving.
Joanne Csete, Kerry Olson, and Jennifer Astone attended the one-day symposium of the Joint Learning Initiative on
Children and AIDS in Boston, in September 2007. The event—which convened 250 world leaders in science, policymaking,
advocacy, and program implementation—provided Firelight an opportunity to gain insight into the findings of the Joint
Learning Initiative’s research.

PROGRAMS
Over the years Firelight has supported hundreds of grassroots organizations that have mobilized their communities and
generated change. The work of these organizations is inspiring, and it is being done all across Sub-Saharan Africa. But
information about this important work is rarely disseminated outside of the villages or communities where it is taking place.
Part of our mission at Firelight is to document and share information about these efforts, so that we can add momentum and
leverage support. We also help make it possible for people in the United States to connect to dynamic, change-making African
leaders. Through all of our activities, we emphasize the impact that funds invested in effective community-based organizations
can have on the lives of Africa’s orphans and vulnerable children.
In 2006 (as detailed on pages 18-19) Firelight published its first major advocacy document: From Faith to Action: Strengthening
Family and Community Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Please visit www.firelightfoundation.org to download a copy.
EVENTS
In Fiscal Year 2007, we also organized and participated in several events with the goal of conveying how grassroots
organizations and leaders are responding to the needs within their communities.
Year-End Fundraisers
On November 9, 2006, Firelight held its year-end awareness and fundraising event at the home of Marie-Françoise Bertrand
and Pradeep Sindhu in Los Altos Hills, California. The guest of honor was Loveness Chirwa, program manager at Youth for a
Child in Christ (YOCIC) in Zimbabwe, a Firelight grantee. Founder and President Kerry Olson opened the evening with a few
words about Firelight and the importance of community-based
care of children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Youth for a Child in Christ (YOCIC), an
interdenominational organization in Zimbabwe, is
a pioneer in providing psychosocial support to the
country’s orphans and vulnerable children. The
youth-led organization introduced “Kids Clubs” to
Bulawayo—Zimbabwe’s second-largest city—
earning immediate distinction. The clubs utilize
youth counselors to facilitate games and activities
intended to help children living in vulnerable
situations develop coping strategies and life skills.
There are now 26 clubs located throughout the
city, involving more than 450 youth volunteers.
YOCIC also provides youth leadership training
and income-generating activities.
Loveness captured the audience’s attention by sharing the story
of a young woman who watched her father dying slowly from
AIDS, only to witness the death of her mother a few years later.
When relatives threw the young woman and her siblings out
of their home, members of their church community took them
in. Loveness asked the audience to imagine what eventually
happened to that young woman.
After a pause, she revealed that the story was her own. She
emphasized that she could have ended up living on the streets or
forced into prostitution to provide for her younger brothers and
sisters, but the support of community members helped her to stay
in school and eventually ascend to a leadership position in an
organization that supports children just like her. Loveness ended
her talk by describing the challenges and rewards of her YOCIC

work, including stories of children creating memory books to
help them deal with the grief of losing their parents.
Executive Director Jennifer Astone extended an invitation to
the audience to learn more about Firelight’s work from its
publications and staff members. The evening ended with a
screening of a short video documenting the importance of
community-based care for children in Sub-Saharan Africa
and outlining several strategies for supporting family and
community care for orphans and vulnerable children.
PROGRAMS
A few days after this event, on November 12, 2006, Firelight
held its first awareness and fundraising event in southern
California, at the Hermosa Beach home of Dorothy and Bob
Courtney. Because most of the guests were new to Firelight,
Communications and Development Officer Joop Rubens
talked about the genesis of the Foundation and highlighted
its major accomplishments over the first seven years of
its existence. Loveness Chirwa shared her own poignant
story and the stories of the children she works with through
YOCIC. The evening ended with guests engaging in a
dialogue about Firelight’s work.
Joop Rubens

PROGRAMS
Donor Gathering
In July 2007, Senior Program Officer and Development
Officer Jennifer Anderson-Bähr attended a meeting
of donors working in Lesotho, held at Windsor Great
Park in London. The conference was sponsored by
Sentebale, a foundation established by England’s
Prince Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso, to continue
in the spirit of their mothers’ charitable work, with a
focus on children in Lesotho. The goal of the “Letsema”
(meaning “working together” in Sesotho) conference
was to foster collaboration between donors in order
to strengthen the collective response to the plight of
vulnerable children in Lesotho.
Jennifer participated in a panel sharing donor
experiences with engendering and supporting
coordination among nongovernmental organizations.
She also served as a moderator for a discussion on
donor collaboration in the social welfare sector. At a
small luncheon hosted by Prince Harry, Jennifer was
given the opportunity to highlight the work of grantees
and discuss the importance of supporting communities
to address the needs and challenges faced by orphans
and vulnerable children.
HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
For more information on how to support Firelight’s
work with vulnerable children and communities in Sub-
Saharan Africa, please see the Making a Difference
section of this report (pages 102-103).
Firelight produced a brochure for the Letsema Conference, describing
the history of our grantmaking in Lesotho and providing a list of all our
grantees to date.

Firelight Foundation uses the following funding guidelines and review process to solicit proposals from and award grants to
organizations that address the needs of children orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Each year, our
Board of Directors, Advisory Board, and staff members review and revise these guidelines to ensure that they accurately reflect
Firelight’s goals.
Please visit www.firelightfoundation.org for the most updated guidelines and application forms.
PROGRAMS
FUNDING CRITERIA
Every child—regardless of race, creed, or country of origin—deserves the promise of a future.
The mission of Firelight Foundation is to support and advocate for the needs and rights of children who are orphaned or
affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Firelight strives to increase the resources available to grassroots organizations
that are strengthening the capacity of families and communities to care for children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
We believe that grassroots programs directly responding to the needs of local communities are often the most effective.
Firelight supports this vital work with initial one-year grants and subsequent renewal grants based on funding needs and
opportunities for shared learning.
We give one-year, first-time grants of between US$1,000 and US$10,000 to community-based initiatives that work directly
and effectively to support the fundamental needs and rights of children (from birth to age 21) who are orphaned or otherwise
affected by HIV/AIDS. We will subsequently give organizations renewal grants of up to US$15,000.
Eligible Countries:
Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
The geographic focus of our grantmaking is eastern and southern Sub-Saharan Africa. In order for us to focus our efforts in an
effective and sustained manner, we only accept Letters of Inquiry from seven countries: Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa,
Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. From other countries, Firelight only accepts renewal requests and solicited proposals.
Firelight receives hundreds of requests for funding from seven focus countries and awards approximately 40 new grants each year.
In selecting programs to support, Firelight Foundation uses the following criteria:
• Programs that directly serve the needs of vulnerable children
• Grassroots responses to needs that raise resources within the community
• Programs that demonstrate strong leadership and community ownership
• Organizations with a history of effective community action
• Programs in which youth take part in decision-making, advocacy, and leadership activities
• Innovative responses to the situations of children affected by HIV/AIDS

PROGRAMS
Programs supporting children affected by HIV/AIDS that offer the following services
are of particular interest to us:
• Programs to enhance or create a supportive environment for children’s growth and development
• Primary and secondary education with a holistic approach to children’s needs
• Vocational education and skills development
• Economic strengthening activities for caregivers and independent youth
• Programs that contribute to social and behavioral change
• Recreational activities and counseling programs focusing on psychosocial support
• Sexual abuse prevention and treatment
• Programs that provide leadership opportunities for children and youth
• Respite or residential care/medical treatment for HIV-infected children, including palliative
and hospice care/home-based care programs
• Programs that are shifting away from long-term institutionalization of children (in orphanages, for example)
• Reintegration of children from institutions back into the community
• Permanency planning and related legal aid advocacy
• Programs that reach marginalized populations and especially vulnerable children, including street children,
child-headed households, disabled children, adolescent girls, or infants and children living with HIV/AIDS.
Firelight does NOT fund:
Individuals; scholarships for individual use; government entities; organizations or programs designed to influence legislation or
elect public officials; organizations or programs solely intended to generate income or provide charity to individuals; academic
or medical research; fundraising drives; or endowments.
Firelight believes strongly in non-discrimination and does not fund programs that limit participation based on race, religion,
gender, or nationality. We very rarely fund US-based organizations or branches of international non-governmental organizations.
Firelight Foundation believes that children develop best when raised within families and communities. We therefore rarely fund
orphanages, except in extraordinary cases, where there may be compelling reasons why institutional care is in the best interests
of a child.
We are often asked for food aid, medical care, and housing. We understand the urgency of these needs, but we are not a
relief agency. If an organization requests such assistance, it should explain how the planned activities will be undertaken in a
sustainable and holistic way. Similarly, we receive many requests for school fees. Firelight rarely funds requests for school fees
alone. If an organization seeks such assistance, it should describe how it plans to address children’s other needs, and what will
happen after the one year of funding for basic schooling is completed.

THE APPLICATION AND DECISION PROCESS
Firelight reviews proposals and awards new grants and renewal grants every six months.
New Grants: The Letter of Inquiry and Full Proposal
Firelight always strives to make our application process simple and accessible to grassroots organizations. Applicants from our
seven focus countries first submit a two- or three-page Letter of Inquiry that briefly describes their organization and the program
or activities for which they are requesting funding. Letter of Inquiry guidelines are updated annually. These guidelines appear on
www.firelightfoundation.org, circulate through topical listservs, and are emailed and mailed by Firelight upon request.
PROGRAMS
In 2007 Firelight received more than 400 Letters of Inquiry. Nearly 20 percent of applicant organizations were asked to submit
full proposals for more in-depth consideration by Firelight’s staff and Advisory Board. A full proposal provides more detailed
information about the applicant organization and the activities proposed for funding, including a timeline and a budget.
Renewal Grants
Organizations applying for continued funding from Firelight submit renewal proposals. These proposals include much of the
same information as the new grant proposals, but also describe how the proposed activities build upon the work funded under
the previous Firelight grant and how they fit within the organization’s longer-term vision and plans.
Grantee-partners who have reported on their previous grants and who are otherwise in good standing with Firelight are
considered for continued funding. Those partners who offer direct services to children, who benefit from extensive community
involvement, and who demonstrate evolving organizational capacity are likely to be awarded renewal grants.
The Decision Process
Firelight staff members analyze and assess proposals according to our funding criteria and respective country strategies. We
engage in a due diligence process that includes a thorough review of an applicant’s organizational management, past and
proposed activities, and budgetary information. We prepare proposal summaries that include an overall assessment of the
application based on references from our in-country resource people, referees, and donors familiar with the applicant group.
Our Advisory Board members review these summary recommendations and make a final recommendation for funding to the
Board of Directors.
Grant Awards
As a private foundation that makes overseas grants, Firelight Foundation has detailed contract and reporting requirements
for successful applicants. In order to receive grant funds, an organization must sign a grant contract; provide financial
information; and where applicable, complete an affidavit describing their charitable status and furnish a copy of their by-laws.
All grantee-partners receiving funds from Firelight commit to regular financial and narrative reporting on the grant award.

GRANTS 2007
RWANDA
ZAMBIA
SOUTH
AFRICA
UGANDA
TANZANIA
ZIMBABWE
LESOTHO
ETHIOPIA
KENYA
MALAWI
Firelight Foundation awarded grants to
organizations addressing the needs of
children in 10 African countries during
Fiscal Year 2007 (October 1, 2006
through September 30, 2007). The
organizations are listed by country in the
pages that follow.
In Fiscal Year 2007, Firelight awarded
69 first grants valued at US$570,600
to new grantee-partners, and
112 renewal grants totaling
US$1,574,900 to existing
grantees. This total of just over
US$2,145,500 included four
grants worth US$24,500 made to
organizations not based in Africa that
support African partners.
Organizations listed as grantee-partners
in this report passed an application and
review process to receive the grants
that are listed. Those partners that
have already received at least one
Firelight grant have successfully
reported on their activities and
disbursement of funds from previous
awards. In addition to the wide range
of child-focused services supported by
these grants, some organizations have
also received support to build their
technical capacities through attending
workshops or study visits or engaging
experts to help plan particular activities.
30
Statistical information for countries is
from UNICEF’s State of the World’s
Children 2008.

GRANTS 2007
Population 81.0 million
Population under age 18 41.3 million
Orphans as % of all children 12%
Total number of orphans 4.8 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $5,000
Number of new grants 0
Number of renewals 1
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $110,000
Number of new grants 3
Number of renewals 2
Firelight only accepts renewal requests and solicited proposals from Ethiopia.
JERUSALEM CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION(JeCCDO), Addis Ababa/country-wide
$5,000 – Renewal Long-time grantee JeCCDO builds community capacity to support vulnerable children throughout Ethiopia by
providing small grants and technical assistance to community-based groups working with children.
31

Jennifer Anderson-Bähr
GRANTS 2007
32

Population 36.6 million
Population under age 18 18.2 million
GRANTS 2007
Orphans as % of all children 13%
Total number of orphans 2.3 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $108,300
Number of new grants 1
Number of renewals 8
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $707,050
Number of new grants 19
Number of renewals 38
Total Tides DAF* funding $78,000
Number of Tides DAF* grants 3
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
Firelight only accepts renewal requests and solicited proposals from Kenya.
EDUCATION, SELF-SUSTAINABILITY, AND IMPROVEMENT OF ECONOMY
DEVELOPMENT GROUP (ESSIE), Nairobi
$5,600 – Renewal ESSIE supports children and caregivers in 14 different communities by offering training in income-generating
$15,000 – Renewal activities, paying for schooling, and conducting workshops on children’s rights and HIV/AIDS-related issues.
33

GRANTS 2007
FORUM FOR COMMUNITY MOBILISATION (FOFCOM), Kiambu
$12,000 – Renewal Empowering young people to take care of their health, FOFCOM educates them in HIV/AIDS and
operates a resource center, a home-based care program, an HIV testing and counseling center, and a
tutoring program.
GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE FOR COMMUNITY EDUCATION AFRICA (GRACE–Africa), Nairobi
$15,000 Working with 116 youth-led groups, GRACE–Africa offers technical assistance workshops, mentoring,
entrepreneurship training, and trade fairs where youth can market their goods and services.
KIBERA INTEGRATED COMMUNITY SELF-HELP PROGRAMME (KICOSHEP), Nairobi
$15,000 – Renewal KICOSHEP runs a broad array of HIV prevention, care, and support programs, including voluntary testing
centers, support groups, clinics, income-generating activities, and a community school.
MAMA DARLENE CHILDREN’S CENTRE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, Tala, Kangundo
$4,300 – Renewal Targeting poor and disabled children, Mama Darlene’s operates a community school and conducts home
visits to provide caregivers with material, medical, counseling, and emotional support.
RURAL EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC ENHANCEMENT PROGRAMME (REEP), Butula
$30,000 – Renewal Focusing on children’s legal rights, REEP trains youngsters to be advocates on their own behalf and trains
$5,800 – Renewal community volunteers to be paralegals and counselors.
WEM INTEGRATED HEALTH SERVICES (WEMIHS), Thika
$5,600 – Renewal WEMIHS works to strengthen community capacity to provide food security, healthcare, child protection,
education, and caregiver support services.
34

Population 2.0 million
Population under age 18 1.0 million
Orphans as % of all children 16%
Total number of orphans 150,000
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $227,000
Number of new grants 10
Number of renewals 10
GRANTS 2007
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $549,780
Number of new grants 34
Number of renewals 21
ANTI DRUG ABUSE ASSOCIATION OF LESOTHO (ADAAL), Maseru
$10,000 Operating in 19 secondary schools, ADAAL works to reduce teen alcohol and drug abuse and HIV
transmission through teacher and student counseling on sexual abuse, staying in school, self-esteem,
behavior change, and financial empowerment.
BA RATENG DAY CARE CENTRE, Semonkong
$3,000 Operating in Lesotho’s rural highlands, Ba Rateng provides school fees and clothing for orphans and
vulnerable children; runs a nursery school; and provides night-schooling for herd boys.
35

GRANTS 2007
BOTLENG SUPPORT GROUP, Maseru
$5,000 – Renewal Botleng cares for 24 child-headed households; provides palliative care for 95 HIV-positive adults; and
$2,600 – Renewal provides vulnerable children nutritional and educational support, including school fees and uniforms.
CROSSROADS LESOTHO, Mafeteng
$5,000 Crossroads Lesotho helps children and young people orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS
through youth clubs, support groups, rehabilitation programs, sports and theater/drama activities, and
entrepreneurship and life skills trainings.
HA MANTILATILANE CHILD RESCUE CENTRE, Maseru
$9,000 – Renewal Ha Mantilatilane Child Rescue Centre provides preschool education and school fees to children in need; an
after-school recreational and homework center for children; and training in nutrition, food production, and
income generation.
HLALEFANG MAKAOTA-TEBANG, Mafeteng
$5,000 – Renewal Hlalefang Makaota–Tebang operates support groups in rural areas for vulnerable children and their
families; holds public HIV/AIDS awareness-raising meetings; and provides school fees, books, and uniforms
for children in need.
KHUTSONG SEKAMANENG WOMEN IN ACTION AGAINST POVERTY (KSWAAP), Sekamaneng
$3,500 KSWAAP addresses the needs of 200 vulnerable children by providing clothing, shelter, counseling, and
recreational activities, in addition to educational, nutritional, and spiritual support.
LESOTHO CHILD COUNSELLING UNIT (LCCU), Mazenod
$19,000 – Renewal LCCU provides temporary housing and rehabilitative care for sexually, physically, and emotionally
$5,000 – Renewal abused children.
LESOTHO SOCIETY OF MENTALLY HANDICAPPED PERSONS (LSMHP), Maseru
$15,000 – Renewal LSMHP advocates for and protects the rights of children and adults with disabilities by working with parents
to help them understand their disabled children’s needs and better provide for them, and by training
children to become self-sufficient through income-generating activities.
MANYELOI A MANYANE DAY-CARE CENTER, Thaba Bosiu
$6,000 Manyeloi a Manyane Day-Care Center offers free daycare to orphans and vulnerable children ages 3-6 with
enrollment priority given to child-headed households and children living with grandparents.
36

Joop Rubens
GRANTS 2007
37

GRANTS 2007
MATELILE TAJANE DEVELOPMENT TRUST (MTDT), Mafeteng
$4,000 Reaching 50,000 people through 25 member groups, MTDT provides agricultural, livestock, and other technical
assistance; vocational and income-generating trainings; and nutritional and daily life support for children.
MOHOMA TEMENG, Ha Mpiti, Qacha’s Nek
$9,900 Established by women farmers in an isolated area, Mohoma Temeng aims to improve the nutritional
health of children and promote food security by educating people on indigenous methods of sustainable
food production.
MONNA KA KHOMO-LESOTHO HERD BOYS ASSOCIATION (MKK), Maseru
$22,000 – Renewal MKK cares for and trains boys working as livestock herders in agricultural income-generating activities,
HIV/AIDS-related issues, medication production, and life skills; assists them in training other boys; and pays
their school fees.
NGO COALITION ON THE RIGHTS OF A CHILD (NGOC), Maseru
$10,000 Through their 40 member organizations, NGOC advocates for children’s rights and shares information,
expertise, and skills related to child welfare. They also provide children with leadership training, counseling,
and emotional support.
SOCIETY FOR WOMEN AND AIDS IN AFRICA LESOTHO (SWAALES), Maseru
$8,000 Run by women volunteers, SWAALES educates the community on HIV/AIDS; trains people in home-based
care; and helps caregivers and children develop livelihoods and stay in school.
THETSANE WEST MULTI-PURPOSE ASSOCIATION, Maseru
$10,000 – Renewal Thetsane West Multi-Purpose Association supports families with ill or disabled caregivers by conducting
home visits, providing food and medical assistance, and paying school and other educational fees.
TOUCH ROOTS AFRICA (METSONG AFRICA) (TRA), Maseru
$60,000 TRA supports orphans and vulnerable children by training community-based organizations in child rights,
protection, and counseling, and providing them with organizational development, advocacy, and
technical assistance.
YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION-LESOTHO (YWCA), Sebaboleng
$15,000 – Renewal The Lesotho YWCA seeks to address unemployment, poverty, gender-based violence, and the sexual
exploitation of women and girls by providing income-generation workshops and marketing and sales
training for vulnerable children and caregivers.
38

Population 13.6 million
Population under age 18 7.3 million
Orphans as % of all children 13%
Total number of orphans 950,000
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $206,400
Number of new grants 8
Number of renewals 13
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $580,580
Number of new grants 28
Number of renewals 26
GRANTS 2007
AIDS CARE COUNSELLING CAMPAIGN PROJECT (ACCOCAP), Nsanje
$10,000 In 35 villages, ACCOCAP operates home-based care and community-based childcare centers. They also
provide food for children by running a maize mill, community garden, and goat-rearing project.
39

GRANTS 2007
ACTION HOPE SUPPORT ORGANIZATION (AHOSO), Namadzi
$7,000 – Renewal Operating in rural Zomba, AHOSO serves more than 1,200 children in 55 villages through youth clubs and
$2,200 – Renewal Village AIDS Committees to provide educational, nutritional, income-generating, and counseling programs
to AIDS-affected families.
CENTRE AGAINST POVERTY AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS (CAPSO), Blantyre
$9,200 Started by traditional leaders in rural communities near Blantyre, CAPSO runs childcare centers, helps
caregivers operate community gardens, and supports youth attending vocational training.
CHIKWAWA DIOCESE HEALTH COMMISSION (CDHC), Chikwawa
$14,700 – Renewal CDHC trains community members in HIV/AIDS prevention and care strategies, offers improved access to HIV
testing through mobile clinics, trains youth in life skills, and operates community-based childcare centers.
CHILIMBA WOMEN AND ORPHANS CARE GROUP, Zomba
$6,000 Women-led Chilimba supports orphans with community-based childcare centers and food from their
community gardens. They also provide vocational training and equipment for sewing, weaving, carpentry,
and other income-generating activities.
COMMUNITY HEALTH ENVIRONMENTAL CARE TRUST (CHECT), Nathenje
$10,000 – Renewal CHECT’s HIV/AIDS education and prevention activities reach thousands of community leaders and children.
A new maize mill will raise funds to provide school fees to orphans; they also provide food and gardening
supplies to childcare centers and households.
COMMUNITY YOUTH IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES (COYIDA), Mzimba
$8,900 COYIDA provides community treatment, care, and support to children and adults affected by HIV/AIDS
by offering revolving agricultural loans and trainings as well as peer education and human rights
advocacy trainings.
EYE OF THE CHILD, Blantyre
$15,000 – Renewal Eye of the Child works to protect children from dangerous and exploitative situations by training local and
$3,800 – Renewal national leaders on child rights and providing children with counseling, support groups, vocational training,
and formal education.
40
THE FEDERATION OF DISABILITY ORGANIZATIONS IN MALAWI (FEDOMA), Blantyre
$11,000 – Renewal FEDOMA is an umbrella organization that advocates for the welfare and full societal participation of people
with disabilities. They conduct awareness-raising in schools to change teachers’ and children’s attitudes and
help disabled children attend school.

FOUNDATION FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES (FOCUS), Karonga
$9,600 FOCUS addresses food security, gender issues, human rights, and behavior change, and provides
educational support for vulnerable orphans, including peer education, leadership and life skills trainings,
and awareness-raising.
IMVANI WOMEN’S SUPPORT GROUP, Mchinji
$10,000 – Renewal Imvani supports families affected by HIV/AIDS by establishing childcare centers and agricultural incomeproducing
projects. They also fund school fees and educational supplies for children in need.
Joop Rubens
GRANTS 2007
41

GRANTS 2007
MATINDI YOUTH ORGANISATION (MATYO), Blantyre
$15,000 – Renewal Youth-founded MATYO works to improve the lives of vulnerable children and caregivers in 60 villages
through its school-attendance and income-generation programs that focus on agriculture, livestock,
tailoring, and life skills training.
MCHEZI COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATION, Lilongwe
$9,300 Founded to combat hunger and poverty, Mchezi reaches more than 3,000 adults living with HIV/AIDS and
1,500 children through their childcare centers, vocational training, and income-generating projects that
help cover school fees.
NKHOTAKOTA AIDS SUPPORT ORGANIZATION (NASO), Nkhotakota
$4,800 – Renewal NASO’s holistic support programs reach 60,000 young people, 3,800 people living with HIV/AIDS, and
$15,000 – Renewal 70 sex workers. NASO’s “Children’s Corners” provide space for children to gather for meals, education,
vocational training, and recreation.
PEACE IN GOD ORGANISATION (PIGO), Blantyre
$10,000 – Renewal PIGO provides widows and orphans with education, counseling and emotional support, agriculture and
vocational skills training, and community-based childcare centers. They also provide programs in HIV
prevention, child rights, and child abuse prevention in rural and urban Blantyre.
PEMPHERO CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION, Mangochi
$10,000 Pemphero reaches more than 1,600 orphans and vulnerable children in 18 remote villages by supporting
12 community-based childcare centers, kids clubs, recreational and educational activities, and providing
blankets, clothing, garden supplies, and food packs.
SALIMA HIV/AIDS SUPPORT ORGANIZATION (SASO), Salima
$15,000 – Renewal SASO—a membership organization of people affected by HIV/AIDS—works in 489 villages providing
communal gardens, business and vocational skills training, community centers, HIV/AIDS awareness
activities, and home-based care.
TUTULANE AIDS ORGANIZATION (TAO), Chitipa
$9,900 Started as a health resource center, TAO provides 22 villages with HIV/AIDS services including homebased
care and childcare centers; HIV testing, prevention, education, and rights-awareness; and vocational
training and income-generation support.
42

Population 9.5 million
Population under age 18 4.8 million
Orphans as % of all children 17%
Total number of orphans 820,000
GRANTS 2007
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $303,100
Number of new grants 12
Number of renewals 13
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $955,500
Number of new grants 31
Number of renewals 40
Total Tides DAF* funding $42,800
Number of Tides DAF* grants 2
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
ACTION POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DU PEUPLE (ADEPE), Gisenyi
$10,000 ADEPE works with women, youth, and children traumatized by prolonged guerilla warfare and stigmatized
by HIV/AIDS. They provide counseling and emotional support; fund health insurance and education; and
reintegrate former child soldiers into the community by engaging them in productive work.
43

GRANTS 2007
ASSOCIATION BENIMPUHWE, CENTRE FAMILIAL MU RUGO, Kigali
$10,000 To support orphans, widows, and others affected by violence, Benimpuhwe created a model multi-ethnic
village of 180 families that serves as an information hub, training center, and bridge to services for
vulnerable families.
ASSOCIATION D’APPUI AUX GROUPEMENTS DANS LE
DOMAINE SOCIO-ÉCONOMIQUE (AGS), Gikongoro
$12,000 – Renewal AGS is a network of clubs and associations created to respond to the needs of families affected by HIV/
AIDS, linking them to home-based care providers, counseling, and educational assistance. They also teach
teens vocational skills such as sewing and driving.
ASSOCIATION DES JEUNES ORPHELINS RWANDAIS (AJOR), Kigali
$6,000 Founded by teen orphans caring for younger siblings, AJOR teaches orphans HIV prevention strategies and
provides vocational training programs in carpentry and metalworking.
ASSOCIATION DES ORPHELINS CHEFS DE MÉNAGES (AOCM), Kigali
$2,000 Founded by orphans, AOCM’s core members are trained bakers developing a youth-run bakery to help
youths support their households.
ASSOCIATION IHORERE MUNYARWANDA (AIM), Kigali
$30,000 – Renewal AIM promotes children’s rights and HIV prevention through youth clubs; and provides support groups,
vocational training, and educational and nutritional assistance for families living with HIV/AIDS.
ASSOCIATION INKORAMUTIMA, Ruhengeri
$8,300 Inkoramutima’s more than 200 at-risk children and youth use artistic performances to promote HIV/AIDS
awareness, inspire behavior change, and raise funds to support their school expenses.
ASSOCIATION UBUMWE SAINT KISITO, Ruhengeri
$8,100 To help street children and child-headed households in their area, the Association provides school supplies,
uniforms, regular social worker visits, and income-generating activities including beekeeping.
ASSOCIATION URUKUNDO RW’IMANA, Kigali
$8,800 Urukundo Rw’Imana’s programs include child and youth counseling groups, home visits to children with
bedridden parents, vocational apprenticeships for youth living with HIV/AIDS, educational assistance, and
awareness-raising activities to combat stigma.
44

BENISHYAKA ASSOCIATION, Kigali
$6,800 – Renewal Benishyaka provides access to education and income-earning opportunities for orphans, widows, and
families affected by the genocide and by HIV/AIDS, reaching more than 3,000 people including 1,000
orphans.
CHRISTIAN INITIATIVE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT (CIESPD), Kigali
$8,000 – Renewal CIESPD protects vulnerable children by training counselors and educating community members on children’s
rights, healthy development, and emotional needs.
COMMISSION CHRÉTIENNE DE LUTTE CONTRE LE SIDA (CCLS), Gisenyi
$9,800 CCLS—a group of 30 churches—reaches more than 4,200 orphans, providing teenagers with peer-led life
skills training, including HIV prevention, and vocational skills training in tailoring, knitting, and hair styling.
COMMUNAUTÉ DES POTIERS DU RWANDA (COPORWA), Kigali
$10,000 Focusing on the marginalized Batwa Pygmy, COPORWA works to increase literacy rates; expand economic
opportunity; combat discrimination; and promote human rights. The group also runs HIV prevention
programs and income-generating activities for youth.
GRANTS 2007
HOPE AFTER RAPE, Kigali
$8,000 – Renewal In addition to providing vocational training and small business loans for youth and caregivers, Hope
After Rape‘s programs include HIV/AIDS support groups, a counseling center, and an anti-violence
advocacy program.
LET THE LITTLE CHILDREN COME TO ME, RUKIRA VILLAGE (LLCCM), Huye District
$5,000 LLCCM operates a social service center for orphans; runs vocational training and health education classes
for youth and children; and provides vegetable gardening supplies and tools to vulnerable families.
LES ENFANTS DE DIEU, Kigali
$15,000 – Renewal Les Enfants de Dieu assists street children in Kigali by offering them shelter, hot meals, schooling, and
vocational training. The group also helps to reunite the children with their families and return to their
former communities.
OEUVRE HUMANITAIRE POUR LA PROTECTION ET LE DÉVELOPPEMENT
DE L’ENFANT EN DIFFICULTÉ (OPDE), Butare
$10,000 Working with children living on the street, OPDE provides schooling, counseling, and vocational training
including a pig-raising project. They prepare the children for reintegration with family members and support
them when they return.
45

GRANTS 2007
PARTNERS IN HEALTH/INSHUTI MU BUZIMA (PIH), Rwinkwavu
$10,000 PIH provides high-quality health care and poverty alleviation activities in partnership with a local group,
$15,000 – Renewal including support groups for children receiving antiretroviral treatment.
PROJET EQUIPES ENSEIGNANTES DU RWANDA/SYNDICAT NATIONAL
DES ENSEIGNANTS DU PRIMAIRE (Projet EER/SNEP), Kigali
$15,000 – Renewal Projet EER/SNEP trained 10,000 primary and secondary school teachers in HIV prevention and in facilitating
school-based anti-AIDS clubs. They now provide health care and other assistance to 200 orphans and
introduce teachers to counseling methods.
SOLIDARITÉ FEMMES 3x3 (SOLF), Kigali
$8,000 – Renewal Founded by community women, SOLF visits the homes of orphans caring for younger siblings and trains
them in livelihood skills such as vegetable gardening and raising animals to improve the nutritional health of
their households.
SOUTIEN AUX INITIATIVES DE LUTTE CONTRE LE SIDA EN FAVEUR DES ENFANTS
ECONOMIQUEMENT ET SOCIALEMENT DEFAVORISES (SIDECO), Kigali Rural
$14,300 – Renewal SIDECO operates vocational training programs, including metalworking, bicycle repair, carpentry, tailoring,
and mushroom cultivation. The group also runs youth-led anti-AIDS clubs as well as small businesses that
support vulnerable students.
RWANDA WOMEN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT NETWORK (RWN), Kigali
$40,000 – Renewal 3 For the past 10 years, RWN has supported survivors of sexual violence, widows, and their children with health
$3,000 – Renewal care, counseling and emotional support, human and legal rights education, and income-earning programs.
TRUST AND CARE, Kigali
$30,000 – Renewal Trust and Care strives to improve the well-being, emotional health, economic security, and nutritional
health of family members living in genocide- and HIV/AIDS-affected households by offering vocational and
agricultural training and farming supplies.
46
3
Much of this special grant to RWN is regranted by the Network to smaller community-based organizations serving vulnerable children.

Population 48.3 million
Population under age 18 18.3 million
Orphans as % of all children 14%
Total number of orphans 2.5 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $241,100
Number of new grants 8
Number of renewals 10
Total Tides DAF* funding $10,000
Number of Tides DAF* grants 1
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $961,880
Number of new grants 41
Number of renewals 36
Total Tides DAF* funding $96,600
Number of Tides DAF* grants 5
GRANTS 2007
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
BATHO BA LERATO, Bloemfontein
$5,000 Batho Ba Lerato focuses on strengthening rural households’ incomes and networking and advocating for
poverty alleviation policies. They seek foster care and adoption for orphans, and provide recreational
activities, community gardening, and life skills training.
47

Joop Rubens
GRANTS 2007
48

BETHLEHEM BASIC TRAINING PROJECT (BBTP), Bethlehem
$10,000 BBTP prepares people for employment and builds affordable houses for community members. Their training
programs include plumbing, welding, home-based care, and agriculture.
DIKETSO ESENG DIPUO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST (DEDI), Bloemfontein
$15,000 – Renewal DEDI’s workshops on child and family well-being train nearly 400 caregivers and 700 children in first aid,
child nutrition, HIV/AIDS, early childhood development, and available government services.
EKUPHOLENI MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE, Alrode
$15,000 – Renewal Ekupholeni offers counseling and emotional support to survivors of physical and sexual abuse, youth at risk
for criminal activity, grieving orphans, and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
EMPILWENI, Khayelitsha
$30,000 – Renewal Located in one of Cape Town’s poorest townships, Empilweni offers crisis counseling for children and
families; conducts support groups for sexually abused and HIV-positive children and parents; and engages
in advocacy on mental health issues.
GRANTS 2007
FAMILY LITERACY PROJECT (FLP), Durban
$1,000 – Renewal At first established to bolster child literacy, FLP now also encourages caregivers to read to their children and
$13,000 – Renewal offers them training in hygiene, nutrition, child development, and HIV prevention.
GRAHAMSTOWN HOSPICE, Grahamstown
$3,700 Grahamstown Hospice provides home-based hospice care for terminally ill patients; offers grief
counseling to families; works with extended families to find homes for orphans; and provides orphans
with ongoing support.
LUNCEDO COMMUNITY BASED ORGANISATION, Bloemfontein
$4,000 To support healthy family environments for vulnerable children, Luncedo offers education for parents and
caregivers on social services, health, basic first aid, child safety, HIV/AIDS, and sound relationships.
MILLENNIUM HOME OF HOPE (MHH), White River
$8,400 – Renewal With the motto “give a child a family,” MHH works to transition children from orphanages to trained foster
$45,000 – Renewal families and provides workshops for new foster parents.
MOTIVATION COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (MCD), Welkom
$30,000 – Renewal MCD operates a daycare center, community garden, soup kitchen, an HIV testing and counseling center, a
community talk show, life skills trainings, and cultural programs that promote the local KhoiSan culture.
49

GRANTS 2007
RAMOTSHINYADI HIV/AIDS YOUTH GUIDE, Ramotshinyadi
$10,000 Ramotshinyadi provides an HIV/AIDS education program, counseling, and material support for youth;
home-based care services; income-generating activities; and treatment for people with TB or HIV/AIDS.
SIZANANI HOME BASED CAREGIVER PROJECTS (SHBCP), Mzimhlophe/Soweto
$15,000 – Renewal SHBCP operates a drop-in center offering meals to children affected by HIV/AIDS and training youth in
income-generating activities, including computer skills, sewing, gardening, and traditional dance.
THABISO, Warrenton
$15,000 – Renewal Operating a drop-in center and an outreach program, Thabiso provides counseling, training, and
HIV/AIDS-care services; supplies children with meals and after-school tutoring; and promotes gardening
and distributes fresh produce.
THOLULWAZI UZIVIKELE (TU), KwaNgwanase
$10,000 TU provides emotional support to 280 orphans through a series of facilitated workshops on emotional
healing and bereavement, while also providing skills and information for boosting their resiliency. (See
profile on opposite page.)
TLAMELANG-SEDIBA HOME CARE CENTRE, Lichtenburg
$7,000 Tlamelang-Sediba Home Care Centre operates a learning center geared towards helping orphans and
mentally challenged children become self-supporting. Subjects include reading, writing, math, life skills, and
basic hygiene.
TSHWARAGANANG COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATION, Bloemfontein
$4,000 Tshwaraganang runs a preschool; provides support and education to help families cope with death;
and teaches caregivers about available government grants and services, first aid, safety, nutrition, HIV
prevention, and healthy family relationships.
50

GRANTEE PROFILE
Tholulwazi Uzivikele (TU Project):
Helping rural orphans through a home healthcare program
Hand-painted hearts adorn a simple wooden box; a wobbly drawing of a butterfly decorates another. Inside are photographs,
ID cards, the diagram of a family tree, and perhaps a cotton scarf or a bracelet.
Painting these “memory boxes” and gathering family mementos is one of the ways Firelight grantee-partner Tholulwazi
Uzivikele—a community organization in the rural northeast corner of South Africa’s Kwa-Zulu Natal province— helps young
orphans cope with the trauma of losing a parent to AIDS.
With a US$10,000 grant from Firelight, Tholulwazi Uzivikele (meaning “Get Information to Protect Yourself” in Zulu, also
known as the “TU Project”) began organizing community-based psychosocial workshops and memory box camps for children
grieving the death of a parent.
Run by a young local woman who was sent by the TU Project for training
in grief counseling, the workshops give children an opportunity to explore
the normal feelings associated with loss and learn ways to move forward.
When children understand what they are feeling and why, they become
less disoriented and gain a sense of control over their lives, explains Mrs.
Dudu Biyela, the program director, who was herself orphaned as a child.
“This sense of control is an important part of healing; without it, children
cannot begin to have dreams and hopes for the future.”
The TU Project’s new emotional healing program—the only one of
its kind in this area—is part of the community organization’s growing
services for orphans and vulnerable children, which include providing
school uniforms and fees, school breakfasts, food parcels, health care,
and legal help in obtaining government assistance.
TU
Founded by Manguzi Hospital in 2002, the TU Project began as a response to the growing local HIV/AIDS epidemic (a 35
percent HIV infection rate among the area’s 120,000 residents amounts to more than 40,000 infected individuals) that had
overwhelmed the small hospital. With the help of the hospital and the local government, the TU Project trained more than 300
community volunteers in home-based care for the terminally ill.
“This program has successfully empowered community members to do something positive and significant about the HIV/AIDS
crisis, while improving the quality of life of their neighbors living with and dying from AIDS,” TU Project leaders report.
About 150 community-based home-care volunteers—described as the “heart and soul of the TU Project”—make more than
1,500 home visits to 1,000 households each month. They travel on foot throughout the isolated rural area caring for AIDS
patients in their homes, supervising their medication regimens, teaching hygiene and wound care, and providing emotional
support to both patients and their families. Most now receive a small stipend, but served faithfully for four years unpaid.

GRANTEE PROFILE (cont.)
Tholulwazi Uzivikele (TU Project)
From this extensive home-based care outreach, TU Project staff recognized the lack of services for the growing number of
orphans and vulnerable children in the community and in 2006 began formulating plans to combat the problem. The goal
was to help local orphan children survive childhood free from abuse, hunger, HIV, and crippling emotional trauma.
Firelight agreed to provide support for the emotional healing component of the orphan care program because the TU Project
has many of the ingredients that Firelight finds guarantee success. Locally-established and -led initiatives like the TU Project
tend to be well-targeted, appropriate, and sustainable over the long-term because of the community’s concrete engagement in
and genuine ownership of the services.
Strong community involvement and leadership have contributed to the initial success of the TU Project’s emotional healing
program. Mrs. Biyela trained the home-based care volunteers in child bereavement and they now volunteer in the psychosocial
workshops, which are offered in a different community each month.
About 150 community-based
home-care volunteers—described
as the “heart and soul of the TU
Project”—make more than 1,500
home visits to 1,000 households
each month.
In the first year, the TU Project reports that 600 of the area’s
3,000 orphans participated in their emotional healing
programs. Along with the two-and-a-half-day community
psychosocial workshops and the two-weekend memory box
camps, Mrs. Biyela provides home visits and one-on-one
counseling.
“Having grown up in the community as an orphan herself,
Mrs. Biyela understands directly what the children are going
through and they relate well to her,” explain TU Project
Directors. “She serves as an example of an orphan who
overcame adversity, completed her education, got a job, and
started a family of her own.”
One young orphan inspired by Mrs. Biyela and assisted by the TU Project is Ntombizodwa, a 20-year-old caring for three
younger sisters in her parents’ run-down home with no running water or electricity. She was overwhelmed by the burden of her
sisters’ care and unable to imagine finishing her education. Ntombizodwa says she began to feel more hopeful and strong
after participating in the TU Project’s psychosocial workshop, meeting Mrs. Biyela, and sharing experiences with other orphans.
The TU Project paralegal helped her obtain documents to become the legal guardian of her sisters and to qualify for a
government grant to support them. The TU Project is now providing the sisters with a monthly food parcel. With this help,
Ntombizodwa was able to enroll in her final year of high school. She says that the TU Project’s emotional healing programs
have changed her life, and TU Project Directors find her undeterred despite the obstacles she faces.

Population 39.5 million
Population under age 18 20.2 million
Orphans as % of all children 12%
Total number of orphans 2.4 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $201,700
Number of new grants 11
Number of renewals 11
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $654,400
Number of new grants 30
Number of renewals 42
GRANTS 2007
AFRICAN YOUTH CONNECTION (AYC), Morogoro
$8,000 – Renewal AYC organizes peer education programs in HIV/AIDS and drug abuse prevention, school health clubs, and
skills training and provides small business loans for vulnerable youth and their caregivers.
53

GRANTS 2007
AIDS OUTREACH NYAKATO (AON), Ilemela and Nyamagana Districts, Mwanza
$30,000 – Renewal AON’s program includes HIV prevention through peer education activities, home-based care for people
living with AIDS, and educational and food assistance for vulnerable children.
BARAKA GOOD HOPE ORPHAN’S DEVELOPMENT (BAGODE), Mwanza
$5,000 BAGODE advocates for free education and health care for orphans and vulnerable children; promotes
foster care and adoption; and teaches life skills to out-of-school youth.
CENTRE FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND ADULT EDUCATION (CELA), Kigoma
$4,000 CELA was founded to reduce the effects of extreme poverty on Congolese refugees living in Tanzanian
camps by providing education fees, combating HIV/AIDS-related stigma, and offering workshops for
caregivers on orphans’ emotional and social needs.
CHRISTIAN YOUTH NETWORK (TCYONE), Tabora
$5,000 Based in a town with Tanzania’s highest HIV prevalence rates, TCYONE provides vocational instruction and
assistance with livestock and agricultural projects to vulnerable youth, caregivers, and child-headed households.
CHURCH OF GOD, ARUSHA BRANCH (COG Arusha), Arusha
$7,000 Working in a high-density slum, COG Arusha offers counseling, educational support, health education,
legal assistance, income-earning opportunities, and basic relief to vulnerable children and their guardians.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND HUMANITARIAN ASSOCIATION (CODEHA), Mwanza
$7,000 Initially founded by women as a group loan program, CODEHA now provides education support for
orphans and vulnerable children; trains home-based care volunteers; and supports income-generating
activities to improve women’s status and well-being.
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES FOUNDATION (DSF), Kigoma/Ujiji
$5,000 DSF provides school fees and materials for orphans and vulnerable children and involves them in
recreational activities. They also provide a credit fund to 200 vulnerable families for small businesses.
KWAWAZEE-THE GRANNY PROJECT, Muleba
$30,000 – Renewal Recognizing the caregiving burden that grandmothers shoulder as a result of HIV/AIDS, KwaWazee provides
them with counseling and emotional support, small monthly payments, fuel-efficient stoves, and support
starting small businesses.
54

LAKE NYANZA ENVIRONMENTAL AND SANITATION ORGANIZATION (LANESO), Mwanza
$13,000 – Renewal LANESO helps marginalized fisherboys on Lake Victoria increase their incomes through business
$1,700 – Renewal management training and tailoring cooperatives, and works to decrease their HIV risk through community
education and lifestyle changes.
MAKETE SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV/AIDS (MASUPHA), Makete
$8,000 MASUPHA’s activities in a high-prevalence HIV area include combating discrimination; encouraging HIV
testing; providing children with school supplies and uniforms; and providing vulnerable households blankets,
mattresses, vegetable seeds, and small livestock to generate income.
THE MANGO TREE ORPHAN SUPPORT TRUST (TMT), Kyela, Mbeya
$6,700 Working in an area where one in five adults is living with HIV/AIDS, TMT provides orphans and vulnerable
children with emergency food assistance, health care, counseling, education, vocational training, legal
services, and income-earning programs.
GRANTS 2007
MARA WIDOWS DEVELOPMENT GROUP, Musoma
$12,200 – Renewal The Mara Widows Development Group offers revolving loans with a flexible repayment schedule to widows
and families who foster orphans, and conducts monthly education workshops for caregivers.
MUUNGANO COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATION (MCBO), Musoma
$8,000 – Renewal Working to ensure that orphans remain in school through the secondary level, MCBO teachers educate,
$5,000 – Renewal tutor, counsel, make home visits, and provide school materials to orphans from preschool through
secondary school age, and also mobilize community support to meet their needs.
PEMBA CHILDREN’S CLUB (PCC), Pemba
$4,000 PCC provides material assistance and counseling to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children remain
in school. They use community arts performances to combat discrimination and stigma of children affected
by HIV/AIDS.
TUJIKOMBOE GROUP, Morogoro
$7,600 Tujikomboe promotes children’s access to education; offers legal aid training; helps caregivers use microenterprise
loans for small businesses; and runs an informal, youth-friendly HIV/AIDS information center.
TUMAINI, Ilemela, Mwanza
$1,500 To provide orphans with a livelihood, Tumaini has established a vocational center to train youth in tailoring,
$10,000 – Renewal sewing, knitting, tie dying, and candle-making. They also teach strategies for preventing and coping
with HIV/AIDS.
55

GRANTS 2007
WAMATA SENGEREMA, Mwanza
$13,000 – Renewal WAMATA Sengerema provides emotional and material support, livelihood opportunities, and educational
assistance to children, families, and elderly caregivers affected by HIV/AIDS.
YATIMA KWA WAZAZI (YAWA), Moshi
$10,000 – Renewal YAWA provides educational assistance, vocational training, meals, recreational activities, and HIV/AIDS
education to orphans living with their grandparents.
56

Population 29.9 million
Population under age 18 16.8 million
Orphans as % of all children 14%
Total number of orphans 2.3 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $62,900
Number of new grants 0
Number of renewals 4
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $460,680
Number of new grants 12
Number of renewals 25
Total Tides DAF* funding $52,000
Number of Tides DAF* grants 1
GRANTS 2007
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
Firelight only accepts renewal requests and solicited proposals from Uganda.
CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (CETRUD), Kasese
$30,000 – Renewal CETRUD runs innovative income-generating and vocational training programs that support orphans and
$13,900 – Renewal vulnerable children while fighting environmental degradation. (See profile on pages 59-60.)
$4,000 – Renewal
57

GRANTS 2007
FRIENDS OF ORPHANS (FRO), Pader
$15,000 – Renewal FRO provides former child soldiers, widows, caregivers, and orphans in a war-torn region help with starting
small businesses, including technical assistance and management skills for chicken- and goat-raising, crafts,
sewing, and tailoring enterprises.
Joop Rubens
58

GRANTEE PROFILE
CETRUD helps businesses flourish and households thrive
The vendor’s stall attached to the front of the cinderblock house has only a few items for sale—matches, soap, crackers,
plastic buckets, and some fruit. But out back, the garden is flourishing. Beans, squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes all compete
for growing space among banana trees and a tangle of passion fruit vines. And the children—the ones peeking shyly from
inside the stall and those playing beside the garden—have shiny, round faces reflecting their good health.
Launching this small business and household garden, and dozens like it in rural Uganda, is the work of Firelight granteepartner
CETRUD (Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development). Their approach is unique: most of the
people they work with are living with HIV and caring for
orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. CETRUD offers
intensive training in income-generating activities, small
grants (US$200-$400), and long-term support to help the
businesses thrive.
CETRUD calls the participants “caretakers,” emphasizing
their role in caring for a business that belongs to the
orphans and vulnerable children in their charge. To
participate, they agree to tell the children about their
HIV-positive status and to train the older children in running
the business. This way, the youth are able to keep the
enterprise afloat if the women fall ill or their strength wanes.
The businesses include restaurants, used clothing stalls,
and sewing shops, as well as small stores and farms. All of
the participants learn organic gardening to help keep their
families well-nourished even during lean times.
Remarkably, 95 percent of CETRUD’s caretakers’ businesses
are successful, an achievement that impressed Firelight
staff. “We saw business after business, garden after garden,
and most importantly, child after child, flourishing under the
care of empowered women,” reports Aili Langseth, Firelight
grantmaking program associate.
Firelight recognized that the forethought, training, and longterm
support CETRUD provides to its caretakers could be a
model for other organizations. With Firelight’s assistance,
CETRUD organized a four-day forum on income-generating
activities for all eight of Firelight’s Ugandan partners that
included visits to the businesses.
Jennifer Anderson-Bähr

GRANTEE PROFILE (cont.)
CETRUD
Enabling organizations such as CETRUD to become
mentoring groups for other grantees reflects Firelight’s
community-based emphasis. Firelight strives to invest in
building the capacity of local organizations focused on
orphans and vulnerable children while respecting and
strengthening local ownership and leadership.
95 percent of CETRUD’s
caretakers’ businesses
are successful.
At the income-generating forum, CETRUD shared the
incremental ways they involve community members in
the project and solicit a commitment from them before
offering a loan. The process begins with trainings in
business and farming, and then the participants are asked
to start a garden, explained Godfrey Kasozi, CETRUD’s
program director. Once the garden is underway, they are
invited to develop a business plan to receive a loan.
Jennifer Anderson-Bähr
Mr. Kasozi also discussed with Firelight’s other granteepartners
ways of relating to government officials. CETRUD
finds that being in good communication with local
government officials often provides an important platform
for advocating for increased spending on the needs of
children and their caretakers.
Along with useful technical assistance for the participating
organizations, the forum was a source of encouragement
for CETRUD. “These exchange visits offer an invaluable
opportunity to experience honest, direct feedback from
peers,” noted Kasozi. “And that feedback helps us to be
self-reflective, and to motivate and inspire us.”

Population 11.7 million
Population under age 18 6.2 million
Orphans as % of all children 20%
Total number of orphans 1.2 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $462,500
Number of new grants 11
Number of renewals 26
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $1,493,880
Number of new grants 54
Number of renewals 77
Total Tides DAF* funding $107,000
Number of Tides DAF* grants 5
GRANTS 2007
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
CARE FOR CHILDREN IN NEED (CAFCHIN), Lundazi
$15,000 – Renewal CAFCHIN’s volunteer teams conduct community-wide outreach and mobilization efforts; offer orphans and
$5,000 – Renewal their caregivers support groups and counseling; provide vocational training for out-of-school youth; fund
educational assistance; and run workshops on child abuse, early marriage, and access to health
and education.
61

GRANTS 2007
CHILDREN IN DISTRESS-KALOMO CENTRAL FHT (CINDI-Kalomo), Kalomo
$15,000 – Renewal Earnings from CINDI-Kalomo’s hammer mill fund food, educational materials, and school fees for orphans,
ensuring that they remain in school. They also provide caregivers with small-business loans and livestock.
CHILDREN IN DISTRESS-KITWE (CINDI-Kitwe), Kitwe
$15,000 – Renewal CINDI-Kitwe focuses on health, education, and community development. They provide food supplements
for HIV-positive infants, an HIV/AIDS awareness radio program for youth, and a sports program that
encourages HIV testing.
CHINTELELWE HEALTH EDUCATION AND LIVELIHOOD PROGRAMME, Ndola
$17,000 – Renewal Chintelelwe’s comprehensive programs to strengthen vulnerable families include a community school and
school feeding program, peer education, and vocational and small-business training and loans.
COMMUNITY YOUTH MOBILISATION (CYM), Kabwe
$15,000 – Renewal CYM sets up resource centers in rural communities to educate youth in HIV prevention and provides
counseling, recreation, a health referral system, and a gathering place for community events.
ECHOES OF MERCY (EOM), Chibuluma
$12,000 – Renewal EOM provides free education, health care, and material and emotional support to 500 children affected
by HIV/AIDS. Their programs to increase the household incomes of caregivers include carpentry and
agricultural training.
FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN PROJECT (FCP), Ndola
$15,000 – Renewal FCP works to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children receive primary education by providing school
fees, a school food program, classroom supplies, and teacher salaries. They also train youth and caregivers
in tailoring and craft making.
FOUNTAIN OF HOPE (FOH), Lusaka
$12,000 – Renewal Set up as a recreation and outreach center for street children, FOH’s programs now also include schooling,
meals, and a health clinic.
FOUNTAINS OF LIGHT, Lusaka
$12,700 – Renewal Fountains of Light supports children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS through a community school, a breakfast
program, and organized events that use song, dance, and drama to educate the community about HIV/AIDS.
62
INITIATIVE FOR SUSTAINABLE RURAL LIVELIHOOD (ISRL), Chibombo District
$11,500 – Renewal ISRL works to improve household food security by promoting sustainable agricultural practices and incomegenerating
projects, and assists vulnerable children through counseling and home-based health care.

KABWATA WIDOWS AND ORPHANS COMMUNITY SOCIETY (KWOCS), Ndola
$15,000 – Renewal KWOCS empowers its 300 members to meet the needs of orphans and vulnerable children through
educational support. They also run a home-based care program, and provide a revolving loan program
and training in business management for caregivers.
KARA COUNSELLING & TRAINING TRUST (KCTT), Lusaka
$15,000 – Renewal KCTT provides counseling and hospice care to chronically ill people with HIV/AIDS. They also run daycare
centers for children who are HIV-positive and children whose parents are in hospice care.
LIVINGSTONE ANGLICAN CHILDREN’S PROJECT (LACP), Livingstone
$15,000 – Renewal LACP works with child laborers and street children to convince them to return to school or vocational
training programs by providing food, peer education programs, health care, and counseling through sports
and recreation.
LUAPULA FOUNDATION, Mansa
$30,000 – Renewal Luapula promotes self-reliance for adults and children living with HIV/AIDS by funding school fees and
supplies; teaching life skills and HIV/AIDS awareness; training teachers in guidance counseling; and offering
orphans and caregivers counseling, vocational training, and training in conservation farming methods.
GRANTS 2007
LUPWA LWABUMI TRUST (LLT), Kapiri Mposhi
$5,000 – Renewal LLT convenes and facilitates family circles, which provide counseling to vulnerable families and communities;
implement a village savings and loan program; and offer general support to one another.
MALOLE HOME BASED CARE GROUP (Malole HBC), Malole
$4,000 Malole HBC conducts weekly visits to orphans and caregivers in vulnerable households, providing informal
counseling, material assistance, health advice, and medical supplies. They promote pig-raising programs as
a source of economic livelihood.
THE MEDIA NETWORK ON ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN (Media OVC), Lusaka
$15,000 – Renewal A membership organization comprised of 80 newspaper, radio, and television journalists, Media OVC works
to increase public understanding of children’s rights and responses to threats to their well-being.
MONZE MISSION HOSPITAL/BUNTOLO DROP-IN CENTRE, Mukanda, Manungu, Chicheleko,
and Hachaanga areas of Monze District
$7,700 The Buntolo Drop-In Centre is an HIV/AIDS care and prevention program providing home-based care,
antiretroviral treatment, counseling, peer education, orphan support, and entrepreneurial training to more
than 4,000 vulnerable children and their guardians.
63

GRANTS 2007
MULUMBO EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (MECCDF), Lusaka
$15,000 – Renewal MECCDF’s nine childcare centers provide early education and health care to 5,000 orphans and vulnerable
children under the age of six living in poor communities.
MUNZUMA COMMUNITY SCHOOL, Choma-rural
$5,600 Owned and supported by the rural community it serves, Munzuma Community School has built classrooms;
grows maize for the school feeding program; and educates the community about HIV prevention.
MPHATSO DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (MDF), Nyimba
$5,000 MDF works to improve the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS by providing educational support and meals
for school children; promoting conservation and soil management techniques to increase family food
production; and conducting an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign for youth.
NETWORK OF ZAMBIA PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS-MANSA CHAPTER (Mansa NZP+), Mansa
$9,000 Mansa NZP+’s 35 support groups provide information on nutrition and health care options; train homebased
caregivers; and advocate for the needs and rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, including
antiretroviral treatment.
PAZESA HORTICULTURAL COMMUNITY, Kalichero
$5,000 Pazesa provides HIV prevention education, orphan care and support, livelihood training in horticulture and
fish farming, entrepreneurship training, and a village banking and loan program.
PEOPLE’S AIDS RESPONSE THROUGH VITAL EDUCATION
AND NETWORKING FOUNDATION (PARVEN), Mansa
$8,000 PARVEN provides sex workers and their children health education, counseling and emotional support,
income-generating opportunities, and school fees so they can support their families without resorting
to prostitution.
POWER OF LOVE FOUNDATION (POL), Lusaka
$15,000 – Renewal With the motto “everyone a caregiver,” POL works to involve not only extended families and health workers
but also neighbors and community leaders in the care of children living with HIV/AIDS.
RAY OF HOPE FOR ORPHANS, Livingstone
$30,000 – Renewal Ray of Hope improves children’s life-chances by providing school fees, uniforms and school supplies, and
offering their caregivers business training and micro-enterprise start-up funds.
64

REFORMED OPEN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS (ROCS), Kitwe
$30,000 – Renewal ROCS established and now supports 60 community schools through income-generating projects, and
teaches 10,000 vulnerable children standard academic subjects, life skills, and HIV prevention.
RESCUE MISSION ZAMBIA (RMZ), Nangoma
$15,000 – Renewal Youth-led RMZ runs a vocational training program and raises awareness about HIV/AIDS in rural Nangoma
through anti-AIDS clubs, meetings, workshops, and recreational activities such as soccer.
RURAL CHILD, Nkeyema, Kaoma
$5,000 Operating in rural areas, Rural Child uses sports and drama to provide education, entrepreneurial training,
HIV/AIDS information, and life skills development.
SILELO COMMUNITY SCHOOL HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP, Musokotwane
$5,000 Established by a community whose closest school was 20 km away, Silelo Community School provides
educational, counseling, and recreational activities for students; links caregivers to health and other services;
and raises HIV/AIDS awareness through drama and community presentations.
GRANTS 2007
TITUKUKE RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION (TRCDA), Petauke
$8,000 TRCDA supports 20 community schools; serves women’s groups and youth clubs in 50 rural villages; and
trains caregivers in home-based care and income-generating activities.
TUSA MUNYANDI ASSOCIATION, Livingstone
$8,000 – Renewal Focused on families affected by HIV/AIDS, Tusa Munyandi runs a preschool; makes home visits to monitor
child well-being; provides support to keep children in school; trains community leaders in HIV prevention;
and offers income-generating opportunities for caregivers.
WELFARE CONCERN INTERNATIONAL (WCI), Kazungula
$14,000 – Renewal Through five community centers, WCI provides orphans and street children with school supplies, fees, and
material assistance; and trains community leaders on raising HIV/AIDS awareness.
YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION-WESTERN REGION
(YWCA-Western Region), Zambia, Mongu
$15,000 – Renewal YWCA-Western Region works to combat gender discrimination and provides entrepreneurship training and
business start-up funds to caregivers.
65

GRANTS 2007
YOUTH ACTIVISTS ORGANIZATION (YAO), Lusaka
$15,000 – Renewal Youth-led YAO organizes neighborhood health committees and sport camps where coaches discuss HIV
prevention and reproductive health. Their theater programs are designed to inspire community action and
train youth leaders in advocacy.
YOUTH FOR CHANGE (YOCA), Lusaka
$3,000 Begun as a support group for youth household heads, YOCA offers orphan children and youth counseling
services, and teaches caregivers how to support grieving children.
66

Population 13.2 million
Population under age 18 6.2 million
Orphans as % of all children 23%
Total number of orphans 1.4 million
During 2007
Total Firelight funding $340,000
Number of new grants 6
Number of renewals 17
Since 2000
Total Firelight funding $1,161,740
Number of new grants 40
Number of renewals 59
Total Tides DAF* funding $116,400
Number of Tides DAF* grants 4
GRANTS 2007
* Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
See page 75 for more information.
BASILWIZI TRUST, Musuna, Zambezi Valley
$10,000 Created by minority groups displaced by dam construction, the Basilwizi Trust is a community development
organization providing HIV/AIDS education programs for students, an income-generating garden project,
caregiver training, and agriculture and business skills for teens.
67

GRANTS 2007
CHIEDZA YOUTH CLUBS ORGANISATION, Mazowe
$5,000 – Renewal Youth-led Chiedza Youth Clubs Organisation trains peer educators and mentors for vulnerable children;
provides vocational training, HIV prevention, grief counseling, and recreational activities through youth
clubs; and works to develop girls’ leadership skills.
ESANDLENI SOTHANDO, Plumtree
$5,000 – Renewal Esandleni Sothando mobilizes community support in the Mangwe District for vulnerable children and youth
$19,000 – Renewal affected by HIV/AIDS and their caregivers by providing school fees, emotional support and counseling, life
skills training, and food gardening supplies.
FAMILY-IN-NEED TRUST, Chimanimani
$14,600 – Renewal Family-in-Need Trust supports vulnerable children through community food gardens, small community-run
businesses to help them earn funds for school fees, and counseling.
FARM ORPHAN SUPPORT TRUST OF ZIMBABWE (FOST), Bindura & Shamva
$14,700 – Renewal FOST runs kids clubs for orphaned children in commercial farming communities, and also provides food,
counseling, and leadership training.
GIRL CHILD NETWORK (GCN), Rusape
$15,000 – Renewal GCN advocates for the rights of girls through a network of 500 clubs with some 35,000 members; provides
emergency services to abused girls; and trains girls in HIV prevention, leadership, human rights, and
income-generating activities.
GWAI GRANDMOTHERS’ GROUP, Mberengwa
$13,000 – Renewal Gwai Grandmothers’ Group works at a very local level to improve the lives of children by providing them
school fees, food, vocational training, and community food gardens, as well as advocating for health care
and antiretroviral drugs for children.
HELPAGE ZIMBABWE, Southern Region, Bulawayo
$15,000 – Renewal HelpAge, a national organization for the elderly, now also provides school fees for children in the care of
elderly caregivers; establishes community kids clubs; and runs child abuse prevention campaigns.
INGALO ZOMUSA ORPHAN CARE, Gwanda
$7,500 Ingalo Zomusa provides counseling, life skills and vocational training, as well as home-based care to
families affected by HIV/AIDS. They also contribute school fees and uniforms to child-headed households,
and help youth begin income-generating projects.
68

ISLAND HOSPICE AND BEREAVEMENT SERVICE, Harare
$15,000 – Renewal Island Hospice builds community support for those caring for terminally ill family members with HIV/AIDS,
and provides young caregivers in-home counseling and training in home-based health care.
JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN TRUST, Bindura
$30,000 – Renewal Justice for Children Trust provides legal assistance to vulnerable children. They run a mobile legal clinic;
train peer legal educators in schools; and educate communities on children’s rights and legal reform.
LOVING HAND, Bulawayo
$9,500 Loving Hand supports orphans and vulnerable children through home-based care services, school fees,
kids clubs, and emergency food assistance. Their community garden—run as a training program for local
youth—grows food and herbal medicines.
LUBHANCHO HOUSE, Hwange
$15,000 – Renewal Lubhancho’s Youth Alive Clubs offer access to HIV prevention information and life skills materials in local
languages. They also provide school fees, training in small-scale agricultural projects, home-based care,
and youth drop-in centers.
GRANTS 2007
MAUNGANIDZE KINDHEARTED CHILDREN’S ORGANISATION (MKCO), Chitungwiza
$5,000 MKCO provides foster care for abused and neglected children, and community education on HIV/AIDS and
children’s rights. They provide food, medicine, counseling, and school fees for children in child-headed households.
NEHEMIAH PROJECT, Bulawayo
$15,000 – Renewal Nehemiah provides programs for children affected by HIV/AIDS through school-based kids clubs and
$5,700 – Renewal camps designed to help them cope with grief and loss. They also train children and caregivers in incomegenerating
activities.
RAY OF HOPE, Mutasa
$5,000 Ray of Hope supports women and children affected by family violence by providing counseling, survival skills
training, legal assistance, loans, and small business workshops.
SESITHULE VAMANANI CARING ASSOCIATION (SEVACA), Chiredzi
$17,000 – Renewal Founded to aid the minority Shangaan people, SEVACA offers home-based HIV/AIDS care, counseling,
and health education. The group also provides orphans and vulnerable children with food, school fees,
counseling, and vocational training.
69

GRANTS 2007
SIBAMBENE AIDS PROGRAMME OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BULAWAYO-SIKHETHIMPILO CENTRE, Maphisa
$15,000 – Renewal The Sikhethimpilo Center betters the lives of 2,000 orphans who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS by
offering them income-generating projects, self-esteem building activities, and parenting workshops for foster
parents and teens.
SIMUKAI STREET YOUTH PROGRAMME, Mutare
$30,000 – Renewal The Simukai Street Youth Programme provides children living on the streets with emergency shelters and
runs drop-in centers where they receive meals, counseling, vocational training, recreational programs, and
assistance in reuniting with their families.
SOUTHERN AFRICA AIDS INFORMATION DISSEMINATION SERVICE (SAfAIDS), Avondale, Harare
$40,000 SAfAIDS disseminates cutting-edge HIV/AIDS information to promote dialogue and expand the regional
HIV/AIDS response in 10 southern African countries, including community support for antiretroviral
treatment for children.
ZIMBABWE PARENTS OF HANDICAPPED CHILDREN ASSOCIATION (ZPHCA Bulawayo),
Bulawayo Branch, Bulawayo
$19,000 – Renewal ZPHCA Bulawayo is a self-help organization for parents of disabled children offering caregiver training,
small loans for income-generating projects, counseling, and vocational training for disabled youth.
70

GRANTEE PROFILE
Providing a ‘Ray of Hope’ to abused women and vulnerable children
When Zimbabwe’s new Domestic Violence Act was signed into law in 2007, community organizations working to improve the
lives of women and children celebrated the important milestone. But the new law—almost a decade in the making—is only a
first step in curbing the abuse of women and children. A variety of obstacles stands in the way of the law’s full implementation.
First, many people do not know about the law or understand it, reports Firelight grantee-partner Ray of Hope, while others
do not view women as equal to men and still consider the abuse of women and children in the home to be a personal and
therefore, private issue.
Then there is the enormous scale of the problem. The Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association reports that one in four women
in the country suffer some form of abuse during their lifetime, and 60 percent of murder cases are related to domestic violence
perpetrated against women. The link between sexual abuse and HIV transmission only magnifies the terrible consequences of
these violations.
Based in the rural Mutasa District of Zimbabwe’s
eastern highlands, Ray of Hope is a communitybased
network of domestic violence survivors
working to empower women and protect and
support vulnerable children. One of their current
goals is to increase public understanding of the
impact of abuse on women and children, and
to change entrenched views and habits through
education and training.
Firelight supports these objectives by funding Ray of
Hope’s public awareness campaigns and provision
of direct assistance to domestic violence survivors
and their children. To economically empower women
who have left abusive situations, Ray of Hope offers
training and start-up capital for small businesses.
They also assist survivors with school fees for their
children, food, legal assistance, and counseling.
And they are making progress in winning local
support and changing attitudes. More than 1,500
community members participated in a local
International Rural Women’s Day event, organized
by Ray of Hope, where community leaders spoke
against domestic violence.
Jennifer Lentfer

GRANTEE PROFILE (cont.)
Ray of Hope
Chief Sherukuru, an influential traditional leader often called on to settle
domestic disputes, praised the women for their courage and urged men to
follow suit. Men “will become better men if they follow the lead set by these
women and speak out against this terrible crime in our society,” he told
the crowd. Ray of Hope also reports that fewer men are blocking women
from participating in the organization’s community meetings. In the past
“we were viewed as a collection of people out to destroy the Mutasa way of
life,” writes a representative from the organization.
Ray of Hope was born in 2006 out of one victim’s terrible experience. In
2005, the domestic violence case of Shorai Chitongo captured national
media attention and the sympathy of Betty Makoni, the director and
founder of Girl Child Network (GCN), another Firelight grantee. After
Betty provided Ms. Chitongo with emotional support, financial assistance,
and a safe sanctuary, Shorai managed to regain security for herself and
her children and began to realize how many other women were directly
affected by domestic violence, especially in rural areas.
While a volunteer facilitator at GCN, Ms. Chitongo developed her vision to
assist women to “soldier on and create peaceful environment[s] for both us
and our children,” advocating for survivors to “take a second chance at life
with courage and bravery.” Soon after, she went on to found Ray of Hope.
In 2006, Firelight became Ray of Hope’s first external funder, supporting
the organization with a small grant of US$5,000 to conduct human rights
awareness campaigns; economically empower women in abusive situations
With training and capital
from Ray of Hope, more
than 100 women are
generating their own
incomes by making soap
and pressing peanut butter
and cooking oil.
Through their participation
in Ray of Hope’s activities,
they also learn how to
assert their rights and
protect themselves from
HIV/AIDS.
by providing start-up capital and training; and enable children to attend school by covering fees and providing food. Firelight
has since given a renewal grant for the provision of educational support to community members and emotional and financial
support to domestic violence victims, and to ensure proper legal and social follow-up on reported domestic violence cases.
With training and capital from Ray of Hope, more than 100 women are generating their own incomes by making soap and
pressing peanut butter and cooking oil. With independent incomes, they wield stronger positions in their households, gain
confidence to resist abuse, and are better able to provide for their children. Through their participation in Ray of Hope’s
activities, they also learn how to assert their rights and protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.
Today, Ray of Hope remains a small but effective community-based organization with a paid staff of three people and a small
overall budget. In 2007, 10 survivors of domestic violence received small business training, US$80 in start-up capital, school
fees for their children, and regular follow-up and technical assistance visits.

Since 1999 Firelight has funded organizations in 12 African countries. Though our focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa,
occasionally Firelight funds outside the region. In Fiscal Year 2007 Firelight made four grants to organizations that are not
based in Sub-Saharan Africa. Each of these grants promotes our mission to support and advocate for the needs and rights of
children who were orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. The four grants are described below.
COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS (COF), Washington, DC
$4,000 COF is a networking body and resource for foundations, providing opportunities for skills-building, lessonsharing,
and collaboration among donors.
FUNDERS CONCERNED ABOUT AIDS (FCAA), New York, NY
$2,700 FCAA mobilizes philanthropic leadership, ideas, and resources to eradicate HIV/AIDS and to address its
social and economic consequences, including studying the effect of lost productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
GRANTMAKERS WITHOUT BORDERS (GWOB), Boston, MA
$8,000 – Renewal GWOB is a network of individual donors and foundation staff and trustees practicing global social change
philanthropy, advocating for investments in social change efforts, and functioning as an information resource.
GRANTS 2007
MOLOTECH-DIGITAL HERO BOOK PROJECT, Stanford, CA
$9,800 Molotech’s wide-reaching “Digital Hero Book Project” helps youth in Africa set goals and develop confidence to
overcome specific challenges or obstacles in their lives while teaching them computer and web-publishing skills.
73

GRANTS 2007
New Global Citizens:
Bringing Together Youth Against AIDS
Over the last two years, Firelight grantee, New Global Citizens, has made great strides in educating, equipping, and mobilizing young people to help address
some of the biggest challenges faced by HIV/AIDS-affected communities around the world.
Youth Together Against AIDS (YTAA) began as a pen-pal program launched by Firelight and program partners in Cameroon, South Africa, and Uganda.
It has since developed into a full-fledged program connecting youth groups in Sub-Saharan Africa with student groups in the United States to facilitate
communication and collaborative action on HIV/AIDS, including awareness-raising, advocacy, and fundraising.
According to YTAA, “Firelight helped us start it all! We are grateful for the invaluable support provided by
Firelight in the development of our Youth Together Against AIDS program and thus, our entire program
model.” The YTAA youth engagement model is unique in calling on its youth participants to take
leadership roles and work collaboratively across borders.
As the first step to promoting awareness and dialogue, New Global Citizens developed the Youth AIDS
Action Guide, a manual providing accessible information on HIV/AIDS, poverty, gender inequality, advocacy,
fundraising, and the power of youth engagement. In piloting the guide to African and US groups, YTAA
realized the appeal and learning power of engaging youth as partners in launching community education,
fundraising, and advocacy initiatives. In their second year of Firelight funding, YTAA achieved its goal of
increasing the number of US-based schools focused on HIV/AIDS and youth well-being.
New Global Citizens
One of these schools, Stevenson High School (Pebble Beach, California), raised a record-breaking US$15,513 for the Boko One-Stop Center in Tanzania.
The University High School (San Francisco, California) raised funds for FXB South Africa by exchanging packages with FXB’s youth and hosting film screenings,
guest lectures, and discussions on HIV/AIDS. Leland High School (San Jose, California), raised funds for Children’s Town in Zambia by creating and operating
an AIDS tent, an interactive learning experience for their peers. Upon entering the tent, each student was given a card indicating their HIV status and directing
them to pass through the tent to experience the difficulties and hard decisions faced by young people affected by HIV/AIDS in Zambia.
According to Mountain View High School students (Mountain View, California), by partnering with Girl Child Network (GCN) in Zimbabwe, “We came to
believe that through education, people can be empowered to overcome the great obstacles they face in life, namely, poverty, exploitation, and HIV/AIDS. We
very strongly support the work GCN is doing in Zimbabwe to reverse the tradition of discrimination against the girl-child and to empower these girls through
education to become ‘victors and not victims’ (GCN).”
Firelight Founder and President Kerry Olson is living proof that starting early in life thinking about and working on the difficult problems in the world can lead
to real, tangible change, both in the short- and long-term. “As a young person raising money for organizations like UNICEF and CARE, I began to understand
the enormous deprivations experienced by children around the world. But I also came to realize that even as just one person, I could contribute, in however small
a way, and that my efforts—added to those of others—could make a real difference. I’ve held on to that conviction ever since. Firelight’s very existence is directly
tied to that early experience. We support New Global Citizens because they’re doing a great job inspiring and helping youth to take action globally and to make
a difference in the battle against HIV/AIDS,” said Olson.
74

Firelight awarded 16 multi-year grants in 2007, which disburse funds over two or three years. Multi-year grants offer successful
organizations the stability necessary to build their organization and expand their services. For example, Monna Ka Khomo was
awarded a total of US$22,000 in 2007—US$12,000 to be paid in 2007 and US$10,000 in 2008.
All grants awarded during 2007 are listed below. Some grantees were awarded more than one grant during 2007 and are
therefore listed more than once.
A few individuals contribute to Firelight through our Donor Advised Fund (DAF) at the Tides Foundation. Grant awards
made through the DAF are recommended by Firelight’s Board of Directors and approved by the Tides Foundation Board of
Directors. Firelight staff manages the due diligence and application process for these grants. Staff members also visit, support,
and assess reports from the Tides grantees. Program and administrative expenses covering these grants are reflected in our
general budget. 4
GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
GRANTS 2007
Ethiopia
Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO),
Addis Ababa/country-wide ............................................................................................................. $5,000
Kenya
Education, Self-Sustainability, and Improvement
of Economy Development Group, Nairobi ....................................................................................... $5,600
Education, Self-Sustainability, and Improvement
of Economy Development Group, Nairobi ..................................................................................... $15,000
Forum For Community Mobilisation, Kiambu ................................................................................... $12,000
Grassroots Alliance for Community Education Africa, Nairobi ........................................................... $15,000
Kibera Integrated Community Self-Help Programme, Nairobi ............................................................ $15,000
Mama Darlene Children’s Centre and Community Development
Projects, Tala, Kangundo ................................................................................................................ $4,300
Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme, Butula ...................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme, Butula ........................................................ $5,800
WEM Integrated Health Services, Thika ............................................................................................. $5,600
Lesotho
Anti Drug Abuse Association of Lesotho, Maseru ............................................................................... $10,000
Ba Rateng Day Care Centre, Semonkong .......................................................................................... $3,000
Botleng Support Group, Maseru ....................................................................................................... $5,000
4
In 2007, Bethlehem Basic Training Project (South Africa) was the only grantee that was funded by Firelight’s Donor Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation.
75

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
GRANTS 2007
Lesotho continued
Botleng Support Group, Maseru ....................................................................................................... $2,600
Crossroads Lesotho, Mafeteng .......................................................................................................... $5,000
Ha Mantilatilane Child Rescue Centre, Maseru .................................................................................. $9,000
Hlalefang Makaota-Tebang, Mafeteng ............................................................................................... $5,000
Khutsong Sekamaneng Women in Action Against Poverty, Sekamaneng ............................................... $3,500
Lesotho Child Counselling Unit, Mazenod ....................................................................................... $19,000
Lesotho Child Counselling Unit, Mazenod ......................................................................................... $5,000
Lesotho Society of Mentally Handicapped Persons, Maseru ............................................................... $15,000
Manyeloi a Manyane Day-Care Center, Thaba Bosiu .......................................................................... $6,000
Matelile Tajane Development Trust, Mafeteng .................................................................................... $4,000
Mohoma Temeng, Ha Mpiti, Qacha’s Nek ........................................................................................ $9,900
Monna Ka Khomo-Lesotho Herd Boys Association, Maseru ............................................................... $12,000 .... $10,000
NGO Coalition on the Rights of a Child, Maseru ............................................................................. $10,000
Society for Women and AIDS in Africa Lesotho, Maseru ...................................................................... $8,000
Thetsane West Multi-Purpose Association, Maseru ............................................................................ $10,000
Touch Roots Africa (Metsong Africa), Maseru ................................................................................... $30,000 .... $30,000
Young Women’s Christian Association-Lesotho, Sebaboleng .............................................................. $15,000
76
Malawi
AIDS Care Counselling Campaign Project, Nsanje ........................................................................... $10,000
Action Hope Support Organization, Namadzi .................................................................................... $7,000
Action Hope Support Organization, Namadzi .................................................................................... $2,200
Centre Against Poverty and Social Problems, Blantyre ......................................................................... $9,200
Chikwawa Diocese Health Commission, Chikwawa .......................................................................... $14,700
Chilimba Women And Orphans Care Group, Zomba ........................................................................ $6,000
Community Health Environmental Care Trust, Nathenje .................................................................... $10,000
Community Youth in Development Activities, Mzimba ......................................................................... $8,900
Eye of the Child, Blantyre ............................................................................................................... $15,000
Eye of the Child, Blantyre ................................................................................................................. $3,800
The Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi, Blantyre .......................................................... $11,000
Foundation for Community Support Services, Karonga ........................................................................ $9,600
Imvani Women’s Support Group, Mchinji ........................................................................................ $10,000
Matindi Youth Organisation, Blantyre .............................................................................................. $15,000
Mchezi Community Based Organization, Lilongwe ............................................................................. $9,300
Nkhotakota AIDS Support Organization, Nkhotakota ......................................................................... $4,800

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
Malawi continued
Nkhotakota AIDS Support Organization, Nkhotakota ....................................................................... $15,000
Peace in God Organisation, Blantyre .............................................................................................. $10,000
Pemphero Children’s Foundation, Mangochi .................................................................................... $10,000
Salima HIV/AIDS Support Organization, Salima ............................................................................... $15,000
Tutulane AIDS Organization, Chitipa ................................................................................................. $9,900
Rwanda
Action pour le Développement du Peuple, Gisenyi ............................................................................ $10,000
Association Benimpuhwe, Centre Familial Mu Rugo, Kigali ............................................................... $10,000
Association d’appui aux Groupements dans le domaine Socio-économique, Gikongoro ..................... $12,000
Association des Jeunes Orphelins Rwandais, Kigali ............................................................................ $6,000
Association des Orphelins Chefs de Ménages, Kigali .......................................................................... $2,000
Association Ihorere Munyarwanda, Kigali ........................................................................................ $15,000 .... $15,000
Association Inkoramutima, Ruhengeri ................................................................................................ $8,300
Association Ubumwe Saint Kisito, Ruhengeri ...................................................................................... $8,100
Association Urukundo Rw’Imana, Kigali ............................................................................................ $8,800
Benishyaka Association, Kigali .......................................................................................................... $6,800
Christian Initiative of Education for Sustainable Peace and Development, Kigali .................................... $8,000
Commission Chrétienne de Lutte Contre le SIDA, Gisenyi ................................................................... $9,800
Communauté des Potiers du Rwanda, Kigali .................................................................................... $10,000
Hope After Rape, Kigali ................................................................................................................... $8,000
Let the Little Children Come to Me, Rukira Village, Huye District .......................................................... $5,000
Les Enfants de Dieu, Kigali ............................................................................................................. $15,000
Oeuvre Humanitaire pour la Protection et le Développement
de l’Enfant en Difficulté, Butare ..................................................................................................... $10,000
Partners in Health/ Inshuti Mu Buzima, Rwinkwavu ........................................................................... $10,000
Partners in Health/ Inshuti Mu Buzima, Rwinkwavu ........................................................................... $15,000
Projet Equipes Enseignantes du Rwanda/Syndicat National
des Enseignants du Primaire, Kigali ............................................................................................... $15,000
Solidarité Femmes 3x3, Kigali ........................................................................................................... $8,000
Soutien aux Initiatives de Lutte Contre le SIDA en faveur des Enfants Economiquement
et Socialement Dêfavorises, Kigali Rural ........................................................................................ $14,300
Rwanda Women Community Development Network, Kigali ............................................................... $40,000
Rwanda Women Community Development Network, Kigali ................................................................. $3,000
Trust and Care, Kigali .................................................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
GRANTS 2007
77

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
GRANTS 2007
South Africa
Batho Ba Lerato, Bloemfontein ......................................................................................................... $5,000
Bethlehem Basic Training Project, Bethlehem .................................................................................... $10,000
Diketso Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust, Bloemfontein ................................................... $15,000
Ekupholeni Mental Health Centre, Alrode ........................................................................................ $15,000
Empilweni, Khayelitsha ................................................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Family Literacy Project, Durban ......................................................................................................... $1,000
Family Literacy Project, Durban ....................................................................................................... $13,000
Grahamstown Hospice, Grahamstown .............................................................................................. $3,700
Luncedo Community Based Organisation, Bloemfontein ..................................................................... $4,000
Millennium Home of Hope, White River ............................................................................................. $8,400
Millennium Home of Hope, White River 5 ......................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Motivation Community Development, Welkom ................................................................................. $15,000 .... $15,000
Ramotshinyadi HIV/AIDS Youth Guide, Ramotshinyadi ...................................................................... $10,000
Sizanani Home Based Caregiver Projects, Mzimhlophe/Soweto ......................................................... $15,000
Thabiso, Warrenton ....................................................................................................................... $15,000
Tholulwazi Uzivikele, KwaNgwanase ............................................................................................... $10,000
Tlamelang-Sediba Home Care Centre, Lichtenburg ............................................................................ $7,000
Tshwaraganang Community Based Organization, Bloemfontein .......................................................... $4,000
78
Tanzania
African Youth Connection, Morogoro ................................................................................................ $8,000
AIDS Outreach Nyakato, Ilemela and Nyamagana Districts .............................................................. $15,000 .... $15,000
Baraka Good Hope Orphan’s Development, Mwanza ........................................................................ $5,000
Centre for Youth Development and Adult Education, Kigoma .............................................................. $4,000
Christian Youth Network, Tabora ....................................................................................................... $5,000
Church of God, Arusha Branch, Arusha ............................................................................................ $7,000
Community Development and Humanitarian Association, Mwanza ...................................................... $7,000
Development Services Foundation, Kigoma/Ujiji ................................................................................ $5,000
KwaWazee - The Granny Project, Muleba ........................................................................................ $15,000 .... $15,000
Lake Nyanza Environmental and Sanitation Organization, Mwanza ................................................... $13,000
Lake Nyanza Environmental and Sanitation Organization, Mwanza ..................................................... $1,700
Makete Support for People with HIV/AIDS, Makete ............................................................................. $8,000
The Mango Tree Orphan Support Trust, Kyela, Mbeya ........................................................................ $6,700
Mara Widows Development Group, Musoma .................................................................................. $12,200
Muungano Community Based Organization, Musoma ........................................................................ $8,000
5
Millennium Home of Hope received a three-year grant; it will receive another US$15,000 in 2009.

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
Tanzania continued
Muungano Community Based Organization, Musoma ........................................................................ $5,000
Pemba Children’s Club, Pemba ........................................................................................................ $4,000
Tujikomboe Group, Morogoro .......................................................................................................... $7,600
Tumaini, Ilemela, Mwanza ................................................................................................................ $1,500
Tumaini, Ilemela, Mwanza .............................................................................................................. $10,000
WAMATA Sengerema, Mwanza ....................................................................................................... $13,000
Yatima Kwa Wazazi, Moshi ............................................................................................................. $10,000
Uganda
Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development, Kasese .................................................. $15,000 .... $15,000
Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development, Kasese .................................................. $13,900
Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development, Kasese .................................................... $4,000
Friends of Orphans, Pader .............................................................................................................. $15,000
GRANTS 2007
United States
Council on Foundations, Washington, DC ......................................................................................... $4,000
Funders Concerned About AIDS, New York, NY ................................................................................. $2,700
Grantmakers Without Borders, Boston, MA ........................................................................................ $8,000
Molotech - Digital Hero Book Project, Stanford, CA ............................................................................ $9,800
Zambia
Care for Children in Need, Lundazi ................................................................................................. $15,000
Care for Children in Need, Lundazi ................................................................................................... $5,000
Children in Distress-Kalomo Central FHT, Kalomo ............................................................................ $15,000
Children in Distress-Kitwe, Kitwe ..................................................................................................... $15,000
Chintelelwe Health Education and Livelihood Programme, Ndola ...................................................... $17,000
Community Youth Mobilisation, Kabwe ............................................................................................ $15,000
Echoes of Mercy, Chibuluma .......................................................................................................... $12,000
Families for Children Project, Ndola ................................................................................................ $15,000
Fountain of Hope, Lusaka .............................................................................................................. $12,000
Fountains of Light, Lusaka .............................................................................................................. $12,700
Initiative for Sustainable Rural Livelihood, Chibomo District ............................................................... $11,500
Kabwata Widows and Orphans Community Society, Ndola ............................................................... $15,000
Kara Counselling & Training Trust, Lusaka ........................................................................................ $15,000
Livingstone Anglican Children’s Project, Livingstone .......................................................................... $15,000
79

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
GRANTS 2007
Zambia continued
Luapula Foundation, Mansa ........................................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Lupwa Lwabumi Trust, Kapiri Mposhi ................................................................................................. $5,000
Malole Home Based Care Group, Malole ......................................................................................... $4,000
The Media Network on Orphans and Vulnerable Children, Lusaka .................................................... $15,000
Monze Mission Hospital/Buntolo Drop-In Centre, Mukanda, Manungu, Chicheleko,
and Hachaanga areas of Monze District ............................................................................................ $7,700
Mulumbo Early Childhood Care and Development Foundation, Lusaka ............................................. $15,000
Munzuma Community School, Choma-rural ...................................................................................... $5,600
Mphatso Development Foundation, Nyimba ...................................................................................... $5,000
Network of Zambia People Living with HIV/AIDS - Mansa Chapter, Mansa ........................................... $9,000
Pazesa Horticultural Community, Kalichero ........................................................................................ $5,000
People’s AIDS Response through Vital Education and Networking Foundation, Mansa ........................... $8,000
Power of Love Foundation, Lusaka .................................................................................................. $15,000
Ray of Hope for Orphans, Livingstone ............................................................................................. $15,000 .... $15,000
Reformed Open Community Schools, Kitwe ..................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Rescue Mission Zambia, Nangoma ................................................................................................. $15,000
Rural Child, Nkeyema, Kaoma ......................................................................................................... $5,000
Silelo Community School HIV/AIDS Support Group, Musokotwane ...................................................... $5,000
Titukuke Rural Community Development Association, Petauke ............................................................. $8,000
Tusa Munyandi Association, Livingstone ............................................................................................. $8,000
Welfare Concern International, Kazungula ....................................................................................... $14,000
Young Women’s Christian Association - Western Region, Zambia, Mongu .......................................... $15,000
Youth Activists Organization, Lusaka ............................................................................................... $15,000
Youth for Change, Lusaka ................................................................................................................ $3,000
80
Zimbabwe
Basilwizi Trust, Musuna, Zambezi Valley ........................................................................................... $10,000
Chiedza Youth Clubs Organisation, Mazowe ..................................................................................... $5,000
Esandleni Sothando, Plumtree .......................................................................................................... $5,000
Esandleni Sothando, Plumtree ........................................................................................................ $19,000
Family-in-Need Trust, Chimanimani ................................................................................................ $14,600
Farm Orphan Support Trust of Zimbabwe, Bindura & Shamva ........................................................... $14,700
Girl Child Network, Rusape ............................................................................................................ $15,000
Gwai Grandmothers’ Group, Mberengwa ....................................................................................... $13,000
HelpAge Zimbabwe, Southern Region, Bulawayo ............................................................................. $15,000

GRANT AWARDS 2007 2008
Zimbabwe continued
Ingalo Zomusa Orphan Care, Gwanda ............................................................................................ $7,500
Island Hospice and Bereavement Service, Harare ............................................................................. $15,000
Justice for Children Trust, Bindura ................................................................................................... $15,000 .... $15,000
Loving Hand, Bulawayo ................................................................................................................... $9,500
Lubhancho House, Hwange ........................................................................................................... $15,000
Maunganidze Kindhearted Children’s Organisation, Chitungwiza ........................................................ $5,000
Nehemiah Project, Bulawayo .......................................................................................................... $15,000
Nehemiah Project, Bulawayo ............................................................................................................ $5,700
Ray of Hope, Mutasa ...................................................................................................................... $5,000
Sesithule Vamanani Caring Association, Chiredzi ............................................................................. $17,000
Sibambene AIDS Programme of the Archdiocese of Bulawayo - Sikhethimpilo Centre, Maphisa ........... $15,000
Simukai Street Youth Programme, Mutare ........................................................................................ $15,000 .... $15,000
Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Service, Avondale, Harare ........................................ $40,000
Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association, Bulawayo Branch, Bulawayo ....................... $19,000
GRANTS 2007
81

GRANTS 2007
82
Joop Rubens

TREASURER’S NOTE
Firelight Foundation awarded more than US$2 million in grants during 2007, bringing our eight-year cumulative total to more
than US$8.6 million in grant awards.
The Foundation continues to pursue a strategy of conservative portfolio management, low overhead, and active fundraising so that
we can sustain our support of Africa-based programs that provide essential services to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
FUNDRAISING
Individuals and foundations have generously invested in supporting family- and community-based care of vulnerable children
in Africa through their donations to Firelight Foundation. These donations totaled more than US$2.6 million in 2007.
In 2008, Firelight plans to hire a full-time Director of Development who will spearhead efforts to deepen and diversify the
Foundation’s funding base.
GRANTMAKING
In 2007, Firelight awarded 181 grants to organizations in 10 African countries. Consistent with our mission of supporting
smaller community-based, grassroots organizations serving children, the value of more than 60 percent of these grants was in
the range of US$1,000 to US$10,000.
Our experience in supporting local initiatives to strengthen a community’s frontline response to HIV/AIDS has shown that small
awards often contribute best to the success of these organizations.
In 2008, Firelight will continue to fund emerging community-based organizations as well as those that are growing and
learning. We will strengthen our support of building the governance and service-delivery capacity of grantee-partner
organizations, enabling them to learn from each other and from more established organizations.
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF

FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
For the Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2007,
with comparative totals for the Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2006
ASSETS
2007 2006
Current Assets $13,757,784 $13,323,710
Property and Equipment, Net 134,809 151,510
Other Assets 6,000 6,000
Total Assets $13,898,593 $13,481,220
LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS
Accounts Payable $161,267 $95,713
Grants Payable 1,228,094 1,172,100
Total Liabilities $1,389,361 $1,267,813
NET ASSETS
Unrestricted $11,978,596 $11,465,634
Temporarily Restricted 530,636 747,773
Total Net Assets $12,509,232 $12,213,407
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $13,898,593 $13,481,220
A complete set of audited financial statements for the Fiscal Years ended September 30, 2007 and 2006
are available upon request.

For the Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2007,
with comparative totals for the Fiscal Year ended September 30, 2006
REVENUE AND SUPPORT
Foundation Support
44%
Investments
38%
2007 2006
Support from Individuals $737,910 $536,141
Support from other Foundations 1,866,522 2,624,203
Revenue from Investments 1,594,017 1,026,247
Total Revenue and Support $4,198,449 $4,186,591
EXPENSES
Grants Awarded $2,180,500 $1,800,250
Program Services 1,305,986 942,781
General and Administrative 270,111 356,373
Fundraising 146,027 122,982
Total Expenses $3,898,710 $3,222,386
CHANGE IN NET ASSETS $299,739 $964,205
Grants Awarded
55%
Fundraising
4%
General and Administrative
7%
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
Program Services
34%
Individual Support
18%
REVENUE 2007
EXPENSES 2007

FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
INDIVIDUALS
Shane Adler
Laurie Ahern
Teri & David Anderson
Anonymous
Cathy Aronson
Jennifer Astone
Judy Astone &
Donald Patten
Russell & Anne Ayers
Robert Bardin &
B. Lyndall Callan
Nicholas Barthel
Katya Baslee
Jeri Battistoy &
Sue Ann Robertson
Isaac & Andrea Bempong
Lisa Berry &
Leslie Johnson
Kamalinee Bhatt
Caitlin Brune
Deborah Bryant
Patrick & Linda Bujold
Tom & Lore Burger
Holly Burkhalter
Kevin & Patrice Campbell
Rose Campbell
Rita Carter
Peter & Denise Castro
Paula Clupper
David Collins
Wendy Cooper
Janet & Bill Cornyn
Peter Cross
Prudence Crowther
John & Patty Curran
Claire & Robert Dankoff
Laureen DeBuono
Ann & John Dizikes
Lynton Dove White
Marjorie & Howard Ebright
Moira Egan
George Ehrhardt
Peter Ehrhardt
Debra & David Evans
Julia Feinberg
Robert & Sarah Feinerman
Terri Fette
Hasanna Fletcher Ryan &
Dane Ryan
Sara Flynn-Murphy
Ingrid Gain
Betsy Gaiser
Gaby Gani
Aviva Garrett &
David Doshay
Kenneth Germer
Vivian &
Dominique Gettliffe
Paola Gianturco
Julie Goldstein &
Eric Goodman
Melissa Greene
Glenn & Carin Hanna
Cody Hanson
Kari Hartwig
Jim Hayes
Esther Hewlett
Bethany & Anthony Hoang
Vernie & Kathleen Hubert
Elizabeth & Frank Huttinger
Laura Hyams
Alison & Razvan Ianculescu
Ronald Indra
James Jacobson
Miebeth Janssens &
Austin O’Connor
A. Edward &
Jeanette B. Katz
Bob & Susan Kealhofer
Keven Keller
Sally Kempton
Lea Ann King
Martin King
Ann Kjellberg
Jenny Lee
Christina Lee-Simmons
Kathryn Jo Lincoln Tee
Joanna & Peter Linden
Kathlynn & James Lockard
Amy & Donald Low
Mike Lowrie
Ali MacGraw
Mary & Tom Malone
Gina Annette &
Alejandro Marotta
Steven & Carol Martinez
Richard & Mary Masters
James & Teresa Matetich
Gordon &
Brenda Matheson
John McCarthy &
Kathy Barnhart
Gina & John McDonald
Annie McDonough
Sherri McMahon
Elone Miller
Lisa Miller & Bryan Gaynor
Sheril Miller
Tammy & David Moody
Matt Mullin
John & Nancy Munger
Nancy Navarrette
John Neilson
Peggy Newell
Josh Novic &
Jan Polon
Susan Oursler
Peggy & John Overcashier
Nathaniel Owings
Jim & Sandra Palmquist
Barbara Parlapiano
Elizabeth Pierotti &
Ikuraru Kawashita
Marilyn & Edwin Pollock
Ruthann Richter &
Jay Hammer
Allen Robel
Teresa Roberts
Rachel Rogers &
Jimmy Lohman
Michelle Roland
Janet Rossi
Anne Runow &
Stanly Andrulis
Naomi Rutenberg &
Robert Burn
Danielle Sanchez-Witzel
Katie Schenk
Michael Seifert
Christina Lee-Simmons
Barbara Siracusa &
Neil Katz

Thomas Skibo
Pete & Sally Slicer
Joanne &
Stanford Smalley
Eric & Monica Snellings
Jean Snyder
Robert & Tammy Snyder
Lori Spencer
Steve Spitalny
Suzanne Staver Adams
Charles Stein &
Lynda Marin
Juniper Stein
Brent & Caroline Sweeny
Janne Tee
David Tremblay
Randy Trigg
Matt & Liz Tucker
Beth Verhey &
Daniel Toole
Cindy &
John Von Kannon
Timothy Warder &
Laurie Herraiz
Jim & Judy Warner
William Watson
Ellen Weiss &
Jonathon Greenberg
Gloria Welsh
David White
Wendy Winkler
David Wittbrodt
Delene Wolf
Mary Yoo
Mark Zaplin &
Richard Lampert
BUSINESSES
Alpert & Alpert Iron &
Metal, Inc.
Astone’s Protea
Doma Café and Gallery
Sofre Catering
CHURCH
St. John The Baptist
Episcopal Church
SCHOOLS
P. Giannini Middle School
Chadwick School
Hales Corners Lutheran
Elementary School
GIFTS IN HONOR OF
Cathy Aronson
Judy Astone
Johanna & Jeff Bartholet
Caitlin Brune
David Murray Bryant
Melissa Collins
Bruno Drake
Britt Ehrhardt
Barbara Epstein
Jennifer Euling
Marcel & Alexander Gani
Annie Greene
Edith Hardy
Jim Hayes
Lauren Heslop
Paul & Sarah Janssens
Peter Janssens
Miebeth & Austin
Janssens-O’Connor
Dave Katz & Kerry Olson
Phil & Linda Keller
Mina Kempton
Mary Ann Koson
Osha Maloney
Mary Robertson
Patricia Schultz
Zanele Sibanda Knight
Victoria Solari
Sherry Stanton
Malay Thaker
Georgia Tollin
Tremblay Family
Mrs. Jean Trotzky
Beth Verhey & Dan Toole
William Watson
Richard Wigner
David Wittbrodt
Chris Witzel &
Jo Ottman
FUNDS AND FOUNDATIONS
American Jewish World Service
Bridgeway Charitable Foundation
Caris Foundation
Cars 4 Causes
Elton John AIDS Foundation-UK
Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies
Contribution Fund
New Field Foundation
Nike Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Tamaki Foundation
Tsadik Foundation
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF

DONOR PROFILE
Anu Gupta, MD, Director, Corporate Contributions
Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Contribution Fund
“Many organizations can point to the statistics on children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and express concern, but the Firelight
Foundation’s programming is having an impact,” says Anu Gupta, MD, Director, Corporate Contributions for Johnson & Johnson.
Through its corporate philanthropy program, Johnson & Johnson—the global health care company in business for more than 120
years—enabled grants to 12 Firelight grantee-partners in Fiscal Year 2007. With support from Johnson & Johnson, grassroots
organizations in seven Sub-Saharan African countries were able to provide children affected by HIV/AIDS with a variety of programs
including health care, education, and vocational training.
“The focus of our HIV/AIDS giving is to partner with communities on programs that prevent HIV/AIDS and reduce the burden of AIDS on
women and their families,” says Gupta.
The company’s specific priorities in this area include preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, preventing HIV infections among
at-risk women and youth, as well as caring for orphans and vulnerable children. Overall, they support more than 100 philanthropic
programs that address the needs of those affected by HIV/AIDS in upwards of 40 countries.
In partnership with the Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation, for example, Johnson & Johnson funded programs to prevent mother-to-child
transmission that served more than 260,000 pregnant women in Cameroon, China, India, Russia, and Zimbabwe in 2006. Together
with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the company funds programs in Botswana, India, Nigeria, Vietnam,
and along the Dominican Republic/Haiti border, to address the dual epidemic of gender-based violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In addition to its HIV/AIDS work, Johnson & Johnson’s current priorities include saving and improving the lives of women and children,
and building the skills of health care providers, primarily through education. The company’s philanthropic mission is “making lifechanging,
long-term differences in human health by targeting the world’s major health-related issues.”
Johnson & Johnson has a long history of philanthropy, dating back to the donation of medical and surgical supplies to victims of the
San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Over the years, its emphasis has broadened beyond disaster relief, but the company’s giving
continues to be rooted in a philosophy of fulfilling its responsibility to the communities in which it does business. Johnson & Johnson
sought out Firelight Foundation as a partner. “We approach groups we feel are working effectively in a particular area,” Dr. Gupta says.
Johnson & Johnson was impressed by Firelight Foundation’s visibility at the International AIDS Conference and other key meetings,
where staff and Board members worked to draw attention to the importance of community care rather than institutional care for
orphans. “There are not many voices speaking on behalf of the needs of orphans and vulnerable children across Africa—Firelight is
speaking for them,” she notes.

Also important to Johnson & Johnson is Firelight’s emphasis on strengthening community-based organizations. “In our experience,
community-based organizations have unique insight into local needs and the solutions that will work,” she says.
Johnson & Johnson emphasizes working through partnerships with community-based organizations because the company recognizes
that local organizations are critical to addressing the root causes of problems and creating sustainable change over the long term. The
company has partnered with hundreds of local organizations on philanthropic programs.
“From our perspective, the Firelight Foundation is effectively supporting orphans and vulnerable children, and doing it in a community
context,” says Dr. Gupta.
Johnson & Johnson funds also supported Firelight’s work to strengthen grassroots organizations. Increasingly, international donors
require evidence of performance. With Firelight’s help, small grassroots organizations are learning efficient ways to evaluate their efforts
and demonstrate the impact they are making, in order to refine their work and expand it by attracting additional funding.
“Firelight’s emphasis on monitoring, evaluation, and technical assistance distinguishes it from a lot of other organizations,” Dr. Gupta
notes, calling Firelight’s work building the capacity of small, grassroots organizations a “model” strategy.
And it is Firelight’s long-term investment in and commitment to community-based organizations that is crucial to “making a difference in
the vast subcontinent of Africa—in both urban and rural communities—given the number of orphans and vulnerable children, and the
need for food, shelter, health care, and access to education,” she says.

DONOR PROFILE
Vincent Worms
The Tsadik Fund
When the family members overseeing the Tsadik Fund—a small family foundation—decided to look into what they could do to
help AIDS orphans in Africa, they began by doing research. And that’s when they learned about the Firelight Foundation.
“We became interested in children orphaned by AIDS a number of years ago, before the issue had gotten much publicity,”
explains Vincent Worms, one of the family members and co-founder of Partech, an international venture capital firm with
offices in San Francisco.
“We investigated who was working with children orphaned by AIDS and Firelight Foundation’s name kept coming up.”
Teaming up with Firelight Foundation seemed logical, he says. Firelight was supporting the sort of tangible, community-based
programs the Tsadik Fund wanted to support, plus Firelight’s office was nearby. Although the Tsadik Fund originated in Europe,
the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation handles the Fund’s administration.
Beginning in 2004, the Tsadik Fund has supported the work of a number of Firelight Foundation
grantee-partners, particularly groups that provide direct services to children whose parents have died
of AIDS and groups striving to assist the economic development of vulnerable families. Working
in concert with Firelight, the Tsadik Fund has sought a way to be “more of a partner and less of
just a funder,” says Worms.
A hybrid relationship is evolving. Each year, Firelight Foundation introduces a
subcommittee of the Tsadik Fund to between three and five new African community
organizations that have specific proposed programs. Initially, the Tsadik Fund supports
several of the community groups’ proposals through Firelight. Once a relationship with
the groups has been established or other criteria have been met, the Tsadik Fund then
goes on to support those organizations directly.
The Tsadik Fund family members “want to do more than just write checks— they
wanted to be engaged in the issues and connected to the people doing the work,”
Worms explains.
Through regular conference calls, Firelight staff offer Tsadik Fund members an
overview of the African grassroots organizations and their plans, discussing trends and
issues in the field, and addressing specific questions.

“We’ve learned a lot from Firelight about the African groups,” says
Worms. “In a five-minute conversation, a personal connection can
be developed to a local organization working directly with children
orphaned by AIDS. The give-and-take can be lively. It puts a face on the
situation and makes it more human.”
Along with supporting efforts to improve the life-chances of AIDSaffected
children, the Tsadik Fund is involved also in micro-finance work
in Africa. Worldwide, the fund works to protect women’s and children’s
rights, supporting initiatives that seek to end domestic violence and child
labor. Other areas of giving include activities to protect the rights of
minorities in France.
In all of these undertakings, the Tsadik Fund relies on the judgment
of other organizations such as Firelight Foundation to identify targets
for their giving.
Worms has a great deal of trust in Firelight. On a personal level,
he finds common ground with the Firelight Foundation’s emphasis
on grassroots, community-based change. His international venture
capital work puts him in contact with entrepreneurs creating economic
change. In much the same way, Firelight Foundation works with social
entrepreneurs creating social change.
“Working in concert with Firelight is an ideal situation,” he says.
Working in concert with
Firelight, the Tsadik Fund
has sought a way to be
“more of a partner and
less of just a funder”.

DONOR PROFILE
The Wexler Family
Ben Wexler’s seventh grade class in Palo Alto, California, has a
challenging year-long assignment. Each student must choose
a philanthropy, research it, interview a staff member, create a
descriptive poster, and prepare a persuasive essay and class
presentation. The students also raise funds for the organizations.
Ben chose Firelight Foundation, in part because he knew his
parents were donors. But he didn’t know much more than that
before he began.
What he learned made a big impression. “There are something
like 12.3 million orphans in Africa now and there will be 25
million by 2010,” he says. “Those numbers are huge, really
stunning. They make you say ‘wow.’ They make you think.”
He will begin his class presentation with the facts he’s learned,
hoping to persuade his classmates that Firelight should receive
a higher percentage of the funds they raise. The class gives
each organization a set amount, but decides together which
groups get more, Ben explains. The students are researching a
wide range of nonprofit groups, including Heifer International,
the local Alzheimer’s disease association, and a child abuse
prevention group.
The assignment, a long-standing part of the curriculum at the
Jewish day school Ben attends, has drawn Ben’s attention to
current events in Africa, says Peter Wexler, his father. Recently,
the two discussed the distinction between charity and social
justice, and the role of government corruption in human
suffering. This school project is the sort of learning experience
that helps a child develop awareness and empathy, Peter notes.
As a child growing up in
NewYork, Peter (center)
was introduced by his
parents to the Jewish
teaching of “Tikkun
Olam,” which translates
to “heal the world.”
As a child growing up in NewYork, Peter was introduced by his
parents to the Jewish teaching of “Tikkun Olam,” which translates to
“heal the world.” They supported charities as they were able.
“Responsibility for others is valued—responsibility for your family, your community, and your world,” he explains. “I didn’t
grow up giving to Africa, but I did see my parents giving.” And he and his wife Deborah have done the same as parents.

The Wexlers were first introduced to Firelight Foundation in its early years by Peter’s
co-worker, David Katz, one of Firelight’s founders.
At that time, Peter was aware of the global AIDS pandemic, but didn’t really
understand the specific implications and didn’t have a sense that he could make
a difference. He was moved by what he learned from Firelight staff about the
human impact, he recalls. “There’s an entire adult population devastated by
the disease—teachers are gone, parents are gone.”
Firelight’s community-based, more-with-less approach made a lot of sense
to him. “Firelight was talking about going to the grassroots and working in
villages with people that are touching the problems,” he says. “They didn’t
have massive resources, but what they had was targeted very effectively: for
example, helping caregivers increase their incomes so they can take in more
children rather than building expensive orphanages.”
This strategy resonated with him. As an engineer, Peter has spent his career
solving complex problems. He has worked in large companies and smallto
mid-size companies. “I can appreciate that certain problems are better
addressed by a small group of focused people.”
Along with other Firelight donors, the Wexlers have attended regular briefings
over the past five years. During that time, Firelight has grown, adapted, and
increased its influence, Peter observes.
“Just as a small company moves to the next phase by adapting to conditions in the
market to be effective, Firelight has developed ways to measure progress, increased in
scale, and extended its impact by teaching others how to use their model,” he says.
When he talks to acquaintances about Firelight Foundation’s work, Peter emphasizes
Firelight’s unique model—not multi-million dollar projects, but small, effective,
community-led efforts.
And this year, his son is doing something similar—in his seventh
grade classroom.

FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
Unlike other information in this Annual Report, which is current through September 30, 2007, the following lists of directors and
staff have been updated through July 2008.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Kerry Olson, Founder and President Jim Hayes (2004—2008)
David Katz, Vice President
Nancy Shallow
Debra Evans, Secretary
Jennifer Delaney
ADVISORY BOARD
Geoff Foster, MD, Consultant, F.A.C.T.
Geoff Foster, M.D., is a leading expert in Zimbabwe on health care and other forms of support for children affected by HIV/AIDS. Dr.
Foster is a pediatrician with more than 20 years of experience.
In 1987, Dr. Foster founded Family AIDS Caring Trust, one of the first AIDS service organizations in Africa. He served as its Director
until 2000. In 1993, he designed the FOCUS program, which is now considered by UNICEF to be a model approach to communitybased
care for orphans. During the past 10 years, Dr. Foster has researched and consulted in the area of orphans and vulnerable
children, resulting in numerous publications.
Dr. Foster consults with many national and international organizations and has recently analyzed issues of scaling-up of services
and programs. For years, he has addressed issues of HIV prevention, home care, community responses, faith-based responses, and
impact. His work assessing the effectiveness of community interventions resulted in field assignments to work in Malawi and Zambia.
Mulugeta Gebru, Founder & Executive Director, Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO)
(See profile on pages 98-99.)
Stefan Germann, Global OVC Specialist, World Vision International/Hope Initiative–Models of Learning
Stefan Germann is an “innovator” of social development programs in southern Africa that support children and youth affected by
HIV/AIDS. His involvement in orphan care programs in rural Africa dates back to 1992.
In 1998 under the auspices of the Salvation Army, he designed the Masiye Camp program in Zimbabwe, pioneering scalable
psychosocial support for orphans and vulnerable children through adventure-based learning. Stefan currently serves as the Salvation
Army Africa Regional Team Focal Person on Children, Youth and AIDS. In 2002 he was one of the founders to establish Regional
Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI), a regional initiative to scale up emotional and social support to orphans and vulnerable
children in Africa. He now serves as their Advisor for Strategic Partnerships.
Stefan supports many regional and international organizations in an advisory role for programs that aim to improve the quality of life
for orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
Wairimu Mungai, Program Director, WEMIHS
Wairimu Mungai is the Program Director of WEMIHS, a highly regarded NGO that provides integrated health and development
services in the Central Province of Kenya. Ms. Mungai developed WEMIHS’s initial vision and strategic plan based on the
overwhelming demand for care and support services in Thika. Over a period of four years, Ms. Mungai and the other two founding
members used their own meager resources to establish an office, build volunteer care and support services, and strengthen
community structures. WEMIHS has since evolved to a nationally recognized program with a track record of best practices in

prevention and behavior change for youth, ART adherence education, psychosocial support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and
sustainable livelihoods to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on vulnerable communities.
Ms. Mungai has a wealth of experience in capacity building for institutional and human resource development, policy development,
gender, and HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. From 1997-2000, Ms. Mungai served as Capacity Building Deputy Manager for Catholic
Relief Services, where she focused on capacity building for child survival programs in Kenya and Tanzania. In addition to providing
technical support, she served as a resource person for assessing the effectiveness of training on project work and was a member of
the Technical Review Committee for the East and Central African Region. In 2003, Ms. Mungai worked as the Project Coordinator
with Futures Group Europe providing technical support required by key national-level policy making and coordinating organizations,
such as the National AIDS, STI Coordinating Program (NASCOP), and National AIDS Control Council (NACC).
A native of Kenya, Ms. Mungai received her B.S. in Nutrition and Food Systems Administration from State University New York at
Buffalo and a M.A. in Education from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where she specialized in Curriculum Development and
Training. Ms. Mungai is married and has three children.
Linda Richter, Executive Director, Child, Youth & Family Development, Human Sciences Research Council
(HSRC)/Fatherhood Project
Linda Richter is the Executive Director of Child, Youth and Family Development at the Human Sciences Research Council. She holds a
Chair in Psychology and is an elected Fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She has conducted both basic and policy research in
the fields of child and youth development as applied to health, education, welfare and social development, and has published more
than 150 papers in the fields of child adolescent and family development, infant and child assessment, protein-energy malnutrition,
street and working children, and the effects of HIV/AIDS on children and families, including HIV prevention among young people.
Professor Richter is the Principal Investigator of Birth to Twenty, a longitudinal study of the maturation and development of more than
two thousand young people, born in Soweto-Johannesburg in 1990, who are being followed-up on prospectively for 20 years. She is a
co-author of a book on the study entitled Mandela’s Children: Growing up in Post-Apartheid South Africa (2001) and the lead editor of a
recent book on the sexual abuse of pre-pubertal children entitled The Sexual Abuse of Young Children in Southern Africa (2004).
Dr. Richter serves on several national and international committees, including the Technical Steering Committee of the Department of
Child and Adolescent Health and Development at the World Health Organization in Geneva, and FutureThink, an expert consultation
organized by WHO to anticipate future threats to the health and well-being of children and adolescents. She has devised several
innovative intervention programs and has advised other agencies on the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions for
extremely vulnerable children and families.
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
Cati Vawda, Director, Children’s Rights Centre (CRC)
Cati Vawda is the Director of the Children’s Rights Centre (CRC) in Durban, South Africa. CRC was founded 1988 in response
to the visible violation of children under the government’s State of Emergency. CRC’s early work centered around encouraging
international advocacy for children’s rights in South Africa. Ms. Vawda joined the organization in 1990 with the aim of addressing
a significant question: How do you make children’s rights real and understandable for children CRC now works to build a childfriendly
society. Their activities aim to ensure access to quality education and safe-play spaces, and to promote child participation
in decision-making and child-friendly local government. CRC also works to monitor the situation of children and children’s rights
in South Africa, both individually and nationally. Under Ms. Vawda’s leadership, CRC has also built and supported networks;
focused on linking organizations within a broader movement for children; and increasingly, assisted with programs to ensure
access to ARVs.

FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
VISITING SCHOLARS
Jill Donahue, Consultant, Economic Empowerment, HIV/AIDS, Community Mobilization
Jill Donahue is a microenterprise development specialist with 20 years of experience in project design, management, and evaluation.
Her technical assistance has focused on promoting innovative projects that cultivate opportunities for business growth, assessing the
integrity of savings and credit delivery systems, and evaluating the effectiveness of business development assistance. Ms. Donahue
has additional expertise in analyzing household economics and the role of microenterprise services to improve the ability of families
and communities to cope with the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is also a Certified Service Provider of MicroSave “Market
Research for Microfinance” tools and has conducted several studies using them. Ms. Donahue is a freelance consultant based in
Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.
Godfrey D.Kasozi, Executive Director, Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD)
Godfrey Kasozi attained his Agricultural degree in Uganda and then studied water and dry land farming in Israel. Thereafter, he went
to Germany for a postgraduate course in environmental management.
In 1997, with three other members, he founded The Centre for Environment Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD) in Kasese,
Uganda. CETRUD has developed effective programs in food production and micro-credit to assist families and children affected by
HIV/AIDS in Uganda. As Executive Director of CETRUD, he strongly believes that children form the base of a community, and support
for primary education and training are core activities of CETRUD.
In 1999, he was an Apprenticeship Graduate at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Center for Agro-ecology and
Sustainable Food Systems. Some of CETRUD’s programs are built upon the knowledge he acquired during his training at UCSC.
During his stay in Santa Cruz, he developed numerous friendships that have led to support for CETRUD’s mission. Recently, the family
of people in Santa Cruz supporting CETRUD has grown to include individuals, churches, and organizations. Mr. Kasozi considers
Santa Cruz his second home and visits often.
Mawinnie Kanetsi, Co-Founder, Touch Roots Africa (TRA)
Mawinnie Kanetsi has years of experience advocating for the rights of children in Lesotho. She holds a Bachelors degree
in Education and will soon be completing her Masters in Public Management. Until August 2007, she was employed as a
Programme Advisor for HIV/AIDS and Gender with Irish Aid–Lesotho. Prior to that she worked for Save the Children–UK as
Programme Manager for Child Protection and HIV/AIDS, and finally as the Deputy Director. While at SC-UK, Ms. Kanetsi was a
key resource person for Firelight, facilitating communication with grantees, coordinating grantee meetings, and providing referrals
to new applicants. Before working with SC-UK, Ms. Kanetsi was the Executive Director of the Transformation Resource Centre, a
local NGO dealing with development and human rights issues. Ms. Kanetsi is married and has three children: two boys and a girl.
Ms. Kanetsi is a co-founder and board member of Touch Roots Africa (TRA). Founded in 2004 by the former staff of Save the
Children–UK, and building on the strong networks, respect, and experience gained in their previous work, TRA provides technical
assistance to community-based organizations that provide care and support to vulnerable children throughout Lesotho. TRA serves as
Firelight’s META facilitator organization and currently has an additional open grant with Firelight to provide technical assistance to the
80-member umbrella organization, NGO Coalition of the Rights of the Child (NGOC). The Coalition is comprised of all of Firelight’s
grantees. In August 2007, Ms. Kanetsi concluded her employment with Irish Aid and now devotes her energy to TRA.

Cyprian Maro, Founder, Elimu, Michezo na Mazoezi (EMIMA)
For the past seven years, Cyprian Maro has worked as the executive director of EMIMA, a local NGO in Tanzania using sport to
educate and foster youth development and empowerment. He is also the architect and advisor for an international network called
“Kicking AIDS Out” that focuses on youth education and empowerment through sport in Norway, East and Southern Africa, Canada,
and the Caribbean. Together with colleagues, Mr. Maro has written a manual for peer leaders that is used for educating youth
through sport. He has extensive experience in using sport as a platform to reach out to disadvantaged children and to involve them in
changing their own behaviors.
Mr. Maro holds a Master of Sciences in Sport and Exercise Psychology and is currently at the final stage of his postgraduate studies.
His area of research is the evaluation of the impact and enhancement of the effectiveness of education through sports programs.
Mr. Maro currently has an online publication in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports entitled “Using Sport to
Promote HIV/AIDS Education for at-Risk Youths: An Intervention Using Peer Coaches in Football.” A Christian, born in Kilimanjaro,
Mr. Maro is married and has one daughter and twin sons.
Maxwell Matewere, Executive Director, Eye of the Child
Mr. Maxwell Matewere, holds a degree in Legal Studies, a postgraduate diploma in International Policy Advocacy, and is completing a
Master’s program in Public Health Management. Since the founding of the Eye of the Child in 1995, Mr. Matewere has served as its
Executive Director. Eye of the Child is a national organization recognized locally and internationally for its work in promoting the rights
and general welfare of children. A Firelight grantee-partner since 2004, Eye of the Child has made significant contributions to the
development of child-related projects and legislation concerning child protection, survival, care, support, and development in Malawi.
Mr. Matewere has recently been appointed as Malawi’s Special Law Commissioner to develop a national policy for anti-human
trafficking and adoption. He has chaired a committee of the Malawian National Youth Council’s Board of Directors for the past six
years. Mr. Matewere was elected in 2005 as the Vice President of the Southern Africa Network Against Abuse and Trafficking of Children
(SANTAC), a regional network of 13 African countries based in Mozambique. He is also the Chairperson of the Child Rights Committee
of the NGO Gender Coordinating Network. Mr. Matewere served for four years as a Board Member for the Human Rights Consultative
Committee (HRCC) and the Coordinator for the National Network against Child Trafficking in Malawi. In 2002 he was awarded a
Human Rights Awareness and Defenders Championship award by the Malawian government in recognition of his work in designing the
Paralegal Advisory Services Programme, which has been replicated in other African Countries. He is married with two sons.
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
Phillip Motlhaolwa, Founder & Director, Diketso Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust (DEDI)
Phillip Motlhaolwa has worked in the NGO sector in South Africa since 1996. He worked with the Kopanang Consortium Pilot Project
as a trainer until 1998, when he was promoted to lead the organization. In 1999, when the Pilot Project closed, he founded Diketso
Eseng Dipuo Community Development Trust and has successfully led the organization ever since. His personal conviction is that
“when people are empowered, they will take the step to bring about change in their lives as individuals, families, and communities.”
This is the basis for DEDI’s work with communities in the Free State.
Mr. Motlhaolwa has published papers in ChildrenFirst and other publications and has served on the boards of several local
NGOs, including HIPPY Free State and Educare Development Trust. Phillip has a Bachelor’s degree in Public Management and
Administration. He was born and raised in Bloemfontien, and lives there with his wife and two young daughters.

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER PROFILE
Mulugeta Gebru, Executive Director
Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO), Ethiopia
Firelight Foundation’s new Advisory Board member, Mulugeta Gebru of Ethiopia, says he doesn’t know many funders like Firelight.
Mr. Gebru is executive director of the Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization (JeCCDO), one of
Ethiopia’s oldest and largest organizations dedicated to promoting community-based childcare programs and building community
capacity to support orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).
As one of the founders of the OVC Network—a national network of 140 organizations working to support orphans
and vulnerable children in Ethiopia—he’s met a lot of international donors. To him, Firelight Foundation stands
out because it “funds small emerging groups unreached by other donors.” “Firelight is making a meaningful
difference with a small amount of money,” he says.
Mr. Gebru has a wealth of learning and experience to share with Firelight staff and board members. He cofounded
JeCCDO more than 20 years ago to help children orphaned or abandoned in the wake of Ethiopia’s
famine and civil war.
The organization has done groundbreaking work in helping 1,000 children living in orphanages move back into
community settings. Because of this work, JeCCDO was featured in Firelight’s publication, From Faith to Action,
as an example of an organization that had shifted its focus from orphanages to family care (pages 18-19). Some
of the children were reunited with family members while others were reintegrated into the larger society with
training in marketable skills. The undertaking was “very tricky business,” Gebru says. “It has to be realistic and
sustainable. Children need education and a skill. Children and families have to be on board.”
JeCCDO’s social workers began what was a “very time-consuming process” by helping the children travel
back to their home areas during a school vacation. “The children visited markets and church services to
tell their stories and find their roots,” he explains. “Making the community
aware of the children’s stories is very important. They must be welcomed
back into the community, not treated as strangers.” Public celebrations
for the returning children helped involve the community in the
reintegration and reunification processes.

After 10 years, JeCCDO assessed the deinstitutionalization effort and found that overall, the
process had a positive impact on the young people, communities, and families involved.
The study also found that institutionalization creates lasting dependency among children
that must be overcome before they can be assimilated into families and communities.
Gebru shares Firelight’s conviction that a family environment is the best setting for
children to grow and develop. Based on their experience and research, JeCCDO is
phasing out the orphanages they have operated in the past. “We asked the orphanage
staff, ‘Would you want your children living here’” he recalls. “No one said yes. An
orphanage is not the right place to raise a child.”
Along with child-family reunification and orphan reintegration, JeCCDO runs multifaceted
programs aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged children and the
communities in which they live. These programs, operating in several cities, include
HIV/AIDS prevention, sanitation, urban agriculture, and income-generation activities for
families. A few years ago, JeCCDO’s work caught the attention of Tony Blair, then the
United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, who visited one of JeCCDO’s community projects and
highlighted the difference they were making.
Playing the role of facilitator and “pushing people to become more ambitious,”
describes JeCCDO’s approach to community development, reports Mr. Gebru. “We
are willing to learn from the community, to come to know their environment, to listen to
community priorities and find ways to address problems together,” he says. “It takes a
long time to gain the trust of people in many impoverished communities. They are wary
of people coming in big cars with only short-term interest in their community.”
Firelight Foundation shares this approach, he says. “Firelight values the wisdom of
people on the ground, appreciates the local perspective, and believes there is room
for learning.” He praised Firelight’s tenacious commitment to orphans and vulnerable
children affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. “They are really in business for
the long term,” he says.
Mulugeta Gebru is the founder and
executive director of JeCCDO in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. JeCCDO was
started in 1985 with six orphanages
accommodating 1,000 children with a
starting budget of US$100,000 and 35
employees. Today, JeCCDO is involved
in child-focused development work
throughout the country, with an annual
budget of US$3 million and 300
employees. JeCCDO funds 12 NGOs
and supports 21 community-based
organizations. As executive director,
Mr. Gebru raises funds, establishes
relationships with stakeholders, and
develops strategic plans and policy.
Mr. Gebru serves on the board of
several NGOs and has served as
a parent committee member in five
schools. A native of Ethiopia, Mr.
Gebru holds a degree in Business
Management and an Advanced
Diploma in Development Studies. He
is married with four children.

FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF
STAFF MEMBERS
The following list of staff members is current through July 2008:
Peter Laugharn, Executive Director
Jennifer Anderson-Bähr, Senior Program Officer & Development Officer
Janice Cook-Silva, Executive Assistant
Suzana Grego, Director of Communications
Jim Hayes, IT Manager
Aili Langseth, Program Associate
Jennifer Lentfer, Head of Organizational Learning
Lauren Maher, Senior Program Officer
Ron Maysenhalder, Finance Manager
Rosalie Nezien, Program Assistant
Scott J. Pietka, Program Assistant
Anne-Marie Rosché, Program Associate
Zoe Rowlandson, Executive Assistant
Zanele Sibanda Knight, Program Officer, Advocacy Coordinator & Interim Director of Programs
Cheryl Talley-Moon, Human Resources & Office Manager
We are grateful to the following staff members who are no longer with us for their service and dedication to Firelight:
Jennifer Astone, Executive Director
Joye Bretón, Administrative Assistant
Caitlin Brune, Program Officer
Cole Cottin, Program Assistant/Office Assistant
Joanne Csete, Director of Programs & Interim Executive Director
Britt Ehrhardt, Grants Analyst
Andrew Green, Communications & Development Assistant
Heidi Litdke, Development Assistant
Osha Maloney, Grantmaking Assistant
Christine Reyes, Finance Manager
Joop Rubens, Communications & Development Officer

VOLUNTEERS
Cathy Aronson
Judy Astone
Lisa Berry
Nooshi Borhan
Patrick Bujold
Leslie Johnson
Bob Moon
Ryannon Moon
Gloria Taylor
Laura Widmar
In addition to the volunteers listed, Firelight would
like to acknowledge and warmly thank the many
individuals who have volunteered their time and insight
by providing assessments, references, and referrals as
part of our application and due diligence process.
Joop Rubens
FINANCIALS, SUPPORTERS & STAFF

Throughout Africa, thousands of community-based organizations are addressing the needs of children and families made
vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Often operating on a shoestring with a great deal of volunteer support, community-based groups are
the frontline response to the needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS. But very little funding is reaching this grassroots level,
leaving these organizations chronically under-funded and over-stretched.
To address this serious funding gap, we are re-conceptualizing and reinvigorating our fundraising efforts in order to increase
our grantmaking. With higher funding levels, we would be able both to lengthen and multiply our support of community-based
organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa—the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
We would lengthen our support by:
Giving many more multi-year grants. We know that one-year grants are not always long enough for important project work
to be completed. They also place an administrative burden on us as well as on our partners. Although we already make multiyear
grants and repeat one-year grants as a matter of course, giving more two- to three-year grants would allow us, together
with our partners, to pursue a concerted and strategic programmatic and learning agenda. The lessons learned from these
longer-term strategic partnerships could benefit not only our grantees and the children they support, but also those outside of
these partnerships.
We would multiply our support by:
Offering more Monitoring, Evaluation & Technical Assistance (META)
grants and training workshops. Providing more capacity building
assistance to partners would allow them to provide better support to
children, families, and communities affected by HIV/AIDS.
Targeting support to organizations that advocate for children’s
issues in African countries in order to raise public awareness around
these issues that can help foster lasting social change.
Publishing important findings and lessons from our work to educate
and broadly disseminate the knowledge and tools necessary to help
ensure children’s survival and well-being.
Community Leader,
Zambia
With nearly a decade of experience building grassroots partnerships and fostering leadership among funders and experts on
children and HIV/AIDS, Firelight is well-positioned to deliver vital support directly to community-based organizations in Africa,
and to leverage this support by persuading other funders to do the same.
Please join with us in this challenging and important fundraising effort by becoming part of our growing network of supporters.

DONATE
An endowment covers most of Firelight’s administrative expenses, uniquely positioning Firelight to bring 100 percent of
donations from individuals to grassroots groups serving children affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Donate by cash, check, or credit card
Checks should be made payable to Firelight Foundation.
To donate by credit card, please go to “You Can Help”
at www.firelightfoundation.org.
Share stock
Stock may be transferred to Firelight via Northern
Trust Bank.
Arrange a recurring donation
Pledge to contribute each month. On our website,
register to make automatic donations by credit
card.
Honor friends and family
Make a donation to Firelight in honor of someone’s
birthday, as a holiday gift, or to highlight another
celebration. Firelight will advise the honoree of
your gift.
Request a company match
Many companies have a corporate giving program that
will match your donation. Check with your employer.
Make a bequest
Make a long-lasting contribution by naming Firelight
as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy or will.
Offer in-kind support
In-kind donations will be acknowledged for tax
deduction purposes.
Give through the Firelight Foundation Donor
Advised Fund at the Tides Foundation
There is a small administrative fee.
Donations made to Firelight are tax-deductible to the full extent of U.S. Internal Revenue Service regulations. All donations will
be acknowledged in writing within three weeks of the date of donation.
For more information, please contact development@firelightfoundation.org or +1-831-429-8750.

We dedicate this report to the memory
of those who died in 2007 and
who are among the many youth,
parents, and unsung heroes in
eastern and southern Africa who
worked so hard in the face of HIV/AIDS
to forge a better existence for
their families and their communities.

For the latest news and information from Firelight Foundation,
please visit our website at www.firelightfoundation.org
Copyright © 2008 Firelight Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
Annual Report direction by Suzana Grego.
Design, artwork, and desktop composition by Tristan Bähr.
Printed and bound by Community Printers, using 100% recycled paper.
Written and edited by Paola Scommegna and Firelight Foundation staff,
including Jennifer Anderson-Bähr, Joanne Csete, Suzana Grego, and Kerry Olson.
Photo coordination by Jennifer Anderson-Bähr.
Additional assistance by Cheryl Talley-Moon.
Cover photograph by Jennifer Anderson-Bähr.
Most photographs by Jennifer Anderson-Bähr and Joop Rubens.

“If a child is given a supportive environment,
a child can become someone. Give children a chance
and you will discover great, great heroes in them.”
Moses Zulu, Development Aid From People to People, Children’s Town, Zambia
Firelight Foundation
740 Front Street, Suite 380
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States of America
Phone: +1-831-429-8750
Fax: +1-831-429-2036
info@firelightfoundation.org
www.firelightfoundation.org
The Firelight Foundation is a private foundation located in Santa Cruz, California.
The Foundation incorporated in December 1999. The founding mission of Firelight Foundation
is to support the fundamental needs and rights of children struggling to grow up in the face of hardship.