Application Guidelines

The Foundation will respond within two months to enquiries, informing the applicant whether there is sufficient interest to pursue the proposal. If so, the Foundation will request additional information from the organisation.

Oak Foundation’s main office is in Geneva. It has several other offices which are located to serve its various programmes. All e-mail inquiries should be directed to the appropriate Oak Foundation programme and letters addressed to the appropriate office. If in doubt please write to the Geneva office or e-mail info@oakfnd.ch. For initial contact, please do not telephone or visit the offices.

All inquiries should be directed to the appropriate Oak programme at the addresses listed on the Contact Oak page. For initial contact, please do not telephone or visit the offices.

Before submitting an inquiry, please read the guidelines listed below.

Limitations

Grants will not be awarded for:

• Religious organisations for religious purposes;
• Supporting candidates for office;
• General fund-raising drives or events; or
• Amounts under US$25,000 (except in special circumstances).

Funding Criteria

The Foundation seeks leadership projects that meet the following criteria:

• Target root causes;
• Demonstrate solutions that can be adopted by permanent providers and/or by government;
• Mobilise financial commitment from a range of different sources;
• Promote collaboration among organisations and funders;
• Involve the target population in the planning and implementation of the project;
• Demonstrate good financial and organisational management.

Types of Support

The Foundation will consider requests for funding of special projects, core costs, capital needs, technical assistance, or collaborative activities. Multi-year projects are subject to regular progress reviews.

The Foundation may also seek to stimulate initiatives in its areas of interest by:

• Issuing calls for proposals on specific topics;
• Convening policymakers and practitioners to explore solutions to critical issues;
• Initiating its own programmes.