The Foundation welcomes
project proposals submitted directly by charities and NGOs.
However, please read carefully the following to ensure the
compliance of your proposal with our criteria. If in doubt, you are
also welcome to contact
us for further clarification.
Selection Criteria
Does your project relate to one of our priority fields?
In the developing world, the Trafigura Foundation believes that
some specific areas are key to guarantee a genuine and sustainable
development of the communities. Your project must relate to one of
these: education, environment, micro-credit & social
entrepreneurship, rural development, social inclusion or health
& disabilities.
If your project takes place in the
industrialized world, our grant policy also consistently targets
the fields of education, environment and health & disabilities,
provided that the target groups are clearly identified as
underprivileged, vulnerable and/or in need of increased social
inclusion.
Is there a Trafigura or Trafigura-related business entity in
the country where your project takes place?
The Foundation wishes to create as many opportunities as
possible for our employees to interact and contribute in any manner
to the projects it supports. We believe that part of our corporate
social responsibility also lies in the interest and awareness of
our employees in the problems affecting their surrounding
environments, whether social or ecological. Hence, we tend to
favour projects that are in locations
somewhat correlated to presence of the Trafigura Group.
Nonetheless, we also fund at times projects in other countries,
provided they respond to all our other criteria.
In countries where a formal Charity
Committee has been established (currently UK, China, USA,
Singapore, Switzerland, DRC, South Africa, Peru), we strongly
encourage you to contact them to look at ways to involve them in
your project. The Foundation sees the endorsement by our Charity
Committee as essential to its selection of projects. More details
on our Charity Committees, including a full list and contact
details, can be found in our charity
committee section.
Is the impact of your project tangible and concrete?
This is a key feature your project must have to be eligible to a
grant from the Foundation. The outcome of your project must make a
genuine and measurable difference to the communities and people
concerned. We strongly discourage submissions of projects which do
not respond to this criterion, such as data-collection surveys,
fundraising events, organization of conferences or seminars,
epidemiological studies, evaluation/assessment surveys, etc.
Are the outcomes of your project perennial and
sustainable?
As for the previous item, the
sustainable and long-lasting effects of your project must be
demonstrated. The Foundation believes that sustainability is
essential for a sound development of the communities, and that it
cannot be genuinely achieved if the post-assistance period is not
envisioned from the outset and if the communities are not also
taken on the path to autonomy during the project period. We are
aware that this can be a far-reaching objective, and that time is
often needed in that purpose. Whenever relevant, the Foundation may
thus contemplate multi-year partnership.
Does an eventual grant from the Foundation make a real
difference in your funding structure?
The Foundation wishes to concentrate
its support to small- or medium-sized NGOs (or to smaller projects
of larger NGOs) for which our financial support makes a real
difference. We are not keen to see our grants diluted in a wide
range of other contributors, with little significance in the
overall project's funding structure. With our financial support, we
want to make the same difference to the project as the difference
the project aims to make to its beneficiaries.