OVERVIEW: In 2010, after only five years in operation, the U.K.-based Stone Family Foundation decided that it was going to commit 80 percent of its global development funding to water, sanitation, and hygiene projects.
IP TAKE: The Stone Family Foundation takes a venture capitalist approach to philanthropy. As a result, it appreciates new, higher-risk water and sanitation projects, which could provide an excellent source of funding for WASH innovators. The foundation prioritizes organizations based in the United Kingdom, where it is headquartered, but funds globally for WASH development. This is not an accessible funder. It also takes a bureaucratic approach in funding. The majority of its grants are multi-year commitments for general operating support, which makes this a more crowded space.
PROFILE: John Stone sold his financial services business Lombard International Assurance to establish the Stone Family Foundation with his wife, Vanessa, in 2005. The foundation takes a venture philanthropy approach to funding, aiming to be a “pioneering, innovative and a disruptive influence.” After spending its early years backing a relatively large number of projects, the foundation’s board refocused its grantmaking to its newly developed WASH Strategy, or water, sanitation, and hygiene, while dedicating the remaining 20 percent to adult mental health and disadvantaged youth projects in the UK. Stone seeks to raise its urban and rural WASH grants and investments in the future.
Grants for Global Development
The Stone Family Foundation currently dedicates approximately 80% of its funding to its Water and Sanitation program area. Stone aims to “transform the water and sanitation sector by pioneering long-lasting, sustainable solutions that overcome the failure of traditional infrastructure-only approaches.” The foundation prioritizes market-based approaches by supporting “high-potential enterprises” with grants and non-financial resources. Stone currently focuses on organizations operating in Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, but may support projects in sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asia. It does provide seed capital in addition to grants to organizations that have successfully piloted new water and sanitation projects, but which need additional funding to grow. Stone’s global development tends to support large INGOs, such as WASH organizations like Water.org, WaterAid, and the Global Water Challenge.
Grants for Mental Health
The Stone Family Foundation’s Mental Health program area supports “charities working to improve the lives of people with mental health issues,” including “service delivery for adults experiencing severe and enduring mental illnesses or in crisis,” as well as nonprofits that support youth and children who are at risk of developing mental illnesses. The work Stone supports in this are includes “crisis and recovery, advice and information, and raising public awareness.” Stone makes grants to organizations that target individuals suffering from chronic conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, depression, eating disorders, and self-harm, as well as individuals undergoing immediate mental health crises. It prioritizes groups that have “a strong focus on impact measurement, and can demonstrate positive outcomes.” Grantees include Star Wards, Rethink Mental Illness, Samaritans, Hillside Clubhouse, Mosaic Clubhouse, and Shout.
Grants for Youth Development
The Stone Family Foundation’s Disadvantaged Youth program area aims to “level the playing field a little between this group and its peers” by funding organizations working in “early years, in education and youth work, and in employability.” The foundation prioritizes organizations that “focus on improving disadvantaged youth’s educational attainment, their relationships and confidence/resilience, and/or their chances of stable work and income” and “undertake service delivery interventions at the individual and community level.” Past grantees include Impetus, Positive Futures, Youth Moves, The Tutor Trust, Empire Fighting Chance, and Tutors United.
Important Grant Details:
Grant amounts vary from about £150,000 to £1 million. While the foundation’s water and sanitation grantmaking serves organizations operating in Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, its other two programs prioritize the United Kingdom.
Stone does not accept unsolicited proposals. To secure a Stone Family Foundation grant, grantseekers must go through New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), which manages the foundation’s day-to-day operations and grantmaking.
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