Financing Impact beyond grants.

During Catalyzing Change Week 2025, tuiFUND and the Catalyst Now Kenya Chapter hosted a thought-provoking session titled “Beyond Grants: Embracing New Models for Financial Sustainability.” The discussion convened leading thinkers and practitioners shaping the future of impact finance across Africa: Ezinne Anyanwu and Hollie Lippert from Instiglio, Rose Maruru from EPIC Africa, and Steve Kariuki from Maji Na Ufanisi, moderated by Wambui Karanja, Co-founder of tuiFUND. Each organization brought a unique vantage point to the conversation from reengineering development finance, to advancing data-driven philanthropy, to showcasing community-led enterprise models that prove sustainability is achievable from the ground up.

Over more than a decade now, Instiglio has become a global pioneer in designing results-based financing models that link funding to measurable outcomes. Drawing on that expertise, Ezinne Anyanwu, Head of Partnership Development for Instiglio Africa, described how performance-driven approaches are transforming how governments and donors collaborate across the continent. Her colleague, Hollie Lippert, an Associate Partner at Instiglio, added that results-based funding mechanisms such as outcomes contracts and pay-for-success models are already unlocking new capital for African NGOs and social enterprises by aligning incentives around what truly matters: lasting impact. Together, they emphasized that this shift requires a strong foundation of data systems, organizational readiness, and funder flexibility but that it ultimately builds accountability without control.

Rose Maruru, Co-founder of EPIC Africa, grounded the conversation in data and power dynamics, reminding participants that philanthropic impact cannot thrive without visibility and transparency. EPIC Africa’s work has shown that African civil society is deeply resilient yet systematically underfunded. Rose called for a shift in how philanthropy measures value urging funders to recognize the breadth of African giving and harness the continent’s own generosity as a credible, strategic resource. This lens of equitable giving challenges the traditional donor recipient hierarchy and points toward a more balanced, trust-based model of collaboration.

Bringing a practitioner’s voice to the panel, Steve Kariuki, Executive Director of Maji Na Ufanisi (MNU), shared a compelling case study of transformation. Once an offshoot of WaterAid UK, MNU is now a fully Kenyan-led social enterprise delivering sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions through community ownership and earned revenue. Steve illustrated how their award-winning sanitation projects in Mombasa, implemented under a social enterprise model, have not only improved service delivery but also shifted mindsets turning user fees into a vehicle for dignity, accountability, and unrestricted local funding. His story embodied the “beyond grants” ethos: resilience built from within, powered by innovation and local trust.

The conversation, moderated by Wambui Karanja, tied these perspectives together into a broader reflection on how African organizations can move from fragile survival to lasting strength. Wambui challenged participants to rethink internal readiness from data aggregation to financial systems before seeking external validation. She underscored that sustainability is not a funding destination but a leadership mindset: one that values learning, transparency, and collaboration as much as it does resources.

In closing, the panelists agreed that the future of African impact work lies in designing funding systems grounded in African values: trust, community, efficiency, and shared accountability. The session called for courage from both funders and organizations: courage to stop replicating donor dependency, to start investing in capacity and data, and to co-create pathways that reward long-term value creation. As the continent continues to redefine its development architecture, Beyond Grants served as both a mirror and a map reflecting how far African changemakers have come, and charting how they can lead the next era of sustainable social transformation.

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