Malala Fund

Registered charity 1178655 · since 2018malala.org·Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania·Updated 30 October 2026

At a glance

$10.2M

Annual giving, year to 31 March 2025

From filed accounts

Key takeaways

Malala Fund's work fits organisations whose main focus is girls' education, girls' rights advocacy, education funding or education in emergencies.
No grant range or typical grant size is stated, so a grant writer should not assume a particular request amount will fit.
No application process is published, so start with the contact shown for getting in touch.
Organisations outside its focus countries should not expect to qualify for the Education Champion Network, which is open to civil society organisations in those countries, though its global advocacy grants give priority to groups based in or with a long-term presence in lower-income countries.
The fund prioritises flexible, multi-year funding and aims to award at least 20% of grants to organisations governed or led by girls and young women.

Overview

Malala Fund is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1178655).

Malala Fund is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales that promotes education worldwide, particularly for secondary school-age girls denied education due to poverty, violence, discrimination or tradition. It works to ensure all girls can access and complete 12 years of education, using grantmaking and advocacy to strengthen girls' right to secondary education and unlock resources. In one fiscal year it awarded $10.2 million in grant funding to 57 organisations in 10 countries, with most of its funds going to the Education Champion Network, Afghanistan Initiative and Girl Programme.

What they fund

Priority Areas

Malala Fund supports civil society organisations working to remove barriers to girls’ education, particularly in its focus countries and communities where girls face the greatest education barriers. Through the Education Champion Network, it backs local advocates working to change education systems and advance girls’ access to and completion of school. It also funds organisations advocating to global institutions and influential governments for policies that strengthen girls’ rights and increase public funding for girls’ education, prioritising those based in or with a long-term presence in lower-income countries and working in education, girls’ rights or gender equality. In crises, it makes targeted grants to organisations sustaining girls’ education access, including alternative and digital learning for girls in Afghanistan. It prioritises flexible, multi-year funding and aims to award at least 20% of grants to organisations governed or led by girls and young women.

Themes

Girls’ education
Girls’ rights advocacy
Education funding
Education in emergencies

Geographic Focus

Priority: Afghanistan; Brazil; Ethiopia; Nigeria; Pakistan; Tanzania.

How to apply

No application process is published in the charity's annual report, its register entry or its website. The contact shown is for getting in touch.

Who can apply:

Education Champion Network: Applicants are civil society organisations in the fund’s focus countries.
Global advocacy: Applicants advocate to global institutions and influential governments for policies strengthening girls’ rights and increasing public funding for girls’ education; priority is given to organisations based in or with a long-term presence in lower-income countries in specified sectors.
Education in emergencies: The grants support organisations responding to crises to sustain girls’ education access, including organisations delivering alternative and digital learning programmes for girls in Afghanistan.

Application success factors

What the charity says:

Malala Fund aims to award at least 20% of its grants to organisations governed or led by girls and young women.
It prioritises flexible, multi-year grants that respect and enhance partners’ autonomy to use the resources as they see fit.
Global advocacy organisations are prioritised when they are based in, or have a long-term presence in, lower-income countries and work in education, girls’ rights or gender equality.
It considers local advocates who understand their communities best placed to lead solutions to their challenges.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

Afghanistan
Brazil
Ethiopia
Nigeria
Pakistan
Tanzania

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Malala Fund.

30 Birds FoundationNo public processGave £329k CamfedNo public process Developments in Literacy (DIL) Trust UKNo public processGave £300k Strawberry Hill Overseas and Community Concern (SHOCC)Rolling The Hilden Charitable FundFixed deadlinesGave £1.2M Good Shepherd Foundation UKNo public processGave £783k Mondo FoundationNo public process Bleu Blanc Rouge FoundationInvitation onlyGave £474k The COSARAF Charitable FoundationMixed deadlinesGave £531k

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 March 2021	£1,282,622	£1,582,464	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2021
year to 31 March 2022	£1,973,457	£1,910,517	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2022
year to 31 March 2023	£2,406,499	£2,145,810	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2023
year to 31 March 2024	£2,637,155	£2,845,134	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2024
year to 31 March 2025	£2,914,697	£2,520,881	$10,200,000	Accounts for year to 31 March 2025

Year to 31 March 2025 not shown: grants paid were reported in US dollars and income in pounds.

Grants paid, year to 31 March 2025: grants awarded in the year, as reported in the accounts.

— No grants figure for those years.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.