Ra5 Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The IROH Foundation, formerly Ra5, supports “emerging organizations” working in global development and global health.
IP TAKE: “Getting projects off the ground is not our chosen mission.” Formerly known as Ra5, the IROH Foundation seeks to support players working in global development or health that “have a defined business model, a measurable track record of success, and are looking to scale.” It usually awards unrestricted support for a period of three years.
IROH does not accept unsolicited proposals and appears to conduct its own research on viable organizations. A connection to founders Robert and Alecia Seidler might be key here, but the foundation does provide a contact page through which it receives messages.
PROFILE: Established in 2011, the IROH Foundation, formerly the Ra5 Foundation, was launched by Southern California couple Robert and Alecia Seidler. It is “dedicated to finding and funding successful emergent organizations dedicated to bringing positive change to society.” Robert is a partner and founder of Seidler Equity Partners, a family-oriented private equity fund that provides capital and management support to growing entrepreneurial companies across the United States. Grantmaking encompasses global development and health, prioritizing organizations that have already achieved some success in developing nations and regions of the world.
Grants Global Development and Global Health
IROH does not name specific strategies for its global grantmaking but focuses on initiatives and organizations that “have a defined business model, a measurable track record of success, and are looking to scale.” Global development grantees include Saha Global, which received a grant for its work in Ghana training women to run “small rural water treatment businesses.” Another grantee, Semilla Nueva, operates in Guatemala, where it “fights malnutrition” by producing and selling “biofortified maize seed with higher zinc, iron, and quality protein contents to reduce nutritional deficiencies across Guatemala’s national population.”
In global health, the foundation supports Intelehealth, which works in India and Kyrgyzstan to expand affordable and high quality healthcare via telehealth platforms. Other grantees in global health have included the Range of Motion Project, which works in Guatemala and Ecuador to provide “high-quality prosthetic care and rehabilitation services in order to improve the mobility and independence of underserved people,” and Lwala, a Kenyan organization that “recruits, pays, supervises, and empowers government community health workers and traditional midwives.”
Important Grant Details:
Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000 per year.
This funder’s grants are generally awarded for a three-year period.
Grants provided unrestricted funding.
Grants mainly support “emerging” organizations that have “a defined business model, a measurable track record of success, and are looking to scale” in developing countries.
For additional information about current and past grantees, see the foundation’s Who We Fund page
IROH does not accept unsolicited applications for funding but organizations can reach out through its contact page.
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