How does Firetree identify and select organisations for the portfolio?

There is no open application process. Organisations in the Fund portfolio are drawn exclusively from Firetree's own portfolio of partners, built over 20 years of direct funding and engagement in Southeast Asia. For a full picture of how we identify, assess, and build relationships with organisations, visit our How We Partner page.

Who approves which organisations enter the Fund portfolio?

All portfolio inclusions are approved by the Firetree Board, advised by a regional panel of technical experts spanning child protection, education, and nonprofit operations across Southeast Asia, chaired by Nicky Wilkinson.

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Participate with the Firetree Fund

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Our principles

Our funding is built on three principles. These principles are not aspirational but the conditions under which we believe meaningful, lasting impact is possible.

Relationship-based

Trust is the foundation of everything we do. We only fund organisations we know deeply, in geographies where we have extensive direct experience.

Long-term

We support our partners for as long as they need it, in service that grows. Short funding cycles consume the energy that leaders should be spending on their work.

Unrestricted

Once trust is established, we believe the organisation is considerably better positioned to decide how resources are best deployed. We do not prescribe how funding is used.

Ways to participate

Whether you want to join the philanthropic fund or engage directly with specific organisations, we have various ways in which we work with fellow funders.

Allocate

Funds are directed by Firetree across the portfolio. Allocation decisions are based on ongoing engagement with each organisation, their current needs, and their potential to grow or deepen their work. Funders receive structured communication on how funds are directed, and an annual supplementary report grounded in our visits and engagement.

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Advise

For funders who want to give to the issues and geographies we know deeply, Firetree can share its perspective on where funding will be most impactful. Drawing on years of direct experience working with and within these organisations, we help funders make decisions that are grounded, contextual, and built for the long term. Funders can also request access to the same portfolio reports we produce, giving them the same visibility into the organisations and their work.

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Connect

For funders who want to engage more closely with specific organisations or prefer to give directly to particular program or geographies, Firetree facilitates introductions, visits and continued dialogue. We provide the context we have built over years of partnership and stay available throughout to advocate for the kind of funding these organisations need most.

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Frequently Asked Questions

ABOUT THE FIRETREE FUND

Firetree does not operate as a marketplace or introduction service. We fund first and share later. Every organisation in the Fund portfolio has been supported by Firetree through a multi-year relationship. Our judgment is shaped by sustained engagement, site visits, operational conversations, and real partnership, not proposal review alone. We also operate nonprofit programmes ourselves in education and child protection, ensuring that our evaluation of partners is grounded in lived practice rather than observation. The Firetree Fund is not a replacement for our own funding. We continue to back every organisation in this portfolio directly, as we have for years. What the Fund offers other funders is something different: a way into organisations we know deeply, seen through the same lens we use ourselves. Rather than navigating the Southeast Asian nonprofit landscape from a distance, funders gain access to relationships, context, and operational understanding that took us years to build. For funders newer to this region or to trust-based philanthropy, the Fund also offers a window into how we work: our approach to identifying organisations, building relationships over time, and making funding decisions grounded in practice rather than paperwork. We share not just who we fund, but why, and how we came to know them well enough to back them with confidence.

The Firetree Fund is a co-funding opportunity, not a vehicle where contributions disappear into a collective pot. When you give through the Fund, you are joining Firetree in backing organisations we already fund ourselves. You will always know which organisations your contribution is supporting and receive communication accordingly. Allocation decisions are made by the Firetree Board, advised by a regional panel of technical experts from across Southeast Asia. That is deliberate. The value of the Fund rests on the consistency and integrity of our judgment, built over years of real partnership with these organisations. Funders who participate are, in effect, trusting Firetree to apply that judgment on their behalf, the same judgment we apply to our own giving.

Firetree is a funder, not a fundraiser. We are not running a drive to raise money on behalf of the organisations we support. What we are doing is simpler: sharing access to organisations we have found, vetted, and backed through our own funding, with other funders who are interested in the same issues and geographies. We believe the time and energy of nonprofit leaders is best spent on their work and the communities they serve, not on running fundraising drives. If we, as existing supporters of these organisations, can help other aligned funders understand what we know about them and why we back them, then we have removed some of that burden without asking anything of the organisations themselves. The Fund is an extension of how we already work. It is not a fundraising mechanism. It is an offer to share our view.

HOW ORGANISATIONS ARE SELECTED AND THE PORTFOLIO

Child protection is the primary focus of the Firetree Fund and the area where Firetree has the deepest direct experience. That said, we care about organisations doing strong, grounded work across the geographies we operate in and in issues that are closely connected to the protection and development of children and families. The portfolio therefore also includes organisations working on innovations in education. This reflects both the reality that child protection and education are deeply intertwined in the lives of the families we seek to support, and our own direct experience running Starfish Education Foundation, a wholly owned and operated initiative of Firetree in Thailand.

In our experience, significant governance issues or organisational crises are rarely a surprise. Because of the frequency and depth of our engagement with portfolio organisations, we are almost always able to see early indicators of something changing or going wrong, long before it becomes a crisis. This is something we have navigated across a number of organisations over the years. In the rare event that something were to change significantly enough to warrant flagging to funders, we would do so directly and promptly. It is also worth noting that the organisations in this portfolio have been selected precisely because of their history and strength. They have been through a rigorous assessment across programmes, operations, and leadership using the Firetree rubric, and have also demonstrated their resilience and integrity through years of real funding relationship with us. These are not organisations we have recently discovered. They are organisations we know well. In the event that something were to change significantly, we would not handle it at a distance. We would have direct conversations with the organisation and provide technical support as needed. Additionally, where appropriate, we will share with funders to ensure everyone has the context they need to respond thoughtfully.

HOW ORGANISATIONS ARE SELECTED AND THE PORTFOLIO

Child protection is the primary focus of the Firetree Fund and the area where Firetree has the deepest direct experience. That said, we care about organisations doing strong, grounded work across the geographies we operate in and in issues that are closely connected to the protection and development of children and families. The portfolio therefore also includes organisations working on innovations in education. This reflects both the reality that child protection and education are deeply intertwined in the lives of the families we seek to support, and our own direct experience running Starfish Education Foundation, a wholly owned and operated initiative of Firetree in Thailand.

In our experience, significant governance issues or organisational crises are rarely a surprise. Because of the frequency and depth of our engagement with portfolio organisations, we are almost always able to see early indicators of something changing or going wrong, long before it becomes a crisis. This is something we have navigated across a number of organisations over the years. In the rare event that something were to change significantly enough to warrant flagging to funders, we would do so directly and promptly. It is also worth noting that the organisations in this portfolio have been selected precisely because of their history and strength. They have been through a rigorous assessment across programmes, operations, and leadership using the Firetree rubric, and have also demonstrated their resilience and integrity through years of real funding relationship with us. These are not organisations we have recently discovered. They are organisations we know well. In the event that something were to change significantly, we would not handle it at a distance. We would have direct conversations with the organisation and provide technical support as needed. Additionally, where appropriate, we will share with funders to ensure everyone has the context they need to respond thoughtfully.

HOW FUNDING WORKS

We encourage portfolio organisations to maintain diversified funding sources. Firetree's own funding guidelines discourage any single donor from representing more than 25% of an established organisation's income. Contributions through the Fund are intended to strengthen systems and resilience, not create reliance on a single source. In exceptional crisis situations, such as COVID-19, temporary concentrated support may be appropriate, but this is not the standard model.

DUE DILIGENCE AND IMPACT

Child protection is technical work. The quality of case management, trauma-informed care, safe reintegration decisions, and coordination with legal and government authorities is difficult to evaluate from documentation alone. Because Firetree operates and funds child protection programmes directly, including through TCI in Manila, advised by a senior technical advisor with over 40 years of frontline experience, we assess partners with a practical understanding of what high-quality protection work requires. This practitioner-informed lens strengthens portfolio integrity.

Firetree does not impose a standardised metrics framework across all organisations. We recognise that the populations these organisations serve are among the most marginalised, and that measurement in child protection and community development requires nuance, not just numbers. Our approach to understanding impact is built on sustained engagement through visits, operational conversations, review of internal reporting, and participation in key discussions. We look for organisations that have honest learning cultures, adapt their models based on what they observe, and can articulate both what is working and what is not. We also believe that our partners are best placed to identify the metrics and measures most relevant to their context and programmes. They are the ones closest to the communities they serve, and the learning and adaptation that comes from that proximity is something no external framework can replicate or replace. For funders who require specific outcome data, we are happy to discuss what each portfolio organisation tracks and how they report against their own objectives. We also share the standard annual reports of each organisation with all funders.

WORKING WITH FIRETREE AS A FUNDER

Funders receive a communication outlining how contributions have been allocated across the portfolio. Alongside this, we share each organisation's annual report and any other formal reporting that organisations provide to their funders. In addition, funders receive an annual perspective from the Firetree team based on our direct interactions, visits, and conversations with portfolio organisations throughout the year. This is not a summary of documents. It is our view, grounded in the relationships we maintain with these organisations day to day. Beyond this, we are happy to meet with funders and share updates from our visits and engagements based on their preferences. We recognise that different funders want different levels of involvement and information, and we are glad to tailor how we communicate to what works best for you.

We are always happy to facilitate opportunities for funders to see the work of portfolio organisations firsthand. The Firetree team visits portfolio organisations frequently as part of how we work, and we warmly welcome funders to join us on those visits. Going together often makes for the most natural and fruitful experience, as we can provide context, make introductions, and ensure the visit is valuable for everyone involved. For funders who have built a direct relationship with a specific organisation, we would encourage them to work with the organisation directly to arrange visits in whatever way works best for both parties.

Engage with us

Our principles

Relationship-based

Long-term

Unrestricted

Ways to participate

Allocate

Advise

Connect

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the Firetree Fund invest assets?

How is this different from other intermediaries or advisory platforms?

Is the Firetree Fund a pooled fund?

Is Firetree a fundraiser?

Is there a minimum commitment?

Can the Fund accept contributions from outside Singapore?

How does Firetree identify and select organisations for the portfolio?

Who approves which organisations enter the Fund portfolio?

Are all the organisations in the portfolio working on child protection, or are there other focus areas?

What happens if an organisation in the portfolio faces a governance crisis or significant leadership change?

How does Firetree identify and select organisations for the portfolio?

Who approves which organisations enter the Fund portfolio?

Are all the organisations in the portfolio working on child protection, or are there other focus areas?

What happens if an organisation in the portfolio faces a governance crisis or significant leadership change?

How does Firetree avoid creating dependency?

Why does practitioner experience matter in child protection?

How does Firetree assess and measure impact across the portfolio?

Are the organisations in the portfolio externally audited?

What can funders expect in terms of communication and reporting?

Can I visit the organisations myself?

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