Millions of children around the world are separated from their families and placed in orphanages, not because they have no family, but because of poverty, crisis, or a lack of support.
At MJF Global, we exist to support work that keeps children in their families.
We work alongside organisations that are leading change in their communities, providing flexible funding, advocacy, and research to support community-led, contextually grounded solutions.
By supporting partners to strengthen care systems, provide family-based care, and influence change, we aim to ensure more children grow up in families where they belong.
How We Work
Action
We partner with organisations that are deeply rooted in their communities, providing flexible funding, technical support, and opportunities for shared learning to strengthen social services and expand family-based care.
Achieving this means challenging institutional care models (such as orphanages), strengthening families, and shifting how change is funded. We trust our partners to lead this work because they know best what will be successful in their communities.
Each community faces unique challenges, and there is no one-size-fits-all model. That’s why we work alongside partners to develop locally relevant approaches to family-based care. Our focus is on reducing unnecessary family separation and ensuring that when alternative care is needed, children can be cared for in safe, stable, and nurturing family settings.
We approach every partnership with trust and humility. Before funding a project, we work to understand the root causes of family separation in that specific context. Our partners lead the way because they know their communities best. Our role is to provide the resources, flexibility, and long-term commitment needed to deepen their impact.
Learning
Strong research improves policy, strengthens care systems, and leads to better outcomes for children and families. MJF Global supports research that identifies gaps, amplifies community-led solutions, and produces practical tools to advance family-based care.
We work to be a trusted voice in care reform, ensuring that knowledge is accessible, evidence-based, and informed by those closest to the issue, including practitioners, communities, and people with lived experience of care. Alongside our partners, we contribute to learning exchanges, research initiatives, and the development of resources that strengthen family-based care globally.
We are also building a growing collection of research and evidence-based resources that inform best practices in care reform. As our own research and evaluations progress, we aim to share findings that contribute to the global movement toward family-based alternatives.
Advocacy
Lasting change requires shifting mindsets, policies, and resources to prioritise families over institutions. We invest in advocacy partners and engage directly in efforts to influence funding, policy, and power structures within the care reform sector.
We work to redirect resources toward family-based care, supporting efforts that move donors, faith communities, and organisations away from orphanages and toward strengthening families. Alongside our partners, we support our partners’ local advocacy efforts so families at risk of separation have access to support and are protected from orphanage recruitment and trafficking.
Beyond care reform, we engage in conversations with peer organisations and funders about trust-based philanthropy, shifting power, and ensuring communities lead decisions that affect them. We are on our own learning journey and are committed to sharing what we learn and adapting as we go.
The transition from orphanages to family-based care takes time, but sustained advocacy is driving change so more children remain with their families and creating pathways for those in orphanages to return home.
Our Approach
Ensuring children grow up in families requires more than funding programmes. It means shifting power, centring lived experience, and supporting locally led solutions. We work in partnership with those closest to the issue, ensuring decisions about care are shaped by communities, not external agendas.
Philanthropy has too often dictated solutions rather than resourcing them. We are committed to learning, adapting, and working in ways that are more equitable, trust-based, and responsive to real needs.
By prioritising children’s best interests, community leadership, and long-term systems change, we are part of a movement working toward a future where every child grows up where they belong.
As part of our role as funders, we aim to take a collaborative and relational approach. We work closely with our partners and wider networks across the sector and intersecting fields to identify opportunities for collaboration. While we don’t currently accept unsolicited applications, we remain open to learning about new work and building connections that could lead to future partnerships.