About the Robert Carr Fund

The Robert Carr Fund is a unique pooled funding mechanism providing long-term, core and flexible funding to global and regional community-led and civil society networks in the HIV response.

Over 10 years we have invested in the health and rights of Inadequately Served Populations (ISPs). Participation is embedded in everything we do, with communities at the heart of our decision-making process.

To date, we have raised and allocated over US$125 million, 91% of which has been distributed in funds to global and regional community-led and civil society networks in HIV response. Through our previous grant cycle of 2022-2024 we provided 25 grants awarded to 71 global and regional networks. Programs were implemented in 130 countries.

The Robert Carr Fund was named after Dr. Robert Carr, an HIV and human rights activist working in his native Caribbean region and globally. RCF was established in recognition of his huge contribution to the global HIV response. RCF was founded in 2012 by an alliance of civil society partners, donors and UNAIDS.

Our vision is a strong, vibrant, and resilient civil society, leading the HIV response towards the end of the HIV epidemic by 2030 with improved health, wellbeing and social inclusion of inadequately served populations.

What makes RCF different?

• We work to strengthen inadequately served populations – groups which are often facing human rights violations, discrimination as well as legal and policy barriers. We offer them a positive way forward.
• We are committed to providing core, long-term and flexible funding.
• By shifting power to inadequately served populations we enable them to make the right funding decisions for their needs. This builds strong, resilient community networks that can drive the global HIV response forward.
• Providing flexible core funding enables civil society to thrive, be free to innovate and be agile and adaptable when working in challenging environments.
• Recognizing that changing laws and policies takes time, our long-term funding enables civil society leaders to engage in advocacy.
• Core unrestricted funding allows our grantees to build sustainable organisations and to invest in staff.
• Our founding values of participation, empowerment and equity, transparency, and accountability remain at the core of our work.

How do we work?

RCF is a participatory grant maker, so we include participation into everything we do. Both civil society members and funders play an equal role in RCF’s governance and decision-making. Together they develop the Strategic Plan, Theory of Change and Monitoring and Evaluation for Learning (MEL) Framework.

To achieve greatest impact, we focus our investments on four main Outcome Areas:

1. Network strength and influence
2. Human rights
3. Access to and better quality of services
4. Accountability in financing the HIV response.

Who are our funders?

Currently we receive funding from:

• the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO),
• the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad),
• the Gates Foundation,
• and the Gilead Sciences.

We also receive strategic support from UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund).

RCF has crashed through the boundaries of good practice… RCF enables the power dynamics to play out differently, where even though it’s donors and inadequately served populations working together, they’re operating more like peers.” – Kate Thomson, The Global Fund, former RCF International Steering Committee Observer

Read our Annual Report:
RCF Annual Report 2023
RCF Annual Report 2022
RCF Annual Report 2021

Earlier RCF Annual Reports can be requested by sending an email to secretariat@robertcarrfund.org.

Read more about our definitions of in the Glossary.