ilé practice
FUND DESIGN & PHILANTHROPIC CONSULTANCY
ilé Practice works with foundations, intermediaries and non-profits designing funding programmes where the path is unclear- emergent, equity-centred, and built to last.
ilé Practice is a one-person consultancy. I'm Farid - I've spent 12 years designing and delivering funding iniatives, funds and programmes across philanthropy and the commercial sector. I work best with organisations at the start of something: before the structure exists, before the process is clear, before the first grant goes out.I have spent most of my life moving between homes- cultures, geographies, sectors. This shapes how I work; bringing rigour in emergence, holding values close, and building things that make a difference.If that's where you are, let's talk.
ilé is the Yoruba word for home. A starting point. The place from which something new becomes possible. Practice is the doing of the work, finding the path where none yet exists.
Services
Fund Design & Launch
End-to-end design of new funding programmes- from strategic intent and theory of change through to criteria, process, and first grants. This is the umbrella that brings together strategy, grantmaking architecture, and equity considerations.
Grants and investment Infrastructure
Building or reforming the operational backbone of grantmaking- assessment frameworks, due diligence processes, decision-making structures, and monitoring tools for new or evolving funders.
Equity Integration
Embedding participatory and equity-centred approaches into funding practice- from co-designed criteria and community decision-making to evidence-led theory of change and policy influence.
And more
Experience in programme management, facilitation, light research, fundraising, strategy development, coaching and people management.
Portfolio
Click here for a link to more detail.
£1.5m investment-readiness programme for underserved founders, enabling BUD to issue its first-ever grants as an intermediary. 2025–present.
Amplifying Voices — Impact on Urban Health
£10m, 10-year movement-building fund supporting underrepresented communities to advocate on air pollution. 2021–2025. Read more here
Discovery Partners — Collective Futures
End-to-end grantmaking process for a new foundation's first-ever grant round. 2024–25. Read more here
COVID Emergency Fund — Impact on Urban Health
Rapid design and deployment of unrestricted emergency funding to 36 Black-led organisations in London. £1.3m, 2021. Read more here and watch a video here
Get in touch
If you are building something new and would like a thought partner from the ground up, get in touch. [email protected]