Engaging in real social change requires commitment. You must be willing to take on responsibility and commit to something greater than yourself.

ADMISSIONS

Admissions and participation in a Covalent Global Giving program is open to the public-at-large and is a collaborative effort among Covalent Global, the applicant, and the international grantmaking organization.

We look for applicants that demonstrate talent and leadership potential. Although there are no formal education requirements, admissions is a highly selective process based on achievement and social responsibility. To ensure a high-impact learning and grantmaking experience, we select strong candidates from diverse backgrounds and experiences – in accordance with our anti-discrimination policy.

We deliberately design our programs to encourage individual growth and to foster productive interaction among participants, industry and field experts, African communities, and African-led charities.

Some programs are appropriate for individuals as well as relatives of the admitted individual. When families participate in a program together, they benefit from the shared knowledge and shared vision that enhances participants' ability to pursue philanthropic goals as a family, effect critical social improvement, and transfer knowledge. Admission decisions are based on solely on the quality of the individual applying and not on their family or related persons.

FINANCIAL AID

Financial aid helps assist our Grant Associates in making a significant grant that can cover the entire cost of the project. The financial aid comes from endowment funds held by Covalent Global. Every Grant Associate applicant is eligible from financial aid awards and every admitted Grant Associate receives an aid award offer.

Fellowships

Fellowships are cash awards that contribute to the grant funds of the Grant Associate. They add to the total amount a Grant Associate can grant to a charitable project in Africa.

Fellowships are awarded on both a merit and need-based basis. Merit-based fellowships award the excellence and leadership of our Grant Associates. Need-based fellowships help assure our admission meet the highest standard and promote diversity and anti-discrimination.

Covalent Global manages a general endowment for fellowship awards as well as special endowed fellowship funds that honors the benefactor or the memory of a named person. Awards from special endowed fellowship funds help create a greater community for the benefactor, assist the Grant Associate, and ultimately benefit a remarkable charity in Africa.

Loans

Loans draw from Covalent Global's endowment and allow Grant Associates to smooth their charitable giving over a longer time period, allowing Grant Associates to meet the funding requirements of their grant. Loans increase the capacity of granted fund and are repaid to Covalent Global by the Grant Associate with interest.

Stipends

Stipends create high-value volunteer opportunities that ultimately benefit a African-led charity. Stipends are cash awards that contribute to the grant funds of a Grant Associate in exchange for volunteer work with Covalent Global. The volunteer work of Grant Associates helps Covalent Global conduct its operations. They bring their skills and hard work to help make Covalent Global truly exceptional.

The volunteer work enables funds to flow to an African-led charity of their choice, through their grant. Thus the volunteer work ultimately works internationally in a high-value way.

This is in contrast to other organizations that send volunteers abroad. Volunteering internationally is culturally enriching but offers little value added beyond that. This is because it is expensive to travel to a foreign country, most lack the needed skills that are valuable to a developing (often agrarian) economy, most don't know the native languages, and it is difficult to remain distant from friends and family back home.