Start Fund handbook

The Start Fund is central to our mission to transform the humanitarian sector. At the heart of the Start Fund is an ethos of collective good. Agencies set aside their own short-term interest in getting funding in exchange for participating in the creation of a new global public good that will benefit all NGOs and humanity.

The January 2025 edition of the Handbook incorporates the updated ways of working with Start Fund including its revised principles, funding threshold, project duration and Assurance and Accountability tool. It introduces a mandatory Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR) sharing policy, guidance on managing foreign exchange gains and losses, and clarification on allowable and disallowable project costs.

The updated version also provides an overview of Start Ready, our financing mechanism that uses advanced planning, and explains how it complements the Start Fund.