Funding Channels
Investments to CGIAR may be delivered through the multi-Funder CGIAR Trust Fund and/or directly to specific projects in CGIAR Research Centers (outside the Fund), which is called Bilateral funding. Funding to the CGIAR Trust Fund is channeled through three Windows, at increasing levels of Funder collective action:
- Window 3 (W3) – Project investments: funding allocated by Funders individually to projects that are defined by the Funders themselves (with partners) and that are aligned with system-wide investments.
- Window 2 (W2) – Program investments: funding allocated by Funders individually to any component (CRP, Platform or initiative) of the system-wide portfolio as prioritized, defined and approved by the Funders collectively through the System Council.
- Window 1 (W1) – Portfolio investments: funding allocated to the entire CGIAR portfolio of approved system-wide investments prioritized and allocated by Funders collectively through the System Council – supporting CGIAR as a whole.
In 2018, CGIAR recognized revenue of USD 850 million, of which W1 and W2 represent 22%, an increase of 3% (19% in 2017); W3 was 31%, a decrease of 6% (37% in 2017); Bilateral was 44%, an increase of 3% (41% in 2017); and Other Income remained at 3% for both years. See Figure 6 below.
Analysis of System revenue since 2011 by funding source is shown in Figure 7. W1 and W2 is shown to begin to increase proportion of funding.
Figure 8 shows the main categories of expenditure. These included 85% of expenditure on research and collaboration expenses combined, and 15% on general, administrative and System-level costs. These distributions remained stable for both years, although overall expenses in 2018 decreased by 6% to $860 million, down from $865 million in 2017.
Figure 9 shows expenditure by CGIAR Research Program (CRP), Platform and funding channel. It can be seen that there is a wide range in the overall size of CRPs and Platforms – overall expenditure in 2018 varied from about USD 24 to 82 million. There is also wide variation in CRP and Platform access to pooled W1 and W2 funding; generally, this accounted for around 20% of overall expenditure, but in some programs (e.g. FTA and MAIZE), the percentage was as low as 12%. This is important as W1 and W2 funding adds value not only through its flexibility but also because it helps direct investments to agreed System-level priorities (e.g. gender, monitoring and evaluation) that are not always included in project budgets.
For access to more detailed information of funding by Center, CRP, Platform or Funder, please refer to CGIAR Financial Report dashboard: https://www.cgiar.org/impact/finance-reports/dashboard.