Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Jaffer Family Foundation (JFF)

The Jaffer Family Foundation (JFF) is a New York–based, self-financed independent family foundation founded in 1995. It deploys the family’s philanthropic capital to support humanitarian projects across multiple continents, working particularly in Pakistan, Iraq, India, Myanmar, Tanzania, Zanzibar and other parts of Africa, as well as in the United Kingdom and North America. Rather than soliciting external donations, JFF positions itself as a custodian of the family’s wealth, using those resources to fund social entrepreneurship and long-term community development.

The foundation’s funding focuses on several core pillars: health care, food and basic needs, education and academic support, housing and infrastructure, and broader social welfare with a strong emphasis on women’s empowerment. Its portfolio ranges from building and equipping clinics, maternity and emergency facilities, and cancer treatment centers, to installing large-scale reverse osmosis water filtration systems in holy cities and remote communities.

JFF supports both institutional partners and vulnerable individuals. It provides grants and capital projects for hospitals and hospices, dialysis centers, morgues, schools and lecture halls, and has endowed major facilities such as the Bait-ul-Sukoon Cancer Hospital & Hospice. In education, JFF finances academic infrastructure and programs, including a department for robotics, data research and artificial intelligence at a university campus, support for Shia studies at a major divinity school, renovations of historic schools, and payment of school fees and solar installations for schools serving deaf children and orphans.

The foundation also delivers direct poverty relief: food and ration distribution schemes, flood victim housing and rehabilitation, Saadat housing projects, stipends for widows and orphans in Karbala, and self-employment and microenterprise initiatives designed to help beneficiaries start sustainable businesses. Women’s empowerment is a transversal priority, reflected in coding bootcamps for girls, women’s entrepreneurship courses at business schools, and targeted scholarships such as educational grants for female medical students.

JFF frequently works through partnerships with established NGOs, foundations and community organizations, including the United Global Initiative and various regional charities. Many projects are co-designed and co-funded with these partners, while JFF provides significant financial support, strategic vision and on-the-ground engagement by its leadership. The foundation often fully sponsors capital works, equipment purchases or program costs, and in some cases establishes endowments to ensure long-term sustainability of services that remain free at the point of use.

The foundation’s beneficiaries include low-income families, widows and orphans, rural and peri-urban communities lacking access to health care and clean water, students and young women seeking education and economic opportunity, and populations affected by natural disasters such as floods. Its projects combine immediate relief—such as free vaccination drives and food distribution—with infrastructure and capacity-building that create lasting social impact. Across its portfolio, JFF’s grantmaking and project funding aim to eradicate poverty, restore dignity and expand access to essential services for marginalized communities worldwide.