Threshold Academy: Reshaping the NGO Sector in Africa for the Next Generation
moving from donor dependency toward agency, independence, and resilience.
A Pan-African Transformation Organisation
THRESHOLD Academy for NGOs is designed to help NGOs and Community Based Organisations in Africa navigate the structural transition needed to move from a donor dependent model and rebuild themselves as independent, resilient, and future-fit institutions.
The THRESHOLD Academy Initiative brings together NGO leaders, thinkers, practitioners, and philanthropic partners to reimagine the future of African civil society.
It is both a leadership journey and an institutional redesign process, helping organisations cross the threshold from survival to sustainability.
Jillian Reilly
Jillian Reilly is the author of a best seller Ten Permissions book, international speaker who has turned the book into practice through the Permission Labs.
Ten Permissions Labs helps people build the adaptive capacity to operate intelligently in this fluid world providing Leadership Teams space and tools to question outdated rules, to navigate change and to rewrite outdated rules.
Ten Permissions and Threshold are teaming to support NGOs to transform to more resilient models.
David G. Major, CFE
Senior Finance Executive | CFO | Financial Strategist
David G. Major is a senior finance executive with over 25 years of international experience leading the financial operations of some of the world's most complex development and social enterprise organizations.
Most recently served as Global CFO of World Bicycle Relief/Buffalo Bicycles, David held a rare dual mandate — simultaneously managing full donor compliance and grant accounting for a US nonprofit alongside commercial P&L accountability for a 130+ store retail network across seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
His career spans financial control, FP&A, treasury, fraud risk, and governance across organizations including World Vision International, UNDP, TechnoServe and CIDA. He holds credentials as a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), an IFRS certificate, and is a Financial Modelling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA).
David is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and works with INGOs and social enterprises on financial strategy, business model development, and the transition from donor dependence to financial resilience.
Why Threshold Academy?
For decades, NGOs and community-based organisations across the continent have carried the weight of hope for millions.
The traditional model of development built largely around donor-funded project cycles is under increasing strain. Funding is becoming smaller, shorter-term, and more conditional. Donor priorities are shifting.
Many organisations now find themselves trapped in an exhausting cycle — spending more time chasing grants than building lasting solutions.
A Powerful Opportunity
"THRESHOLD sees that this moment is not only a crisis—it is also a powerful opportunity for African civil society to reimagine its future, reclaim its agency, and build organisations that are rooted in communities, powered by African solutions, and sustained by African resources."
Threshold Academy supports African NGOs and civil society leaders with the skills and strategies to reinvent and transform their organisations to move beyond donor dependency and build resilient, innovative, and long-term sustainable organisations.
Building the next generation of 50 African NGOs for a changing world by 2030.
Our goal is to develop transformational leaders who will lead the reshaping of future-fit New Generation NGOs in Africa.
At Threshold Academy We BELIEVE
Core convictions that drive our institutional redesign process.
The current NGO model is ending — not civil society
Donor dependency weakens long-term legitimacy
Communities are not beneficiaries; they are anchors
Smaller, adaptive organisations can be stronger
Leadership requires unlearning as much as learning
Organisations deserve support before crisis becomes collapse
"We believe leaders should not face threshold moments alone."
What is the Next Generation NGO Model?
Traditional NGO structures were often built around donor projects. The Next Generation NGO Model focuses on resilience, innovation, and local ownership.
| Category | Traditional NGO | Next Generation NGO |
|---|---|---|
| Financial Model | Donor dependent | Diversity of funding sources, Presence of earned income or social enterprise, Local fundraising capacity, Financial reserves, Using AI in fundraising |
| Strategic Driver | Project Driven | Mission Led: Not grant driven, Programs not shaped around donor calls, Guided by mission and community needs that donors align to, Funding is a tool to support the mission, not the driver of strategy |
| Funding Approach | Grant Chasing | Diverse Funding Streams, Selective about grants with clear Go/No-Go systems in place |
| Identity | Program Implementor | Social Innovator (Entrepreneurial and Innovative), Piloting new solutions and testing scalable models, Using technology and data, partners across sectors, Innovation as a core culture |
| Engagement | Beneficiary Model | Community Ownership, Community as a resource that can contribute in cash or kind, Communities represented on their boards |
| Partnerships | Works in Isolation or with like-minded organisations | Actively builds partnerships with: African philanthropists and local businesses, Universities, innovation hubs, and governments, Global partners |
| Governance | Founder Driven | Leadership Renewal, Succession plan in place and applied across leadership and Board |
The Vision of Threshold Academy is to support 50 traditional NGOs to become the Next Generation NGOs by 2030.
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