The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is a non-profit organization, and one of the largest privately owned networks of low-cost formal schools in Pakistan.

[2] In addition, TCF also conducts a literacy and numeracy skill development program in communities linked to its schools which has taught reading and writing to over 160,000 adults.

It is a professionally managed charitable organization that builds and runs schools, providing primary and secondary education to boys and girls in rural areas and urban slums of Pakistan.

[4] The Economist has called The Citizens Foundation (TCF) "perhaps the largest network of independently run schools in the world.

Like other developing countries of the world, Pakistan also faces the issues of population explosion, poverty, unemployment, income disparity and low literacy rate.

In 1995, six successful top-level managers of Pakistan attempted to find a way to solve these problems, and the root cause identified by them was education.

The group put their own money into a pilot to build 5 schools in Karachi's worst slums that did not have electricity, sanitation, and clean water.

The students at TCF schools are charged a nominal fee, out of which up to 95% scholarship is awarded along with uniforms and books on a pay-as-you-can-afford basis.

TCF operates a network of 722 vans that provide transportation to its faculty in order to facilitate quality staffing in remote areas.

[14] Participants are taught skills to launch their own small businesses, with the objective of supporting families to lift themselves out of poverty and facilitate sustainable community impact.

On October 8, 2005, Pakistan witnessed one of the worst natural disasters in its history, the earthquake in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and areas of NWFP.

In the wake of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TCF began a fund whereby 20% of Sadqah, Zakat, or general donations were allocated to providing cash-based relief to families struggling communities around its schools across Pakistan.

[19] To ensure continuity of learning for millions of children who were forced to stay out of school due to lockdowns, TCF developed a TV-based edutainment program named "Ilm Ka Aangan" (The Learning Courtyard), in collaboration with Pakistan Television’s Tele-school and the Federal Ministry of Education.

[20] Workbooks in the form of a print magazine were also published and distributed among primary and secondary students who would otherwise have no access to online learning due to limited broadband penetration and lack of smart devices in less privileged communities.

More than 90%[2] of the funds are utilized in the building and running of schools, providing equipment for libraries and science laboratories, children's uniforms, books and snacks.