Founders Pledge: Global Health & Development Fund

The Global Health & Development Fund addresses the vast inequalities in health, wealth, and opportunity.

While many people alive today can expect to have greater wealth than generations before us, millions of people live in poverty, and billions more struggle to get by. They may lack access to basic healthcare and vaccinations, making them far more vulnerable to deadly diseases, or to quality education, which strengthens their economic future. These are complex, but not unsolvable, problems. Researchers, advocates, and organizations around the world are working to scale up solutions to these problems. By taking a thoughtful, evidence-based approach to philanthropy that accelerates the best of these solutions, we can do immense good.

The Founders Pledge Global Health and Development Fund identifies and supports highly-impactful and neglected development initiatives. By pooling donations and collaborating with other funding and research organizations, this Fund allows individuals to make contributions when and where they will have the largest impact. We aim to:

• Significantly improve the lives of the world's most vulnerable people;
• Eliminate deaths from easily preventable disease;
• Support sustainable, systemic change.

Our Approach to Grantmaking

When evaluating potential grants, we consider several key points:

• Counterfactual impact. Our grants are designed to create a meaningful outcome that would not otherwise have happened. This means that you can rely on the Funds to create meaningful, real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
• Impact-driven philanthropy. This fund prioritizes the highest-impact solutions to challenges. We assess where the gaps are, which opportunities may be neglected by other funders, and where the biggest wins are in terms of making the biggest difference.
• The organization’s funding gap. Not all organizations are set up to scale up their programming and some may not be able to productively absorb large amounts of unsolicited funding at any given point. We evaluate all potential grantees’ capacity for growth and consider how much money they could put to good use.
• Organizational strength. Particularly with unrestricted funding, it’s important to have trust in the leadership and capacity of the organizations we support. We look at their track record of success and their transparency about failures as well as successes, and we only support those organizations which are exceptionally well run.
• Time-critical opportunities and funding certainty. While Founders Pledge members give to our top climate charities regularly, sometimes there are time-critical opportunities which require fast decisions. We will use the Fund to make grants that enable such short-term opportunities and stability for high-impact funding opportunities thereby increasing the impact compared to individual giving to specific organizations.

Frequently-Asked Questions

Can charities apply for money from the Fund?

The Funds do not generally accept applications from charities, and we request that charities do not send unsolicited applications for funding. If the Fund Managers choose to open up an application round, this will be publicized.

How frequently will you make grants from the Fund?

In general, Fund Managers will review grantmaking decisions on a quarterly basis. Decisions will be made based on the value of Funds and the available options for high-impact grantmaking. We may disburse funds outside of quarterly review dates if we become aware of a particularly promising and time-sensitive funding.

How will my contribution be used?

All funds are granted out. The Fund is not an investment vehicle. The Fund does not use any percentage of contributions to cover staff time or other overhead costs. Every dollar contributed to the Fund will be used to make grants directly to end-user organizations creating a real difference.

More Questions?

To learn more about the Founders Pledge Global Health and Development Fund, please visit founderspledge.com or email the Fund Managers at funds@founderspledge.com.