The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, DCthat supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1 billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turner, who believed the UN was crucial for addressing the world's problems.[2] Originally primarily a grantmaker, the UN Foundation has evolved into a strategic partner to the UN, mobilizing support to advance the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), and help the UN address issues such as climate change, global health, gender equality, human rights, data and technology, peace, and humanitarian responses.[3] The UN Foundation's main work occurs through building public-private partnerships, communities, initiatives, campaigns, and alliances to broaden support for the UN and solve global problems. The UN Foundation has helped build awareness and advocate for action on, among others, antimicrobial resistance, regional action on climate change, local implementation of the SDGs, as well as global campaigns such as Nothing But Netsagainst malaria, the Measles & Rubella Initiative, the Clean Cooking Alliance, Girl Up, Shot@Life, and the Digital Impact Alliance, among others. In March 2020, the UN Foundation was also a key founder of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), helping to raise over $200 million USD within the first six weeks to support the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
The UN Foundation was founded with the intent to build support for UN causes and to advocate for the United States to honor its financial commitments to the UN. Since then, the UN Foundation and its U.S. advocacy sister organization, the Better World Campaign, have built advocacy campaigns, provided grants, connected experts, advocates, and decision-makers, and driven public awareness in order to support the UN and its priorities and programs worldwide. The UN Foundation is now supported by a variety of philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors, and it continues to serve as a substantial source of private funding to the United Nations.[5] In conjunction with the UN, it established the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships to serve as the UN counterpart to the Foundation.[6]
The UN Foundation has made a cumulative disbursement of more than $1.5 billion in grants to the UN system. The UN Foundation also works with UN partners in order to provide policy, advocacy, event, and communications recommendations and support. The UN Foundation's budgetary breakdown in 2019 was $95.8 million to program services, $5.7 million to fundraising, and $8.9 million going to management and overhead.[7]