January 25, 2024 As the Gates Foundation's Budget Balloons, More U.S. Grantmaking Should Be On the Table January 25, 2024/ Philip Rojc Gates’ largest annual budget ever stands at $8.6 billion, but that’s just a starting point for what it might have to spend if it’s going to sunset. With so much room to maneuver, why not look into a broader range of U.S. causes?Read More
December 12, 2023 New Funding Initiative Aims to Boost Wages for Early Educators — And Help Fix a Broken System December 12, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Against the backdrop of a national child care crisis, the Early Educator Investment Collaborative just launched an effort to boost worker pay by building on progress made during the pandemic.Read More
October 30, 2023 "The Solutions Are There." Funding Challenge Backs Community-Led Efforts to Save Mothers and Infants October 30, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen The winners of the Maternal & Infant Health Award, organized by Lever for Change and several funding partners, are working in high-need communities to save the lives of mothers and infants.Read More
October 19, 2023 Three Ways the Gates Foundation is Supporting the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals October 19, 2023/ Liz Longley The Sustainable Development Goals are closely tied to some of the Gates Foundation’s core priorities, including maternal health. Here are three moves the foundation has made recently to help get stalled progress back on track.Read More
October 16, 2023 Gates Leans into mRNA Technology for Vaccine Capacity in Low and Middle-Income Countries October 16, 2023/ Paul Karon mRNA technology promises vaccines that could be easily produced and highly effective against disease, especially in places with low access to medicines. Here’s how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is ramping up its support.Read More
September 13, 2023 Why This Major Antipoverty Funder Is Ramping Up Its Investment in HBCUs September 13, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Against the backdrop of rising funder interest and a controversial Supreme Court decision, the big-donor funding collaborative Blue Meridian Partners is tripling its investment in the HBCU Transformation Project.Read More
August 28, 2023 MacKenzie Scott’s Recent Giving for Early Education Spotlights the Power of Advocacy August 28, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Much of the celebrated megadonor’s recent giving has made its way to organizations promoting early childhood care and education. Many place their focus on advocacy, a strategy some other funders are hesitant to support.Read More
August 25, 2023 Gates Remains Among the Few in Philanthropy to Drive Research for an HIV Vaccine August 25, 2023/ Paul Karon Philanthropy makes up only a small fraction of spending on research and support for people with HIV, still a major threat around the world. In the push for a vaccine, Gates and Gilead are leading the pack.Read More
July 19, 2023 A Global Philanthropic Competition to Save the Lives of Mothers and Babies July 19, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Lever for Change recently announced finalists in its Maternal & Infant Health Award grants competition. Can this approach, which supports community-based health programs, move the needle on a global problem?Read More
May 16, 2023 We Took a Deep Dive Into Mega-Donor Foundation Giving. Here’s What the Numbers Tell Us May 16, 2023/ Mike Scutari and Sue-Lynn Moses We analyzed recent publicly available data on 85 private foundations established by living mega-donors. It’s a revealing look at what’s distinct about how these influential individuals go about their giving.Read More
May 11, 2023 An Audacious Effort to Transform the Foster Care System Gets a Big Funding Boost May 11, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Think of Us has a bold mission: to transform the foster care system from the ground up. The organization’s approach, which elevates those with lived experience, landed a major haul from The Audacious Project and others. Read More
April 14, 2023 "The Need Is Here.” How One Regional Funder Is Stepping Up for Public Health April 14, 2023/ Connie Matthiessen Woody and Gayle Hunt have deep ties in El Paso and the surrounding region. Through their family foundation, they’re boosting education in public health, one of many under-resourced healthcare priorities in the area.Read More
March 14, 2023 Why Philanthropists Should Shoot for the Moon March 14, 2023/ James Chen, Guest Contributor Opinions on the “big bets” school of philanthropy vary, but guest contributor James Chen is all in. In this piece, he argues that wealthy donors should go big on high-risk, early-stage ideas.Read More
March 10, 2023 These Health Research Funders Are Facing Down the Next Pandemic Threat — Whatever It May Be March 10, 2023/ Paul Karon The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation and Open Philanthropy are collaborating under a partnership called Pandemic Antiviral Discovery, funding research to develop treatments that may be needed for future pandemics.Read More
February 06, 2023 Think the Gates Foundation Is Too Influential? It May Get a Lot Bigger — Or Never Go Away February 06, 2023/ Michael Kavate The largest foundation in the U.S. will soon spend $9 billion a year. But a look at the numbers suggests that’s still far from enough to fulfill its pledge to spend down, if that’s actually the plan.Read More
January 31, 2023 With Big Backing From MacKenzie Scott and More, Co-Impact Targets Global Gender Inequality January 31, 2023/ Liz Longley Co-Impact seeks to improve health, education and economic outcomes for women across the Global South by tackling underlying forces at play. Here’s why the philanthropic collaborative has been a big draw for funders.Read More
January 05, 2023 Bill Gates' Perpetuity Problem January 05, 2023/ Philip Rojc Bill Gates says he wants to spend down in 25 years, but that’s hard to square with the foundation he’s built — a technocratic global health juggernaut that, in an earlier era, would almost certainly have been intended for perpetuity.Read More
December 21, 2022 Green Heavyweights: The Nation’s 25 Largest Environmental Grantmakers December 21, 2022/ Michael Kavate We compiled a list of the top green funders in the U.S., based on the most recent full year of giving data available. One big takeaway: Living billionaires now dominate the list.Read More
December 19, 2022 Is Tutoring the Answer to COVID Learning Loss? These Funders Want to Find Out December 19, 2022/ Connie Matthiessen Pandemic-related learning loss threatens to widen the achievement gap. Arnold Ventures and other funders are backing an ambitious research project to determine if and how high-intensity tutoring can help.Read More
December 12, 2022 Child Marriage Severely Limits Opportunity for Girls. This Powerhouse Trio Is on the Case December 12, 2022/ Liz Longley Michelle Obama, Melinda French Gates and Amal Clooney joined forces this fall to take on child marriage, a human rights violation that affects an estimated 23 girls a minute. Here’s what each philanthropist is bringing to the table.Read More