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Profiles

United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation (UNF) is a charitable organization based in Washington, D.C., with an additional office in New York City. It supports the United Nations and its activities, primarily its advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Other areas of focus include climate change, global health, gender equality, human rights, data and technology, peace, and humanitarian responses.[1]

History

The UNF was founded in 1998 with a $1 billion donation from Ted Turner, who “believed the UN was crucial for addressing the world's problems.”[2]

COVID-19

In early 2020, the World Health Organization contacted the United Nations Foundation to “help build momentum and support for its role in leading and coordinating global efforts to prevent, detect, and respond” to the reported coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan, China.[3] Just over two weeks later in March 2020, the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was launched in partnership with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation to support the WHO's response efforts to the declared COVID-19 pandemic.[4] In March 2021, the United Nations Foundation transferred control of the fund over to the newly-created WHO Foundation.[3:1]

The UNF also created the ACT Together Fund to raise additional funds for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator).[5]

On April 15, 2021, foundation president and CEO Elizabeth Counsens and executive director Martha Rebour attended the Gavi COVAX AMC 2021 Investment Opportunity Launch Event, also called One World Protected, during which the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) was launched.[6]

Organization

UNF has been a member organization of GBCHealth.[7] It is a member of the Global Health Security Agenda Consortium (GHSAC)[8] and the Pandemic Action Network.[9] It is a signatory of the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) pledge.[10] UNF is listed as a client/partner of Resonance Global,[11] and is a client of The Bridgespan Group,[12] the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation[13] and Tiller.[14]

Personnel

Name Position Notes
Elizabeth Cousens President and CEO[6:1] -
Martha Rebour Executive Director Shot@Life
Michael Dell Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship[15] COVID-19 Technology Task Force
Julio Frenk Board member[16] COVID Collaborative[17]
Geeta Rao Gupta Senior Fellow (former)[18] Office of Global Women's Issues

Partners

Financial and strategic partners of the UN Foundation include:[19][20][21]

  • Abraaj Group
  • Akila and S. Somasegar Family Foundation
  • Al Ansari Exchange
  • Al-Dabbagh Group (ADG)
  • Alibaba Group
  • Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • American Institute of Architects
  • American Red Cross
  • AmerisourceBergen
  • Angelica Fuentes Foundation
  • AOL Charitable Foundation
  • Aptive
  • Ariadne Getty Foundation[22]
  • Astellas Pharma
  • Astellas USA Foundation
  • Australian Government
  • Aviva
  • Bank of America
  • Bank of New York Mellon (BNY)
  • Barclays
  • Barr Foundation
  • BD
  • Beach House Group
  • Benito & Frances C. Gaguine Foundation
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Bioré
  • Blackbaud
  • Bloomberg Family Foundation
  • Bloomberg Philanthropies
  • Boston Foundation
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • California Community Foundation (CCF)
  • CARE International
  • Caterpillar Foundation
  • Cemex
  • Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
  • Chevron
  • Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)
  • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)
  • Cisco
  • Citi
  • ClimateWorks Foundation
  • Coca-Cola Company
  • Dalio Philanthropies
  • David and Lucile Packard Foundation
  • Dell
  • Diamonds Unleashed
  • Dietel & Partners
  • DOEN Foundation
  • Doğan Holdings
  • Ed and Mary Schreck Foundation
  • Edelman
  • Eli Lilly
  • Eliasson Group
  • Ericsson
  • Essity
  • ExxonMobil Foundation
  • Ford Foundation
  • Fuserna Foundation
  • Gap
  • Gates Philanthropy Partners[23]
  • Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
  • General Board of Global Ministries
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Goldman Sachs
  • Google
  • Government of Canada
  • Government of Denmark
  • Government of Finland
  • Government of Germany
  • Government of Norway
  • Government of Sweden
  • Government of the Netherlands
  • Government of the United Kingdom
  • Grandeur Peak Fund
  • Grundfos
  • GSM Association (GSMA)
  • Guggenheim Partners
  • H&M
  • H&M Foundation
  • Hinduja Foundation
  • IFC Asset Management Company (IFCAMC)
  • Inmarsat
  • Investec
  • Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (JCC Fund)
  • John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • JPMorgan Chase
  • Junior Chamber International (JCI)
  • Kaiser Permanente
  • Kathryn McQuade Foundation
  • Keisuke Honda
  • Kellogg Company
  • Kenneth Cole Productions
  • Kofi Annan Foundation[24]
  • KR Foundation
  • Kyle House Group[25]
  • Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL)
  • Lear Family Foundation
  • LexisNexis
  • Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF)
  • Lululemon
  • MAC AIDS Fund
  • MAM Baby
  • Manitou Group
  • Mann Global Health
  • Marc Haas Foundation
  • Mars, Incorporated
  • Mashable
  • Mastercard
  • McGovern Foundation
  • MCJ Amelior Foundation
  • McKinsey & Company
  • Merck
  • MetLife
  • MMG
  • Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust (MS GIFT)
  • Muirfield Foundation
  • National Philanthropic Trust
  • Naveen and Anu Jain Family Foundation
  • Nespresso
  • Nestlé
  • New Venture Fund
  • Newman's Own Foundation
  • Nielsen Foundation
  • Nike
  • Nike Foundation
  • Olam International
  • Ooredon
  • Osprey Foundation
  • Pearson
  • Pfizer
  • Philips
  • Philips Foundation
  • Pivotal Ventures
  • Porter Novelli
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
  • Procter & Gamble
  • Project Perpetual
  • Qualcomm
  • RBM Partnership to End Malaria[26]
  • Renaissance Charitable Foundation (RCF)
  • Rexel Foundation
  • Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  • Rockefeller Foundation
  • Safaricom
  • Salesforce
  • Samsung
  • SAP
  • SC Johnson
  • Seton Hall University
  • Sharjah Media Centre
  • Shell
  • Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)
  • Simon Estes Foundation
  • Skoll Foundation
  • Sony
  • Stanley Black & Decker
  • Stephen and Ayesha Curry Family Foundation
  • Sumitomo Chemical
  • Summit Foundation
  • Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA)
  • Swarovski
  • Swedish Postcode Foundation
  • Takeda Pharmaceuticals
  • Target
  • TE Connectivity Foundation
  • Temasek
  • Terminix
  • Tides Foundation
  • Turner Foundation
  • UHC2030[27]
  • Unilever
  • United Arab Emirates Federal Government
  • United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU)
  • United States Federal Government
  • United States Liability Insurance Company (USLI)
  • UPS Foundation
  • Verizon
  • Vestergaard
  • Viacom
  • Vodafone Americas Foundation
  • Vodafone Foundation
  • Walgreens Boots Alliance
  • Wallace Global Fund
  • Walt Disney Company
  • Weber Shandwick
  • Wellcome Trust
  • WestWind Foundation
  • White & Case
  • WHO Foundation[28]
  • William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
  • WME
  • Women's National Basketball Players Association Foundation
  • World Bank
  • World Lung Foundation
  • Yara International
  • Zhong Yi Corporation

Initiatives

Activities

The UNF has provided funding to:

  1. What We Do. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved March 31, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.03.31-163700/https://unfoundation.org/what-we-do/ ↩︎

  2. Carlisle, M. (2019, December 10). Ted Turner: Putting his money… Time. https://web.archive.org/web/20111129145719/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987059-2,00.html ↩︎

  3. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved July 4, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230704190217/https://unfoundation.org/covid-19-solidarity-response-fund/ ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Bridges, R. (2020, March 13). WHO, UN Foundation and partners launch first-of-its-kind COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. World Health Organization. http://archive.today/2021.01.18-024953/https://www.who.int/news/item/13-03-2020-who-un-foundation-and-partners-launch-first-of-its-kind-covid-19-solidarity-response-fund ↩︎

  5. ACT Together Fund. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20210818045047/https://unfoundation.org/acttogetherfund/ ↩︎

  6. The Gavi COVAX AMC Investment Opportunity Launch Event Participant List. (2021). Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; USAID; U.S. Department of State. https://web.archive.org/web/20220821050428/https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/covid/covax/Investment-Opportunity-Launch-Participant-List.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. GBCHealth Member Directory. (2013). GBCHealth. http://archive.today/2023.01.11-041556/https://archive.gbchealth.org/our-coalition/member-directory/ ↩︎

  8. Member Profile Archives. Global Health Security Agenda Consortium (GHSAC). Retrieved August 16, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220816152920/https://ghsacngs.org/pl-categs/member-profile/ ↩︎

  9. Our Network. Pandemic Action Network. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220724022128/https://www.pandemicactionnetwork.org/our-network/ ↩︎

  10. Show Your Support. Immunization Agenda 2030. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221010005834/http://www.immunizationagenda2030.org/pledge-support ↩︎

  11. Clients & Partners. Resonance Global. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220815074609/https://www.resonanceglobal.com/who-we-are/clients-partners/ ↩︎

  12. Our Clients. Bridgespan. Retrieved August 12, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220812141521/https://www.bridgespan.org/about-us/our-clients ↩︎

  13. Partners’ ecosystem. Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.06.06-042211/https://www.swissphilanthropy.ch/en/our-foundation/partners-ecosystem/ ↩︎

  14. Portfolio. Tiller Global. Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220729014706/https://www.tillerglobal.com/case-studies/ ↩︎

  15. Michael Dell. Dell Technologies US. Retrieved December 25, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221225174600/https://www.dell.com/en-us/dt/corporate/about-us/leadership/michael-dell.htm ↩︎

  16. Julio Frenk (Mexico). United Nations Foundation. Retrieved May 31, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230531235656/https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-board/julio-frenk-mexico/ ↩︎

  17. About. COVID Collaborative. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.05.15-111049/https://www.covidcollaborative.us/about ↩︎

  18. Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta. United States Department of State. Retrieved May 7, 2024, from https://web.archive.org/web/20240507004600/https://www.state.gov/biographies/geeta-rao-gupta/ ↩︎

  19. Our Partners. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from http://archive.today/2020.03.25-190417/https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-partners/ ↩︎

  20. More of our partners. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from http://archive.today/2020.03.25-191421/https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-partners/more-of-our-partners/ ↩︎

  21. More of Our Partners. United Nations Foundation. Retrieved October 1, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20231001222831/https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-partners/more-of-our-partners-2/ ↩︎

  22. About. The Ariadne Getty Foundation. Retrieved August 19, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220819151809/https://www.ariadnegettyfdn.org/about ↩︎

  23. 2020 Grants Distributed. Gates Philanthropy Partners. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220401072033/https://www.gatesphilanthropypartners.org/downloads/grants_report_2020 ↩︎

  24. Annual Report 2021. Kofi Annan Foundation. Retrieved June 2, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220523140756/https://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/kaf-annual-report-2021/ ↩︎

  25. Home. Kyle House Group. Retrieved July 31, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220731175255/http://www.kylehousegroup.com/ ↩︎

  26. Partners. RBM Partnership to End Malaria. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220921232738/https://endmalaria.org/about-us/governance/partner ↩︎

  27. UHC2030 Partners. UHC2030. Retrieved July 26, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.07.26-204520/https://www.uhc2030.org/about-us/uhc2030-partners/ ↩︎

  28. Annual Activity Report 2020. (2021). WHO Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20220724045056/https://who.foundation/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/WHO-Foundation-Annual-Activity_Report_-May-2020-May-2021-English.pdf ↩︎

  29. About BCUN. Business Council for the UN. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220818230816/https://www.businesscouncilfortheun.org/about ↩︎

  30. Funders. Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. Retrieved May 12, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220512032450/https://ahpsr.who.int/about-us/funders ↩︎

  31. CDC Foundation Active Programs October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021. (2021). CDC Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20220115161004/https://www.cdcfoundation.org/CDCF-ActivePrograms-CDC-FY21?inline ↩︎

  32. Scott, Jr., E. W., & Birdsall, N. (2004). CGD@3 (p. 26). Center for Global Development. https://web.archive.org/web/20220627012741/https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/CGD-at-3.pdf ↩︎

  33. Investment Overview. (2022). CEPI. https://web.archive.org/web/20220829190949/https://cepi.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022_07_06-CEPI-Investment-Overview.pdf ↩︎

  34. Contributions and Pledges to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 1985-2020. (2020). Global Polio Eradication Initiative. https://web.archive.org/web/20240223063134/https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GPEI_FIN_Historical-Contributions_Journals-Charts_asat_2020-12-31.pdf ↩︎

  35. Moshavi, S. (2023). It Takes a Journalist - Impact Report 2022 (p. 19). International Center for Journalists. https://web.archive.org/web/20240131233503/https://www.icfj.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/ICFJ Impact Report 2022.pdf ↩︎

  36. Donors. Pulitzer Center. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.05.29-181734/https://pulitzercenter.org/about/donors ↩︎

  37. Sharp, P. (2010). 2010 Annual Report. Resources for the Future. https://web.archive.org/web/20130925124250/http://rff.org/About_RFF/Documents/RFF 2010 AR Final.pdf ↩︎

  38. Martin, P., & Berkenfeld, S. A Pivotal Moment: Annual Report 2015. The Sierra Club Foundation. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230104232916/https://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/s/sierra-club-foundation_2015.pdf ↩︎

  39. Contributions by donor. United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund. Retrieved August 22, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220823063217/https://cerf.un.org/our-donors/contributions-by-donor ↩︎

  40. Annual Report 2016. Women Deliver. Retrieved July 19, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220308123709/http://womendeliver.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/WD_2016_AnnualReport_080117.pdf ↩︎

  41. Partners. Women Political Leaders. Retrieved June 2, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.06.02-153635/https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/partners/ ↩︎

  42. 2019 Donors. Wilson Center. Retrieved August 9, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20200809135351/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/2019-donors ↩︎

  43. Our Funding. (2022). World Wide Web Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20220604161044/https://webfoundation.org/about/our-funding/ ↩︎