Development grants and investments by the largest private philanthropic foundations exceed the official development assistance (ODA) of many of the largest donor countries. As a group, around 40 private philanthropies reporting to the OECD provided USD 11 billion in support of development in 2022. While this represents a highly valuable resource for development, it equates to only 5% of total ODA from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member countries in 2022 (USD 211 billion).
Philanthropy
Private philanthropic foundations play an increasingly important role in development. Although philanthropic funding cannot match official aid flows in volume terms, it can be more flexible, innovative, and disruptive than funding from other sources. The OECD sheds light on its contribution with detailed statistics and policy analysis and helps philanthropic foundations to network and learn from one another.
Key messages
Although private philanthropy has been growing over the last decades, development grants and programme-related investments by international private foundations have been stagnant since their historical peak in 2021.
In emerging economies like India or China, philanthropy from domestic donors surpasses the financing received by international foundations. Domestic donors tend to focus on education, in particular higher education. Most philanthropic funding tends to be concentrated in a few regions, often those with the highest regional gross domestic product.
Context
Private philanthropy is a major supporter of health and population policies in developing countries
Over recent years, private foundations as a group have been among the main providers of development finance for health and population policies, playing a key role in the eradication of infectious diseases and improved access to reproductive rights. In 2022, 47% of philanthropic grants aimed at responding to the health and population needs of developing countries.
In China, India and Mexico, domestic philanthropy surpasses international philanthropic flows
In emerging economies that receive significant cross-border financing such as India, China, and Mexico, domestic philanthropic financing has already surpassed the flows of cross-border philanthropy. Locally based donors in China contributed USD 2.5 billion out of USD 2.9 billion, while in Mexico USD 1 billion out of USD 1.2 billion was funded by domestic foundations.
Related data
This dataset includes project-level information for more than 40 of the largest private philanthropic foundations working for development. Data are reported to the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate using the same statistical standards and definitions as those for ODA. Concerning data providers unable to share data on both commitments and disbursements, the missing flow type is proxied based on the one that is available.
