The Fondation Botnar is a Swiss philanthropic foundation based in Basel. It was established in 2003 to continue the philanthropic legacy of Marcela and Octav Botnar. The Fondation Botnar works to improve the health and well-being of young people living in cities around the world. Advocating for the inclusion of youth voices and the equitable use of artificial intelligence and digital technology, the Fondation Botnar invests in and supports innovative programmes and research and brings together actors from across sectors to create dialogue and partnerships.
Development Co-operation Profiles
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Fondation Botnar
Introduction
Private development finance
The Fondation Botnar provided USD 60.4 million for development in 2022 through its grantmaking activities and investments. Compared to 2021, this amount constitutes a decrease of 12.6% in real terms. Grants represented 94.4% of the Fondation Botnar’s gross development finance, while the remainder was provided in the form of equity investments.
Support to Ukraine
In 2022, the Fondation Botnar provided USD 5.1 million of gross development finance to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression. This financing is provided in support of Ukrainian refugees in Romania.
Bilateral and multilateral allocations
In 2022, the Fondation Botnar channelled its development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society (USD 46.4 million), multilateral organisations (USD 5.5 million) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 4.7 million).
Multilateral channels
In 2022, the Fondation Botnar provided USD 5.5 million to the multilateral system, representing 9.1% of its development finance, all of which was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes. All of these multilateral contributions were provided to United Nations entities.
The United Nations (UN) system received USD 5.5 million from Fondation Botnar in 2022. The most significant UN recipients were UNICEF (USD 4.7 million), ITU (USD 396 thousand) and UN-Habitat (USD 374 thousand).
Civil society organisations
In 2022, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 46.4 million of the Fondation Botnar’s gross development finance. All these contributions were earmarked for specific projects or programmes. More than half (55.1%) of these contributions were channelled through international NGOs and 34% through NGOs based in donor countries.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
Geographic and thematic focus
In 2022, the Fondation Botnar’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. USD 23.5 million was allocated to Africa and USD 15.9 million to Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting respectively for 38.8% and 26.4% of gross development finance. A sum of USD 7.1 million (11.8%) was unspecified by region in 2022, mainly including multi-regional programmes. In this context, USD 5.1 million was provided in support of refugees and asylum-seekers in donor countries.
Figure. Bilateral private development finance by recipient country
In 2022, 78% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Tanzania and Zambia.
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 11.6 million (19.2%) of Fondation Botnar’s gross development finance in 2022. Fondation Botnar allocated the largest share (42.6%) of its development finance to lower middle-income countries in 2022, followed by upper middle-income countries (26.2%), noting that USD 7.2 million (12%) was unallocated by income group.
Notes: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.
Furthermore, the Fondation Botnar allocated USD 8.3 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2022.
Fragile contexts
Support to fragile contexts reached USD 19 million in 2022, representing 31.4% of the Fondation Botnar’s development finance.
Notes: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral contributions that are allocated by country.
Sectors
In 2022, 47.3% of the Fondation Botnar’s contributions were allocated to social infrastructure and services and 41.1% to multi-sector and cross-cutting issues. In terms of sectors, the Fondation Botnar’s largest allocations went to health and population (USD 21.7 million) and urban development (under other multi-sector; USD 24.8 million).
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2022, Fondation Botnar committed the largest shares of its contributions to good health and well-being (SDG 3), sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and climate action (SDG 13) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support for gender equality and women’s empowerment amounted to USD 5.9 million. Contributions to combatting climate change totalled USD 24.8 million.
Additional resources
Official website: https://www.fondationbotnar.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, the Sustainable Development Goal focus of private development finance, channels of delivery, unspecified/unallocated allocations, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.