Year-end giving recommendations 2023

At Founders Pledge, we’re on a mission to do the most good possible.

That means identifying funding opportunities where donations will truly move the needle on the most critical issues. The most effective charities have the capacity to do up to 1000x more good – saving more lives, mitigating existential risks, protecting the planet – meaning every donation you make has the potential to have outsized impact. Understanding where you can have the most impact and deciding which opportunities to support can be overwhelming, especially at this time of year.

The question our Research team strives to answer is: ‘How can we do the most good possible, with the limited resources available?’ In doing so, they evaluate the organizations and initiatives tackling the world’s most pressing problems to find those making the biggest difference. To learn more about how we identify our recommendations, check out our research methodology.

To support one of our recommendations, Founders Pledge members should note the year-end giving deadlines and grant via the app or email your Community Manager. Everyone else, please follow the links below!

Double your support for pioneering solutions to global educational challenges

In a world where over half a billion children do not attain basic literacy and numeracy skills, Imagine Worldwide has developed one of the most effective and innovative educational interventions globally. Their new model in Malawi, which focuses on tech-first solutions like solar panels, tablets, and educational software, could serve to improve learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) around the world.

All donations in support of their work to scale-up will be matched 100% by the Global Partnership for Education through January 2024. We recommend this opportunity to anyone who cares about innovatively tackling global inequality in education and opportunity.

Ensure a new recommendation can continue tackling global inequality

The UN estimates that over $1 trillion is paid in bribes and another $2.6 trillion is lost to theft annually due to corruption. The OCCRP is a one-of-its-kind organization battling high-level corruption and organized crime to return hundreds of millions of stolen assets to LMICs. They are uniquely placed to do so thanks to their team of award-winning investigative journalists and data scientists, and partnerships with over 50 independent media outlets in countries where corruption is highest.

They could productively use $1m to continue their work investigating large-scale corruption, which they estimate has led to $9.6bn in fines levied and monies seized, 394 official investigations, and 611 arrests. We recommend this opportunity to anyone looking to support promising solutions to global issues like poverty, the rise of extremism, and the decline of democratic institutions around the world, all knock-on effects of the illicit transfer of wealth.

Join forces with like-minded donors to have a bigger impact

Founders Pledge Funds offer a unique mode of grant-making and opportunities not available to individual donors: fill time-sensitive funding gaps; seed new initiatives; co-create projects; and direct funds rapidly to the most effective programs. We absorb all management and grant-making costs, and don’t charge fees.

The Climate Change Fund identifies the most effective, highest-leverage solutions to climate challenges in an ever-evolving global landscape. Based on our research, we estimate the impact of our grants to represent the equivalent of taking 17.5m cars off the road for a year.

The Global Catastrophic Risks Fund takes on the biggest threats we face – including nuclear war, natural and engineered pandemics, and threats from advanced artificial intelligence (AI). Recently, we funded the launch of a new policy advocacy group for existential threats; they’re filling a critical gap in international policy and likely wouldn’t exist without our support.

The Global Health & Development Fund fills critical gaps in the current philanthropic landscape, via time-sensitive and risk-neutral grant-making to the world's most effective global health and development charities. As an example, we’ve supported Against Malaria Foundation’s work in Africa: more than 45,000 bed nets are expected to protect nearly 80,000 people, save an estimated 40 lives, and boost local GDP by potentially $1.3m.

The Patient Philanthropy Fund, uniquely designed for the ultra-long-term, invests donations to grow until they are needed most to preserve and benefit the future of humanity. We recently funded an expert analysis of the changing nuclear security funding landscape, following the exit of the space’s biggest funder.