Overview

The United Nations Foundation was created in 1998 with businessman and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support United Nations causes. Through grantmaking and by building new and innovative public-private partnerships, the UN Foundation acts to meet the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. The UN Foundation also works to strengthen the US-UN relationship and broaden support for the UN through public education, advocacy and outreach.

In 1997, Ted Turner pledged to give $1 billion to support United Nations causes. The gift—unprecedented at the time in both size and nature—led to the creation of the United Nations Foundation, and has served as a catalyst for change in philanthropy, on global issues and at the United Nations.

In just nine years, the Foundation has donated $1 billion—over $600 million from founder Ted Turner and over $400 million more from individuals, corporations, governments, and NGOs—to programs that address key global challenges consistent with the Millennium Development Goals. Our areas of focus are: Children’s Health, the Environment, Women & Population, and Peace, Security & Human Rights. The UN Fund for International Partnerships facilitates the Foundation’s work within the UN system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is the UN Foundation different from the UN?
A: The UN Foundation is an accredited 501 (c)(3) public charity, dedicated to supporting UN efforts. It is not a part of the UN system, though it does work closely with many UN agencies. The UN Foundation is privately funded, and does not receive any funding from the UN.

Q: What does the UN Foundation do?
A: The UN Foundation supports the UN and strengthens US-UN relations through public education, advocacy, and outreach. The Foundation also supports UN efforts financially through grantmaking and by building innovative public-private partnerships with corporations, NGO’s, foundations, and individuals.

In consultation with UN partners, the Board of Directors has determined that our work should focus on the following priorities:

—Children's Health
Our objective is to help the UN reduce childhood mortality and disease by strengthening public health systems, and by eliminating or controlling infectious diseases such as polio, measles and malaria.

—Technology for Development
We develop and support initiatives that harness information technology to augment
UN efforts to provide humanitarian relief, health data collection, and access to
communications.

—Telling the UN’s Story

We help communicate the UN's value and accomplishments as the world's platform for peace, prosperity, and justice.

—Biodiversity & Sustainable
Development In the interest of global biodiversity and sustainable development, we work with the UN to protect World Heritage sites and to help surrounding communities develop sustainable livelihoods.

—Energy & Climate Change
We believe that the challenge of climate change presents an opportunity to transform
the global energy system so that it advances environmental protection, economic
progress, and global security.

—Peace, Security & Human Rights

The UN was founded as a platform for collective security and global peace. We
support the UN's peacekeeping and postconflict reconstruction efforts.

—Women & Population
We work to advance the internationally adopted goal of universal access to
reproductive healthcare by 2015, as established at the International Conference
on Population and Development.

In addition, the UN Foundation also sponsors a numbers of campaigns and special initiatives, including:

The Better World Campaign (BWC) works to strengthen the relationship between the United States and the United Nations through outreach, communications, and advocacy.
www.betterworldcampaign.org
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The Energy Future Coalition is a broad-based, nonpartisan alliance that seeks to bridge the differences among business, labor, and environmental groups and identify energy policy options with broad political support.
www.energyfuturecoalition.org
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The mission of Friends of World Heritage is to foster a constituency of World Heritage supporters and travelers to ensure the protection of World Heritage sites for today’s travelers and future generations.
www.friendsofworldheritage.org
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Nothing But Nets is a grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa.
www.nothingbutnets.net
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The People Speak (TPS) engages people of all ages and backgrounds in thoughtful discussions about the value of international cooperation for the United States and the world.
www.thepeoplespeak.org
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UN Dispatch is a blog providing commentary and coverage on UN issues.
www.undispatch.com
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UN Wire brings you the most timely, relevant news on the UN, international affairs, and the United Nations Foundation to your inbox every weekday.
www.unwire.org
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The World Heritage Alliance is a membership based organization that works to support World Heritage conservation, sustainable tourism, and local economic development for communities in and around World Heritage sites.
www.worldheritagealliance.org

"25x'25" is a rallying cry for renewable energy and a goal for America – to get 25 percent of our energy from renewable resources like wind, solar, and biofuels by the year 2025.
www.25x25.org
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The Campaign helps save lives by raising funds for mine clearance and survivor assistance and by raising awareness about the landmine problem. www.landmines.org
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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created to dramatically increase resources to fight three of the world's most devastating diseases, and to direct those resources to areas of greatest need.
www.theglobalfund.org
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The Measles Initiative is a long-term commitment and partnership among leaders in public health and supports the goal of reducing measles deaths globally by 90% by 2010 compared to 2000 estimates.
www.measlesinitiative.org
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A National Geographic-led campaign—backed by a coalition of major national partners—to expand geographic learning in school, at home, and in the community.
www.mywonderfulworld.org
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The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans – one by one – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty.
www.one.org
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The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to ensure that no child will ever again know the crippling effects of polio. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is the largest public health initiative the world has ever known.
www.polioeradication.org



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Katherine Miller
Executive Director, Communications and Public Affairs

202.247.7280
kmiller@unfoundation.org

 



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