WHO Foundation

Name

WHO Foundation

Legal name

The Foundation in Support of the World Health Organization

Website

https://who.foundation

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Global Health Philanthropy

NAICS

Voluntary Health Organizations (813212), Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH), Global Health Financing Mechanisms & Pooled Funds (HLAJAOAC)

Keywords

• Global health funding
• Philanthropic partnerships
• Grant-making foundation
• Health emergency response
• Corporate giving programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Genève

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Donations: The WHO Foundation mobilizes resources from philanthropists, foundations, and individuals to fund WHO's global health initiatives. Donations can be made online through the Foundation's website or through various campaigns.
2. Corporate Partnerships: The Foundation receives funding from corporations through multi-year partnerships and collaborations focused on specific health initiatives.
3. Investment Partnerships: The Foundation engages with impact investors who provide funding for sustainable health system improvements.

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The WHO Foundation is an independent Swiss grant-making foundation that mobilizes private and philanthropic donations from individuals, corporations, foundations, and impact investors, and redistributes these funds as grants to World Health Organization programs and partner-led global health initiatives. Its core activities include donor cultivation and stewardship, multi-year partnership development, and management of named funding vehicles such as the Lifeline: the Acute Care Action Fund and the Health Emergencies Alliance.

Product overview

WHO Foundation is an independent grant-making organization that supports the World Health Organization's mission. It operates primarily as a philanthropic fundraising and grant allocation entity rather than a technology product company. The foundation mobilizes resources from philanthropists, foundations, businesses, and individuals to fund WHO initiatives and global health programs. Core activities include donor coordination, grant allocation to WHO programs, and managing various health-focused campaigns and initiatives across areas such as health emergencies, climate and health, mental health, women's health, and digital health.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Healthier Together: A video series developed in consultation with the WHO Foundation and produced by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, exploring health challenges and opportunities across the world.
• Lifeline: the Acute Care Action Fund
• Health Emergencies Alliance

Products and services

• Philanthropic Partnerships Dedicated partnership program for philanthropists and private foundations to direct capital toward WHO's global health priorities across named focus areas (health emergencies, mental health, women's health, climate and health, digital health). Offers curated giving options including one-time gifts, multi-year strategic commitments, and thematic campaign giving, supported by FENSA-aligned independence safeguards.
• Corporate Partnerships Multi-year partnership program for corporations to co-fund WHO programs and global health initiatives aligned with CSR, ESG, and brand-purpose strategies. Includes thematic co-funding (oral health, cardio-renal-metabolic disease, dementia, obesity, neglected tropical diseases, vaccine equity, mental health), branded content via the Healthier Together series, and Health Emergencies Alliance membership.
• Investment Partnerships Partnership program for institutional impact investors and development agencies to deploy catalytic capital into sustainable health system strengthening, including bilateral development financing and emergency-response capital. Designed to attract investors seeking measurable health outcomes aligned with sustainable development goals.
• Lifeline: the Acute Care Action Fund Named funding consortium that finances WHO's Basic Emergency Care training across hospitals in low-resource settings, targeting 1,000 health facilities and aiming to save 50,000 lives annually. Combined funding supports acute care scale-up across select African countries, building on a demonstrated 34–50% reduction in mortality from acute conditions in first-level hospitals.
• Health Emergencies Alliance Coalition platform bringing together private-sector partners for sustained, coordinated investment behind WHO's emergency preparedness and response work, including support for WHO AFRO Emergency Hub in Dakar and the Emergency Medical Teams programme in the Americas.
• Healthier Together Video Series Branded video content series produced in collaboration with BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions, exploring global health challenges and opportunities and showcasing the Foundation's partnerships across oral health, cataract blindness, dementia, diagnostics, obesity, mental health, and medicine manufacturing.
• Themed Donation Campaigns Portfolio of named, time-bound fundraising campaigns available to individual donors through the donate.who.foundation online platform, including Gaza Medical Evacuation, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Maternal Health, Measles and Rubella (with ELMA matching up to $2M), and Mental Health. Supports one-time and recurring (monthly) giving with year-end, tax-deductible giving options.

Quantifiable outcome

• Basic Emergency Care program demonstrated 34-50% reduction in mortality from acute conditions in first-level hospitals
• +3 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Africa CDCmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 May 2026Africa CDC received $5 million from Gates Foundation through WHO Foundation for regional coordination and cross-border surveillance in response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak.
• HelpMeSeemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2026HelpMeSee was featured in the Healthier Together branded content series presented by the WHO Foundation. The collaboration showcases HelpMeSee's simulation-based surgical training program for cataract surgeons, highlighting efforts to reduce cataract blindness affecting approximately 100 million people globally.
• BBC StoryWorks Commercial ProductionsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 March 2026BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions produces the Healthier Together video series for the WHO Foundation, showcasing global health stories and partnerships across multiple health topics.
• Eli Lilly and CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 March 2026Eli Lilly and Company committed $1.68 million until 2029 to support global efforts to assess and strengthen health systems for obesity prevention and care. The initiative helps countries integrate evidence-based policies, develop training standards, and build pathways for prevention and care in resource-limited settings.
• International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 February 2026WHO Foundation and IFPA signed a multi-year collaboration agreement to strengthen global understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of psoriasis. Partnership will update the 2016 Global Psoriasis Report, develop AI-powered diagnostic tools, and train healthcare professionals.
• Colgate-PalmolivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 January 2026Colgate-Palmolive and WHO Foundation announced a four-year partnership to advance global oral health. The collaboration focuses on scaling oral health education within government health infrastructure, supporting evidence-based policy development for ministries of health, and increasing global prioritization of oral health. Builds on Colgate's Bright Smiles, Bright Futures programme that has reached approximately 2 billion children since 1991.
• ViatrismajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 January 2026Viatris presented The Inner Life of Medicine film as part of the Healthier Together series presented by the WHO Foundation and produced by BBC StoryWorks, exploring medicine manufacturing.
• Novo NordiskcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025WHO Foundation announced expanded collaboration with Novo Nordisk to support health systems in combating heart, kidney, and metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes. Total commitment of USD 7.9 million, with initial funding in 2024 followed by additional support in December 2025, focusing on low- and middle-income countries.
• BayermajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 October 2025WHO Foundation announced collaboration with Bayer to support global health initiatives, focusing on eliminating neglected tropical diseases, promoting self-care, and addressing climate change impacts on sexual and reproductive health. Bayer has a longstanding partnership with WHO in fighting tropical diseases.
• Eli Lilly and Company (Dementia)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2025WHO Foundation and Lilly announced collaboration to support WHO's global action plan on dementia, focusing on risk reduction, early detection, and care. Partnership addresses the 57 million people affected by dementia worldwide, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries.
• Eli Lilly and Company (Global Dementia Action Plan)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2025Collaboration on global dementia action plan to improve diagnosis, care, and support for dementia patients worldwide, with focus on healthcare system gaps and early detection in low- and middle-income countries.
• Laerdal Global HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 May 2025Laerdal Global Health committed US$12.5 million to fund WHO to scale up acute care training for health workers in select African countries. The partnership supports WHO Basic Emergency Care training in 400 hospitals across three African countries, with the goal of reaching 1,000 hospitals through the Lifeline: the Acute Care Action Fund.
• Maybelline New York (Brave Together)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Maybelline New York's Brave Together initiative partnered with WHO Foundation to increase access to mental health services worldwide. The $10 million global initiative supports organizations offering mental health support through phone or text lines.
• Sangath IndiamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWHO Foundation supported Sangath India's Baatcheet mental health storytelling initiative through the Brave Together partnership with Maybelline New York. The program provides mental health support for young people in India.
• Hintsa PerformanceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWHO Foundation partnered with Hintsa Performance, an evidence-based coaching company, to provide mental health and wellness training and services for staff members.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Rockefeller Foundation: Major US philanthropic foundation with historic and ongoing commitments to global health, including pandemic preparedness. Comparable as a large legacy foundation funding WHO-priority disease and health system areas.
• Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI): Large global health organization working with governments and partners to expand access to treatment. Comparable as a privately funded global health implementation partner operating alongside WHO.

Direct peers

• Wellcome Trust: Large independent health-focused grantmaking foundation funding global health research and programs. Comparable as an independent charitable foundation with a global health mandate and multi-hundred-million-pound annual disbursement.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: World's largest private philanthropy, with global health as a flagship program area. Directly comparable as a major donor to the WHO Foundation itself, and as a grantmaking foundation mobilizing billions into WHO-aligned priorities.
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Multilateral financing partnership that pools public and private donor capital against major global diseases. Closely comparable funding architecture, donor mix and WHO-adjacent positioning to the WHO Foundation.
• Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF): Large UK-based philanthropic foundation funding child health, climate and nutrition programs globally. Comparable as an independent, high-disbursement foundation active in WHO-aligned health verticals.
• Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance: Public-private partnership mobilizing large-scale donor funding for global health immunization. Comparable as a pooled global-health financing mechanism that channels corporate, sovereign and philanthropic capital into WHO-aligned priorities.
• UN Foundation: Independent nonprofit mobilizing private-sector support for the United Nations system. Closely analogous as a UN-affiliated independent foundation channeling corporate and philanthropic capital into multilateral priorities.
• UNICEF Foundation: Independent nonprofit that channels private philanthropy into UNICEF's mission. Closely comparable in structure, mission and donor-mobilization function to the WHO Foundation.

Emerging players

• Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV): Product development partnership mobilizing donor funding to combat malaria. Comparable as a focused, donor-funded entity operating in a WHO priority disease area.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/who-foundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/whofoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/who_foundation
• Xx.com/WHOFoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about WHO Foundation