Global grant-making: foundations' international development funding

Together with the Baring Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, we commissioned a review of UK foundations' funding for international development. The resulting report, Global grant-making, is a follow-up to 2007's Going Global. 

Global grant-making provides an up-to-date picture of the scale of UK foundation resources devoted to international development. It also identifies how these resources are distributed across region and need, and how foundations approach international funding activities.

Key findings

• The annual value of current spending by charitable foundations on international development and related causes is estimated at around £292 million.
• This is equal to just under half of the amount which DFID spends through NGOs.
• Spending on international development represents 13% of the total charitable spending of foundations which fund this area, and 9% of the spending of all UK grant-making foundations.
• The region attracting the highest number of foundation funders is Africa (37%), in particular East Africa. This is followed by Asia (23%).