Philanthropy and the SDGs
Issue Areas
Increasingly, philanthropic funders are seeking alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global agenda for people and planet adopted by the United Nations in 2015. As part of its work on the SDGs, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has created two publications to give funders practical advice on how to plan, assess, report, and act on these goals. Both guides have several case studies and feature insights and strategies from global philanthropic leaders.
The guides are available in English:
And in Portuguese:
RPA continues to be actively involved in furthering the SDGs through philanthropic means. One example of our work is the launch of the SDG Philanthropy Platform, in partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Foundation Center (now Candid), with seed funding from the Conrad N. Hilton, Ford and Mastercard Foundations. The Platform can help small and large foundations alike access useful country-specific information; locate allies within a country’s development system; build stronger relationships and find good entry points for grantmaking; share strategies with other funders; and more easily track progress. In 2019, RPA handed the initiative over to the WINGS Global Philanthropy Network. To learn more about the SDG Philanthropy Platform, read this session recap from an annual conference of the Council on Foundations.
Other examples of our work on advancing philanthropic approaches to the SDGs can be found in the following reports and publications:
- Engaging Brazilian Social Private Investment in the Global Development Agenda
- Enabling Environment for Philanthropy in Ghana
- Philanthropy’s Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals in Emerging Countries
About the SDGs
In 2015, all 193 Member States of the UN pledged to achieve an ambitious set of 17 goals over 15 years. These Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, address global issues, envisioning a world where no one lives in extreme poverty, all children have access to education, and all nations make rapid progress on tackling climate change. Many organizations are now turning to the convergence of the SDGs and the human rights agenda, as this June 2017 conference in Bonn reveals.
