UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION

The UN Foundation was founded in 1998 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner to support the UN and serve as a strategic partner and resource for the UN in solving global problems. Ted’s goals in establishing the Foundation were to demonstrate the value of investing in the UN, encourage new partners to work with the UN, and promote strong U.S. leadership at the UN.

In our first 20 years, the Foundation mobilized over $2 billion, numerous initiatives, and countless partners to support the UN and UN causes. This support helped the UN pioneer work in areas we all now take for granted, from supporting elections to the rights of adolescent girls to our shared interest in a clean energy future for all.

Today, the Foundation focuses on mobilizing ideas, people, and resources to help the UN tackle some of the greatest collective action challenges of our time, including scaled collaboration to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the promise of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

WHAT WE DO
We advance human dignity and protect the planet through our work on transformative issues critical to humanity’s shared future. We strive to defend progress already made and unlock the collective promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across interconnected issues, including climate, health, gender equality, human rights, data and technology, peace, and humanitarian response.

As a strategic partner of the United Nations, we bring together fresh thinking and diverse voices around innovative ideas to drive progress and tackle problems. We build communities of support and nurture initiatives to advance the dignity and well-being of people and planet.

Sometimes we work behind-the-scenes, shaping negotiations and connecting experts, advocates, and decision-makers. Other times we drive public awareness and involvement through communications, campaigns, and events. Always we work to build collective action through the UN, the only place where everyone on earth can have a voice.