How the UN Foundation raised $224M for WHO in weeks during COVID-19

Executive overview

When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, the World Health Organization needed a rapid funding surge from non-traditional donors — fast. The UN Foundation created the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund in a matter of weeks, channeling contributions from individuals, companies, and organisations into WHO's pandemic response.

The result: $224M raised from nearly 500,000 donors across dozens of countries, far exceeding the initial $50M target. The fund also illuminates broader lessons about leading through crisis, sustaining long-term goals under pressure, and the practical meaning of optimism.

Optimism without action is empty — the work is in taking the first step, then the next.

Building the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund

• WHO asked the UN Foundation in mid-February 2020 how to surge non-government funding into the pandemic response
• Working with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, the team built the fund in a few weeks while working around the clock
• The fund was designed for everyone outside WHO's normal government donor base: individuals, companies, organisations
• A pool structure meant all contributions were allocated by WHO based on a published plan, giving donors transparency and confidence
• Early procurement of PPE and lab tests, logistics operations (WHO's "global solidarity flights"), and vaccine R&D were all funded through it
• Online donors left comments saying being able to do something helped when they felt powerless — the fund answered that need

Leading at speed and scale

• The team redeployed a large number of staff to work full-time, and overtime, on the fund at launch
• A close early partnership with WHO meant they could confidently tell companies exactly where dollars would go
• The biggest challenge was keeping pace with the hunger for information as the crisis moved faster than any response could
• Transparency — showing how early resources were used — built confidence that attracted more donors

Holding long-term goals through acute crisis

• COVID hit in what was meant to be a "super year" for the Sustainable Development Goals, counting down the decade of action
• Rather than abandoning SDG and climate ambitions, the crisis created leverage: governments were about to spend trillions on economic recovery
• Those recovery investment decisions are an opportunity to embed sustainability, equity, and human rights into long-term infrastructure
• COVID demonstrated global interdependence in visceral terms — the same logic applies to climate change, an even more complex shared challenge
• The lesson: treat every decision as a chance to be forward-leaning, not just reactive

Working with high-profile leaders and boards

• The UN Foundation board includes Ted Turner, Nobel Prize winners, former prime ministers, and the Queen of Jordan — described as "impatient optimists"
• Every board member has lived their values through action across government, corporate, and NGO worlds
• High-profile people are often more accessible than expected; that accessibility reflects the people, not a technique
• Impatience is the bridge between optimism and results — it forces the question of what the first concrete step is

Kindness and leadership

• Kindness plays out at two levels: day-to-day interactions with colleagues and family, and genuine engagement with how others live
• Confronting systemic racism, displacement, and global deprivation with clear eyes is part of a leader's responsibility
• Most people most of the time want to help — giving them a practical vehicle to do so is often enough

Internalising urgency

• After years working on climate and the SDGs, Cousens describes a shift in the last year: intellectually knowing the timetable is different from truly internalising it
• A once-in-a-century pandemic doesn't reduce that urgency — it accentuates it
• Every choice counts now; leaders in sustainability and equity shouldn't defer action to the next generation