United Nations Foundation

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. We build and implement public/private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and work to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.

Through our campaigns and partnerships, we connect people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. These campaigns focus on improving global health, empowering women and girls, creating a new energy future, and securing peace and human rights. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Our Global Health Campaigns & Initiatives

Women and children around the world die every day from preventable diseases. We work hand-in-hand with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other UN agencies to develop and expand major campaigns and initiatives to help families survive and thrive.

In support of world-renowned international health partnerships, we have mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of people, brought new private-sector partners into the field, helped strengthen the capacity of UN health agencies working with national governments, and provided program expertise to help save lives around the world.

While the UN Foundation has been working with the UN to fight malaria for years, it was Rick Reilly’s column about malaria in Sports Illustrated challenging each of his readers to donate at least $10 for the to purchase of anti-malaria bed nets, that led to the creation of the Nothing But Nets campaign in 2006.

Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to raise awareness and funding to fight malaria, a leading cause of death among children in Africa. With a $10 contribution, Nothing But Nets provides individuals -- students to CEOs, bishops to basketball players -- the opportunity to join the fight against malaria by giving $10 to send a net and save a life. To date, Nothing But Nets has raised more than $40 million to distribute more than 6 million nets to families throughout Africa.

To learn more about United Nations Foundation, visit http://www.unfoundation.org