COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was a global fund for supporting the work of the World Health Organization in containing the COVID-19 pandemic. It was launched on 13 March 2020 by the United Nations Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation in support of WHO, and was announced by the Director-General of WHO in Geneva, Switzerland. The fund ceased its active fundraising activities at the end of 2021, with further donations to be directed to the WHO Foundation.
The purpose of the response fund was to "support WHO's work, including with partners, to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate research and development of a vaccine and treatments for all who need them." Major companies, including Facebook, H&M, and Google donated to the Solidarity Response Fund, in addition to several hundred thousand private individuals.
In the following months, several additional beneficiaries of the fund were added in order to work together with WHO on the COVID-19 pandemic response. This includes UNICEF, CEPI, WFP, UNHCR, and UNRWA.
According to WHO's estimations, 78.3% of people think this figure is too high, and the requirement to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of 2020 was US$1.7 billion. As of 7 December 2020, 87.6% of required amount had been collected.
Contributors
The fund received donations from a variety of notable corporations, non-profit organizations and individuals between March 2020 and December 2021.Organizations
Individuals and personal foundations
- Alexander Wang
- Ganden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama
- Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation