Development Co‑operation Profiles: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Table of contents
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is a family foundation established in 1999. The foundation is based in Austin, Texas and has offices in both India and South Africa.
The Dell Foundation is inspired by its founders’ shared desire to transform the lives of children living in urban poverty, mainly through supporting projects that aim to enhance access to education, health and financial services for the most vulnerable.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation provided USD 46.4 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents a decrease of 5.5% in real terms. Grants represented 68.6% of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s gross disbursements, while the remainder was extended in the form of programme-related investments, including loans and equities.
In 2023, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 27.8 million) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector institutions (USD 15.2 million).
See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.
In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 27.8 million of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 82.7% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Over half (60%) was earmarked to specific projects or programmes, while none of the contributions were allocated to CSOs as core support. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 60.2% to 60%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Asia (excluding the Middle East) and Africa. USD 29.7 million was allocated to Asia (excluding the Middle East) and USD 16.6 million to Africa, accounting for 64.1% and 35.9% of gross bilateral development finance respectively.
In 2023, the entirety (100%) of gross development finance went to the top three recipients, most notably India and South Africa.
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation allocated the highest share (64.2%) of its bilateral development finance to lower middle-income countries in 2023, followed by upper middle-income countries (35.8%).
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 40 thousand in 2023, representing 0.1% of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s bilateral development finance.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s largest allocations went to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 69.1% of bilateral commitments (USD 32 million). Bilateral contributions allocated to economic infrastructure amounted to USD 13.6 million, while those to production sectors totalled USD 800 thousand.
In 2023, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://www.dell.org
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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