Development Co‑operation Profiles: Oak Foundation
Table of contents
Oak Foundation was established in 1983 to contribute to a safer, fairer, more sustainable world. Its main administrative office is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
The foundation operates globally through eight programmes: Environment, Global Climate Initiatives, Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, Housing and Homelessness, International Human Rights, Issues Affecting Women, Learning Differences, and the Special Interest. Its two country programmes are located in Denmark and Zimbabwe.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Oak Foundation provided USD 154.6 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents an increase of 15.3% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of Oak Foundation’s gross disbursements.
Oak Foundation provided all of its development finance bilaterally in 2024.
In 2024, the Oak Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 124.4 million), universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 17.1 million) and public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector (USD 13.1 million).
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 124.4 million of the Oak Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 33.2% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 20.3% of total bilateral development finance was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 60.2% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral philanthropic development finance, from 80.7% to 80.5%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2024, Oak Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Europe. USD 53.9 million was allocated to Africa and USD 29.8 million to Europe, accounting respectively for 34.8% and 19.3% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 29 million (18.7%) was unallocated by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants.
In 2024, 36.9% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably India (8.4%), Brazil (6.9%), and Zimbabwe (6.4%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received respectively USD 22.7 million (14.7%) and USD 2.4 million (1.5%) of Oak Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2024. Oak Foundation allocated the highest share (21.8%) of its bilateral development finance to lower middle-income countries in 2024, followed by upper middle-income countries (20.9%), noting that USD 63.6 million (41.1%) was unallocated by income group.
Oak Foundation allocated USD 19.7 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2024, and USD 900 thousand to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024. The main SIDS recipients are Guinea-Bissau, Papua New Guinea and Cabo Verde.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 41.8 million in 2024, representing 27.1% of Oak Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extremely fragility received a sum of USD 6.5 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (47.9% of bilateral contributions) by Oak Foundation went to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on support to government and civil society (USD 62.9 million). The second largest sector was multi-sector (USD 66.5 million), focusing on general environment protection (USD 54.9 million). This was followed by production sectors (USD 9.4 million).
In the period 2023-2024, Oak Foundation committed 10.7% of screened bilateral allocable development finance to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 35.1% in 2021-2022 and a private philanthropic average of 33.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 15.2 million of screened bilateral allocable contributions in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable contributions committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 10.7% in 2023-2024, compared with the private philanthropic average of 11.9%.
Oak Foundation screens all bilateral allocable contributions activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
Oak Foundation committed USD 2.9 million of contributions to end violence against women and girls and USD 7.8 million to support women’s rights organisations and movements, and government institutions on average per year in 2023-2024.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
In 2023-2024, Oak Foundation committed 24.6% of its total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 35 million) in support of the environment, down from 40.8% in 2021-2022. The private philanthropic average was 12.4%. In addition:
12.9% of total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 18.3 million) focused on climate change overall (the private philanthropic average was 12.9%), down from 25.2% in 2021-2022. Oak Foundation had a greater focus on adaptation (12.7%) than on mitigation (1.5%) in 2023-2024.
12.9% of screened bilateral allocable contributions (USD 18.4 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the private philanthropic average was 4.3%), down from 18% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, Oak Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and SDG 5 (gender equality) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://oakfnd.org/.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, channels of delivery, bilateral unspecified/unallocated/allocable development finance, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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