Development Co‑operation Profiles: Van Leer Foundation
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The Van Leer Foundation, established in 1949 and based in the Netherlands, is a financially independent foundation. Its income is derived from the legacy of Bernard van Leer.
The foundation is guided by the vision of Bernard van Leer’s son, Oscar, that all children deserve a good start in life. It works worldwide to inspire and inform action to improve the health and well-being of babies, toddlers and their caregivers. It provides financial support and expertise to the government, civil society and business partners to help test and scale services for young children and families.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
Van Leer Foundation provided USD 9.9 million for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents a decrease of 22% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Van Leer Foundation’s gross disbursements.
In 2023, the Van Leer Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 4.8 million) and universities, research institutes or think-tanks (USD 4.1 million).
In 2023, Van Leer Foundation provided USD 300 thousand to the multilateral system, representing 2.7% of its total development finance. The entirety of these multilateral contributions was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes or purposes and was channelled through the United Nations (UN) funds and programmes.
The UN system received USD 300 thousand from the Van Leer Foundation in 2023, all targeting UNDP.
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 4.8 million of the Van Leer Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 82.7% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Almost half (48.3%) of the contributions were earmarked to specific projects or programmes, while none 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 79.8% to 48.3%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2023, Van Leer Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East. USD 2.7 million was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean and USD 1.7 million to the Middle East, accounting respectively for 27.8% and 17.1% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 5 million (51%) was unspecified by region in 2023, mainly including multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants.
In 2023, 48.5% of gross development finance went to the top six recipients, most notably Brazil and Jordan.
Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received respectively USD 30 thousand (0.3%) and USD 300 thousand (3.3%) of Van Leer Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2023. Van Leer Foundation allocated the highest share (27.4%) of its bilateral development finance to upper-middle-income countries in 2023, followed by lower-middle-income countries (17.6%), noting that USD 5.1 million (51.5%) was unallocated by income group.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 400 thousand in 2023, representing 3.6% of Van Leer Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 300 thousand.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2023, Van Leer Foundation’s largest allocations went to multi-sector, such as general environmental protection or administrative costs. Investments in this area accounted for 58.8% of bilateral commitments (USD 5.7 million). Bilateral contributions allocated to social infrastructure and services amounted to USD 4 million.
In 2023, Van Leer Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities), SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Contributions to SDG 13 (climate action) totalled USD 100 thousand.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://vanleerfoundation.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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