Mulago Foundation

The Foundation's stated goal is to identify and invest in the highest impact giving opportunities. On their "How we fund" page, they write that they are looking for three things: a priority problem, a scalable solution, and an organization that can deliver. Once they identify an organization they wish to fund through their fellowships, they provide unrestricted and continued funding. The Mulago Foundation does not currently accept or solicit proposals. The foundation itself tries to locate organizations to give to through their own network and referrals.{{cite web|url=http://mulagofoundation.org/?q=how-we-fund|title = How we fund|accessdate=2012-08-13|publisher=Mulago Foundation}} The main way they start funding organizations is through their two Fellowship programs - the Rainer Arnhold Fellowship focused on poverty solutions and the Henry Arnhold Fellowship focused on climate solutions.{{Cite web |title=Mulago Foundation {{!}} Rainer Fellows Program |url=https://www.mulagofoundation.org/rainer-fellows-program |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=www.mulagofoundation.org}}

As of May 2024, the Mulago Foundation website listed about 80 organizations include Babban Gona, Blue Ventures, Bridges to Prosperity, Dost, Development Media International, Digital Green, Educate Girls, Food for Education, Foundation for Ecological Security, Friendship Bench, Global Forest Watch, Kheyti, Medha, Noora Health, One Acre Fund, Planet Indonesia, SaveLIFE Foundation, Ubongo Learning, Urgewald and Youth Impact.{{Cite web |title=Our Portfolio |url=https://www.mulagofoundation.org/our-portfolio |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812231720/https://www.mulagofoundation.org/our-portfolio |archive-date=2022-08-12 |access-date=2022-12-18 |website=Mulago Foundation}}

Mulago's CEO Kevin Starr is a regular contributor to the Stanford Social Innovation Review.{{Cite web |title=Kevin Starr {{!}} Bio |url=https://ssir.org/bios/kevin_starr |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=ssir.org |language=en-us}}

Charity evaluator GiveWell described the Mulago Foundation as an "impact-focused" grantmaker (alongside the Gates Foundation, Skoll Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Jasmine Social Investments, and Peery Foundation). GiveWell stated in 2011 that it would consider the list of Mulago Foundation grantees (along with those of the other impact-focused grantmakers listed above, as well as the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation) as part of its list of charities to review to see if they qualified for GiveWell's highest ratings.{{cite web|url=http://givewell.org/international/process/2011|title = 2011 international aid process review|publisher = GiveWell|accessdate = 2012-08-13}}{{cite web|url=http://blog.givewell.org/2011/02/21/givewells-plan-for-2011-specifics-of-research/|title = GiveWell's plan for 2011: specifics of research|date = February 21, 2011|accessdate = March 26, 2014|publisher = GiveWell|last = Karnofsky|first = Holden}}

The Mulago Foundation was also mentioned on the Tactical Philanthropy blog, and Kevin Starr of Mulago wrote a guest post for the blog.{{cite web|url=http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/2010/07/what-is-impact-all-about|title = What is Impact All About?|publisher = Tactical Philanthropy|date = 2010-11-12}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/2010/11/a-different-kind-of-philanthropy|title = A Different Kind of Philanthropy|publisher = Tactical Philanthropy|last = Starr|first=Kevin|date = 2010-07-27}}

Kevin Starr of Mulago wrote an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review describing Mulago's definition of impact and some of the subtleties associated with the concept.{{cite news|url=http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/the_trouble_with_impact_investing_part_1|title = The Trouble with Impact Investing|last = Starr|first = Kevin|publisher = Stanford Social Innovation Review|date = 2012-01-24}} His piece was referenced on the Acumen Fund blog.{{cite web|url = http://blog.acumenfund.org/2012/07/25/your-chance-to-shape-a-sector/|title = Your chance to shape a sector|date = 2012-01-25|last = Dichter|first = Sasha|publisher = Acumen Fund blog|access-date = 2012-08-13|archive-url = http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20120731020114/http://blog.acumenfund.org/2012/07/25/your-chance-to-shape-a-sector/|archive-date = 2012-07-31|url-status = dead}}

On March 11, 2014, Kevin Starr and Laura Hattendorf of the Mulago Foundation wrote a lengthy article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review skeptical of cash transfer charity GiveDirectly's accomplishment so far, saying that the evidence so far was underwhelming, though there might still be bigger gains a few years down the line. They contrasted GiveDirectly with other charities that they felt delivered more bang for the buck: One Acre Fund, VisionSpring, KickStart International, and Proximity Designs.{{cite news|url=http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/givedirectly_not_so_fast|title = GiveDirectly? Not So Fast. We are mistaking an important experiment for a proven solution.|last1 = Starr|first1 = Kevin|last2 = Hattendorf|first2 = Laura|publisher = Stanford Social Innovation Review|date = March 11, 2014|accessdate = March 11, 2014}} Holden Karnofsky of GiveWell wrote a lengthy response countering that GiveDirectly's impact had been more rigorously established, and that Starr and Hattendorf were using flawed metrics to judge impact.{{cite news|url=http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/big_impact_vs._big_promises|title = Big Impact vs. Big Promises|last = Karnofsky|first = Holden|date = March 20, 2014|accessdate = March 21, 2014|publisher = Stanford Social Innovation Review}} The GiveDirectly board independently published a response on the GiveDirectly blog.{{cite web|url=http://www.givedirectly.org/blog_post.php?id=7431955057156519484|title = What's the hype evidence?|publisher = GiveDirectly (blog)|date = March 17, 2014|accessdate = March 26, 2014}}

• Acumen Fund
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Good Ventures
• Jasmine Social Investments
• Omidyar Network
• Peery Foundation
• Skoll Foundation
• Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation

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• [http://www.mulagofoundation.org Mulago Foundation website]

Category:Foundations based in the United States

Category:Organizations established in 1993

Category:Organizations based in San Francisco