Global Giving

Worldwide, billions of people live in poverty and lack basic human rights and equal access to opportunity. Challenges facing the world are complex, including:  gender inequality; unemployment; global health disparities; vulnerability to natural disasters and climate change; increasing conflict; and growing intolerance and discrimination. We are urgently in need of a path toward more sustainable development that benefits all people.

There are a number of ways to get involved with global philanthropy locally, including through Seattle International Foundation (SIF), a supporting organization of Seattle Foundation, which works with locally based organizations around the world. We also support many Seattle-based organizations focused on specific areas of global need.

Learn more about the Global Giving (pdf) element.

CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL GIVING FUND

Promoting health

Many living in poverty worldwide lack access to some of the most basic human rights, such as lifesaving medicine, clean water and sustainable sources of food. We approach this issue with a strategy of promoting health and well-being around the world, through both direct and systems-level approaches that allow all people to lead healthy, productive lives. 

Strategy Approaches:

  1. Ensure access to clean water, as well as adequate and equitable sanitation systems and hygiene, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls
  2. Address hunger and malnutrition by providing access to healthy, sustainable foods with a focus on infants, children  and mothers
  3. Support disease prevention and increase access to treatment by supporting research, development and distribution of vaccines and essential medicines
  4. Improve access to healthcare overall, by increasing access to lifesaving medicines, treatments and preventative medicine, as well as training healthcare workers

Empowering women and girls

We know women and girls face enormous obstacles worldwide and are disproportionately affected by poverty. To help, we are guided by a strategy of empowering women and girls through direct support and advocacy efforts promoting gender equality, giving agency and equal opportunity to women and girls, who shoulder a disproportionate burden of global poverty.

Strategy Approaches:

  1. Support the economic empowerment of women and girls, by strengthening women’s legal rights, expanding employment opportunities, fostering entrepreneurship and improving access to financial support and loans
  2. Increase women and girls’ access to comprehensive and quality healthcare, through ensuring universal access to reproductive health and rights, as well as investing in programs that support maternal-child health (including mental health) and address violence against women in     all forms
  3. Ensure equal access to education, including early childhood through post-secondary, as well as technical and vocational training
  4. Promote efforts focused on shifting gender norms in order to advance gender equality
  5. Support efforts that amplify women’s voices and increase their participation as leaders in society, at all levels

Disaster relief

We are guided by a strategy of actively and thoughtfully responding to natural disasters and world crises with our organizational and philanthropic partners to ensure effective grantmaking when these funds are needed most.

Strategy Approaches

  1. Immediate (Triage/Response): Focus on coordinating urgent responses including safety, food, temporary shelter, clean water, and emergency medical attention
  2.  Intermediate (Stabilization/Recovery): Focus on access to food and water, longer-term shelter, sanitation, health care, electricity and other utilities, and more long-term medical attention
  3.  Long Term (Rebuilding): Rebuild schools, hospitals, and communities
  4.  Preparedness and Mitigation: Develop and enhance national systems for warning and prediction of disasters

Driving change in Central America

We leverage our partner Seattle International Foundation’s long history in the region, supporting local leaders to drive change in Central America through leadership development, research, policy reform and good governance.

Strategy Approaches:

  1.  Provide leadership development training and resources for young, upcoming and promising individuals with a background in and/or commitment to social change
  2. Support high-quality research that advances advocacy and policy reform, informs and influences the philanthropic sector, and equips practitioners with relevant and timely information that can guide their work on the most pressing issues facing the region
  3. Focus on good governance and public policy reforms that promote long-lasting, systems changes that improve the lives of entire countries.

You can increase your impact by donating to our Global Giving Fund and connecting with one of our philanthropic advisors to meet your giving goals.

Resources