Post-USAID Philanthropy Watch: New Fund Will Be “R&D Engine for Development”

Inside Philanthropy's Connie Matthiessen reports the DIV Fund. Excerpts include:

The DIV Fund "was created by members of Development Innovation Ventures’ former leadership team and has raised around $45 million in total funding, including anchor funding from Coefficient Giving as well as backing from other donors.

Sasha Gallant, who was Development Innovation Ventures’ managing director under USAID, cofounded the DIV Fund and is now its CEO. “The DIV Fund’s goal is to make sure not just that we’re funding what we know works the most effectively today, but that we keep finding new ideas, we pressure test them, and we find increasingly cost-effective ways to move the needle on development solutions,” she said..."

"The decision to back the DIV Fund wasn’t a hard one for Coefficient Giving, which already had a relationship with the DIV team when it was still part of USAID..."

"Otis Reid, Coefficient Giving’s executive director for global health and wellbeing, described the DIV Fund as a “discovery engine with an incredibly strong team. Their work has really paid off for the whole field...”"

"Reid said he is encouraging other funders to join Coefficient in backing the fund. “This is a real opportunity for other funders to join in,” he said. “The idea here is to try to set up the field for the next decade to come. I think the pendulum swings back and forth on the total levels of aid, and how much of an investment we’re making in the world. When the pendulum swings back, we’re going to want to have a bunch of programs that are worthy of scaling up that I think DIV is going to help provide.”"

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