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Project Resource Optimization
Helping donors identify urgent, high-impact funding opportunities that need immediate support to sustain life-saving work.
Project Resource Optimization (PRO), an initiative of the DIV Fund, uses rigorous analysis, deep expertise and robust networks to help philanthropists identify and fund high-impact programs that need urgent support to sustain life-saving work.
PRO applies a transparent, evidence-informed approach to identifying funding opportunities, and publishes these opportunities on its Urgent & Vetted database. In addition to a program's cost-effectiveness, the team considers factors such as urgency of need, the likelihood that a service would be delivered in the absence of a given program, and the political economy and broader enabling environment.
PRO complements the DIV Fund's dedication to driving more cost-effective global development programming at scale and optimizing available budgets in the global health and humanitarian sectors. Where the DIV Fund is testing and scaling tomorrow's most promising innovations, PRO helps donors direct resources toward proven models that are operating at scale, and can save lives today.
Since its launch in 2025, PRO has unlocked:
in funding
high impact, urgently needed projects
People in 37 countries to receive services including treatment of malnutrition, immunizations, access to clean water, and mass drug administration for neglected tropical diseases.
Urgent & Vetted Projects
Below is PRO's list of recommended projects. The first list includes newly vetted projects that have not yet received funding. The second list highlights PRO's recommended "best bets," which are projects that have received some funding already, but still have significant room to absorb more, and are estimated to deliver the highest impact per dollar by the PRO team.
Learn More
Visit the PRO website to explore current Urgent & Vetted projects, learn more about the methodology, and get in touch with the team.
FAQs
To learn more about Project Resource Optimization, visit proimpact.tools, or take a look at some frequently asked questions, below.
Working initially from the list of programs that USAID had funded until it was dismantled in 2025, PRO uses cost effectiveness (i.e., outcomes per dollar spent) as its primary selection metric. It also weighs factors such as whether the program faces a real funding gap that a private donor can fill; the urgency of need; a program’s ability to transition to a longer-term funder; and the likelihood that a service would be delivered in the absence of this particular program.
PRO analyzes the specific service and its programmatic design, its cost efficiency, and the location and context in which it is being delivered. PRO only selects projects that use highly validated interventions, which are strongly informed by the Johns Hopkins Lives Saved Tool.
Read more about PRO’s approach to generate its Urgent and Vetted list of projects recommended for funding based on these criteria.
PRO’s Urgent and Vetted list is compiled following a different search process than the DIV Fund. With the termination of USAID-funded work in early 2025, thousands of life-saving aid programs lost tens of billions of dollars in funding. PRO identifies and shares a living database of high-impact, cost-effective, mid-implementation aid projects whose impact could be sustained by targeted philanthropic support.
Drawing on publicly available information, the PRO database and approach are public goods that donors can use to inform their funding decisions.
Learn more about PRO’s approach.
Donors considering funding a project from PRO’s database can contact us at info@proimpact.tools to learn more. The team is happy to share details of any vetted project, and is also available to provide pro bono advice to help donors maximize the impact of their giving.
We welcome donations of any size. Donations made directly to PRO are pooled into grants to vetted projects.
The DIV Fund advances evidence-driven innovation in global development by identifying, testing, and scaling solutions with the potential to improve millions of lives. Complementing this work, Project Resource Optimization (PRO), an initiative of The DIV Fund, helps donors identify and fund urgent, rigorously assessed funding opportunities that can sustain life-saving work today.
PRO is housed at the DIV Fund. It was founded and is led by a dedicated team of experts in economics, development and humanitarian work.
Read more about DIV Fund’s approach.
Read more about PRO’s approach.