Development Co‑operation Profiles: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
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The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is a United States-based foundation established in 2000 by Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel, and his wife, Betty I. Moore.
Driven by the founders’ vision, this foundation aims to create positive outcomes for future generations through scientific discovery, environmental conservation and patient care. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation focuses on both local and international causes. Development-related grantmaking is primarily administered through its Environmental Conservation Program.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation provided USD 79.4 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents an increase of 4.6% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s gross disbursements.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation provided all of its development finance bilaterally in 2024.
In 2024, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (USD 76.3 million) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 3.1 million).
In 2024, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 76.3 million of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 28.3% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, 96.1% of total bilateral development finance was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2023 to 2024, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs increased as a share of bilateral philanthropic development finance, from 90.7% to 96.1%.
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.
In 2024, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 36.7 million was allocated to Latin America and the Caribbean and USD 3.1 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 46.2% and 3.9% of gross bilateral development finance. A sum of USD 39.5 million (49.7%) was unallocated by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants.
In 2024, 38.4% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Brazil (17.4%) and Peru (11.2%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 100 thousand (0.2%) of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2024. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation allocated the highest share (38%) of its bilateral development finance to upper middle-income countries in 2024, followed by lower middle-income countries (0.7%), noting that USD 48.6 million (61.1%) was unallocated by income group.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 600 thousand in 2024, representing 0.8% of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s bilateral development finance.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (49.6% of bilateral contributions) by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation went to production sectors, with a strong focus on support to agriculture, forestry and fishing (USD 32.9 million). The second largest sector was multi-sector (USD 32.8 million), focusing on general environment protection (USD 32.6 million). This was followed by economic infrastructure and services (USD 3.4 million).
In 2023-2024, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation committed 99.9% of its total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 73.9 million) in support of the environment, up from 93.2% in 2021-2022. The private philanthropic average was 12.4%. In addition:
47% of total bilateral allocable contributions (USD 34.8 million) focused on climate change overall (the private philanthropic average was 12.9%), up from 30.1% in 2021-2022. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation had a greater focus on adaptation (47%) than on mitigation (0%) in 2023-2024.
99.9% of screened bilateral allocable contributions (USD 73.9 million) focused on biodiversity overall (the private philanthropic average was 4.3%), up from 92.2% in 2021-2022.
Learn more about the DAC Declaration on Aligning Development Co-operation with the Goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
In 2024, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 15 (life on land), SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: https://www.moore.org.
The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, channels of delivery, bilateral unspecified/unallocated/allocable development finance, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.
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