Development Co‑operation Profiles: UBS Optimus Foundation
Table of contents
UBS Optimus Foundation is a private foundation established in 1999 and based in Switzerland.
It has strategic focus areas in education, health, climate, and the environment. Across these areas, it supports development and emergency response. These programs are selected for their potential to be transformative, scalable, and sustainable.
This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocations. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.
UBS Optimus Foundation provided USD 195.3 million for development in 2024 through its cross-border funding. Compared to 2023, this amount represents an increase of 19.9% in real terms. Grants represented 97.1% of UBS Optimus Foundation’s gross disbursements, while the remainder was extended in the form of loans (0.6%) and equities (2.3%).
UBS Optimus Foundation provided all of its development finance bilaterally in 2024.
In 2024, UBS Optimus Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 44.2 million was allocated to Africa and USD 27.1 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting respectively for 22.6% and 13.9% of gross bilateral development finance. A total of USD 100.9 million (51.7%) was unallocated by region, mainly including multi-regional programmes and research grants. Of this amount, USD 600 thousand was provided in support of refugees and asylum-seekers in donor countries.
In 2024, 27.5% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably Ukraine (4.8%), China (People’s Republic of) (4.5%), and West Bank and Gaza Strip (3.8%).
Least developed countries (LDCs) received USD 32.9 million (16.9%) of UBS Optimus Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2024. UBS Optimus Foundation allocated the highest share (16.9%) of its bilateral development finance to LDCs in 2024, followed by lower middle-income countries (15%), noting that USD 106.2 million (54.4%) was unallocated by income group.
UBS Optimus Foundation allocated USD 22.2 million of its development finance to land-locked developing countries in 2024, and USD 100 thousand to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2024. The main SIDS recipients are Maldives, Comoros and Mauritius.
In 2024, UBS Optimus Foundation provided USD 9.3 million of gross development finance to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a 14.9% decrease from 2023 in real terms. Moreover, USD 1.5 million was granted in support of Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers in neighbouring countries. USD 9.1 million of the amount was humanitarian assistance in 2024, a 18.9% decrease in real terms from 2023.
Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 44.9 million in 2024, representing 23% of UBS Optimus Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extremely fragility received a sum of USD 3.4 million.
Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.
In 2024, the largest allocations (41.5% of bilateral contributions) by UBS Optimus Foundation went to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on support to health and population (USD 50.1 million). The second largest allocation was multi-sector (USD 97.8 million), followed by humanitarian assistance (USD 28.7 million).
In the period 2023-2024, UBS Optimus Foundation committed 9.9% of screened bilateral allocable development finance to gender equality and women’s empowerment, compared to 4.6% in 2021-2022 and a private philanthropic average of 33.2% in 2023-2024. This is equal to USD 19.9 million of screened bilateral allocable contributions in support of gender equality on average per year. In addition:
The share of screened bilateral allocable contributions committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment as a principal objective was 2.8% in 2023-2024, compared with the private philanthropic average of 11.9%.
UBS Optimus Foundation includes gender equality objectives in 0.7% of contributions for humanitarian aid, below the 2023-2024 private philanthropic average of 11.5%.
UBS Optimus Foundation screens all bilateral allocable contributions activities against the DAC gender equality policy marker (100% in 2023-2024).
Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of All Women and Girls in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance and the DAC Recommendation on Ending Sexual Exploitation in Development Co-operation.
In 2024, UBS Optimus Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals), SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 4 (quality education) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.
Official website: www.ubs.com/global/en/ubs-society/philanthropy/optimus-foundation.html.
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.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
© OECD 2026
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Attribution – you must cite the work.
Translations – you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text: In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and the translation, only the text of original work should be considered valid.
Adaptations – you must cite the original work and add the following text: This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed in this adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.
Third-party material – the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and for any claims of infringement.
You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.
Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shall be Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one.
