Brink x WWHGE
Brink Foundation
In global grantmaking, the biggest decisions about funding are often made by a privileged few, far removed from the communities they aim to support. At Brink Foundation, we believe that how funding is designed, where it flows, and what scales matters. Our mission is to create fairer, more equitable funding systems so that innovation and impact don’t get lost in bureaucracy. By being both a grant recipient and a grant-maker, we design funding that supports learning, adaptation, and real-world outcomes.
We don’t just fund projects; we coach, support, and partner with grantees. As a grantmaker we focus on:
Reducing red tape and compliance burdens
Building high-trust, collaborative relationships
Offering critical friendship and support instead of rigid monitoring
Giving grantees the freedom to learn, adapt, and scale
Our philosophy is that grantmaking must focus on relationships, trust, and context, not just capital. Funders set the destination but trust grantees to navigate the journey, intermediaries act as coaches rather than managers, and grantees become strategic collaborators, empowered to pivot and solve challenges locally.
By combining funding with guidance and partnership, we aim to unlock more impact, faster, and create a model for grantmaking that is equitable, innovative, and transformative.
What Works Hub for Global Education (WWGHE)
The What Works Hub for Global Education is tackling one of the world’s most urgent challenges: ensuring that every child learns. Building on years of research into what works in education, the Hub focuses on the next frontier—turning proven, evidence-based ideas into action at scale.
Led by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, this multi-year initiative brings together governments, academics, grassroots organisations, and global partners. With two-thirds of its partners based in low- and middle-income countries, the Hub uniquely combines world-class research with real-time reform. The Hub’s sweet spot is the intersection of rigour meeting practice, yielding reliable and real-world impact.
Working across 11 countries and counting in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the Hub is directly impacting up to 3 million children and influencing the education of 17 million more. Its mission is simple but bold: to increase literacy, numeracy, and other foundational skills so that all children have the opportunity to thrive.
Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In low- and middle-income countries, it focuses on improving health and reducing poverty. In the United States, it works to ensure that all people, especially those with the fewest resources, have access to opportunities to succeed in school and beyond. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman under the leadership of Bill Gates and the board of trustees.