Congrats to Sasha Gallant, Michael Kremer, @otisreid.bsky.social, and everyone who made this possible.

And thank you to @APnews.com for covering the launch: apnews.com/article/div...

But while philanthropy can supplement government development aid, it can't replace it. Gov development aid is ~$200B/year globally; philanthropic is ~$12B.

What the DIV Fund *can* do is help every dollar — public or private — go further by identifying some effective solutions.

Now, as an independent nonprofit, the DIV Fund can keep doing this work — and in some ways do it better. Philanthropic funding means more flexibility, faster decisions, and the freedom to take riskier bets on unconventional ideas.

Example: DIV funded Evidence Action to expand the use of chlorine dispensers at community water sources from a pilot to broad implementation. That catalytic bet built evidence that brought in governments + other funders. Today, those dispensers save thousands of lives every year.

For over a decade, DIV operated inside USAID as a discovery engine: finding low-cost, high-impact interventions, funding rigorous testing, and building the evidence base that convinced governments and other funders to scale them up.

New paper: www.thelancet.com/journals/la...
Background on the rescue funding: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/18/...

And here's a talk from Beren on related topics: post-agi.org/talks/milli...