The CGD Podcast – Philanthropy's Evolving Role in Global Development with Katrina Sill

Date: November 13, 2025
Host: Erin Collinson (Center for Global Development)
Guest: Katrina Sill (Global Health & Development Lead, Founders Pledge)

Episode Overview

This episode examines how philanthropy is adapting and accelerating its role in global development, especially in light of shrinking public aid budgets, new funding approaches, and shifting global priorities. Erin Collinson speaks with Katrina Sill of Founders Pledge about their new Catalytic Impact Fund, the nuts and bolts of high-impact philanthropic funding, risks and opportunities in neglected areas, and strategies for maximizing systemic, transformative impact.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Founders Pledge: Mission & Approach

(01:51 – 03:11)

• Founders Pledge’s Mission: Facilitate high-impact giving by connecting entrepreneurs to effective causes through rigorous research on pressing global problems.
  • “[We] research the world’s most pressing problems so we can empower donors to do immense good with their giving.” — Katrina Sill, (01:54)
• Membership Scale: Over 2,000 members—mostly startup founders—have pledged more than $11.5 billion; $1.5 billion already donated.
• Catalytic Impact Fund: Aims to pool donations to support transformative initiatives in global health and development, especially for donors unsure where to start or interested in “building for a transformed future.”

2. Responding to Aid Cuts: Rapid Response Fund

(03:49 – 09:08)

• Trigger Event: Major government aid reductions (notably from the US and European governments) left crucial development programs in limbo, making funding crises very real for people on the ground.
  • “This wasn't just a line on a budget. It's really life or death for many vulnerable populations.” — Katrina Sill, (04:37)
• Personal Anecdote: Katrina describes being approached in a Tanzanian market by a woman worried about access to HIV medication, highlighting the tangible effects of funding gaps.
• Immediate Response: Launched the Rapid Response Fund in collaboration with organizations like The Life You Can Save and Project Resource Optimization (PRO), raising over $13 million in 6 months, projected to save 4,000+ children’s lives.
• Strategic Shift: Beyond emergency aid, Founders Pledge focuses on building resilient systems to prevent future crises (Catalytic Impact Fund).
• Systemic Grant Example: A bridge grant to the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) helped 10 Sub-Saharan African governments adjust to 10% Ministry of Health budget cuts.

3. Catalytic Impact Fund: Objectives & Strategy

(10:24 – 11:38)

• Prevention vs. Treatment Mindset: Targeting high-leverage, timely interventions that can trigger systemic change instead of only providing temporary relief.

  • “We're investing… with the goal of transforming the future of global health and development.” — Katrina Sill, (10:41)

• Fund Approach:

  • Proactively scours the landscape for neglected, high-potential opportunities, unconstrained by geography, sector, or intervention type.
  • Focuses on “expected value” — weighing projected long-term benefits vs. uncertainty.

• Grantmaking Details:

  • Flexibility in regions and sectors, but most grants go to low- and middle-income countries due to greater marginal impact.
  • Average grant: historically $100,000–$300,000; growing to $1–3 million.
  • Flexible timeframes, determined by a cost-effectiveness modeling approach.

4. Risk Appetite & Evidence

(15:16 – 18:14)

• Risk Neutrality: Willing to fund both high-risk, transformative bets and more established, evidence-backed interventions.
  • “Many of the highest potential opportunities for impact may be neglected…because they are uncertain.” — Katrina Sill, (15:57)
• Recognizes a pitfall in “evidence bias” (funding only what’s easiest to measure), advocating for a balance that allows innovation and advocacy work, even if results are less certain or harder to quantify.

5. What Excites About This Approach?

(18:58 – 20:26)

• The challenge of reduced aid is also an opportunity to rethink philanthropy’s function—moving from incremental tweaks to “truly game changing” solutions.
  • “We're asking ourselves: which of these would truly change the future? Which of these are game changy?” — Katrina Sill, (19:46)

6. Defining and Measuring Success

(20:41 – 27:18)

• Counterfactual Impact: Focuses on what would have happened without their intervention, seeking to demonstrate true additionality.

• Key Levers for Impact:

  1. Improving/Transforming Systems: E.g., helping governments optimize health budgets, with potential for long-term, large-scale benefits.
  2. Accelerating Progress/Removing Bottlenecks: Grants to address systemic barriers, e.g., to tackling antimicrobial resistance.
     • “Success would be identifying even one idea that could accelerate access to even one drug. And we estimate that would save thousands of lives per year.” — Katrina Sill, (24:57)
  3. Proofs of Concept: Early funding for innovative organizations, e.g., the Lead Exposure Elimination Project, that later achieve scale.

• Ambitious Cost-Effectiveness Target: Projects must be at least 15 times more cost-effective than cash transfers.

7. Accountability & Learning in Philanthropy

(27:18 – 31:10)

• Philanthropy lacks built-in accountability mechanisms compared to public aid.
• Transparent, Bidirectional Learning: Funders should support implementers in honest reporting—including pivots—and openly communicate grant criteria and outcomes. Funders should also track, learn, and iterate based on what works.
  • “Transparency needs to go both directions and… we are reflecting backwards on which of our projections for how grants would go came forward.” — Katrina Sill, (29:25)
• The Founders Pledge team now tracks researchers' forecasting accuracy and aims to integrate learning into future grantmaking.

8. Future of Philanthropy Amid Declining Aid

(31:10 – 33:03)

• Uncomfortable Truth: Philanthropy cannot fully replace public aid at scale, so it must concentrate on high-impact niches—especially proof-of-concept and high-risk ventures that governments avoid.
  • “Where do we have comparative advantage to make the most impact in this landscape?” — Katrina Sill, (31:47)
• Opportunity for philanthropy to seed projects that later attract public or private sector scaling.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This wasn't just a line on a budget. It's really life or death for many vulnerable populations.”
  — Katrina Sill, (04:37)

• “A unique situation where you could save a life for less than $1,000, which is wild when you think about it.”
  — Katrina Sill, (07:55)

• “We're asking ourselves like, okay, which of these would truly change the future? Which of these are game changy?”
  — Katrina Sill, (19:46)

• “Success would look like… empowers governments to build their in-house capacity to analyze their own budgets and implement the improvements, to focus resources on the most effective programs…”
  — Katrina Sill, (22:37)

Lightning Round—Personal Reflections and Policy Wishes

Magic Wand Policy for Maximum Good

(33:37 – 34:26)

• Would end factory farming, citing animal suffering and advantages for human health (lower pandemic risk, less antibiotic overuse).

  • “Despite working in global health and development, I would actually… say the lowest hanging fruit here would probably be ending factory farming.” — Katrina Sill, (33:39)

Humility and Learning from Failure

(34:31 – 36:47)

• Recalls a failed improved cookstove project in Tanzania (2015): farmers disinterested in cookstoves; success later came from pivoting to avocado seedlings, which proved both popular and effective.
  • “Attachment to ideas can actually prevent much bigger impact. It can be really challenging to let go of an initial idea. Pulling the plug on that is what allows you to find a good one.” — Katrina Sill, (36:30)

Where to Learn More

• Founders Pledge’s Global Health and Development Team & Catalytic Impact Fund:
  • Regular updates and annual reports at: founderspledge.com (search for “Catalytic Impact Fund”)
  • Not currently soliciting new funding proposals, but may reopen in 2026.

Summary Takeaways

• Founders Pledge exemplifies how philanthropic capital is stepping up amid aid cuts—not just plugging holes, but seeking long-term, leveraged, systemic change.
• The Catalytic Impact Fund is built around flexibility, calculated risk-taking, and rigorous evaluation, aiming to back both proven and speculative interventions.
• Philanthropy’s unique value: fast, bold, and risky bets—seeding transformative change that can later draw in bigger institutional support.
• Transparency, humility, learning from failure, and open communication between funders and grantees are seen as essential for meaningful, lasting impact.