For Immediate Release Contact: Nasserie Carew

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Tawana Jacobs
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InterAction Receives Grant From Gates Foundation

to Build Case for More and Better Aid to the World’s Poorest

Three-Year Grant to Help Largest Coalition of Humanitarian Groups Strengthen its

Efforts to Promote Effective Aid Programs

Washington, D. C. – InterAction, the largest and leading coalition of humanitarian and

development organizations, received US $7.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation to support InterAction’s work to advance poverty alleviation and
humanitarian relief as major U.S. foreign aid priorities.

The American public expresses its support for advancing basic human dignity in the
world through contributions to InterAction members totaling over $7 billion annually.
Working with its 165 members and partners, this grant will enable InterAction to
strengthen its work in support of a renewed focus on the effectiveness of “people-
centered” aid and development policies that will help break the cycle of poverty.

“This is an important moment for InterAction,” stated InterAction President and CEO,
Sam Worthington. “This Gates foundation grant will help us improve the effectiveness of
InterAction and its 165 member organizations to promote intelligent aid programs for
people most in need around the globe.”

The grant will be used to enhance InterAction’s engagement and coordination with its
members, to increase the number of members, to improve communications with key
constituencies, and to offer research and other important input to policymakers in the
U.S. and abroad.

“As the leading coalition of U.S.-based non governmental organizations working on

development, InterAction has unique potential to build a powerful coalition of action that
can help make real, sustainable improvements to the lives of the poor all over the world,”
said Mark Suzman, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the Gates Foundation’s Global
Development Program.

For almost 25 years, InterAction has played the central role in advancing development
and humanitarian issues within U.S. foreign policy. The grant will help build the
collective voice in support of programs to end world hunger and extreme poverty.

“A stronger InterAction will have a greater capacity to take coordinated action to

magnify the voices of a growing, committed constituency, for the most effective use of
foreign aid dollars,” said Worthington.

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About InterAction
InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and
humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. With more than 165 members operating in
every developing country, we work to overcome poverty, exclusion and suffering by
advancing social justice and basic dignity for all.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses
on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger
and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially
those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in
school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-
chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren
Buffet