Save the Children USA, also known as Save the Children Federation, Inc., is a humanitarian organization that provides health and education programs to support at-risk children and their families. ¹

Save the Children USA is partnered with various businesses, nonprofit foundations, and individuals, including Amazon, Johnson and Johnson, and the World Wildlife Fund. The organization has received more than $5 million from major businesses such as BlackRock, Google, and the Walt Disney Company. It has also received funding from corporations including Apple, Microsoft, and PayPal. ²

Save the Children USA is mostly funded by private grantmaking organizations but also receives funding from government grants. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) granted Save the Children USA approximately $19.6 million in 2020 through its emergency funding for COVID-19 relief. USAID also committed just over $1.9 million to Save the Children USA in January 2021. ^{3 4}

Background

Save the Children USA is a humanitarian organization that provides health and education programs to support at-risk children and their families. The organization was founded in 1932 by a group of people who were inspired by Eglantyne Jebb launching the Save the Children Fund in London in 1919. ⁵

Save the Children’s U.S. programs began in the early 1930s amid the Great Depression. Save the Children USA provided children with essentials such as clothing, books, and shoes, while also aiding children in Europe who were displaced during World War II. Save the Children USA’s work expanded in 1950 to include farming and education programs across Europe, Lebanon, and South Korea. The organization expanded once again in 1959 to include farming and education programs across the Middle East and Asia. ⁶

Throughout the 20^th century, Save the Children USA’s programs expanded across the world to countries such as Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and the Philippines. The organization expanded its U.S.-based programs in 1997 to “provide children with caring adults and safe places for constructive play before and after school.” ⁷

Affiliated Organizations

Save the Children USA is partnered with various corporations, nonprofit foundations, and individuals. The organization’s corporate partners include Amazon; Johnson & Johnson; the IKEA Foundation, a European philanthropic trust associated with the Swedish furniture company IKEA; and the World Wildlife Fund, an international non-governmental organization that focuses on conservation and environmentalism efforts. ⁸

Save the Children USA also notes corporations that have committed $5 million or more in contributions to the organization in total. These corporations include BlackRock, the world’s largest investment management company; the Walt Disney Company; and Google, a California-based multinational technology company and a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc. ^{9 10}

Other corporations that have committed between $1 million and just under $5 million include Apple, Microsoft, and PayPal through its Charitable Giving Fund, the charitable arm of PayPal that serves as a platform for donors to contribute to charities without incurring any fees themselves or for the charities to which they donate. ^{11 12}

People

Janti Soeripto has been Save the Children USA’s president and chief executive officer since January 2020. Before joining the organization, Soeripto was the deputy CEO of Save the Children International. ¹³

Brad Irwin is the chair of the board of Save the Children USA. He is the former president and CEO of the packaged food company Welch’s, former president of Cadbury North America, and worked in marketing and general management for the multinational consumer goods corporation Proctor and Gamble from 1980 until he joined Cadbury in 2000. Irwin has also been a board member of the consumer goods company Church and Dwight since 2006, sitting on its Audit, Governance, and Compensation Committees, and became its lead director in 2019. ¹⁴

Irwin joined Save the Children USA’s board of trustees in 2003, re-joined the board in 2011, and joined the Save the Children International board in 2018. ¹⁵

Controversy

Save the Children USA fell for a $1 million cyber scam in 2017. The organization said that hackers broke into a worker’s email and created false invoices and documents while pretending to be the employee. According to the Boston Globe, the organization sent nearly $1 million to a “fraudulent entity in Japan” after the hackers claimed the money would be used to “purchase solar panels for health centers” in Pakistan. ¹⁶

Financials

Save the Children USA receives most of its revenue in the form of contributions, gifts, and grants. The organization’s total revenue in 2022 was just over $1.06 billion, 99 percent of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants. The organization also received just over $9 million in investment income and just over $1 million from program services. The organization’s net assets amounted to around $335 million in 2022. ¹⁷

The organization’s expenses amounted to just under $1.06 billion in 2022; just over $9.6 million went to fundraising fees, while executive compensation amounted to slightly more than $7.8 million, and just over $96.7 million was spent on other salaries and wages. Save the Children USA’s president and chief executive officer Janti Soeripto received $529,868 in executive compensation in 2022. ¹⁸

Funding

Save the Children USA receives nearly all its revenue in the form of contributions, gifts, and grants from various organizations. ¹⁹

Open Society Foundations (OSF; formally the Open Society Institute) is a private grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros. OSF granted Save the Children USA $651,000 in 2016 as part of its “early childhood program.” ²⁰

The Ford Foundation is one of the largest foundations in the United States and has given a great deal of money to left-wing and center-left organizations since its founding. The foundation granted a total of $7,608,346 to Save the Children USA between February 2008 and October 2023. ²¹

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a left-of-center grantmaking foundation that supports environmental causes, population control programs, and three programs created by David Packard: the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Packard Fellowships in Science and Engineering. The foundation granted Save the Children USA $200,000 in 2019 to “promote high-quality early childhood education as a top-tier national issue in the upcoming election.” ²²

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Gates Foundation) was formed in 2000 by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his then-wife, Melinda. The foundation has granted Save the Children USA a total of $264,585,296 between October 1998 and January 2024. The largest single grant made by the foundation amounted to $75,832,907 in October 2005. ²³

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation headquartered in New York City named for famed industrialist and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon. The foundation granted Save the Children USA a total of $1,220,000 between 1997 and 2002. ²⁴

The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a left-of-center grantmaking organization founded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1911. The organization gave Save the Children USA $100,000 in May 2005 for “tsunami disaster response.” ²⁵

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation was created by Hilton Hotels founder Conrad N. Hilton and greatly expanded by Hilton’s son, Barron Hilton. The foundation has granted Save the Children USA a total of $9,879,000 between 2009 and 2022. ²⁶

Save the Children USA has also been funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a government agency that supports international development through the provision of foreign aid. USAID granted Save the Children USA approximately $19.6 million in 2020 via its emergency funding for COVID-19 relief. USAID also committed just over $1.9 million to Save the Children USA in January 2021. ^{27 28}

Save the Children USA also received a grant of $2 million from the California Department of Education for fiscal year 2021 to 2022 for “after school education and safety.” ²⁹

1. “The History of Save the Children.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/why-save-the-children/history.
2. “Our Partners.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/become-a-partner/corporations/featured-partners.
3. “USAID top 10 grantees in 2020: Who received COVID-19 funding?.” Devex. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.devex.com/news/usaid-top-10-grantees-in-2020-who-received-covid-19-funding-100189.
4. “Contract to Save the Children Federation.” USA Spending. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_72066320C00003_7200_-NONE-_-NONE-.
5. “The History of Save the Children.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/why-save-the-children/history
6. “The History of Save the Children.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/why-save-the-children/history.
7. “The History of Save the Children.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/why-save-the-children/history.
8. “Our Partners.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/become-a-partner/corporations/featured-partners.
9. “Our Partners.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/become-a-partner/corporations/featured-partners.
10. Ahmed, Saqib Iqbal. “BlackRock profit beats estimates as assets top $7 trillion.” Reuters. January 15, 2020. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-blackrock-results/blackrock-profit-beats-estimates-as-assets-top-7-trillion-idUSKBN1ZE1E4/.
11. ^[1] “Our Partners.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/become-a-partner/corporations/featured-partners.
12. “$1+Million: Corporate Partners.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/become-a-partner/corporations/1-to-5-million-lifetime-giving.
13. “Janti Soeripto.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/leadership-and-trustees/janti-soeripto.
14. “Brad Irwin.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/leadership-and-trustees/brad-irwin.
15.  “Brad Irwin.” Save the Children. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/about-us/leadership-and-trustees/brad-irwin.
16. Globe, The Boston. “Hackers fooled Save the Children into sending $1 million to a phony account.” The Boston Globe. December 13, 2018. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/12/12/hackers-fooled-save-children-into-sending-million-phony-account/KPnRi8xIbPGuhGZaFmlhRP/story.html.
17. “Save The Children Federation Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60726487.
18. “Save The Children Federation Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60726487.
19. “Save The Children Federation Inc – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/60726487.
20. “Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?grant_id=OR2015-25584.
21. Grants Database.” Ford Foundation. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/?search=save+the+children+federation.
22. “Save the Children Federation • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.” Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.packard.org/grantee/save-the-children-federation/.
23. “Committed Grants.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=save%20the%20children%20federation.
24. “Mellon Foundation.” Mellon Foundation. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.mellon.org/grant-database/Save%20the%20Children%20Federation,%20Inc.
25. “Grants Database.” Carnegie Corporation of New York. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.carnegie.org/grants/grants-database/?q=save%20the%20children%20federation&per_page=25.
26. ^[1] “Grants.” Hilton Foundation. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.hiltonfoundation.org/grants?search=save%20the%20children
27. ^[1] “USAID top 10 grantees in 2020: Who received COVID-19 funding?.” Devex. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.devex.com/news/usaid-top-10-grantees-in-2020-who-received-covid-19-funding-100189.
28. “Contract to Save the Children Federation.” USA Spending. Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_72066320C00003_7200_-NONE-_-NONE-.
29. “Funding Results: After School Education and Safety Rural Grant for Save the Children (CA Dept of Education).” Accessed April 1, 2024. https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r27/savechild21results.asp.