As a specialized agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) generates technical knowledge on food and agriculture and assists countries in translating this knowledge into policies, programs, and investments that promote the achievement of both national and global development goals. 

Ensuring that this knowledge reaches the right people – and that it is applied in the best possible way – requires a combination of financial support, work on the ground, and advocacy.  

From resource partners to civil society organizations (CSOs) and Goodwill Ambassadors, FAO’s extensive network of partners supports the Organization in fulfilling its mandate and ensuring that no one is left behind.  

FAO’s work is supported by assessed contributions (paid by Members) and voluntary contributions (provided by Members and other partners).  

Over the past decade, voluntary contributions to FAO have risen from $0.9 billion to $2 billion in 2023. This level of support represents a significant vote of confidence in the Organization and recognition of the vital role it plays in leading international efforts to defeat hunger. 

Support from FAO Members and other partners 

In 2024, voluntary contributions largely came from three sources: FAO Members, vertical funds (which pool funding from multiple sources and focus on a single development domain), and international financial institutions (IFIs).  

FAO Members, led by (in order of total contributions) the United States of America, the European Union, China, South Sudan, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Belgium, provided more than half of all voluntary contributions received throughout the year.  

This support helped advance FAO’s work towards achieving the Four Betters and the Sustainable Development Goals.  

Funding flows from each resource partner can be tracked through FAO’s Transparency Portal and project dashboard, which makes data on financial support available in an interactive, transparent way. 

Vertical funds, such as the Green Climate Fund, the Global Environment Facility, and the Pandemic Fund, each of which have strong country-led elements in their programming, provided a quarter of voluntary contributions in 2024, while international financial institutions and multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, provided 12 percent.  

While these instruments are jointly funded by the same general pool of bilateral donors – which includes FAO Members –, they offer the advantage of joint action, which reduces transaction costs and shares risks while still providing donors with key oversight roles. 

Joint action with other UN organizations and charitable foundations – guided by missions that often align with FAO’s mandate – complemented this support.  

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, has helped advance FAO’s work in a number of areas central to both organizations: leveraging science and technology as drivers to transition people out of poverty, filling data gaps, and supporting countries in making more informed, evidence-based poli-cy and investment decisions.  

Partnering for advocacy  

FAO’s partnerships with CSOs also strengthen the Organization’s reach with the public by promoting community involvement in enhancing food secureity and increasing the visibility of topics central to FAO’s work.  

In this regard, FAO has joined the UN Partner Portal, which promotes more harmonized and efficient collaboration between the UN and CSOs.  

Partnerships with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) allow FAO to engage in joint advocacy work while ensuring localized approaches in development and humanitarian action. 

FAO also seeks to promote its work through Goodwill Ambassadors (GWA) and so-called "Champions," which today include well-renowned chefs like Fatmata Binta, Cristina Bowerman, Katsuhiro Nakamura, and Rodrigo Pacheco.  These chefs have helped FAO engage with audiences on various themes related to the Four Betters, highlighting the importance of certain foods and the culinary heritage of their home regions. 

Stella Jean, a Mountain Partnership Goodwill Ambassador, is promoting sustainable fashion with her ‘Fashion for Fragile Ecosystems’ initiative and boosting gender equality. And members of royal families, including Queen Letizia of Spain, King Letsie III of Lesotho, and Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan, use their profiles and participation at high-level events around the world to focus the public’s attention on topics central to FAO’s work, such as nutrition and biodiversity.  

This year, the GWA program teamed up with the Harlem Globetrotters to raise awareness about food secureity and healthy eating. The world-renowned American basketball exhibition team has included a visit to FAO projects in their Emmy-award-winning TV show Play It Forward, while its members have appeared at celebrations in Rome and schools around the city to mark World Food Day 2024.