Foundations Step In to Fill Gap in Ebola Fundraising

Money from private philanthropies, notably those associated with billionaire technology moguls, has become critically important to assisting aid workers on the front lines of the Ebola battle in West Africa, writes The Washington Post. About half of the $348-million in Ebola giving to date has come from Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

Much of the private money has been channeled through the CDC Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that has been able to deploy donated funds more quickly and flexibly than direct government aid, which must work through the politically charged appropriations process and a sometimes sluggish bureaucracy. The federal government has contributed or committed $423-million to the Ebola fight, according to the United Nations.