How to pledge

• For pledges to the Investment Round to be eligible, they must be directed to the base budget for the period 2025–2028 (or part thereof).
   
• The base budget represents the core mandate of WHO, constituting the largest part of the approved programme budget in terms of strategic priority-setting, detail, and budget figures. This is the segment in which Member States set the priorities: the base budget is approved by the Health Assembly only after extensive Member State consultations. WHO has exclusive strategic and operational control over the scale of activities in the base segment and over the choice of the means, location, and timing of their implementation.
   
• Accordingly, pledges made towards polio eradication, emergency operations and appeals and special programmes do not contribute to the IR funding requirement.

WHO welcomes pledges from Member States and from other global health partners (i.e. multilateral, philanthropic, private sector) in line with the Framework for Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA).

Investment Round pledges are voluntary contributions and include the following:

1. Core Voluntary Contributions (CVCA): These are voluntary contributions provided to WHO that are fully flexible at the level of the programme budget.
2. Thematic Funding: For the IR and the full period 2025–28, the definition of thematic funding has been expanded to accommodate a higher degree of specificity and is expected to facilitate contributors’ transition from earmarked voluntary contributions towards voluntary contributions with a higher degree of flexibility. The following levels of specification will be treated as thematic funding:
   • contributions given at the global level with a programmatic specification up to and including output level of GPW 14;
   • contributions with a geographical specification up to major office level and a programmatic specification up to outcome level of GPW 14;
   • contributions with a geographical specification up to country office level and a programmatic specification up to strategic objective level; and
3. Voluntary Contributions (specified): are tightly earmarked within the results and/or organizational structure.

While WHO welcomes all contributions, the higher the level of flexibility and the longer the duration the better for the IR to meet its objectives.

Since the launch of the Investment Round in May 2024, WHO has received pledges particularly around a series of high-profile events as follows: