The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is an international, not-for-profit research and development organization (R&D) that develops lifesaving medicines for people with neglected diseases around the world. We use the power of innovation, open science, partnerships, and advocacy to find solutions to a great injustice: the lack of medicines for life-threatening diseases that disproportionately impact poor and marginalized people.

DNDi was launched in 2003 when five leading research institutes from Brazil, India, Kenya, Malaysia, and France teamed up with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to launch an alternative, not-for-profit model for developing drugs for neglected populations. Together, we are proud to have delivered nine new treatments for six diseases that have saved millions of lives – and we aim to deliver a total of 25 treatments by 2028.

DNDi has built a team of approximately 250 employees working across nine offices. DNDi North America, created in 2008 and based in New York City, is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit that works to strengthen and expand scientific networks, policy and advocacy influence, partner development, communications, and in particular, fundraising efforts to enhance DNDi’s global impact.

In 2021, DNDi released an ambitious new Strategic Plan 2021-2028, which outlined a funding goal of $1.3 billion, of which nearly $830 million has already been secured, primarily from governments, major philanthropic foundations, innovative financing mechanisms, and founding partners. As part of this strategy, DNDi aims to diversify its funding base and is investing in increasing private philanthropic fundraising capabilities with the ambition of raising at least $40 million in new philanthropic funding by 2028. DNDi’s North America fundraising team, working as part of the global private fundraising team, is expected to play a key role in this effort.