This is a guide and toolkit to help philanthropic funders get started with the SDGs. While these resources were developed and released as a part of the SDG Philanthropy Platform — a collaboration that is no longer active — the resources remain relevant for philanthropic stakeholders engaging on the Sustainable Development Goals.

The guide discusses the relevance of the 2030 agenda for foundations, considers whether the SDGs make sense for all funders, and explores challenges and solutions of working with the SDGs. The toolkit offers initial practical steps for funders to act on SDG alignment and includes examples from other funders.

A library of initiatives and tools from the UN Global Compact — “the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative” — for companies and other stakeholders pursuing SDG implementation.

The UN Global Compact contains a wealth of tools, initiatives, guides, research, and opportunities for businesses to demonstrate and act on their sustainability commitments. Sorted by SDG, this list offers a point of entry for private sector stakeholders to relevant topic and focus areas within the UN Global Compact’s extensive offerings.

The USA chapter of the Global Compact Network was launched in 2007 and includes over 1,150 participants across sectors who have voluntarily pledged to a set of universal sustainability principles.

Achieving the SDGs requires a significant number of resources directed across the globe, spanning a range of topical areas. Here are some sources of additional information on SDG financing and “Beyond GDP” —an effort considering new measures to assess the health of economies and growth:

• A Community Foundation’s Playbook for Investing with the United Nations’ SDGs
• Beyond GDP (UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination)
• Beyond GDP (World Economic Forum)
• Joint SDG Fund: an inter-agency, pooled mechanism for integrated policy support and strategic financing.
• Financing for Sustainable Development
• SDSN’S SDG Financing Initiative
• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Financing for Sustainable Development 2024 Report

This report analyzes the innovations, mindset shift, and impact of orienting local efforts around the Sustainable Development Goals. The findings build on the experiences of cities that are highly engaged on the SDGs and involved in the Brooking Institution’s Center for Sustainable Development’s SDG Leadership Cities Network.

This resource offers recommendations for developing a messaging strategy rooted in the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically for an American audience. Although originally published in 2017 and created for a nonprofit organization with an anti-hunger mission, this resource remains a unique and useful guiding document for organizations and individuals and includes evergreen lessons for effectively embedding the SDGs into communications.

Through an analysis of knowledge gaps between experts and the general public, the FrameWorks Institute approach reviews existing SDG framing strategies, and challenges and opportunities for more effective messaging. Its recommendations emphasize the importance of values, in particular human potential and fairness across places. Clear explanations and “social math” can help to close knowledge gaps, it proposes, and a key metaphor for understanding the interconnectedness of the SDGs is “constructing well-being.”

Public and private universities of all sizes across the United States have already begun adapting the SDG framework to the university context. This series of resource guides is informed by their experiences and
strategies and is intended to help other U.S. universities engage with the SDGs across their educational, research, and operational activities.

Carnegie Mellon University’s sustainability initiative pioneered the first Voluntary University Review in 2020 and has released a new review each year since.

The report connects data about COVID-19 deaths at the county level to other demographic characteristics to help understand the nexus of poverty, race, and COVID-19 in the United States. Findings show that poorer communities saw death rates nearly twice as high as richer communities, reveal data gaps, and explore the interconnected vulnerabilities of communities experiencing poverty.

This repository contains over 75 case studies relevant to four themes:

1. 1. Curricular initiatives for university students: learning and teaching activities integrated in degree programs.
2. 2. Co-curricular initiatives for university students: teaching and learning activities outside of degree programs.
3. 3. Community at large: cases that involve external partners.
4. 4. University staff and processes: cases related to building capacity and ownership among faculty members and university staff.

This extensive case study library accompanies the Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities report, a guide for higher education institutions to take action on the Sustainable Development Goals.

A core principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs is to “Leave No One Behind.” This requires the eradication of poverty in all its forms, as well as combating discrimination and inequalities and their root causes.

This index and interactive maps explore SDG progress across U.S. states through a lens of racial equity. The results reveal disparate outcomes across racial groups through an analysis of racially disaggregated data and uncovers data gaps that limit monitoring and reporting on communities being left behind in the United States.

A statewide SDG dashboard showcasing county-level data and successful SDG initiatives from west central Minnesota. This dashboard is developed and maintained through a partnership between West Central Initiative (WCI), a Minnesota-based community foundation, and U-Spatial, a department of the University of Minnesota.

The dashboard includes 40 indicators and suggests that statewide progress is on-track or improving for all but two Goals (Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being; Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production).

Relatedly, in A Conversation on the Rural Midwest and the SDGs, Brooking Institution’s Center for Sustainable Development Senior Fellow Anthony F. Pipa shares a conversation in 2021 with Anna Wasescha, the President and CEO of WCI about how the Community Foundation uses the SDGs as a roadmap, or “connective tissue,” for local action.