Commitment announced during the UN General Assembly week will support country-led efforts to expand joyful and impactful foundational learning for vulnerable children.
New York, September 21, 2026 — The Luminos Fund, an international nonprofit helping the world’s most vulnerable children to catch up and thrive in school, today announced that, together with Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, Cartier Philanthropy for People & Nature, Legatum Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation, and other anonymous funders, it has mobilized $50 million in pledges to support the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) fifth replenishment campaign.
The funding represents a pre-commitment to help unlock the GPE Multiplier for country-led efforts to strengthen foundational learning in Ethiopia, Liberia, and potentially other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Announced at GPE’s Innovative Partnerships event during the UN General Assembly, the commitment contributes to GPE’s broader campaign to mobilize additional financing for quality education worldwide. Luminos and its philanthropic funders will work in partnership with participating governments, GPE, community-based organizations, and other education partners to identify how the funding can best advance each country’s education priorities.
“Every child is born with extraordinary potential, but realizing that potential requires education systems with the resources and resolve to help every child learn,” said Caitlin Baron, CEO of the Luminos Fund. “This pledge reflects our belief in what becomes possible when governments, philanthropy, community organizations, and global partners work together around a shared goal: ensuring that all children—even those at the margins—gain the foundational skills, confidence, and joy in learning they need to shape their own futures. We are incredibly grateful to our generous partners for joining us in this bold pledge.”
“This pledge reflects our belief in what becomes possible when governments, philanthropy, community organizations, and global partners work together around a shared goal: ensuring that all children—even those at the margins—gain the foundational skills, confidence, and joy in learning they need to shape their own futures.”
Caitlin Baron, CEO, The Luminos Fund
The commitment builds on a decade in which Luminos has partnered with governments and community organizations across sub-Saharan Africa and reached more than 480,000 children through its education programs.
At a time of mounting pressure on education budgets, sustainable progress depends on strong domestic investment and continued donor support, reinforced by philanthropic and private-sector partnerships.
The announcement comes as GPE convenes leaders from governments, foundations, civil society, and the private sector in New York at the United Nations.
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About the Luminos Fund:
The Luminos Fund runs an award-winning catch-up education program for some of the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach children in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. In just one school year, children learn how to read, write, and do math–to learn how to learn–through a joyful, activity-based curriculum. As an international education nonprofit, our mission is to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning, especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. To date, Luminos has helped hundreds of thousands of children secure a second chance to learn.
About the Global Partnership for Education:
GPE is a shared commitment to ending the world’s learning crisis. We mobilize partners and funds to support over 90 countries to transform their education systems so that every girl and boy can get the quality education they need to unlock their full potential and contribute to building a better world.
