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Lead Exposure Action Fund (LEAF) — Coefficient Giving

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High quality. Established institution or organization with editorial oversight and accountability.

Rating inherited from publication venue: Coefficient Giving

This resource describes a philanthropic fund focused on global lead exposure reduction, a public health issue unrelated to AI safety. It has no direct relevance to AI safety, alignment, or governance.

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Importance: 2/100homepage

Summary

The Lead Exposure Action Fund (LEAF) is a philanthropic initiative supporting efforts to eliminate lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries. It focuses on measurement, mitigation, and mainstreaming of lead as a public health priority. In its first year, LEAF more than tripled global philanthropic funding for lead mitigation.

Key Points

  • LEAF has made 20+ grants totaling $60+ million to address lead exposure globally.
  • Up to 800 million children have blood lead levels that would trigger medical concern in high-income countries.
  • Strategy focuses on measurement, mitigation, and mainstreaming of lead as a priority issue.
  • Partners include Gates Foundation, Good Ventures, and ELMA Foundation among others.
  • LEAF helped catalyze the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future multilateral initiative.

Cached Content Preview

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Lead Exposure Action Fund

 
 We support work to accelerate progress toward a world free of lead exposure. 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20+ 
 grants made 
 

 
 $60+ 
 million given 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 Contents

 
 About the Fund 

 News & Updates 

 Featured Grantees 

 Featured Grants 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 About the Fund

 
 
 

 Team

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tom Hird 
 Senior Program Officer

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 James Hu 
 Senior Program Associate

 
 

 
 
 
 

 Partners

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10x Better Foundation 

 Alpha Epsilon Fund 

 The ELMA Foundation 

 Gates Foundation 

 Good Ventures 

 Livelihood Impact Fund 

 Patchwork Collective 

 Lucy Southworth 

 Private funders (x4) 

 
 Interested in learning more or joining the fund? Reach out to partnerwithus@coefficientgiving.org .

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 The Lead Exposure Action Fund (LEAF) addresses one of the world’s most neglected public health crises. Lead exposure causes lasting harm to nearly every organ system. In children, it lowers IQ , worsens learning outcomes , and leads to long-term health and economic losses . Up to 800 million children have blood lead levels that would trigger medical concern in high-income countries. Yet funding to tackle lead is a fraction of what is spent on similarly serious global health challenges like malaria or tuberculosis. 

 In its first year, LEAF’s grants more than tripled total annual global philanthropic funding for lead mitigation. These efforts helped catalyze new government action and major multilateral initiatives like the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future . 

 LEAF supports partners working to identify and eliminate major sources of lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries. Our strategy focuses on three key areas: 

 
 Measurement: Determining where and how people are exposed—via blood lead testing, household assessments, and source screening (e.g. spices, paint, cosmetics). 

 Mitigation: Supporting policy and technical solutions to reduce exposure, from eliminating adulterated turmeric to improving battery recycling. 

 Mainstreaming: Elevating lead as a priority issue for governments, aid agencies, and philanthropies. 

 
 

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grantmaking with a global scope

 
 
 
 

 We expect the vast majority of our funds will go toward work in low- and middle-income countries, which suffer from higher levels of lead exposure and have fewer resources to address the problem.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 News & Updates

 
 
 Prev 
 
 
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 Opinion

 
 
 
 
 Washington Post: We Can Protect Millions of Kids From a Global Killer — Without Billions of Dollars
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 When residents of Flint, Mich., were exposed to toxic levels of lead in their drinking water, 1 in 20 children in the city had elevated blood lead levels, causing health effects that residents still grapple with. Today, there is a lead poisoning crisis raging on a far greater scale — and hardly anyone is talking about it.

 
 

 
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Resource ID: bbb5cab8d36feb81