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January 2002
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices around the world and links to learn more about them
Global Philanthropy Forum launched
The Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF) has been launched in California as a way to provide opportunities to new as well as experienced philanthropists concerned with international giving. Developed by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the TOSA Foundation, the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and the World Affairs Council of Northern California, GPF is sponsoring its first activity -- a conference at Stanford -- on March 7-8 that will bring together 200 government and corporate leaders, donors and activists to examine issues related to Central and South Asia. Confirmed plenary speakers include Gordon Conway, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, Richard Goldman, President of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, and Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women. Among many panelists are Adele Simmons, Senior Advisor, World Economic Forum. A key goal of conference is to help participants in its programs focus on four specific areas where philanthropy can act as an agent of change: infectious diseases, women's economic empowerment, environmental degradation, and conflict. For more information visit www.philanthropyforum.org.
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship promotes the GEXSI
The Geneva-based Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, established by World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab and his wife, Hilde, is spearheading an effort to create a Global Exchange for Social Investment (GEXSI). The GEXSI provides a marketplace for socially-minded investors and for those looking for funds and support. GEXSI seeks to increase the transparency for both sides in the Exchange, establishes standards, clears transactions and ensures monitoring of the initiatives. In March 2001, together with the support of the international management consultants Bain & Company, the Schwab Foundation initiated the process of conception, enriched through consultation with CEOs, not-for-profits, social entrepreneurs, financial and academic leaders. Since September an ad hoc consortium has been formed comprised of the Open Society Institute, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deutsche Bank, Foursome Investments, Ashoka and Endeavor, as well as the Schwab Foundation and Bain. What they have in common is a commitment to setting in motion a GEXSI believing that it necessary to move beyond the paradigm of "donors" and "recipients" to a market-based approach. To date, the GEXSI has accredited ten top intermediaries based on 11 performance principles. These intermediaries include venture philanthropists, not-for-profits and for-profits presenting high impact initiatives in their portfolios to the GEXSI. Initiatives include projects in economic development, health, education, environment, micro-finance and human rights. There will be several opportunities to discuss the GEXSI at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in New York. For further information, contact Pamela Hartigan, Managing Director of the Schwab Foundation who is also overseeing the project, at www.schwabfound.org.
New philanthropy institute launched in Spain
The Instituto de Filantropía y Desarrollo (Philanthropy and Development Institute -- www.filantropiaydesarrollo.org), the first such entity in Spain, has been launched in Barcelona to promote philanthropy and the voluntary sector. Its Web site provides links to consultants, publications, on-line forums, and training companies. However, few of these are Spanish. In line with its launch, the institute, headed by Executive Manager Manuel Palencia-Lefler, has published a handbook on fundraising for Spanish nonprofit organizations.
Philanthropy 101: Australians return to school to learn how to give
A new Asia-Pacific Centre for Philanthropy and Social Investment opened its doors at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia in November, with the goal of enhancing awareness and improving the practice of philanthropy among a new generation of wealthy business leaders. While one focus is on raising corporate philanthropy to the levels of Australia's counterparts in the US and Western Europe, another is working with baby boomers who are inheriting wealth and want guidance on how to "give back" responsibly, according to Michael Liffman, a former foundation executive who is directing the center. (The Age, November 14, 2001)
Youth Philanthropy Worldwide promotes global giving by young people
Youth Philanthropy Worldwide (www.ypworldwide.org) is a new program -- launched in 2001 -- to promote an ethic of giving among young people around the world. Founded by Esther Hewlett and Anne McCarten-Gibbs as a program of Take Our Daughters to Work Day at the Global Fund for Women in San Francisco -- where Ms. Hewlett was a founding board member and Ms. McCarten-Gibbs is on staff -- the program offers one-time workshops, from one and a half hours to half a day, that teach the nuts and bolts of thoughtful grantmaking, from creating a budget to reviewing proposals to thinking out program strategy. Partner groups include the Global Fund for Children.
Kenya charity race raises funds to help Nairobi slum
Top professional runners as well as amateurs in Kenya competed in The Great AMREF Kenya Road Race on December 9, sponsored by African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF -- www.amref.org), that raised US$13,000 to build toilets in Kibera, one of Nairobi's poorest slums as part of a larger campaign to improve sanitation in poor communities. Much of the funding was raised by members of the Kenyan athletics community during a road race in the United States, and a further amount was raised locally through corporate and individual sponsorship. AMREF, which is based in Nairobi, is one of Africa's oldest indigenous charities and operates throughout the continent providing health education and services. AMREF won the 1999 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize. (The Nation (Nairobi), December 10, 2001 via AllAfrica.com)
New Asian college in formation for women in poverty
Leaders in education and international development are pooling expertise and resources to launch the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh. Starting at about the size of a small liberal arts college, it aims especially to meet the needs of poor women from various Asian cultures, many on scholarships, according to Lone Dybkjær, a member of the European Parliament and former Danish environment minister who is a co-chair, with Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, of a group that announced plans in December for the new institution. (New York Times, December 9, 2001)
New Brazilian philanthropic initiative launched in New York City
More than 100 Brazilian bankers, lawyers, investment professionals and other business leaders based in New York City gathered in November to launch the BrazilFoundation (www.brazilfoundation.org), which aims at supporting the nonprofit community in Brazil. A key goal of the foundation is to mobilize (tax deductible) resources within this affluent community to support projects in education, health, human rights, citizenship and culture in Brazil. Brazil's First Lady Ruth Cardoso is a member of the foundation's advisory board.
Dubai billionaire makes major gift for water management research
Haji Saeed Bin Ahmed Al-Lootah, a construction magnate and prominent philanthropist in Dubai, announced plans in November to donate more than CDN$4.4 million (about US$2.7 million) to the United Nations University's International Network on Water, Environment and Health to support a two-year project to improve water management skills, conduct water-related research, and improve the development of water technologies in Dubai. The projects will take place in Dubai, other Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, and possibly elsewhere in the region and will include the creation of a project center, with offices, staff and all facilities through the World Al-Lootah University, which Mr. Al-Lootah founded in Dubai. He has also promised to follow up with further donations when the first program phase is in place.
Harry Potter creator advocates for single-parent families
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has become an active philanthropist on behalf of single parent families since gaining such huge success with her popular fantasy series. At a London meeting in November for the National Council for One Parent Families, she decried single-parent poverty as a "scandal" and, at her request, the Council was the beneficiary of a London gala screening of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the British title), which netted about £40,000 (about $58,000) for the One Parent Families Magic Million Appeal. In 2000, she donated £500,000 donation (about $725,000 US) to the Council. Rowling spent many years raising her daughter as a single parent, but was recently married. (Divorce On-Line World News, November 19, 2001)
From Canada to Uganda: a youthful initiative helps build wells
An initiative by Ryan Hreljac, a first-grader from Ontario, Canada who learned about how people in a Uganda community didn't have clean drinking water, has grown into a full-fledged foundation to build wells in several African countries. Ryan's Well Foundation (www.ryanswell.ca) -- the subject of a documentary that aired on Canadian TV in November -- is now a well-known organization that has partnered with large Canadian nonprofits to raise funds for well-building in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Malawi as well as Uganda. The foundation has raised more than $400,000.
Philanthropy Ink: Mega-donations by individuals down in 2001
A year-end report by SiliconValley.com notes that charity gifts by "mega-donors" were down significantly in 2001 compared to 2000, with the 10 largest charitable gifts by individuals in 2001 amounting to $4.6 billion, compared to $11.1 billion in 2000 -- a decrease of almost 60 percent. Of the top ten gifts, five went to universities and one to medical research. Topping the donor list in 2001 were Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates, who donated $2 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jim Stowers, founder of American Century Services Corp., a mutual-fund company, and his wife Virginia Stowers ($1.1 billion); and Gordon Moore, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel Corp., and his wife Betty Moore, with a pledge of $300 million to the California Institute of Technology. The Gateses and the Moores shared the top slot in 2000. A key reason for the decline was the drop in technology stocks. (SiliconValley.com, December 31, 2001)
© 2002 The Synergos Institute
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