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January-March 2006
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices around the world and links to learn more about them
Appeal issued to keep door from closing on Open Russia
With Open Russia's founder, chairman and major donor languishing in a Siberian penal colony, its program director Irina Yasina visited Washington in January to shore up support for the nonprofit organization. Open Russia (www.openrussia.info) was founded in 2001 by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who became a billionaire as the head of Yukos oil company. In a case widely criticized by human rights groups as politically motivated, last October Khodorkovsky was sentenced to eight years in prison for tax evasion and fraud. The foundation has spent about $60 million on projects ranging from human rights and democracy-building to education and culture. Khodorkovsky was able to mobilize $12 million for Open Russia for 2006, but prospects for 2007 are unclear, in light of a new law cracking down on nonprofit groups in that country. The Open Society Institute (www.soros.org), which served as a model for the foundation, has offered assistance with awards of $750,000 to three programs supported by Open Russia. In an interview with the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Yasina discussed the challenges facing Open Russia and other nonprofit groups operating in Russia. (Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 9, 2006)
Unilever and Oxfam assess multinational corporation's impact on poverty in Indonesia
Does international business investment help or hinder the fight against poverty? That was the question addressed in a collaborative study by Unilever and Oxfam that examined the socio-economic impact of the corporation's operations in Indonesia over a two-year period. Oxfam said its findings forced the organization to revise some of its assumptions about big business, and made it more alert to differences in the way that multinational companies operate. During the country's financial crisis of 1997-8, for example, Unilever chose to adapt and strengthen its business practices in Indonesia rather than withdrawing, unlike many other multinationals. According to Oxfam, the study of Unilever yielded a variety of lessons for NGOs interested in the impact of big business on poverty. The jointly funded report is available at www.oxfam.org.uk and www.unilever.com.
Global Fund's Investing in Women campaign raises $20 million
The Global Fund for Women (www.globalfundforwomen.org), the largest foundation in the world that focuses exclusively on advancing women's rights internationally, is celebrating the successful conclusion of its $20 million Investing in Women Campaign. The campaign supports the $10 million Legacy Fund, an endowment of unprecedented size to address women's issues, and the $10 million Now or Never Fund, which permits rapid response to urgent threats to women's rights around the world. "The Global Fund models how getting money to successful organizations working in communities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East -- wherever women's rights are threatened -- maximizes the impact of a US-based philanthropy," said Sakena Yacoobi, a Global Fund board member from Afghanistan. The campaign drew donations from all over the world, ranging from $5 dollars to $3.8 million. Since 1987, the Global Fund has awarded over $44 million to nearly 3,000 groups in 162 countries working on issues such as such as the trafficking of women, risks facing women in war zones, and threats to women from natural disasters. (Global Fund for Women News Release, November 10, 2005)
Philanthropy in China with "encouraging social climate"
As China becomes richer but more divided, government officials are calling on the country's growing affluent class to give something back to the tens of millions of Chinese citizens still living on less than a dollar a day. With 2005 one of the worst years in recent memory for natural disasters, in January 2006, China's vice minister of civil affairs Li Liguo appealed for help from the private sector. He pledged that in return the government would step up the introduction of incentives such as new tax breaks to "create a more encouraging social climate" for private giving. In a recent report calling for greater corporate generosity, the state-controlled China Daily noted that just 1% of the country's 10 million companies had given to charity in 2005. While private charitable organizations are gaining more acceptance in China, only 100 national-level groups have been recognized in the past decade. Some private donors are stepping in with their own good works, such as Huang Rulun, the founder of the Jinyuan property and investment group, who was China's top giver in 2005, donating $34.8 million to relieve poverty and build schools. Rupert Hoogewerf, the British compiler of an annual ranking of China's top philanthropists, the Hurun Report (www.hurun.net), noted that philanthropy was "still an immature industry in China," but predicted that the number of wealthy donors like Mr. Huang would continue to grow. With many of China's new super-rich self-made men who experienced poverty in their youth, "they can empathize with the have-nots," Hoogewerf said. (Guardian (UK), January 10, 2006)
AKDN and Catholic Church in Portugal expand aid to Asia & Africa
The Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Lisbon and Aga Khan Foundation Portugal have agreed to expand their support for an urban community program to address problems of social exclusion and poverty alleviation in the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa and Asia. The program aims to help improve the quality of life of marginalized groups by building the capacity of communities to assess their own needs and to manage their own social and economic development. The agreement follows eight years of dialogue and cooperation between institutions of the Catholic Church and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN -- www.akdn.org) in Portugal and Mozambique. The protocol signed last December covers the extension of existing work in Mozambique, Afghanistan, Pakistan and East Timor, and paves the way for future cooperation in other places. AKDN, founded by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies working to improve living conditions and opportunities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. (AKDN News Release, December 20, 2005)
Gates jumpstarts $31 billion global TB effort with Davos pledge
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said his foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (www.gatesfoundation.org) would triple its funding to combat tuberculosis over the next decade, to $900 million. The announcement came as government ministers and health experts at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting at Davos said an extra $31 billion would be needed on top of the $25 billion already planned. "This is a very tough disease. It its going to take all of us -- the private sector, the pharmaceutical companies, philanthropies and governments in countries that have the disease, to participate as well," Gates said at Davos. The extra funding would permit implementation of a plan by the Stop TB Partnership to treat 50 million people worldwide over the next decade and prevent 14 million deaths from tuberculosis. The partnership is an international network of public and private groups working to end tuberculosis as a public health problem by 2050. (Reuters, January 27, 2006)
Bono seeing "Red" over new campaign to fight HIV/AIDS
Also at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, rock star Bono unveiled a new campaign to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa. Among the companies lining up to join with Bono in the effort are American Express, Converse, Gap, and Giorgio Armani. The companies will sell a variety of products under a new brand called "Red" and dedicate a portion of revenues to combat HIV and AIDS. Amex is creating a Red credit card to be marketed first in the UK, in March 2006. Other Red products expected out in the spring of 2006 include Converse sports shoes made with African mud-cloth; a new line of Gap T-shirts; and wraparound Emporio Armani sunglasses bearing the Red logo. AmexCo has agreed to donate 1% of Red card transactions, plus 1.25% of any spending above £5,000 a year to the Red campaign. Money from Red sales will go to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (www.theglobalfund.org) , a public-private partnership that has committed $4.5 billion to combat those diseases since its creation in 2002. The focus of Red donations will be for HIV/AIDS interventions for women and children. (Financial Times, January 25, 2006)
JPMorgan Chase joins US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership
JPMorgan Chase has joined the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP -- www.borderpartnership.org) with a social investment of $210,000 to improve the quality of life in the border region. This marks the first contribution to the partnership from the business sector. The BPP is a collaboration of international, national and regional foundations and 22 community foundations dedicated to improving the quality of life of low-income residents in the border region. The Synergos Institute serves as coordinator for the. JPMorgan Chase joins ten other funders -- including the Ford Foundation, the Houston Endowment and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation -- in strengthening community foundations on both sides of the border. The global financial services firm will work with BPP partners to improve financial literacy and build family assets in border communities. "One of our major goals is to help build assets and wealth creation in low and moderate income communities," said Kimberly Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation. "We are especially excited about this effort because it supports a broad-based consortium partnering with Latin/Hispanic immigrant communities along the entire US-Mexico border region, an area where JPMorgan Chase has a significant and growing presence."
Youth job training partnerships launched in Gaza
Building on the rapid growth of its partnerships in Egypt and Jordan, the Education for Employment Foundation (EFE -- www.efefoundation.org) has recently launched new training programs linked to jobs for youth in Gaza. Founded in 2002 by New York real estate developer and entrepreneur Ron Bruder, EFE aims to address the growing problem of youth unemployment in Muslim countries. Bruder is a member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle; his work launching EFE was examined in the May-June 2005 issue of Global Giving Matters. Responding to training needs in Gaza, EFE is working with local partners to develop business and management training for accounting and engineering graduates in the region. One such collaborator is Consolidated Contractors Intl. Co., which is co-funding EFE's mini-MBA program for accounting students and offering up to 40 jobs a year to those who complete the program. EFE is also fundraising for scholarships for 10 youth in Gaza to study at the International Nursing Career Academy in Cairo, Egypt (itself an EFE partnership school). A recent EFE mission to Gaza identified other local businesses and academic institutions that are interested in working with EFE to contribute to economic development in the new post disengagement Gaza. (EFE Foundation Newsletter, January 5, 2006)
LaSpada takes the helm at UK's Institute for Philanthropy
Salvatore LaSpada, well-known in the United States and the United Kingdom for his work in strategic philanthropy and the promotion of philanthropy internationally, will become chief executive of the London-based Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org.uk), succeeding founding rowne-Wilkinson, who founded the organization. LaSpada was associate director of global inclusion and director of The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW) at The Rockefeller Foundation in New York. The Institute for Philanthropy aims to foster greater understanding of philanthropy by promoting research into the incentives and barriers to giving and developing improved methods for increasing giving. Among its initiatives, the institute brought the TPW program to London to help educate the next generation of British philanthropists, and is launching Guidestar UK, a comprehensive national database of UK charities modeled on the landmark Guidestar program in the United States.
In memoriam: Anton Rupert, philanthropist in Southern Africa
Anton Rupert, a South African industrialist and philanthropist who opposed apartheid's inhumanities and financed environmental and educational projects, died in January at Stellenbosch, near Cape Town, at the age of 89. Rupert rose from humble beginnings to become one of South Africa's most successful industrialists, playing a leading role in his country's mining, banking, media, beverage, and health care companies. Among his many philanthropic achievements, he commissioned the Lesotho Industrial Development Corporation and the Medical Shuttle Service, which for 25 years provided free medical services to the people of Lesotho. In the area of environmental protection, Rupert founded the Southern African Nature Foundation, now known regionally as the World Wildlife Fund, and started a foundation to establish Peace Parks in transnational conservation areas. (New York Times, Jan 19, 2006)
© 2006 The Synergos Institute
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