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September-November 2006
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices around the world and links to learn more about them
Women migrants lead the way on remittances
Women migrants play a disproportionate role in determining the level of remittances sent home to developing countries, a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA -- www.unfpa.org) concludes, but international policymakers have largely ignored their contributions. The State of World Population 2006 -- A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration examines the scope and breadth of female migration, the impact of the funds they send home to support families and communities, and their vulnerability to trafficking, exploitation and abuse. The report reveals that although migrant women contribute billions of dollars in cash and services, policymakers continue to disregard both their contributions and their vulnerability -- even though female migrants tend to send a much higher proportion of their earnings back home than their male counterparts. Half of the world's migrants are women -- numbering 95 million -- but only recently have policymakers begun to address their specific challenges, according to the UNPFA, including the exploitation of female domestic workers, and the sex trade. "Despite a paucity of data, one thing is clear," the report says, "The money that female migrants send back home can raise families and even entire communities out of poverty." Remittance flows are estimated to make up the second largest source of external financing in developing countries after foreign direct investment. A copy of the report is available on UNFPA's website. (Financial Times, September 7, 2006)
Developing China's nonprofit sector
As Chinese nonprofit organizations grow and diversify, they are finding themselves stretched by the rising demand for their services, according to a recent McKinsey & Company study. The analysis revealed that gaps in management skills and program expertise, as well as an underdeveloped domestic funding base, have hindered nonprofits' ability to respond. McKinsey pointed to the role that corporations can play in filling these gaps by offering more flexible financial support, along with hands-on efforts to teach nonprofits skills critical to running effective organizations. To date, corporations have made little progress in understanding China's nonprofit sector, despite an interest in establishing a philanthropic track record. To help determine the causes for this problem, McKinsey examined more than 100 nonprofit organizations in China and interviewed hundreds of stakeholders, including donor and nonprofit leaders, as well as current and former officials. In addition to increased corporate involvement, a combination of government policies and strengthened nonprofit infrastructure, such as development of a network of domestic foundations, will be necessary to develop the sector and ensure that it gets needed resources, the study concluded. The August 2006 report, Developing China's Nonprofit Sector, is available at online.
Wellcome Trust first charity in UK to sell public bond
The UK's Wellcome Trust (www.wellcome.ac.uk) the world's second-biggest foundation funding biomedical research, announced plans in July to sell a debut sterling bond. Proceeds will be channeled into the Trust's investment portfolio and used to fund research that spans the human genome, bird flu and malaria. In offering the first public bond from a UK charity, the Trust is following the example of US philanthropic foundations such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the J. Paul Getty Trust, which have sold dollar bonds. Britain's largest charitable trust plans to take advantage of low-cost, long-term funding in the sterling bond market to raise £300 to 500 million, selling a bond with a maturity of about 30 years. The Wellcome Trust's funding of biomedical research is topped only by that of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Wellcome Trust-funded researchers have sequenced one-third of the human genome. (Reuters, July 3, 2006)
Gates and Rockefeller Foundations to help African farmers boost productivity
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation have launched a $150 million campaign to ease hunger across Africa by making farming more productive and profitable. The goal is to repeat the success in Africa of an earlier Rockefeller program known as the "Green Revolution" that transformed agricultural practices in Latin America and Southeast Asia from the 1940s through the 1980s, increasing food production at a time of widespread hunger. The new Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa will focus on development of improved seeds, soil fertility, irrigation, and access to markets and financing. The venture is one of the first financed by the Gates Foundation's new Global Development program, and provides an opportunity to begin spending some of the $31 billion gift pledged by investor Warren Buffett in June. The Alliance's first initiative is a $43 million program to develop 100 varieties of crops capable of thriving in Africa's highly diverse agricultural environments. Another $20 million will go to African universities to train graduate level crop breeders and scientists, and an additional $24 million will help develop public and private distribution channels for improved seeds. $37 million will be available for training, credit and other financial assistance to at least 10,000 small shops that supply seeds and other supplies to farmers. A $26 million nonprofit center in Nairobi, Kenya will be established by the Alliance to oversee grantmaking and evaluate progress. (Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2006; New York Times, September 13, 2006)
Soros gives $50 million to aid Africa's poor via Millennium Village project
Another major boost for Africa came from philanthropist and financier George Soros, who pledged $50 million to help demonstrate that poverty can be ended in dozens of African villages through small, focused investments that give communities the tools to tackle a variety of pressing problems -- poverty, health, education, and food production -- in an integrated and sustainable way. The donation represents a substantial vote of confidence in the work of the Millennium Villages project established in 2004 by Jeffrey Sachs, the antipoverty expert who heads up the United Nations effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The donation by Soros, chairman of the Open Society Institute, is being matched by other donors to bring in $100 million for the project. Millennium Promise Alliance (www.millenniumpromise.org) the nonprofit created to work with the private sector in support of the villages and the wider effort to achieve the MDGs, has reached out to its network of partners to raise the $50 million in matching funds. (See related story.) Funding from Soros and other private donors is being used in the project's 78 villages to provide practical and proven interventions aimed at meeting the MDGs, such as bednets to prevent malaria, fertilizers to replenish depleted soils, school lunches for malnourished children, treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS and other well-established measures to combat extreme poverty. (Associated Press, September 13, 2006)
Foundation aids Gazan youth in move from joblessness to career track
Amid recent uncertainty in the Middle East, the first graduates of the Education For Employment Foundation's new "Mini MBA" Accounting Training and Job-Placement Program started work as accountants in United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Guinea. The new accountants all were university graduates under age 25 who had been jobless for more than a year in Gaza, where unemployment has soared beyond 40 percent. The Education For Employment Foundation (EFE -- www.efefoundation.org) is a nonprofit organization founded in December 2002 by US entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronald Bruder, a member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle. Working with local business leaders in the Middle East and the Islamic world, EFE helps identify educational shortfalls in market sectors with a need for trained workers, bridging the gap between academia and the private sector. EFE's Mini-MBA Program was created in partnership with Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), the largest engineering and construction company in the Middle East. In cooperation with CCC, the University of Maryland's School of Business developed the program's curriculum and trained participating professors from the Islamic University of Gaza, which hosts the Mini-MBA initiative. The program has attracted additional funding from the United Nations Development Programme and United Palestinian Appeal, Inc. With offices in New York and Washington, EFE operates programs in Gaza, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. (EFE News Release, September 18, 2006)
Jordan's Queen Rania joins board of United Nations Foundation
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan (www.queenrania.jo) has joined the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation (www.unfoundation.org), an organization that supports UN programs through fundraising and partnership building. The Queen's priorities are expected to include children's health care and promoting the role of technology in helping relief workers respond to disasters and humanitarian crisis. In welcoming her to the new post, Ted Turner, Founder and Chairman of the UN Foundation, noted that "Queen Rania is a tireless advocate for improving the lives of the world's children, young adults and women through better access to health care, literacy and economic empowerment opportunities," and said these qualities would be a "great complement to the work being done here at the Foundation." As First Lady of Jordan, Queen Rania's special interests include development of income-generating projects and the advancement of best practices in the field of microfinance. She has also focused on family life, including child protection and early childhood development, and the integration of information technology into the country's educational system. (UN Foundation News Release, September 13, 2006)
Two foundation leaders among world's 100 most powerful women
While corporate executives, media luminaries and political figures from the global North dominated Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the "World's Most Powerful Women," several representatives of the philanthropic sector made the list this year. The top 100 included nonprofit leaders Melinda Gates, cofounder and director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (#12 on the list), and Susan Berresford, outgoing President of the Ford Foundation (#77). The ranking is based on a composite of visibility (measured by press reports) and economic impact. In issuing its 2006 ranking, Forbes noted that "it takes more accomplishment than ever to get on this list" because more and "more women are taking over corporations, nonprofits, and whole governments." In the latter category, leaders from developing nations were sprinkled throughout the list, including Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, and the first woman elected head of state in Africa (#51), and Luisa Diogo, Prime Minister of Mozambique (#83). (Forbes, September 18, 2006)
Bush summit aims to mobilize private resources to fight malaria
US President George W. Bush will host a summit on malaria in December with an eye toward boosting private donations to fight the disease. The summit will convene international experts, NGOs, religious groups and service organizations to discuss ways to battle the illness. In June 2005, Bush announced a $1.2 billion, five-year President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in target countries in Africa. "The summit will call on the private sector, foundations, voluntary organizations and school groups to complement the PMI by matching the US government's financial commitment and educating the public about malaria," according to a statement from the White House. So far, Bush has picked Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda to receive PMI aid, while eight other countries are to be added in fiscal year 2008. The assistance includes spraying against mosquitoes that transmit the disease and handing out bednets to protect humans from the insects. (AFP, August 25, 2006)
New York City mayor/philanthropist to fund global anti-smoking effort
As part of his plan to become a full-time philanthropist after leaving office, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pledged to spend $125 million of his own money to build a global anti-smoking campaign. The donation, to be funneled to existing organizations over two years, is considered by public health advocates to be the largest single contribution to global tobacco-control efforts. Bloomberg successfully pushed a ban on smoking in New York bars and restaurants in his first term as mayor. At a news conference in August, Bloomberg called smoking "one of the world's biggest killers and it has sadly been overlooked by the philanthropic community." Bloomberg plans to spend the money to create and support programs aimed at helping the world become tobacco-free. The campaign will include advocacy for adoption of high tobacco taxes and smoking bans, and creation of a system to track tobacco use and efforts to stop it worldwide. One of the wealthiest individuals in the US, Bloomberg has said he plans to give away the bulk of his fortune, estimated at $5.1 billion, and he has steadily increased his philanthropic giving in recent years. In 2005, he ranked seventh among US philanthropists in a survey conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. When he leaves office, Bloomberg intends to create his own private foundation, which is likely to focus on education, the arts and public health. (New York Times, August 16, 2006)
MacArthur Foundation inaugurates global award for creative small nonprofit organizations
Expanding on its tradition of encouraging individual creativity and building effective institutions to help address some of the world's most challenging problems, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (www.macfound.org) announced in August that nine organizations in five countries will receive the first annual MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. The missions of these small nonprofit organizations, all with annual budgets under $2.5 million, are diverse -- from finding permanent jobs for ex-offenders in Chicago to promoting police reform in Nigeria, to saving the lives of mothers and their babies in India. Each organization will receive up to $500,000. "As the challenges facing our country and world grow even more complex, we look to trusted institutions to help us think about public issues and to galvanize action," said MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton. "Building and strengthening nonprofit organizations has never been more important." Winners will be honored at an awards ceremony in Chicago on October 5, 2006. In conjunction with this ceremony, a series of seminars on the work of these organizations will be open to other non-profit institutions, providing an opportunity for mutual learning. (MacArthur Foundation News Release August 24, 2006)
At Google.org, it's not business as usual
Unlike most corporate foundations, Google.org, the philanthropic organization created in 2004 by Google, the popular search engine company, was set up to make a profit. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin believe for-profit status will greatly increase their philanthropy's range and flexibility. By all accounts, Dr. Larry Brilliant, hired six months ago as executive director, is every bit as iconoclastic as the philanthropic organization he directs. A 61-year old physician and public health expert, Brilliant has studied under a Hindu guru in the foothills of the Himalayas and worked as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Projects on the Google.org drawing board reportedly include an ultra-fuel-efficient hybrid car engine that could help tackle dependence on foreign oil and the effects of global warming. Although Google is a high-tech company, Brilliant said that doesn't necessarily mean it will focus exclusively on high-tech philanthropic solutions. "Why would we put Wi-Fi in a place where what they need is food and clean water?" he said. (New York Times, September 13, 2006)
Freeman Foundation honored for innovative aid to Asian students
On September 19, the Freeman Foundation, which works to improve understanding between the US and Asia, was honored in New York by its philanthropic partner, the Institute of International Education, for its role in developing a flexible and efficient funding program to provide Asian students with emergency educational assistance. The program, ASIA-HELP, was created in the late 1990s with an initial grant of $7.75 million and provided zero-interest loans to 1,000 students from South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia who were affected by the economic downturn in their home countries. In 2004 and 2005, in the wake of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, the Freeman Foundation and IIE (www.iie.org), a leading global education and training organization, put repaid loan funds from the ASIA-HELP program to work in providing emergency aid to undergraduate Asian students in the US affected by these disasters. "The Freemans represent a new breed of visionary philanthropists,"said Thomas S. Johnson, chairman and CEO of GreenPoint Bank, NY, and chairman of IIE's board. "The ASIA-HELP loan program was a creative solution to the problems created by the Asian currency crisis, and the real 'payoff' was when the repaid loans...allowed for timely disaster assistance later." The Freeman Foundation was established in 1993 through the bequest of the businessman and benefactor Mansfield Freeman, a co-founder of the international insurance and financial conglomerate American International Group, Inc. (AIG). It is chaired by business leader and philanthropist Houghton Freeman. His wife, Doreen, serves as one of the trustees and his son, Graeme Freeman, is Executive Director.
Wheelchair Foundation's Behring aims to keep the giving rolling across the globe
Every time Ken Behring, 78, delivers wheelchairs to disabled individuals around the world through his Wheelchair Foundation (www.wheelchairfoundation.org), it's a life-altering occasion. For Behring, a real-estate developer who is one of the world's richest men, a friend of world leaders, a business innovator and a former owner of a professional football team, his own transformative moment came more than a decade ago. The globe-trotting Behring, who routinely transported school and medical supplies on his jet as a favor to nonprofit organizations, agreed to drop off a shipment of wheelchairs in Romania. Introduced to a stroke-immobilized elderly widower who was to receive one of the chairs, lifted the man from a pile of rags into his new wheelchair. The seated man, sobbing, understood his life was changing, and so was Behring's.
He went on to launch the Wheelchair Foundation on June 13, 2000 -- his 72nd birthday. "I spent too much of my life pursuing things money can buy," says Behring, a member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle. "I've always given money to charity, but in the past I didn't give myself with it. When you actually get an opportunity to personally help somebody, it changes your life." Many of the estimated 100 to 150 million people around the world in need of a wheelchair have lost limbs to land mines, war or accidents; others are disabled by disease, birth defects or old age. The California-based foundation has donated 500,000 wheelchairs in 140 countries, free to anyone who can't afford one, thanks to matching funds from donors. Its allies include corporations, governments, individuals, nonprofit organizations, and small groups like the Knights of Columbus and Rotary Clubs. More than 2,000 Rotary clubs worldwide have donated funds to the foundation and helped with the distribution of some 150,000 wheelchairs. King Juan Carlos of Spain, Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev serve on the foundation's board of advisors. Behring's newest charitable focus is health, including the development of water-purification technology for residents of developing countries. (Sky Magazine, September 2006)
© 2006 The Synergos Institute
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