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December 2006–January 2007
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices around the world and links to learn more about them
WINGS global forum, Bangkok: how to make a difference in philanthropy
WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support -- www.wingsweb.org), held its quadrennial conference, WINGSForum 2006, in November in Bangkok. The event focused on the challenges facing global philanthropy and the lessons emerging from new players in the field. The three-day conference drew 180 participants from 40 countries.
Plenary speaker Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, Chairman and CEO of the Philippines-based Ayala Corporation, provided an overview of the global context in which private philanthropists operate today. Ayala is a member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle. Drawing from experience leading one of the largest business groups in the Philippines as well as its social development arm, the Ayala Foundation, he cited examples from the Asian business and philanthropic sectors. "One of the most potentially fruitful areas for business engagement with social problems revolves around the business of meeting the basic needs of low income groups," Ayala said, adding that communities themselves are coming up with better ways to deliver services based around their needs.
In developing countries such as the Philippines, said Ayala, where problems are tremendous and resources scarce, some in the business community are experimenting with "social consortia," which take their inspiration from the success of corporations pooling together capital and technical skills for major business projects. One such social consortium, Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, aims to put computer labs with Internet access into all 5,789 public high schools in the Philippines and has connecting 1,000 schools to the Internet so far. The consortium includes not only corporations but national and local government agencies, parent-teacher organizations, NGOs and even Filipinos in the diaspora.
Ayala shared the plenary podium with Juree Vichit-Vadakan of Thailand's Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, who spoke about socio-cultural and political aspects of giving in Thai society, and Barry Gaberman, former senior vice president of the Ford Foundation. Reporting from WINGSForum 2006 is available on the WINGS website.
Sale of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" gown aids Calcutta's poorest
Proceeds from the auction of the black Givenchy gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's have been donated to the nonprofit organization City of Joy Aid (www.cityofjoyaid.org). The organization was created by best-selling author and philanthropist Dominique Lapierre, after a meeting with Mother Teresa in 1981 revealed the needs of the poorest residents of Calcutta. The $807,000 raised at auction at Christie's in London will support City of Joy Aid programs that rescue and support slum children and provide medical care to more than a million inhabitants of the tiny islands that dot the Ganges delta.
CSR index for Malaysia launched
Investors seeking information on the corporate social responsibility performance of businesses in Malaysia can turn to a new evaluation tool, launched by a private research firm based in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysia SRI Index is the first in a planned series of reports on the region by Owens, Williams & Wood Consulting (OWW -- www.oww-consulting.com). OWW co-founder Arshad Adam says the index opens up the Malaysian market to socially responsible investors for the first time by providing "the most comprehensive assessment to date of the social and environmental performance of companies in Malaysia." The first index covers large cap, publicly listed firms and will be followed by reports on small cap and government-linked companies.
Sixth Social Entrepreneur's Summit January 21-23
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (www.schwabfound.org) is hosting its Sixth Social Entrepreneurs' Summit in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, January 21-23, 2007. The event seeks to build the global community of social entrepreneurs and create links with business entrepreneurs, leaders of multinational corporations, social investors, policymakers and academics. A focus of the 2007 summit will be the business case for supporting social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs from various fields will present their arguments for support, and business leaders will offer feedback. Other sessions will explore how foundations work together to support social entrepreneurs, and offer perspectives from regional development banks around the world. Keynote speakers include Steve Case, founder of AOL, and the World Bank's Paul Wolfowitz; the closing address is by John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods.
Global Philanthropy Forum Sixth Annual Conference at the Googleplex, April 11-13
Bringing together philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and other experts from around the world, the 2007 Global Philanthropy Forum's conference is organized around the theme "Financing Social Change: Leveraging Markets and Entrepreneurship." The two-and-a-half day event, being held at Google's headquarters in California, provides a combination of plenaries, breakout sessions and opportunities for networking. Speakers will include Google.org's Executive Director Larry Brilliant, Julio Frenk, Minister of Health of Mexico, Kurt Hoffman, head of the Shell Foundation, Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank. Participation in the conference is by invitation only and is intended for individuals with a commitment to philanthropy, as well as executives of private, public, and corporate foundations around the world. For more information on the event, and links to extensive information on global philanthropy, visit www.philanthropyforum.org.
Bill and Melinda Gates set timeline for life of foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates announced that the organization will be spending all of its resources within 50 years of their deaths. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has also been divided into two distinct entities "to more cleanly separate asset management from the programmatic work." One is an "asset trust" that will hold the foundation's existing $32 billion in assets as well as allocations over time from the $31 billion gift from financier and philanthropist Warren Buffett. The second is a "program foundation" that will conduct all the foundation's grantmaking from funding received from the asset trust. "Warren's gift has provided all of us with an opportunity to think deeply about the foundation's structure and work," the Gateses said in an announcement at www.gatesfoundation.org. "Focusing our efforts in the twenty-first century is a statement of optimism for what we can all achieve together in our and our children's lifetimes."
Reality TV shows to focus on giving
Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host, and ABC have announced plans to create two new reality-television shows that involve giving, reports CNN.com. One show, The Big Give, will donate money and resources to ten contestants who will compete to come up with the most inventive ways to increase their holdings and then give them away to help others. The other show, Your Money or Your Life, focuses on helping families in trouble by providing them with advice from experts. Ms. Winfrey is herself a major donor and has appeared on The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the 60 most-generous Americans. Chronicle of Philanthropy, Daily Update, December 18, 2006.
Making "hut calls" in remote Kenya: AID Village Clinics
The work of AID Village Clinics, founded by Ann Lurie, was featured in a one-hour CNN special on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The innovative health model conceived and supported by Lurie, a pediatric nurse and member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle, uses a central medical facility and health outreach workers on motorcycles to deliver state-of-the-art healthcare to 90,000 people scattered across a large, rural and resource-poor area of South East Kenya. The central health center, located in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro on Maasai tribal lands, treats close to 100 patients each weekday. Mobile health workers treat another 100 patients a day in their homes, some as far as 50 miles away. AID Village Clinics works in partnership with Riders for Health, a UK-based organization focused on solving medical transport issues in Africa. An excerpt from the CNN broadcast is available at www.aidvillageclinics.org.
The Philanthropy Workshop: Learning grantmaking in Ghana
In November, the Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org.uk) led a group of 17 donors from Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States to Ghana for the second of three modules of its internationally regarded program, The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW -- www.tpw.org.uk ). The first TPW module was held in London in June 2006; the third module will take place in New York in February 2007. The "world modules" model employed by TPW permits donors to hone their skills in international giving by learning about barriers to development, and exploring the role of government, donors, and the private sector in addressing poverty. A summary report on the Ghana visit is available in the December issue of Philanthropy UK at www.philanthropyuk.org.
New research center on philanthropy coming to UK
The United Kingdom's first "centre of excellence" for research into charitable giving and philanthropy is slated to open in the summer of 2007. Established by the Carnegie UK Trust (www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk) in partnership with the UK Government, the Scottish Executive and the Economic and Social Research Council, the center will efforts to better understand philanthropy and inform policy and practice decisions in the United Kingdom. "We see this centre as becoming something similar to the philanthropy research centers in the US," said Jeremy Holmes, Chair of Carnegie's Creative Philanthropy Programme. "Unlike the US, the UK and Europe generally have only ad hoc quantitative or qualitative research supporting philanthropy and charitable giving and we believe this new research centre will meet an urgent need." Carnegie UK Trust News Release, October 13, 2006.
David Rockefeller's $225 million bequest creates new global development fund
In November, David Rockefeller announced that he will make a $225 million bequest to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF -- www.rbf.org) endowment to create the David Rockefeller Global Development Fund. RBF is a philanthropic organization that promotes social change at the global, national and local level. The gift by Rockefeller, 91, a founder and advisory trustee of RBF, is the largest single gift to the fund since his father, the late John D. Rockefeller, Jr., established RBF's endowment in 1952. "The world's most urgent problems -- poverty, health and development -- can only be solved with a combination of resources, both public and private," said David Rockefeller. "In thinking about how I, personally, might make an impact, it seemed fitting to establish a special fund at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which does such excellent work around the world, and with which my family and I have been so closely associated." The new Global Development Fund is expected to expand RBF's capacity to address critical global challenges such as poverty, health care, sustainable development, management of the global economy, and international trade. A pilot program will support a project on global warming, which has been a longtime interest of RBF's sustainable development grantmaking. Rockefeller Brothers Fund News Release, November 20, 2006.
Campaign to carry message of tolerance to global audience
The Spread Tolerance Campaign, a new initiative of the Third Millennium Foundation (TMF) seeks to reach a global audience to raise awareness on the subject of intolerance, particularly among youth. The campaign kicked off in Los Angeles on December 14 with former US Vice President Al Gore presiding at an awards ceremony for its Seeds of Tolerance Film Competition. The project plans to spread tolerance via a variety of media including film, mass advertising, and content on its website, www.spreadtolerance.org, which offers a range of practical tips for parents, schools, and educators. In response to incidents of intolerance at soccer and other sporting events in Europe, the campaign is eyeing such venues for the next phase of its outreach. "We're at a critical time right now. Whether it's on a soccer field in Europe or in Darfur, intolerance is becoming commonplace," said Marco Stoffel, founder and president of TMF, and a member of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle. "We might not be guilty, but we're responsible. That's really the element we need to understand -- as children and as grown-ups, we need to learn to stand up for tolerance." TMF (www.seedsoftolerance.org) is a global grantmaker focusing on childhood education and human rights, and support for young social entrepreneurs.
Global Philanthropists Circle meets world challenges with passion and innovation
More than 100 leading international philanthropists convened in New York in October for the annual meeting of The Synergos Institute's Global Philanthropists Circle, a group of individuals and families committed to using their resources and passions to create a more equitable world. This annual event provides a forum for Circle members to find inspiration and share new methods and possibilities for collaboration. "Finding the opportunity to be able to interact not only in a grantmaking way, but in a learning way -- learning from those with whom we want to work -- is essential," Synergos founder and chair Peggy Dulany, told the assembled participants.
The daylong meeting provided numerous opportunities for learning and exchange. Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, and Blaise Judja-Sato, founder and president of VillageReach, described how their past experiences inspired them to take action on issues they are passionate about. Salbi, from a privileged Iraqi family, spoke of her efforts today to empower women in regions of conflict. Judja-Sato, a telecom executive, explained how family values absorbed as a boy in Cameroon continue to influence his leadership of a nonprofit that delivers lifesaving vaccines to remote corners of Mozambique.
Sheryl Sandberg, board member of the Google Foundation/google.org, and Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, offered insights into their strategies to innovate and measure impact to address global challenges. And members of a unique partnership aiming to bring safe drinking water to every person on the planet explored how philanthropists can effect change through the power of private-public collaborations (for more on the Blue Planet Run partnership see related feature on page 4). Transcripts and video highlights of the GPC's annual meeting are online. For more information on the Global Philanthropists Circle, contact Melissa Durda at mdurda@synergos.org/+1 646 963-2132.
University for a Night celebrates power of partnership
In October, The Synergos Institute's University for a Night (www.universityforanight.org) brought together a diverse cross-section of leaders from around the globe to discuss the world's most pressing problems. The evening featured a plenary discussion and question-and-answer session with Ted Turner, founder of the United Nations Foundation, philanthropist and entrepreneur, Charles A. Minor, the Ambassador of Liberia to the United States, Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, and Ingrid Srinath, Chief Executive of India's Child Rights and You. Participants also honored two people whose work exemplifies what the evening is about -- building bridges across traditional boundaries to create a better world. Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and David Rockefeller presented the 2006 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia and the first woman elected head of state in Africa, and Ted Turner. Later, participants met over dinner with the plenary speakers and other "Distinguished Faculty" for focused discussion on topics such as "The power of partnerships in improving education for children and youth," "Using tourism for local economic and social empowerment" and "The world we want -- Future directions in philanthropy."
© 2007 The Synergos Institute
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