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September 2008
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices around the world and links to learn more about them
Study finds confidence in nonprofits growing in Singapore
Singapore’s National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC -- www.nvpc.org.sg) has released its Individual Giving Survey 2008. Among the findings were a growth in confidence in the nonprofit sector and a correlation between volunteering time and giving money, with 98% of volunteers donating money, and volunteers giving an average of four times as much donations. Although the percentage of Singaporeans who volunteer has grown slightly in recent years (to about 17%) the total amount of time donated in the country fell from 49 million hours in 2006 to 45 million in 2008. More information is available at the NVPC website.
Film festival highlights compassion, spiritual traditions
The Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival (www.svspiritualfilmfestival.org) in U.S. state of Idaho describes itself as “a celebration of the human spirit through film.” Among the films from shown this year -- which hail from places including Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, France, Iran, Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States -- are several highlighting the power of philanthropy. Beyond the Call is about three American men who mix philanthropy and adventure by taking food and medicine to people living on the frontlines of war. Another is God Made Them Blind, a documentary on efforts by an Australian ceramicist who devoted himself to helping people in Indonesia blinded by cataracts. The festival was founded in 2005 by Mary Gervase, who is also Director of Education for the upcoming 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. (Idaho Mountain Express, September 17, 2008)
Charities Aid Foundation to offers foundation schools for wealthy Russians and Brazilians
The UK-headquartered Charities Aid Foundation (CAF -- www.cafonline.org) has started pilot schools for family philanthropists and their advisors in Brazil and Russia. Each six-day course (spread over four months) will provide participants with opportunities to share experiences on foundation and endowment management, as well as learn from experts including David Emerson of the Association of Charitable Foundations in the United Kingdom and Michael Madnick of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The schools are being run in cooperation with the Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS -- www.idis.org.br) in Brazil and the Russian Donors Forum (www.donorsforum.ru). (Philanthropy UK, August 28, 2008)
Wealthiest Australian to give away fortune
After a career spent running the iron-ore company, Fortescue Metals, which earned him $8 billion, Australia’s Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has decided to donate nearly all of his fortune before he dies. Forrest says that he “[doesn’t] intend to leave this earth as a rich man,” because it seems to him that “[money] doesn’t do much for [a person].” Forrest is known for contributing company shares valued at roughly $80 million to the Australian Children’s Trust and has launched an effort to provide 50,000 full-time jobs for Aborigines. How he will spend the remainder of his fortune is unknown, but with his public promise now made, he will be following the examples of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, both of whom plan give away most of their wealth while still alive. (The Wall Street Journal, August 6, 2008)
Foundation connects donors with community initiatives in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan
The El Sayed Foundation, a UK-based foundation focusing its work in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan, has launched a “matchmaking program” to connect philanthropists and philanthropic organizations with community-oriented nonprofit initiatives in need of support. Dina Sherif, Associate Director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo and an advisor to the El Sayed Foundation, describes the effort by saying “In chartering the course for new foundations, leveraging strategic partnerships and collaboration is key. Foundations are in a position to leapfrog what hasn’t worked and capitalize on existing best practices in ways that are both innovative and results-driven.” (El Sayed Foundation press release, September 1, 2008)
Chinese law firms donate time and expertise to protect the environment
Ten law firms in Zibo City in China’s Shandong Province have set up a legal advisory service to help local environmental authorities handle pollution complaints and to provide legal assistance to pollution victims. The local government officials have begun passing citizen complaints to the court system, but often the complainants are relatively poor rural people who are facing powerful business interests with much influence in the court system. This legal assistance effort seeks to offset the challenges facing citizens making environmental complaints. A similar effort was set up in Beijing in 1996, though in that case it was law professors and students donating their time, rather than law firms. Replication of the Zibo effort in other cities might help improve adherence to environmental regulations in China. (WorldWatch Institute article, March 31, 2008; Xinhua March 21, 2008)
Chinese-American philanthropists challenging stereotypes
In the United States, a recent study found that one in five Americans believe that Chinese-Americans “don’t care what happens to anyone but their own kind.” That stereotype, and a related belief that Chinese are particularly frugal, are being challenged by growth in philanthropy by Chinese-Americans. For example, a study by the City University of New York found that Chinese family foundations in the New York area have grown in assets from $23 million in 1990 to more than $218 million last year. Gifts by wealthy Chinese-Americans include not only support for work on issues such as U.S.-China relations but also for educational and health institutions in the U.S. (Sydney Morning Herald, August 11, 2008)
Housing developer recognized for social responsibility in Mexico
The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI -- www.cemefi.org) has given an award for social responsibility to the housing developer Urbi Desarrollos Urbanos for its innovative home financing initiative, Alternativa Urbi. Alternativa Urbi allows non-salaried workers -- who make up half of the Mexican population -- to get mortgage-based credit for home purchases. The workers live in the home before buying it, simultaneously saving for a down payment and building a credit history, which has the added value of bringing them into the formal banking system. (Urbi press release via Earth Times, September 8, 2008)
Philanthropy and press freedom in South Africa
In an opinion piece for a South African news service, Shelagh Gastrow, Executive Director of Inyathelo-The South African Institute of Advancement (www.inyathelo.co.za) argues that philanthropy has played a significant role in supporting important initiatives around the world, from the emergency “911” service in use in many countries, to educational television, to the fights against polio and, more recently, HIV/AIDS. Some of these efforts have been controversial, with government and others resisting efforts by nonprofit organizations and the philanthropies that support them. Gastrow points to recent criticism of the press in Southern Africa, stating that “Both the media and the nonprofit sector have emerged from situations where they have contested or questioned power and have in turn themselves become influential and powerful.” She points out that fewer international donors are supporting the press in South Africa and thus, in the face of issues such as xenophobic violence in South Africa and fragile democracy in the region, local philanthropic support for the press is even more critical. (Bizcommunity.com, July 7, 2008)
© 2008 The Synergos Institute
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