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Summer 2009
Global Giving Round-Up
Overviews of best-practices and news from around the world and links to learn more about them
Forbes recognizes philanthropists across the Asia/Pacific
In their third annual issue of “Heroes of Philanthropy,” Forbes magazine published their second list of 48 leading givers from Asia. Instead of focusing only on the biggest donors, the list includes philanthropists who deserve acknowledgement for more than the volume of their giving. In recognizing four people from each of the twelve countries, Forbes hopes to encourage others, from the region and worldwide, to continue giving in spite of the global financial crisis. Among the 48 is Cherie Nursalim of Indonesia, a founding member of Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle, who is recognized for her work in education, addressing disabilities, disaster relief, and conservation. Another, Manuel V. Pangilinan of the Phillipines, chairs the Bayanihan Center, which provides cultural and vocational activities for Filipino domestic workers. (Forbes, March 16, 2009)
Third Global Social Innovators Forum to be held in Singapore
Global Philanthropists Circle Members Cherie Nursalim and Enki Tan are featured speakers at the Global Social Innovators Forum (GSIF – www.socialinnovatorsforum.org), to be held in Singapore's Social Innovation Park from October 1-3. The event, now in its third year, aims to bring together a community of influential minds from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to seek opportunities to build a more inclusive and sustainable world. The 2008 event attracted over 50 speakers and more than 300 delegates from 22 countries. The theme for GSIF 2009 is “Collaborative Innovations: Investing in Team Earth & an Inclusive World.” Other key speakers include Tim Ferguson, Executive Editor of Forbes, and Peter Seligmann, Chairman of Conservation International. Conservation International is a co-organizer of the event.
AlvarAlice Foundation connects microcredit to peace
Earlier this year, the AlvarAlice Foundation (www.alvaralice.org) of Colombia convened an International Symposium on Microfinance as a Tool for Peacebuilding in Cali, Colombia. The event explored how microfinance can be used to strengthen recovery from conflict in Colombia and other parts of the world. Traditionally, microcredit has been used as a strategy mainly in places with relatively stable economics, and not often considered in conflicted or recent post-conflict situations. But speakers at the symposium shared examples of how microcredit can work in such difficult contexts, and can, in fact, support peace by offering stable jobs and income to help people break cycles of conflict and overcome entrenched social divides. Equitable societies make retribution less likely. A highlight of the event was a plenary session during which Alicia Meneses, a microentrepreneur who earns a living selling empanadas on the street in Cali, had a frank exchange with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe about how critical access to credit is to businesspeople like her, and the need for more support for microcredit in their country. The symposium brought together over 2,000 participants from 19 countries and, due to extensive media coverage, significantly raised the profile of microfinance in Colombia. The AlvarAlice Foundation is chaired by María Eugenia Garcés, a member of Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle. (AlvarAlice/Synergos report, July 2009)
Shakira focuses on children in Colombia
Since the beginning of her career, pop-star Shakira Mebarak Ripoll has worked to improve the well-being of children in her home country of Colombia. Two years ago, Shakira, along with other Ibero-American singers, formed an organization called ALAS (“wings” in Spanish), which uses the influence of their fame to advance the cause of early-childhood development. Shakira works to link her pop celebrity linked with big business to address issues relating to government assistance for the young and poor in Latin America. Shakira describes her motivation for these efforts, “I grew up in the middle of a severe social crisis, left and right wings fighting with each other, people in the middle caught in the crossfire. I’ve seen millions of people displaced in Colombia. But I’ve also seen that, in countries like mine, when a child is born poor, he will die poor, unless he receives an opportunity. That opportunity is education. It’s that helping hand that they’re looking for. Latin America is a young continent, it’s malleable, it’s flexible. We still can change.” (New York Times, June 7, 2009)
New Americas Business Council looks at reconcialition and peace
Global Philanthropist Circle member Emilio Azcárraga launched an initiative that led to the creation of the nonprofit Americas Business Council (ABC). The organization, which is now supported by numerous well-known business leaders, aims to provide a forum to exchange ideas and solutions about the issues affecting Latin America. Azcárraga, who is CEO of Televisa, says “Today, in the midst of this landscape of crisis, it is more important than ever to open avenues of dialogue and windows of communication that allow us to find common solutions, for this crisis is not Mexico’s problem, or Brazil’s, or the United States.’ It is a global problem requiring joint efforts.” The ABC plans to focus on three key issues in the region: reconciliation and peace, sustainable development and the environment, and philanthropy. This year, the ABC’s first event, the Reconciliation Forum, brought together luminaries such as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Desmond Tutu and Mikhail Gorbachev, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of the International Criminal Court, experts from around the world, business people and activists. By building a community of young leaders in the region, the ABC hopes to create partnerships that will help to solve problems in Latin America. (PODER, June 2009)
Jeff Skoll works to address urgent threats
With an initial donation of $100 million, Jeff Skoll, the first president of eBay and Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation and Participant Media, created the Skoll Urgent Threats Fund in April. The new foundation will be led by Larry Brilliant, former head of Google’s philanthropic enterprise, and will work to combat urgent threats, such as water shortages, pandemics, and the Middle East conflict. Skoll explains, “In the last five years or so, certain issues have emerged very clearly that, if we don’t get ahead of them soon, all of the other things we’re trying to do, whether improving the lives of women or preservation of species or girls’ education, won’t really matter.” In the past, Skoll has used a variety of approaches to address social problems, including film production and support of entrepreneurs. The new fund plans to use these methods and others to address urgent crises. (New York Times, April 15, 2009)
European foundations raise the bar for philanthropic work
In March, the European Foundation Centre (EFC – www.efc.be) brought together more than 35 foundation representatives in Brussels to discuss ethics in philanthropy. The event focused on the 2007 EFC Principles of Good Practice, which describe seven values that European foundations should follow during operation. In light of difficult economic circumstances, many organizations have become less accountable, and the EFC made a point to emphasize the necessity of adhering to good practice standards. In April, the Transatlantic Taskforce on Development published a report emphasizing the need for new leadership and partnerships in global development. The group, formed in March 2008 by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an EFC member organization, The German Marshall Fund of the United States, put forth recommendations for future growth. The Taskforce organized a meeting of a diverse group of government, civil society, and private-sector professionals to focus on four priority challenges in development: growth, democracy, and security; climate change; food security; and effective support for development. Jim Kolbe, a Senior Transatlantic Fellow describes their efforts: “While there is no panacea for stimulating development, especially in today’s challenging global environment, we hope this report will help provide a roadmap for new ways of working together in partnership, and new policy areas to pursue.” (German Marshall Fund press release, February 2009)
Leading funders join together to help businesses in the developing world
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), which includes 35 leading funders, such as Google.org, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced their plan to invest more than $750 million dollars to help small- and medium-sized businesses in the developing world. Over the next five years, the group of foundations and for-profit social venture funds, hope to help entrepreneurs that are too big for microfinance loans, but too inexperienced for mainstream bank loans. Chris West, Director of the Shell Foundation, one of the members of the network, describes, “An entire segment of entrepreneurs in the developing world – those with small, growing businesses – are seen as too risky an investment by local banks…without access to business skills training and finance these companies hit a glass ceiling, and Africa misses out on a major engine of economic growth.” (Philanthropy UK, March 27, 2009)
Entrepreneurship in the Philippines examined in the US
In January, more than a hundred Filipinos and Filipino-Americans convened at the Asia Society in New York City to discuss social entrepreneurship and strategic philanthropy in the Philippines. Victoria Garchitorena, President of the Ayala Foundation USA, and community leaders, Loidas Nicholas Lewis and Diosdada Banatao, led a panel discussion on the experiences of Filipino social entrepreneurs, people who try to raise revenue through capitalist business techniques, and the challenges they face. The individual foundations of the three speakers work to improve the educational system in the Philippines through interventions, ranging from technology-driven instruction to traditional scholarship programs. One program organized by the Ayala Foundation, the GILAS project, aims to provide computers and internet access to all the 6,400 public high schools in the Philippines. (The Manila Mail, February 27, 2009)
Athletes who make a difference
The three-day Beyond Sport Summit, an event designed to celebrate, promote and drive forward sport-led social change, convened in London in July. The Summit brings together those who are using sports as a vehicle to create social change and influencers from the world of business, government and federations whose attitudes and decisions can have substantial impact. Among the many speakers was Olympic gold medalist, Ian Thorpe. After retiring from swimming in 2006, the Australian native turned to philanthropy. Through his charity, the Fountain for Youth, Thorpe is now focused on health and education projects in indigenous communities in Australia’s remote Northern Territory. “There are people in Australia who suffer from illnesses at the same rate as people in the developing world,” describes Thorpe, “Australia is a rich country so I don’t find that acceptable. We have the means to fix these problems but it’s not happening.” Another speaker, retired NBA player Dikembe Mutombo, is also using his stardom to make a difference in his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Through his effort and support the first modern, well-equipped hospital was built in the country’s capital, Kinshasa. Furthermore, Mutombo works to encourage others to get involved in philanthropic giving and hopes to use his voice to encourage the Western world to increase assistance to lesser developed nations. (BBC, July 15, 2009)
South Korean president gives back
Lee Myung-bak, President of South Korea, announced in July that he will donate $26 million to create a scholarship fund for needy students in South Korea. President Myung-bak had promised to donate a majority of his personal wealth during his 2007 election campaign, and is now establishing the Lee Myung-bak and Kim Yoon-ok Foundation to carry out his pledge. Having personally overcome difficult economic circumstances, Mr. Lee hopes that this scholarship fund will provide other poor South Koreans with the same opportunity: “I know that the best way for me to pay back such kindness is to give back to society what I have earned.” The president also donates his $11,000 monthly presidential salary to charities for the poor. (New York Times, July 6, 2009)
Tough economic conditions call for increased CSR
Synergos Global Philanthropists Circle member Felipe Custer and Andrew Mack, his colleague at AMGlobal Consulting, published an article entitled Working smarter: the need for a new CSR in our changing economy. The authors encourage companies to increase investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and reassess company policies to better utilize the advantages of invested time and money. In light of current economic troubles, companies throughout the world are choosing to allocate fewer dollars to CSR. Mack and Custer challenge this trend and explain that by increasing CSR spending, companies will be able to enjoy future economic success: “What makes a community better can also make a better business.” In today’s competitive market, they say, companies must form strong and trusting relationships with employees, shareholders, and customers. (Development Exchange, February 20, 2009)
India’s uneven tradition of philanthropy
In “Where Are India’s Great Philanthropists?,” the Daily Telegraph’ Dean Nelson explores the charitable shortcomings of India's wealthiest. Despite the country’s standing as the world's second fastest growing economy with some of the greatest management talent and richest men, Nelson and Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi point out the country's consistently inconsistent commitment to philanthropy. Gandhi blames a lack of vision on the part of Indian business moguls, who are still focused “on the bottom line rather than those at the bottom of its huge heap.” Nelson offers a hopeful view, recounting a chance meeting with three elderly men for whom philanthropy was based firmly in the Hindu beliefs and ethics of S.K. Mitra, who stated that to be reincarnated into a better life required serving the poor in one’s current life. The three men showed Nelson their new ashram, a state-of-the-art hospital providing free medical treatment to the needy, and gave him hope that “As India takes on its growing responsibilities as the world’s first soft superpower, its billionaires must, as Sonia Gandhi and S.K. Mitra have suggested, look within as well as beyond.” (Daily Telegraph, July 28, 2009)
© 2008 The Synergos Institute
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