Stuck in a bureaucratic no-man's-land for more than a year, $4 million in aid for Asian tsunami victims raised in an unprecedented Mexican fundraising campaign has finally found its way to its intended recipients in Indonesia.
The release of the entangled funds in early August means that nearly 2,000 new homes can finally be built for Indonesians displaced by the December 2004 tsunami. The happy ending is a tribute to the combined efforts of a Mexican entrepreneur and civic leader who spearheaded the original campaign, and his philanthropic partners in the United States.
Historic appeal in Mexico
The story begins in early 2005, when the three largest foundations in Mexico formed Alianza por Asia (Alliance for Asia) and launched a major national appeal in support of communities affected by the recent Indian Ocean tsunami. The effort was historic in that it represented the first ever public fundraising opportunity for the people of Mexico to contribute to humanitarian and development work outside their own country.
Alianza por Asia was a joint initiative of 37 Mexican civil society organizations, foundations, companies, financial institutions, and communications groups. The massive campaign raised public awareness and more than $4 million in private donations from 700,000 Mexican citizens to support reconstruction of homes in Indonesia. The drive was conducted via television programs, donation cards in more than 30,000 stores and 49 supermarket chains, public fundraising events, and giving opportunities via phone, mobile text messaging, direct deposit and credit card donations.
While Alianza por Asia originally intended to contribute these funds directly to United Nations Development Programme-Mexico (UNDP-Mexico), the organization ran into a roadblock when it discovered that in-country regulations required that the contributions be made only to a designated nonprofit entity such as those designated 501(c)(3) in the United States.
Reaching out to global allies
Dismayed that aid funding was being bottlenecked in the midst of a humanitarian crisis in Indonesia, José Ignacio Ávalos, a leader of the Alianza effort, decided to take action. At the annual meeting of The Synergos Institute's Global Philanthropists Circle (GPC) last November, Ávalos, who is a member of the circle, sought the advice of GPC staff about the problem and was quickly introduced to several organizations in a position to help.
The first was Mark Malloch Brown, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (and former Administrator of UNDP), who was also attending the GPC annual meeting. GPC staff next put Ávalos in touch with the United Nations Foundation, a private nonprofit organization created by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner to facilitate partnerships by the United Nations with business and civil society and to support UN programs by raising funds. In fact, the UN Foundation had provided matching funds for other GPC members who gave to tsunami relief in 2005.
"The Global Philanthropists Circle works to promote partnerships and alliances that reduce poverty and increase equity. We are pleased that through our network we were able to connect José Ignacio to the UN Foundation so the money raised by the Mexican public can be used to rebuild houses destroyed by the tsunami in Indonesia," said Melissa Durda, Senior Program Officer, Global Philanthropists Circle.
A collaborative approach to problem solving
From November 2005 through July 2006, Ávalos and his Alianza partners worked with GPC staff and Simon Isaacs, a program officer of the UN Foundation, to negotiate a resolution to the funding problem with UNDP. Ultimately, a solution was hammered out by which the money raised by Alianza was donated to the UN Foundation, which agreed to administer the funds in support of the UNDP's emergency shelter reconstruction program in Indonesia. On August 2, the funding logjam was officially cleared when UN Foundation received a wire transfer of $4.087 million from Fomento Social Banamex on behalf of Alianza.
The funding will be employed by UNDP Indonesia for reconstruction of 1,969 homes in coastline communities of Aceh. In recognition of Mexico's historic outpouring of compassionate aid for the citizens of Aceh, each home will bear a plaque featuring a Mexican flag and the words:
This house was built thanks to the support of the Mexican people to the Indonesian people -- Alliance for Asia, February 2005.