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Welcome from Robert H. Dunn: Introducing the Synergos Commons

Notes from the Field: African Public Health Leadership | Urban Transformation in Rio de Janeiro | Social Innovators in the Middle East and North Africa | Aboriginal Leadership in Canada | Health along the US-Mexico Border

Faces of Change: New Members of GPC and Senior Fellows | New CEO for India's Bhavishya Alliance

Synergos Insider: Organizational Re-Structuring Emphasizes Relationships and Learning | 3 New Board Members | Synergos Commits to Socially Responsible Investing | 5 New Hires Including New Head in Brazil | Synergos in BusinessWeek, Alliance and Pink Magazines | GPC Hosts Boy Soldier Author | GPC Learning Visit to the Middle East | October 2007 Global Meetings | Campaign for the Future Launched

Calendar: 2008 Learning Trip to Kenya

Donor's Corner: Thanks to 2007 Donors

INTRODUCING THE SYNERGOS COMMONS

As 2007 draws to a close, I am happy to share with you a new e-communication newsletter that's been created to help the entire Synergos family of supporters and friends be more knowledgeable about our work. We plan to send out an updated version quarterly covering our partnership and network activities, as well as other organizational happenings that we think might interest you.

If you have any recommendations for what we can do to make this newsletter of better service to you, please contact Alex Dolan at adolan@synergos.org.

On behalf of the board and staff at Synergos, best wishes to you, your families, friends and communities.

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

New African Public Health Project Launches with $7 Million Grant from Gates Foundation

In January, Synergos will begin work on the African Public Health Leadership and Systems Innovation Initiative in Namibia. The project is funded by a $7 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project will train and support local leaders in public health in order to help strengthen the country's healthcare system.

The Initiative will support Namibian health leaders over 30 months, bringing together health leadership teams from government, business and civil society. Teams will be guided through an intensive leadership development process and will develop field projects that address pivotal health system opportunities or bottlenecks. The focus of field projects will be determined by the leadership teams, and may involve efforts to address maternal and child health, basic sanitation, or community-level health. A rigorous effort will be made to document and evaluate the Initiative, with the hope that the program may be replicated in other African countries.

According to the World Health Organization, Namibia's "level of health" rank (defined as the ratio between the actual level of health and the potential level that could be achieved if the country's health system were run efficiently) was 189 out of 191 countries. The sparse, largely decentralized population in Namibia presents specific and difficult challenges to effective nationwide healthcare, and the government is aggressively looking for solutions that can help build out this system.

Synergos will serve as the Initiative's coordinating partner and is opening a project office in Windhoek. Generon Consulting, McKinsey & Company and the Presencing Institute will be Synergos' partners on the project.

Rio De Janeiro Launches Partnership for Urban Transformation

In the mid 90s, Bogotá, the Colombian capital, was the epitome of a failed city: bankruptcy, abandoned public spaces, urban chaos, gigantic traffic jams, soaring violence rates (with one of the highest homicide rates in the world), and despair.

Only 10 or 12 years later, everything has changed. The city is financially healthy, a new public transportation system and the world's largest bicycle track have been built, new squares and parks are frequented by families, and the violence rate has decreased to one of the lowest among Latin American capitals.

Certainly many factors contributed to such a significant change. One of the most important was a movement called Bogotá, Como Vamos ("How Are We Doing?"), which in the last few years has spread to four other Colombian cities and to other countries in Latin America.

The idea is simple: to promote better governance through principles of modern administration, mobilizing the population to demand more accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of public policies. The tools include an annual survey of citizen's perceptions and specifically, a set of indicators that allow civil society and business organizations to monitor the quality of life in the city.

Rio Como Vamos started its first work in early 2007, following in the steps of Bogotá and São Paulo. Daniel Becker, Synergos' director in Brazil, is a member of the steering committee for the initiative.

The main focus of Synergos' support is to help this initiative be inclusive. Without incorporating the needs and perceptions of the poor, Rio Como Vamos might fail. Rio's main problems are intimately related to the huge inequalities of the city, and any movement that proposes major changes has to be inclusive and invite the participation of the poor. With his 20 years of experience working in favelas (urban slums), Daniel has helped diversify participation in the initiative by involving representatives of slum dwellers. He has also secured support to ensure that indicators of wellbeing directly incorporate the views of the poor.

The movement has been receiving support from all sectors of society, and has established a partnership with Globo, the main media network of Rio (and Brazil), including radio, TV and newspapers. Communication is essential for Rio Como Vamos, as it transforms information into mobilization and action, which will hopefully produce change.

In a city (and country) where public policies are traditionally defined by political interests, Rio Como Vamos faces the big challenge to link policies to public needs, and to make them more efficient and transparent, while creating a new relationship between citizens and government.

New Capacity-Building Program Taps Social Innovators in the Middle East and North Africa

In October 2007, Synergos launched the Middle East/North Africa Social Innovators Program, designed to strengthen high-impact social initiatives in the region. The three-year program will identify and support a cadre of twenty social innovators in the field of economic or sustainable development, health, education, and human rights. The goal is to enable these individuals to bring their successful ideas to scale, build the sustainability of their programs and contribute to lasting social change.

With an initial geographic focus on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Palestine, the program will offer selected innovators an integrated range of support services. The program will provide direct funding through financial awards that will enable participants to dedicate most or all of their efforts on their social ventures. In addition, the Innovators program will include capacity building through connections to a community of social entrepreneurs across the region and the world, as well as other global networks such as Ashoka. Participants in the program will have access to mentoring, peer-to-peer counseling, training and other tailored services to enhance their leadership, strengthen organizational capacity and build a bridge to sustainability. Finally, the participants will benefit from linkages to business, government, philanthropic and civil society leaders in the region and globally. Through structured dialogues and workshops, Synergos will help social innovators engage with key players in other influential networks and sectors critical to the future of the region, as a way to accelerate the path to greater scale and impact.

In implementing the program, Synergos will collaborate with local organizations in civil society, philanthropy academia, business, and government, and will benefit from the guidance of an Advisory Committee that will include prominent philanthropists and civil society leaders from the region. We'll also draw on the global know-how and resources of Synergos' Senior Fellows network.

Around the world, social entrepreneurs are carrying out important work to solve deeply rooted social problems. These extraordinary individuals usually operate with passionate volunteers, few staff resources and modest budgets. The Synergos program will boost the ability of social innovators in the Middle East/North Africa to address unmet needs, engage their communities in new approaches, and craft lasting solutions.

Canada's Aboriginal Leadership Initiative Begins Pilot Project

Canadians enjoy one of the world's highest standards of living, having made remarkable strides in advancing the health and prosperity of its citizens. Unfortunately, the conditions of Canada's Aboriginal people have not followed the same path.

The social and economic well-being of Aboriginal Canadians remains significantly lower than other Canadians. Their communities are marked by higher rates of unemployment, educational failure, disease, violence, and conflict with the law and incarceration. Aboriginal youth are also committing suicide at alarming rates, five to seven times higher compared to their non-Aboriginal peers.

Both government and Aboriginal leaders agree that many government assistance programs, however well-intended, are not working. There is a sense that constructive discourse is not happening, that the conversation is stuck.

With this in mind, a consortium of government, First Nations, and nonprofit organizations have come together in late 2007 to launch the Aboriginal Leadership Initiative. The Initiative intends to develop new ways to improve quality of life among Aboriginal people and enhance the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal societies. The program intends to reweave a social fabric that has become frayed by catalyzing meaningful dialogue, building relationships of trust, and stimulating joint action involving Aboriginal communities and organizations, government, civil society and businesses.

The initial pilot phase will last two years with a budget of $1.2 million, in the territories of the Nuu Chah Nulth Peoples of British Columbia, which comprise 14 First Nations living along the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island. If successful, the initiative will be replicated in other parts of British Columbia and across Canada.

The project team is presently comprised of the Nuu Chah Nulth Tribal Council, the British Columbia Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Health Canada, and The Synergos Institute.

In Pursuit Of A Healthy Region Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

A recent study described the U.S.-Mexico border region as a hypothetical 51st state. This "border state" ranks last in terms of presence of health care professionals, second to last in rates of the medically insured, and at top in the incidence of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diabetes. Health-related indicators from the Human Development Index for the U.S.-Mexico Border show that in terms of health concerns, U.S. and Mexican border residents have more in common with one another than their respective countrymen.

Against this backdrop, on October 18-20, 2007, Synergos brought together members of the US-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP) with the region's preeminent health experts and institutions to examine how bi-national philanthropic collaboration in the region could impact solutions of these complex challenges. Over 40 representatives from border community foundations, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border convened at the BPP's Nurturing a Health Border Region: The Potential of Philanthropic Collaboration thematic meeting.

The meeting included the participation of Ambassador Eleazar Benjamín Ruíz y Ávila, General Manager for the Mexico Section of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission as well as keynote speaker Mario Gutierrez, Director, Rural and Agricultural Worker Health Program at The California Endowment. The opening panel delivered by Dr. James Gerber of San Diego State University, Dr. Lawrence Kline of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission, and Dr. Maria Gudelia Rangel of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte described in greater detail current trends and the extent of challenges border communities face in improving health in the region.

About the U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership
Launched in 2002, the U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership is a collaboration between 19 border community foundations, 12 national, regional and international funders and Synergos.

The BPP improves quality of life for low-income border families and communities by strengthening border community foundations and promoting philanthropy in the region.

For more information, visit www.borderpartnership.org

Participants discussed solutions for problems, examining existing cross-border, collaborative initiatives in action along the length of the border. Solución TB is a collaboration between Project Concern International and the Government of Baja California to treat, prevent and increase awareness around TB. At the core of Solución's success lies the program's reliance on the work of promotoras, a uniquely Mexican model of the community outreach worker. Proyecto El Cuete is a product of a collaboration between the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Mexican nonprofit organization Prevencasa to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Tijuana through outreach, education, condom distribution and needle exchange programs among high risk populations. While Prevencasa delivers the direct services, UCSD researchers are observing and documenting the transmission patterns of the virus, and how human behavior is affecting it.

Breakout sessions at the meeting laid the groundwork for ongoing cross-border cooperation between local foundations, with groups that began dialogue around launching initiatives in the Sonora-Arizona border region and the Ojinaga and Presidio area. The meeting also contributed to a deepening collaborative relationship between the U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership and the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission.

The Synergos Institute and our Border partners were especially grateful for the contributions of BPP Funders that made this meeting possible, including the Ford Foundation, Pfizer Inc. and The California Endowment. In addition to financial support, Pfizer Inc. and The Endowment, brought to bear invaluable knowledge and expertise through their participation as speakers at the event. Sally Munemitsu on behalf of Pfizer introduced the group to the work of Pfizer's Healthy Border Alliance, and Mario Gutierrez inspired and challenged the group to think beyond the grant when devising how, as philanthropic institutions, this network of foundations can impact the health of their communities.

FACES OF CHANGE

Global Philanthropists Circle Adds Six New Members in Last Quarter of 2007

Singh, Carr, Morino, Custer, Feffer, and Harp join Circle's 74 philanthropists in 24 countries.

The Global Philanthropists Circle welcomes six new member families for the last quarter of 2007. These new members bring a wide range of interests and expertise, including venture philanthropy, women's rights, humanitarian relief, environmental conservation and education, as well as perspectives from Saudi Arabia, India, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and the United States.

Lekha Singh is an activist from India and the Founder and Trustee of the Aidmatrix Foundation. Based in Dallas, Aidmatrix was launched in 2000 as a program of the i2 Foundation with an innovative approach to humanitarian relief that mobilizes over $1.5 billion a year, working with 35,000 fellow charities on five continents to feed about 25 million a year. Lekha is also an accomplished photographer whose work is featured in National Geographic's The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope and The Making of an Activist. Her third book, Call to Love: In the Rose Garden with Rumi, was released in 2007. She was a World Technology Network Fellow in social entrepreneurship, and the recipient of the Computerworld Honors Award.

Greg Carr, through his private foundation, signed an agreement with the Mozambican government in 2004 to restore their flagship national park, Gorongosa. He is working with the traditional communities near the park to establish health clinics and schools, assist them in securing land tenure on their traditional homelands, and provide capacity building to prepare them for employment opportunities. Greg co-founded the Museum of Idaho in 2000 and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard in 1999. His private foundation, launched in 1998, is dedicated to human rights education, environment and the arts.

Mario Morino is co-founder and chairman of Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic investment organization that concentrates investments of money, expertise, and contacts to improve the lives and boost the opportunities of children of low-income families in the U.S.'s Capital Region. He's also the founder and chairman of the Morino Institute, which was designed to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship, close social divides, and advance a more effective philanthropy. His career spans more than 40 years as entrepreneur, technologist, and civic and business leader. Mario co-founded and helped build the Legent Corporation, a software and services firm that became a market leader and one of the industry's 10 largest firms by the early 1990s, and is a member of the Executive Advisory Board of the private equity firm, General Atlantic, LLC.

Felipe Antonio Custer is chairman and CEO of Corpora ción Custer S.A., and the president of Voxiva Peru, an innovative "social enterprise for profit" telecom company based in Washington D.C. In 1996, Tony founded Fundación Felipe Antonio Custer, which supports childhood education with 12 school centers the lowest income areas of Lima. In addition, Tony is the director of Youth Orchestra of the Americas in Washington, D.C. and of the Harvard Business School's Global Initiative. He is also an advisory board member of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. In addition, he is the author of Peru's top-selling cookbook, El Arte de la Cocina Peruana (availabe in English as The Art of Peruvian Cuisine), and a series of children's books, El Osezno Febezno, Un Osito Valiente y Cortés, El Osezno Febezno en Konkilandia, and El Osezno Febezno y el Flotamo. All the income from the sale of the books supports Fundación Felipe Antonio Custer,

Daniel Feffer is the corporate vice president of Suzano Holding, one of the largest private groups in Brazil, and vice chairman of the board of directors of Suzano Papel e Celulose. He is part of Suzano's Strategy Committee, and serves as chairman of Lazam-MDS Insurance Broker Ltd. He is president of Vocal Trucks, president of Nemonorte Real Estate Development, and president of the Instituto Ecofuturo. Daniel is a member of the Council of Economic and Social Development, an instrument created by President Lula Da Silva to facilitate discussion of government policies among trade union confederations, the business sector, intellectuals and religious leaders in Brazil. He is also a member of the Council of Entrepreneurs for Latin America, the Institute of Research for Industrial Development, and the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo.

Sissi Harp Calderoni is the President and Director of Foundation Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico, where she administers an annual budget of more than 230 million pesos (MDP) and supports annually more than 250 causes related to education, health, arts and cultural preservation, poverty and economic development, environment, disaster relief and sports, with a special focus on improving education among the poor. The Foundation is one of the largest foundations in Mexico and is noted for its transparency in disclosing its financial activity.

Senior Fellows Welcomes 11 New Members

In October, Synergos invited 11 leaders from around the world to comprise our Senior Fellows Class of 2008. They join the current Fellows as part of network of 93 leading professionals from 31 countries.

The new Fellows were chosen from a pool of around 140 applicants, the largest ever, through a process that involved current Fellows and Synergos staff. Fellows were selected based on how their past work aligned with Synergos' mission and values, and how their Fellowship can strengthen their capacity as leaders.

One of the new Fellows is Sadiqa Salahuddin, Executive Director of the Indus Resource Centre in Pakistan, which helps empower poor communities and bring citizens into public policy in Pakistan and other parts of South Asia. As a Synergos Senior Fellow, she intends to use her Synergos experience to "promote public-private partnership, which is badly needed in Pakistan."

Another is Mariana Lomé, Executive Director of Fundación Compromiso in Argentina, which strengthens the institutional and management capacity of civil society organizations in that country and other parts of Latin America. One of the reasons she became a Fellow to increase the scale of impact of her work through regional and global sharing of best practice information. As she puts it, "We know we cannot do it alone, and we do not want to!"

Synergos' Azeen Salimi, who coordinates the Fellows Program, comments, "Over the last year, we've expanded the focus of the Fellows to encompass not only strengthening individual civil society organizations but also supporting the creation of new partnerships. The dynamic and charismatic leaders in the class of 2008 will be a big addition to that. I'm glad to welcome them to the Synergos family."

Senior Fellows Class of 2008

Mary Amuyunzu-Nyamongo, Executive Director, African Institute for Health and Development, Kenya
Rosangela Berman-Bieler, Executive Director, Inter-American Institute on Disability and Inclusive Development, Brazil
Bharati Chaturvedi, Director, Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, India
Celso Grecco, President, Atitude Social Marketing , Brazil
Gilda Haas, Executive Director, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, United States
Mariana Lomé, Executive Director, Fundación Compromiso, Argentina
Sixto Macasaet, Executive Director, Caucus of Development NGO Networks, The Philippines
Chebet Maikut, Vice-President, Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, Uganda
Nora Murad, Executive Director, Dalia Association, United States
Lake Sagaris, President, Cuidad Viva, Chile
Sadiqa Salahuddin, Executive Director, Indus Resource Centre, Pakistan

New CEO Named for India's Bhavishya Alliance

The Bhavishya Alliance works to reduce child undernutrition, with programs including education on the importance of monitoring children's weight to ensure their healthy development

In 2006, with the support of the global Partnership for Child Nutrition that brought together Unilever, UNICEF India and Synergos, a new national-level partnership -- the Bhavishya Alliance (www.bhavishya.org.in) -- was formally established in India with the goal of contributing to halving the rate of child undernutrition in that country by 2015. Bhavishya brings together representatives of Indian government, business and civil society and is helping them implement pilot solutions to the problem of undernutrition.

Synergos has helped facilitate the formation of Bhavishya and has provided interim leadership to the organization, with Synergos' Surita Sandosham serving as Acting Chief Executive. We are happy to announce that a new CEO, K.S. Murthy, has just joined Bhavishya, completing the transition of the organization to completely Indian-governed and -led. Mr. Murthy has served as CEO of Brooke India (a nonprofit organization working on equine welfare), worked for the United Nations, and been a freelance consultant on assignments related to public health, family welfare, child nutrition, primary education, water, and sanitation supported by The World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the UK Department for International Development, among others, in Asia and Africa.

THE SYNERGOS INSIDER

Synergos Changes Organizational Structure to Emphasize Relationships and Learning

In June, the Board of Directors approved a new strategic plan that restructured the organization into four work groups: Partnerships, Networks, the Knowledge Sharing Center and Special Projects. All of Synergos' existing work, and all future initiatives, will be assigned to one of these teams.

Partnerships includes a small portfolio of collaborative efforts where Synergos will play a major role in convening and supporting initiatives to achieve systemic change impacting poor and/or marginalized communities. This group will also contribute to the success of a larger number of cross-sectoral partnerships by offering advisory and technical services to them.

Networks will expand, strengthen and connect the leaders and organizations committed to social change that are part of the Synergos family. This includes both the members of the Global Philanthropists Circle and the Senior Fellows network, as well as a larger, less formal cohort of NGOs, foundations and business. The Networks team also oversees our Social Innovators Program in the Middle East and North Africa, our US.-Mexican Border philanthropy project, and our program in Brazil.

Our Knowledge Sharing Center, which will launched in the second half of 2008, will widely disseminate learnings, case studies and tools based on the experience of Synergos, its networks, partners and others. The Center will initially be knowledge-based and interactive, and over time it will include sponsored training programs and a connected network of practitioners.

The Special Projects Team is concentrating its efforts on the monitoring and evaluation of all Synergos programs and overseeing our program activities in Southern Africa.

Synergos Welcomes Three New Members to the Board of Directors

In the past few months, Synergos is proud to have added three new members to its Board of Directors:

Youssef Dib comes to Synergos with over 20 years experience in global finance. He is responsible for the development of personal wealth management, which includes the largest clients of BNP Paribas Private Bank. BNP Paribas is a leading bank in the eurozone with a market capitalization approaching US $70 billion.

His interests include the promotion of rural ownership and entrepreneurship through his support of organizations such as Friends of the Countryside and European Land Owners in Europe, the development of social entrepreneurship, as well as the promotion of a constructive and respectful dialogue between religions and minorities in the Middle East. Youssef is a graduate from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris.

Roland S. Harris III is a veteran executive at IBM, and is currently Vice President, GBS Americas Region, Strategy and Market Development. Over his career at IBM, he has developed a global strategy for pandemic preparedness, designed to protect the health of IBM's employees and clients, minimize disease transmission, and promote business continuity. In addition, he has led a process to help central, state and local governments, as well as healthcare and education industries leverage world-class technology to improve performance.

He has served on the board of a number of technology associations, such as Enterprise Solutions, Information Technology Association of America and the Professional Services Council, and been a member of the Judith P. Hoyer Blue Ribbon Commission on the funding of early childcare and education for the Governor of Maryland.

Rajesh Tandon is an internationally acclaimed leader and practitioner of participatory research and development. In 1982, he founded the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organization providing support to grass roots initiatives in South Asia, and is still its chief functionary.

Rajesh specializes in social and organizational change. He has advocated for a self-reliant voluntary sector in India and abroad, and is currently promoting local government bodies (panchayats and municipalities) as institutions of local self-governance in South Asia, with special focus on women and marginalized groups.

He has served on numerous government task forces, committees and the boards of many civil society organizations, including the committee constituted by Ministry of Rural Development to determine the empowerment of panchayats. He is the founder and has been the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.

Synergos Board Adopts New Policy of Socially Responsible Investing

The Synergos Institute's work is driven by its core values: social justice, collaboration, innovation, integrity and compassion. In an effort to infuse these values into Synergos' financial plan, the Board of Directors has approved an investment policy for its new board-restricted fund, which will now initially result in 20 to 30 percent of its portfolio being placed in "socially responsible" investments. Over time, the Investment Committee hopes to be able to expand and diversify these kinds of investments.

Synergos Announces Five New Hires Including New Head in Brazil

Daniel Becker has come on board as the Country Director in Brazil, overseeing efforts to strengthen philanthropy and build partnerships to overcome poverty and increase equity. He is based in Synergos' Rio de Janeiro office. Daniel was Executive Director of CEDAPS (Centro de Promoção da Saúde Center for Health Promotion), a nonprofit organization he founded in 1993 to work with poor urban communities in Brazil on the issues of health, development and education. Daniel also participated in the creation of the main primary care program of Brazil's Ministry of Health, which covers 85 million people. He has worked as a pediatrician with Médecins Sans Frontiéres in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border, and has been an Ashoka Fellow. His writing has been published in Brazil and internationally, and includes the book O Que É Adolescência? (What Is Adolescence?).

Alex Dolan has been hired at Director, Communications for Synergos in the New York office. With over 10 years experience in social marketing and communications, he has served as Senior Vice President for Fenton Communications, the country's largest public interest communications firm, and helped launch Current TV, the national television network co-founded by Al Gore, as the network's Public Relations Director.

Ferne Mele is the new Senior Development Officer in New York. She has ten years experience as Development Manager at Women's World Banking, a global network of microfinance institutions and banks dedicated to opening access to financial services for poor women entrepreneurs. A native of Italy, Ferne also worked as a manager in the equity research department at Euromobiliare, an investment firm based in Milan, and as a consultant to IFAP, the management training institute of the IRI group in Rome.

Manisha Bhinge fills the post of Manager, Development Services in New York. Originally from Mumbai, Manisha graduated from John. F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University with a Masters in Public Administration and International Development in June 2007, just prior to joining Synergos. Her previous experience includes three years at the Corporate Executive Board, a best practices management consultancy, as well as the United Nations Development Program in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Anthony Romano has joined Synergos as Budget Manager in New York. He brings 16 years of experience in accounting and finance, most of it in the non-profit sector. Before Synergos, Anthony worked with the Nassau County Youth Board and the Hispanic Counseling Center in New York, as well as the Structural Resistance in South Carolina. Immediately prior to joining us Anthony worked at the Jamaica Medical Center Hospital in Jamaica, New York.

Synergos in the Media

BusinessWeek Profiles the Global Philanthropists Circle

The November 26 issue of BusinessWeek dedicated a feature on Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle. The piece gives a broad overview of the Circle's work, and the GPC members and staff who participated in the piece contribute their views on how involvement in the Circle helps philanthropic leaders.

John Heller Featured in Alliance Magazine

John Heller, Synergos' Director of Partnerships, has written an article on the Partnership for Child Nutrition that appears in the December 2007 issue of Alliance Magazine.

Nadine Hack to Be Profiled in Pink Magazine

Nadine Hack, a member of the Synergos Board of Directors, will be featured in an article on women and philanthropy in the January 2008 issue of PINK.

GPC Next Generation Hosts Boy Soldier Author Ishmael Beah

On December 6, the Global Philanthropist Circle's Next Generation program hosted a meeting at Synergos' New York headquarters that featured Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

Beah was forced to fight in Sierra Leone's civil war at the age of thirteen. Today, at the age of 27, he is turning his painful experiences into action to help children and youth in conflict areas of Africa and elsewhere. At the Next Generation event, he shared his story and discussed ways that philanthropists could address the issue of child soldiers.

The meeting with Ishmael Beah was part of a series of meetings the Circle hosts throughout the year that aim to inspire, educate, and support young philanthropic leaders in their work. Synergos connects them to one another and to other young activists to foster collaboration and partnership. Other topics this year included philanthropists' role in shaping public policy and the impact of consumption patterns on the global environment and communities.

Circle Has Successful Learning Visit to the Middle East

In November, Synergos and members of the Global Philanthropists Circle embarked on a trip to the Middle East to explore each other's work, deepen their knowledge of some of the key regional issues and challenges and explore first-hand innovative efforts to promote co-existence and economic development. The trip took them to Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, to meet local government officials, business leaders, and grassroots organizations, as well as immerse themselves in the culture. It will also help build relationships for Synergos' recently launched Middle East and North Africa Social Innovators Program.

Highlights of the trip included meetings with Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and Chief of Staff to Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and dinner with Stef Wertheimer, one of Israel's leading businessmen. The group met with activists and grass roots leaders, learned about efforts to bridge divides and empower local communities, in areas ranging from the urban areas of Jerusalem, Amman and Tel Aviv to the Bedouin communities in the Negev Desert to a refugee camp in the West Bank.

Peggy Dulany, Bob Dunn, and Helen Knapp from Synergos led the group which included twelve Circle members from the United States and Europe.

Reflecting on the trip, Bob commented, "The trip was an intense and emotional learning experience. Despite the conflict, violence, and tension, there is evidence that people of good will committed to social justice can and do make a difference in Palestine, Jordan and Israel. I'm glad that Global Philanthropists Circle Members are active in the region, and that Synergos has begun to work there as well."

Global Meetings in New York Explore Scale and Social Justice; University for a Night Celebrates Partnership

Senior Fellows Global Meeting Examines Social Justice

The 2007 Senior Fellows Global Meeting brought together 35 members of the Fellows network in New York September 29-October 2. The theme of the meeting was "Building Partnerships for Social Justice" with a focus on strengthening Fellows' capacities to build inclusive partnerships. Topics included mediating power and conflict, supporting community voices in development projects, and systems change. Fellows also took time to meet with community leaders and activists in the greater New York area during site visits to the Bronx, Harlem, Staten Island and Newark, New Jersey. The meeting built on the work from the 2006 Global Meeting in New Delhi, where the Fellows began broadening their network's focus from strengthening philanthropic organizations to supporting multi-stakeholder partnerships.

GPC Annual Meeting Examines Partnership

"The women have their fingers on the pulse of the community, because they know all the neighbors, they know what the needs are, so if they're involved in writing a peace agreement, then you have an agreement that's more likely to succeed because it has the community buy-in."
-- Swanee Hunt on Investing in Women and Leadership

More than 100 leading international philanthropists came together in New York on October 4 for the 2007 Global Philanthropists Circle Annual Meeting. The event provided a forum for Circle members to exchange successful approaches and challenges to poverty alleviation with their peers, increase their knowledge and capacity to act effectively, find inspiration and explore possibilities for collaboration. Participants used break-out sessions to work on their interests and models of effective philanthropy.

The Annual Meeting also included three presentations. One, with Synergos' founder Peggy Dulany and William H. Gates, Sr. of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, looked at the role of partnership in increasing the impact of philanthropy. Another, with Hylton Appelbaum of The Liberty Foundation, Swanee Hunt of the Hunt Alternatives Fund, and Narciso Matos of the Foundation for Community Development of Mozambique, examined ways philanthropists can invest in development in Africa. The last was a presentation by Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, about how he created that organization and how it is working in Haiti to create systemic improvement in public health.

Senior Fellows and GPC Share First Joint Meeting

On October 3, the Senior Fellows and members of Synergos' Global Philanthropists Circle met for the first time as a group for a day-long workshop titled "Achieving Greater Philanthropic Impact through Collaboration and Partnership." Fellows and GPC members have met and worked together one-on-one in the past, but this joint meeting aimed to greatly increase those sorts of connections.

Through dynamic conversations, the two networks explored issues in addressing poverty challenges and ways they could leverage philanthropic efforts by working with each other in the field. The workshop engaged the participants in an introductory exercise to identify common areas of interest and opportunity.

University for a Night Celebrates Partnership

Later on October 4, Synergos hosted University for a Night 2007. University for a Night has been held annually since 1996 to raise funding for Synergos' work and to bring together leaders of business, government, civil society and concerned philanthropists to share ideas about how best to work together to address poverty and other global issues. For the last several years, participants have also used the occasion to honor individuals and organizations who have demonstrated leadership in building collaboration and partnerships. They receive the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, named for its first recipient.

The 2007 recipients were the Gates Family, represented by William H. Gates, Sr., Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandela was unable to attend and sent a video message. Other key speakers included Mariclaire Acosta, Special Advisor to the President at the Organization of American States; Raymond Chambers, Co-Chairman, Malaria No More; Vincent Mai, Chairman and CEO of AEA Investors; David Rockefeller; Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation; and Rajesh Tandon, Chief Executive of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia.

University for a Night table discussion on "Promoting tourism for sustainable local development" with Joseph Nsengimana, Ambassador of Rwanda to United Nations, and Eddie Bergman of the Africa Travel Association

The evening concluded with the over 350 participants holding discussion over dinner on particular topics of interest to them. The topics ranged broadly from "Unleashing the potential of communities against HIV/AIDS in Africa" to "Strategic philanthropy to combat climate change" to "Fair trade and market-based solutions to poverty." The common theme among these diverse discussions was a sense that partnerships can and are helping solve some of the world's most difficult problems.

"Campaign For The Future" Seeks $20 Million to Boost Endowment and Expand Programs

Over the next 18 months, the "Campaign for the Future" seeks to raise an ambitious $20 million in new funds. These critical resources will allow us to increase the scale and impact of our work in poverty and social justice and increase our endowment, providing greater financial stability for future work.

The Campaign will enable Synergos to expand the impact of our global networks and partnerships, and share our learning with others who are doing this work. The funding will support our high-impact programs, treating the pressing issue of child undernutrition in India, HIV/AIDS in orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa, urban poverty and the favelas in Rio de Janeiro, begin work to build an improved public health system in Namibia, and the advancement of indigenous people's rights in Canada. It will also enable Synergos to expand its work in Africa, Latin America and Asia, as well as expand into new regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

To find out more about the Campaign or to donate, please contact Alissa Desmarais at adesmarais@synergos.org or +1 646-963-2168.

CALENDAR

Registration Extended for March 2008 GPC Learning Visit to Kenya

On March 10-17, 2008 the Global Philanthropy Circle will take a learning trip overseas to Kenya, stopping in Nairobi, Thika, Nyeri, Nanyuki and Kisumu. With the best-developed economy in eastern Africa and a long tradition of community philanthropy, or harambee, Kenya is developing innovative strategies to tackle poverty.

Participants will visit and discuss a number of groundbreaking projects and meet leaders of civil society, government and business who are shaping its future. Highlights of the trip include the Millennium Villages Project, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, a number of projects in Kibera, the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy, and the Green Belt Movement's project near Mount Kenya.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Melissa Durda at mdurda@synergos.org or +1 646-963-2132. Registration is open until January 8, 2008.

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