While foundations are sometimes viewed as organizations that are slow to change, Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, told members of the Clinton Global Initiative that her fund is doing more to innovate grant making.

She said donors should be more open to giving money to individuals or organizations that come along with new, if unusual, ideas. To illustrate her point, she told a story about John D. Rockefeller Jr.

When Albert Einstein sent a proposal to the philanthropist asking for $500, he said, “Why don’t we give him a $1,000? I think he’s onto something.”

Ms. Rodin also said her foundation has explored “innovative processes” to help this. For example, using the Internet and other technology, foundations can use “crowd sourcing” to receive feedback and suggestions from the people they and their grant recipients are trying to assist.

Nonprofit groups talk a...

A trio of businessmen at the Clinton Global Initiative said that getting involved in philanthropy has great rewards, but they also were rather candid about the challenges.

Eli Broad, who earned a fortune in real estate and has become a major donor to arts and education groups, said that unlike in business, a philanthropist must work hard to build consensus among charities, public officials, and others. Occasionally, he said, “you have to suffer more fools.”

Robert Wright, the former president of NBC who established Autism Speaks after one of his grandchildren was diagnosed with the disease, said half-jokingly that compared to his for-profit job, “the perks and pay really suck” running a charity.

Along with the other panel member, media mogul Ted Turner, they all said that business people can bring valuable skills and experience to nonprofit groups. However, they weren’t sure of...

During a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative on how to speed up the development of new ways to fix social inequities and other global problems, former vice president Al Gore and four other people were asked what innovations they hoped would develop in the year ahead.

Here are the responses:

• Mr. Gore called for a “sustainable capitalism” that would value environmental and social factors as much as profit.

• Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank, predicted that there would be breakthroughs in how mobile phones can be used to help improve the health of impoverished people.

• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the managing director of the World Bank, hoped that developing countries in Africa and elsewhere could develop better ways to handle natural disasters and political emergencies.

• Jack Ma, the chief executive of the Alibaba Group, the Chinese equivalent of eBay,...

If you paid $20,000 to attend a conference, you’d probably expect a gift bag stuffed with books, gadgets, or other goodies.

But participants at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative — who do pay that amount to be here — are only getting an empty bag. Former president Bill Clinton said the decision to cut back on gifts was in part driven by the economy, but he also wanted to be different than other big world meetings.

In place of the swag, attendees get “200 points” that can be spent at the so-called Giving Back Center, a kiosk where they can allocate their points to various charitable projects donated by corporations and charities.

For example, 10 points or so can go to a water filtration packet from Procter & Gamble, which manufactures the small powdered product that reduces parasites, bacteria, and other contaminants.

While the points are symbolic, how they are spent will ...

Innovation — as a concept and a goal — is popular these days. The Obama administration, of course, has set up its Office of Social Innovation and several nonprofit groups are pioneering what they describe as innovative approaches to fighting social or environmental problems.

But what does it really mean to be innovative? At the Clinton Global Initiative a panel of experts sought to answer that question.

John Kao, founder of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, said the idea is often misunderstood by some of the people who have embraced it recently.

“Innovation is an overly used word these days,” he said. He defined it as “creativity with a plan and purpose.”

Of course, what may seem like noteworthy creativity to some, may not appeal to others. If someone threw a bucket of paint on the floor it wouldn’t be worth anything, Mr. Kao said, but if Jackson Pollock did it, the...

Panels at the Clinton Global Initiative often avoid the hard issues that face charitable endeavors.

But the ABC News journalist Diane Sawyer added a tougher edge, pushing corporate and nonprofit leaders to discuss their failures in philanthropy and asking about the scarcity of resources.

The discussion focused on the so-called girl effect, the idea that whole nations improve when women and girls receive an education and other support.

While the panelists agreed on the importance of the concept, Ms. Sawyer wanted to hear practical details on what charitable efforts work and don’t work.

She asked Zainab Salbi, the chief executive of Women for Women International, and several other people how their efforts have fallen short and what they’ve learned.

Ms. Salbi said she preferred to focus on “challenges,” but Ms. Sawyer quickly rephrased her question: What is “something you...

With the recession hobbling the world economy, there were questions if attendance would drop at this year’s Clinton Global Initiative.

“We were thinking we would throw a party and no one would come,” said former president Bill Clinton at the start of the four-day conference.

But despite the downturn, Mr. Clinton said that 1,200 people are attending the New York event, more participants than last year.

He did say the economy has taken a toll; some of the charitable commitments made in previous meetings may take more years to reach their goals than planned. Given the difficulties, Mr. Clinton urged participants to consider supporting already-made pledges instead of creating new ones.

Since the conference started in 2005, Mr. Clinton said that 1,400 commitments have been made, with about a quarter of them fulfilled. The former president said those commitments are worth...

During a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative, President Obama said his mother inspired him to help the poor and other disadvantaged people, and he called on others to continue to be philanthropic despite the tough times.

As a young boy, Mr. Obama said he saw his mother’s dedication to helping impoverished women in South Asia — a period in which she helped the Ford Foundation pioneer a program to provide small loans to female business owners. “She championed the cause of women’s welfare,” he said.

Her charitable passion prompted him to become a community organizer in the southside of Chicago and work with local churches, he said.

Today, his administration wants to foster philanthropy and service among Americans by expanding AmeriCorps and doing more to bring together government, business, and charities to fight global problems. Building “creative collaborations,” he said,...

This week, former president Bill Clinton gathers world leaders, philanthropists, and celebrities for a meeting in Manhattan to discuss ways to solve global problems.

The event, which got its start in 2005, has produced more than 1,000 commitments that Mr. Clinton says are worth about $46-billion. But organizers told Reuters that the recession is likely to lead participants to commit less than in previous years and to focus their pledges on helping Americans.

From the Clinton Global Initiative, The Chronicle will update readers on philanthropic pledges made at the event, discussions about how to fix social inequities, and, of course, the occasional Matt Damon sighting.

The meeting focuses on four broad issues: poverty alleviation, climate change and clean energy, education, and global health.

This year’s event will include several discussions that are likely to be of interest to...

While the economic recession is hurting nonprofit groups, they must respond by being more creative and working with businesses, government agencies, and one another, Bill Clinton told members of the Council on Foundations.

Mr. Clinton said his own charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation, is not immune from the downturn. Since September, $15-million in pledges have been unfulfilled due to the financial crisis. He added that thanks to cash reserves and trimming its operations budget, his organization has not had to cut back on AIDS projects in Africa or other charitable efforts.

Small nonprofit groups are also facing deficits, added the former president, saying he is helping the Methodist church he attends in Westchester, N.Y., raise money to run a food bank.

“This economy has hit this philanthropic sector pretty hard,” Mr. Clinton said. “I see this everywhere, large and small...