Merck, the pharmaceutical company, has provided some details about its commitment, announced earlier this week, of $500-million over the next decade to reduce the number of women who die in childbirth.

Some of that money will be in the form of cash grants to charities, Geralyn Ritter, president of the Merck Company Foundation, tells The Chronicle. The company will also pay to develop new technology—for example, a system to store a drug that helps prevent women from bleeding to death after childbirth.

Merck will also help spread existing technologies, train health-care workers, and support advocacy work, says Ms. Ritter.

The effort will be global, she says, but will focus on countries with the highest number of women dying in childbirth.

Nonprofits may be able to apply for money as early as next year, she says.

President Bill Clinton speaks at the first day of his annual philanthropy event. (Photo by Cibele Vieira / Clinton Global Initiative)

New York

Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, announced this week a $500-million commitment over the next decade to help reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth. Details of the plan are forthcoming, but the company says it will work with Save the Children, among other groups.

The announcement was one of several made during the United Nations meeting and President Clinton’s annual philanthropy event, which compete with teach other for the attention of world leaders, corporate chieftains, nonprofit officials, and foundation executives.

Mr. Clinton’s event opened on Tuesday morning with a group of heads of state, including leaders of Bangladesh,…

Read More

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today a new grant-making effort that expands its environmental giving beyond efforts to preserve land, seascapes, and species to tackle major threats to ecosystems, such as climate change, overfishing, and harmful agricultural practices.

The Chicago fund, one of America’s biggest philanthropies, plans to spend roughly the same amount on conservation issues—$176-million over the next decade—as it has been devoting to the cause in the past.

MacArthur’s president, Robert Gallucci, has been conducting a review of the foundation’s work since joining the fund in 2009. This is the first major grant-making change he has unveiled.

With the plan, the MacArthur fund is narrowing the regions where it focuses its environmental giving from eight to three.

They are: the East Africa’s Great Lakes region, Asia’s Greater Mekong…

Read More