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Conference Notebook
September 2008
September 26, 2008
Clinton Says $8-Billion Raised at Philanthropy Meeting
Bill Clinton ended his annual philanthropy conference by saying this year’s event triggered 250 commitments estimated to be worth $8-billion. These commitments can be in the form of donations, business investments, volunteer time, and other work.
As part of this total, he announced a $100-million commitment to rebuild Haiti, which was devastated by several hurricances recently. Saying he has a special place in his heart for the island nation, where he spent his honeymoon, Mr. Clinton called on stage the president of Haiti to thank almost a dozen people who are part of the effort.
The promises include distributing shoes to children and providing seeds and agricultural training to farmers.
Mr. Clinton said the Haitian project came together very quickly, pointing out that the actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt called him this morning to pledge to pay for the rebuilding of 12 schools.
“We want it better than before the storm hit,” the former president said about Haiti.
U.K. Leader Sees Global Opportunity
During the last session of the Clinton Global Initiative, Gordon Brown, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, said the current financial crisis facing America can be an opportunity to improve the worldwide economy.
He said the problem can be a chance “to build a truly global society,” one which provides new jobs in the United States to replace the work that is being sent overseas and allows for resources, such as energy and food, to be cultivated and spread more evenly.
If the inequality between the rich and poor continues to grow, he said, so will tensions between them. Impoverished people will start asking more frequently, “Why can I not have some benefit from globalization that is happening around the world?”
While he said he understood the concerns of the anti-globalization movement, he said that the increasing connectedness of the world is inevitable.
As an example, he pointed out the irony of some protesters. During a visit to the International Monetary Fund, in Washington, he said he saw a sign that read: “Worldwide Campaign Against Globalization.”
Philanthropy's Faults
A panel at the Clinton Global Initiative on philanthropy in rural areas sparked a broader discussion — and complaints — about charitable giving.
The discussion’s moderator, Steve Gunderson, president of the Council on Foundations, struggled to keep the speakers focused on the main topic when one of them, Wangari Muta Maathai, said that not enough is done to help Africans lift themselves out of poverty.
“You have to help these people rise up and walk,” said Ms. Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, a charity in Kenya.
Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church, which does antipoverty work in Rwanda and elsewhere, agreed. “So much of what we do in philanthropic development robs people of dignity, removes initiative, destroys their own economy. It’s actually counterproductive,” he said.
Good giving works like an injection of yeast into dough — a relatively small amount can have expansive results with the right ingredients, he said.
“There’s a way to give that sustains and there’s a way to give that makes people dependent,” he said.
For Native Americans, however, that type of positive contribution has been hard to come by from the government and philanthropy, said Elsie Meeks, president of First Nations Oweesta Corporation, a charity in Rapid City, S.D.
“Native American tribes are really under the radar for most folks. There’s poor in the United States, if we can’t solve that issue in the United States, how are we going to do it in any other country?” she asked.
“One of the largest foundations in this world has a new CEO and was getting educated by some of his program officers about some of the poorest people in the United States — Native American women — [and] he said, So what? His point was there’s not enough of us,” she said.
Concerned that the session was getting too negative, Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning founder of the Grameen Bank, said, “The message I think we don’t want to give as a panel is, Don’t give money for philanthropy. That’s not the message. The message is, Please do give, but it could be used much more powerfully.”
“Let’s not confuse things,” he said to the business executives and philanthropists in the crowd, “we need to share the wealth.”
Mega-Commitments
During his annual philanthropy conference this year, Bill Clinton has tried to have more so-called mega-commitments — pledges by a large group of people focusing on often-overlooked global problems.
The big promises provide an insight into what the former president, and the scholars and philanthropy experts he hires to organize the conference, consider to be important issues.
So far, the mega-commitments have included money for clean water and sanitation, assistance to entrepreneurs in poor countries, mobile phones to link needy people to financial services, and programs to feed impoverished students.
Star Power and Philanthropy
As with previous years, several celebrities are attending the Clinton Global Initiative this week to push for charitable causes they’re passionate about.
Among the Hollywood elite here: actress Drew Barrymore and actor Matt Damon.
Ms. Barrymore came to the event to promote international anti-hunger efforts. Mr. Damon spoke about his support for programs that provide clean water and sanitation to people in Africa and other impoverished regions.
Speaking to reporters alongside a group of charity and foundation leaders, Mr. Damon acknowledged his somewhat odd position. “Alright, who invited the stupid actor and why is he batting clean-up on this excellent panel?” he asked to laughter.
Despite the humor, Mr. Damon spoke passionately about water issues. He said a 14-year-old African girl inspired him to become an antipoverty advocate when he learned she wanted to move to a big city and become a nurse; such dreams reminded him of his own aspirations as a teenager to become an actor. And he realized that young men and women in poor areas will only have those hopes if they have access to functioning wells and toilets.
Mr. Damon’s celebrity life, however, came crashing back when a German reporter asked him if he wants to make movies with positive messages after playing a “gangster” in the Ocean’s Eleven series.
“This is kind of where my life goes into the surreal,” he said.
Clinton and the News Media
Perhaps more than any other event on philanthropy, the Clinton Global Initiative attracts a huge number of journalists from around the world.
This year, more than 1,000 reporters attended, according to a spokesman for the conference.
But given such an influx of scribes and broadcasters, the Clinton team places restrictions on them. Starting with last year’s meeting, reporters are not allowed to mingle with participants unless escorted by a Clinton staff member, event volunteers stand guard to prevent reporters from breaching restricted areas, and cocktail parties that were open to the press two years ago are now closed.
To be sure, the Clinton Global Initiative has always kept a tight rein on reporters. Since its start in 2005, journalists have been barred from sessions on specific topics — the so-called breakouts.
These sessions are broadcast live on televisions to the press room, but the broadcast goes dead when participants are asked to brainstorm about ways to fix global problems. Clinton officials say that if the press were in the rooms, attendees would be less candid about what they think are the solutions to social ills.
September 25, 2008
Gates Promises $168.7-Million For Malaria Vaccine
During a meeting at the United Nations today, Bill Gates said his foundation is awarding $168.7-million to create a malaria vaccine.
The money will support work by PATH, a large health nonprofit group in Seattle, to develop a potential anti-malaria drug with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
“I’m very hopeful that the malaria vaccine currently in advanced testing will be proven effective, but that will just be the first step,” said Mr. Gates. “Now it’s time to develop a new generation of vaccines that are even more effective, and could someday help eradicate malaria altogether.”
The grant was announced as world leaders said they plan to eradicate malaria by 2015.
In addition to the Gates grant, other private contributions to anti-malaria work announced today include $1.6-billion from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to pay for the distribution of bed nets; $2-million from the United Nations Foundation; and $28-million from Marathon Oil, in Houston, to increase malaria prevention projects in Equatorial Guinea.
Broad Promises $6-Million Education-Research Gift
Philanthropist Eli Broad promised $6-million to develop a new education research center at Harvard University today as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.
The Education Innovation Laboratory, or EdLabs, will foster new ways to solve problems with K-12 education, such as racial inequity in graduation rates, and rigorously study the programs that do work, said Mr. Broad.
“The National Institutes of Health is the engine for scientific and medical research, and the Defense Advanced Research Project develops innovations in technology and security, but K-12 education has no R&D agency,” he said.
He said no similar effort exists at other higher-education institutions or within the Department of Education.
“It’s a niche that had to be filled,” the donor said.
EdLabs will first work with three school districts — Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
“We need to think about innovation in an entirely different way,” said Joel I. Klein, chancellor of the the New York City school system. He thanked Mr. Broad and his wife, Edythe, for their long-term support of U.S. education. “This is not a sexy field for philanthropy,” he said.
New Philanthropic Pledges
During today’s Clinton Global Initiative, several large philanthropy commitments were made:
• The YUM! Brands restaurant company promised to give $80-million over the next five years to anti-hunger groups to provide meals to school children. The majority of that pledge — $50-million — will support the World Food Programme.
• The PepsiCo Foundation pledged $7.6-million to provide access to safe water and sanitation to people in poor countries. WaterPartners International, in Kansas City, Mo., will receive $4.1-million, and Safe Water Network, in Westport, Conn., will get $3.5-million.
• Mercy Corps, an aid group in Portland, Ore., said it is starting a multimedia center to educate the general public about hunger issues. The so-called Action Center to End World Hunger will open next month in New York and will feature exhibits on the experience of aid workers abroad, the causes of global poverty, and what visitors can do to alleviate such problems.
Presidential Candidates Pledge To Fight Poverty
Amid presidential election drama and the negotiations for a bailout of the U.S. financial system, both Barack Obama and John McCain took time today to speak to participants of the Clinton Global Initiative.
While the senators discussed the $700-billion federal plan to curb the financial crisis, they also made broad commitments to fight climate change, end deadly diseases, and eradicate global poverty.
Mr. McCain, a Republican from Arizona, said he would improve how the federal government provides assistance abroad. “We should and must reform our aid programs to make sure they are serving the interest of people in need, and not just serving special interests in Washington,” he said.
In the White House, he said, he would build upon the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other nonprofit groups to eliminate malaria, prevent tuberculosis, and improve maternal and child health.
“Promoting development, creating opportunities, and eliminating disease do not only serve our national interests; they also accord with our deepest American values,” he said.
After his speech, Bill Clinton thanked Mr. McCain’s wife, Cindy, for her charitable work in Rwanda.
Mr. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, spoke via satellite and proposed a government partnership with businesses and nonprofit groups to create jobs by supporting small and mid-sized companies in developing countries. Its first project would be to invest in efforts to produce and distribute bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria, he said.
He also pledged a $2-billion government program to provide primary education to girls and boys around the world, an effort originally proposed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“There is suffering across the globe that doesn’t need to be tolerated in the 21st century,” he said. “And it leads to pockets of instability that provide fertile breeding grounds for threats like terror and the smuggling of deadly weapons that cannot be contained by the drawing of a border or the distance of an ocean.”
Philanthropist Speaks to United Nations
Across town from the Clinton Global Initiative, another group of distinguished people are discussing ways to help the poor — the United Nations General Assembly.
And today, Bill Gates spoke to world leaders and diplomats about the Millennium Development Goals, which seek to cut the number of people living in extreme poverty in half by 2015, among other goals. It was the first time the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spoken at the international institution. (Read the text of his talk.)
Following short speeches by Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom and Wen JiaBao, the prime minister of China, Mr. Gates said that while it was “unusual” for a philanthropist to give a speech to such a high-level gathering, it was a sign that the United Nations and governments want to work in partnership with private organizations.
While much has been discussed about the failings of the Millennium Development Goals, the Microsoft co-founder said he was “optimistic” about their effectiveness because they have raise antipoverty concerns among world leaders and the general public.
As an example, he mentioned how pleased he and his wife, Melinda, were when one of his daughters had a school assignment to study the development goals.
“Some of the numbers are good, some of the numbers are not, but the fact that the world is focusing on these numbers is excellent,” he said.
Mr. Gates also said he is hopeful because scientific innovation will help fight disease and make other development progress in the near future, pointing out that the creation of the smallpox vaccine helped curbed the number of worldwide child deaths since 1960
Mr. Gates encouraged the world to focus on the positive side of the antipoverty effort, rather than bickering about who is at fault for its slow progress.
“People aren’t motivated by blame,” he said.
Yesterday the Gates foundation used the U.N. forum to announce a new anti-hunger effort, a $66-million grant to the World Food Programme.
September 24, 2008
Liberian President Wants Coordination of Nonprofit Work
The president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, called on foundations and aid groups operating in her country to do a better job of coordinating their work and developing programs that conform with the Liberian government’s development agenda.
At the Clinton Global Initiative, she said her nation has benefited from an outpouring of assistance since the end of its long-running civil conflict. But, she said, “If you want more bang for the buck, you’ve really got to get together.”
Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf said she is meeting this week with philanthropists and nonprofit leaders, including George Soros and members of InterAction, an association of international charities, to discuss ways to work hand-in-glove with her government.
These discussion have already made some headway.
At the event, Pam Omidyar, wife of the founder of eBay, Peter Buffett, son of Warren Buffett, and others pledged $15-million to create a forum for grant makers operating in Liberia to exchange ideas, track their progress, and prevent missteps.
What’s more, the Nike Foundation and the World Bank announced a $5-million project to provide job training to 1,500 Liberian girls — an effort Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf praised as matching her education goals.
Bill Clinton, whose foundation also operates in Liberia, said the African leader is correct in her call for more coordination among charities and others.
“She’s trying to organize us so we all don’t fall all over each other,” he said.
Bill Gates Talks Philanthropy
The highlight of this year’s Clinton Global Initiative for most people was a session that focused on Billanthropy — that is, the giving of Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.
In an Oprah-style setting, the former president peppered the technology tycoon with questions about philanthropy, AIDS, and the current economic environment.
Given the financial crisis, Mr. Gates said to get more rich people to give money to charity, “we have to show them it’s fun and there’s impact.”
And despite the stock-market volatility, he said that smart corporations realize that charitable programs will help build future business opportunities in the developing world and help recruit talented people out of college.
“That type of activity will give them an edge,” he said.
He advised the crowd of donors to emulate the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s decision to pick a narrow range of charitable goals to focus on. “At some point, you really do just have to pick,” he said. He said grant makers would be more effective if they adopted that style of giving.
But once those goals are chosen, he encouraged donors to back a variety of approaches. For example, his foundation supports six different efforts to create a vaccine for malaria.
Mr. Gates also said he is enjoying his transition into a full-time role in philanthropy since leaving the Microsoft Corporation this summer. “It’s fun to focus on the foundation,” he said. “I spent all day Monday on malaria.”
Lance Armstrong Starts Global Cancer-Prevention Effort
Lance Armstrong told participants at the Clinton Global Initiative that he is returning to professional cycling to promote global efforts to prevent and treat cancer.
“By racing the bicycle all over the world is the best way to promote this initiative; it’s the best way to get the word out,” he said, noting that more people every year are killed worldwide by cancer than by AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
Mr. Armstrong, who is a cancer survivor himself, has raised millions of dollars in donations for cancer research and other efforts by selling yellow Livestrong bracelets, though his charitable work has focused on the United States.
The athlete said that he could not sit by while, for example, the leading cause of death among young girls in Africa is cervical cancer, for which a vaccine exists.
“If we are not applying the medicine that we have to the people who need it the most, than we are failing morally and ethically,” he said. “That must change.”
Mr. Armstrong said his nonprofit organization and the American Cancer Society will hold an international meeting on cancer in Paris next July to gather world leaders to discuss the disease. The event will be coincide with Mr. Armstrong’s completion of the Tour de France.
“I can’t guarantee an 8th tour victory, but I can guarantee the Livestrong message will touch all continents of our society,” the cyclist said.
Rock Star Admonishes Wealthy Countries
The U2 frontman and antipoverty advocate Bono chastised rich nations for not doing more to alleviate world poverty, fight diseases, and promote education.
During a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative, the rock star complained about what he described as global stinginess.
He said if America can find $700-billion to bailout the financial system, it and other countries can find the money to support development work. If they don’t, he said, “this is moral bankruptcy.”
For example, Bono said the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, a set of economic-development, health, and education objectives, need to be “resuscitated.”
This week members of the United Nations are meeting to debate the goals, which include halving the number of the world’s poor and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. Several philanthropic projects are being announced related to the gathering, such as an injection of $75-million by the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Howard G. Buffett Foundations into the World Food Programme.
At the Clinton Global Initiative, Bill Clinton praised the Irish singer for being able to convince Republican lawmakers to support HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment work in Africa.
Bono said, of all people, Warren Buffett gave him the best advice for lobbying American lawmakers.
In his best impression of the billionaire’s Midwestern accent, Bono said Mr. Buffett advised: “Don’t appeal to the conscience of America, appeal to the greatness of America, and you’ll get the job done.”
Clinton Makes Call for Philanthropy
At the start of the Clinton Global Initiative, Bill Clinton called on philanthropists, corporate chief executives, and others to continue to give despite the financial crisis that looms over the event.
“My belief is the purpose for which we have gathered — to enable more citizens through philanthropy, through nongovernmental work, to work in partnerships with governments to do public good — this purpose is going to be more important than ever in the next few years if there are economic conditions which prevent governments from giving as much as they otherwise would have,” he told the participants.
“I’m betting on you and people like you throughout the world to say this crisis is not an excuse to walk away from the world’s challenges, but a compelling reason to intensify our efforts to meet them around the corner and around the world,” he said.
Neville Isdell, chairman of the Coca-Cola Company, agreed. He told the gathering that while America is at risk for a second Great Depression without quick aid from the federal government, his business will not end its efforts to support clean-water programs and other charitable work
He said the economist Milton Friedman’s belief that companies should only focus on making money is an outdated model of business.
“It is last century,” he said.
Former Presidents Create Hurricane-Relief Fund
Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush announced today the creation of a new fund to help victims of the hurricanes that recently ravaged Texas and other parts of the Gulf Coast.
“Here we are again,” Mr. Bush quipped, “the political odd couple.”
Mr. Bush, the father of the current president, solicited donations for the fund, the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund, and plugged its Web site.
He said families in Galveston, Tex., and elsewhere continue to suffer from the storms, with many homes still lacking electricity and many schools closed. “Life is anything but normal down there,” he said.
(Charities tell The Chronicle that the needs are far greater than the money raised so far.)
He said that former secretary of state James Baker will lead the program. Perhaps in a nod towards problems faced by a similar fund the former presidents created to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Clinton promised that Mr. Baker would “count every dollar” and “get the money out on time.”
Mr. Bush said he appreciated the warm welcome by the participants, saying that he wasn’t sure he could get into the prestigious event. “When I told them I knew Bono, everything worked out fine.”
September 23, 2008
Clinton Volunteers
The Clinton Global Initiative costs upwards of $12-million, but the former president relies on an army of volunteers as well to organize the event.
The volunteers — usually twentysomething college students — help attendees through the process of making charitable pledges, usher news media through press accreditation, hand out materials, and guide people through the hotel halls to sessions on poverty and climate change. In their white-collared shirts and blue ties or scarves, the volunteers are as ubiquitous as philanthropists at the event.
But while the William J. Clinton Foundation, which oversees the event, considers their contributions invaluable, it does place restrictions on them.
According to the event’s volunteer manual, volunteers will be sent home for asking the former president for an autograph, handing out business cards, or talking to a reporter as if they were official spokespeople.
The Clinton foundation does give some leeway to the last rule. “However, if a member of the press asks, for example, to be directed to the restroom,” the manual says, “please provide a friendly and helpful answer to their query.”
Exhibition for Charity
Every year, Bill Clinton plays philanthropy matchmaker during the Clinton Global Initiative, connecting would-be donors with charities. For the 2008 event, he got started a day early.
One day before the official start of the event, nonprofit groups, corporate foundations, and others filled the ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers to pitch their charitable projects, looking for money and partners.
Initiative members, usually wealthy businesspeople, strolled past tables filled with promotional material — brochures, buttons, plastic water bottles, T-shirts, etc. — from more than 100 groups. Among the crowd, the former Army general and Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clarke browsed the charity bazaar.
The American Red Cross promoted its antimeasles effort; the Seva Foundation told attendees about how it fights diseases that cause blindness in Asia and elsewhere; the Posse Foundation discussed how it helps college students from impoverished neighborhoods.
The so-called CGI Exchange is part of a new effort by Mr. Clinton to get donors at the conference to commit to existing nonprofit projects, rather than reinvent the wheel, as it were.
In addition to today’s exhibition, the Clinton Global Initiative offers computer kiosks, known as CGI Connect, that allow attendees to search for charitable commitments pledged at the meeting, and “whisper rooms,” where attendees can have private meetings with nonprofit leaders and others
As for the CGI Exchange, Katherine Manning, a business-development manager at Oxfam, said she loved the opportunity. With a placard and stacks of paper emblazoned with the charity’s green logo, Ms. Manning said she has generated a lot of interest for the group’s microfinance work in developing countries.
“It’s a packed house in here,” she said.
Bill Clinton to Kick Off Philanthropy Conference
This week, former president Bill Clinton gathers world leaders, philanthropists, and celebrities for a meeting in Manhattan to discuss ways to solve global problems.
From the Clinton Global Initiative, The Chronicle will update readers on philanthropic pledges made at the event, discussions about how to fixing social inequities, and, of course, the occasional Angelina Jolie sighting.
During the meeting, which will focus on poverty alleviation, climate change and clean energy, education, and global health, the former president will ask each participant to make a charitable commitment. People who don’t, won’t be invited back next year.
Since it started in 2005, the event has produced almost 1,000 commitments that Mr. Clinton says are worth about $38-billion.
But this year Mr. Clinton told The Chronicle he wants to focus on the effectiveness of the proposed humanitarian projects that he is lending his name to.
What’s more, the event is scheduled to include remarks by both presidential candidates, an announcement by Lance Armstrong about his decision to return to competitive cycling and start a new effort to fight cancer, and a conversation between Bill Clinton and Bill Gates on giving.
Copyright © 2008 The Chronicle of Philanthropy