Global Giving

MATTERS
Issue 28
December 2006–January 2007

In This Issue
This issue’s two feature stories
examine the increasing attention
philanthropic actors of all kinds –
from individuals to foundations to
corporations – are paying to the
issue of access to clean water. The
Global Water Challenge is bringing
together a collection of all these
actors, as well as civil society
organizations and international aid
agencies, to bring safe water to
underserved communities in Africa.
The Blue Planet Run, an initiative
created by philanthropist Jin Zidell,
is also bringing a variety of part-
ners together to raise awareness
about water and mobilize resources
for its provision. Water is also likely
to surface on the agenda at the
2007 annual meeting of the World
Economic Forum Annual Meeting
at Davos, as leaders of the food
and beverage industry gather for a
session on environmental security
and green opportunities.
2 Feature: Getting water on the global agenda – New approaches in
private philanthropy
4 Feature: Running for life – Around the world in 80 days – on foot
6 Global Giving Round-Up
• WINGS global forum, Bangkok: how to make a difference in philanthropy
• Sale of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” gown aids Calcutta’s poorest
• CSR index for Malaysia launched
• Sixth Social Entrepreneur’s Summit January 21-23
• Global Philanthropy Forum Sixth Annual Conference at the Googleplex,
April 11-13
• Bill and Melinda Gates set timeline for life of foundation
• Reality TV shows to focus on giving
• Making “hut calls” in remote Kenya: AID Village Clinics
• The Philanthropy Workshop: Learning grantmaking in Ghana
• New research center on philanthropy coming to UK
• David Rockefeller’s $225 million bequest creates new global development fund
• Campaign to carry message of tolerance to global audience
• Global Philanthropists Circle meets world challenges with passion and
innovation
• University for a Night celebrates power of partnership

11 Resources & Links

• Change in the wind at Alliance
Global Giving Matters presents best • What’s in a name: Philanthropy 2173
practices and innovations in philanthropy and
social investment around the world. It is an
• New resource launched for UK givers
initiative of The Synergos Institute’s Global • “Philanthropreneurs” changing the debate about giving
Philanthropists Circle and the World
Economic Forum, under the direction of
Adele S. Simmons, President of the Global
12 Your Ideas Wanted
Philanthropy Partnership, and Beth Cohen,
Acting Director, Global Philanthropists Circle. www.globalgivingmatters.org comments@globalgivingmatters.org
Lynn Peebles is the lead writer. Rockefeller
Philanthropy Advisors provides support for
its distribution.

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© 2007 Synergos/World Economic Forum

 Global Giving MATTERS

Feature: Getting water on the global agenda – New

approaches in private philanthropy
The recent announcement by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation of a $9.5 million
grant to bring safe water to underserved communities in Africa represents more than a
desperately needed lifeline for tens of thousands of residents of Western Kenya.

It also signals a recognition of the potential of a new public-private partnership to

advance breakthrough approaches to the global water crisis.

The partnership, the Global Water Challenge (GWC – www.globalwaterchallenge.org), is

tapping the distinctive expertise, resources and leadership of a diverse coalition of
major corporations, private philanthropists, foundations, and aid organizations to more
effectively deliver clean water, sanitation and hygiene education around the globe.

Established in 2006, the Global Water Challenge quickly found success with its first
project, the school-based intervention subsequently funded by the Gates Foundation in
Western Kenya’s rural Nyanza Province. The GWC project, Water for Schools, devel-
oped out of a pilot funded by The Coca-Cola Company’s East and Central Africa divi-
sion, working with CARE Kenya and the Millennium Water Alliance.

Feeling the ripple effects of Water for Schools

Piloted in 45 schools in Nyanza Province in 2005, Water for Schools teaches water
purification, safe water storage and hygiene education to school children, who bring
the knowledge back to their families and communities, according to Daniel Vermeer,
director of The Coca-Cola Company’s Global Water Initiative, and co-chair of GWC.

Under the expansion funded by the Gates Foundation, a consortium led by CARE
Kenya aims to take Water for Schools to at least 300 schools over the five-year period of
the grant. In the first three years alone, the benefits of the program, rechristened
SWASH+ (Sustaining and Scaling School Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Plus
Community Impact) are expected to reach more than 90,000 students and their fami-
lies. Ultimately, consortium partners will work with the government of Kenya to iden-
tify the most effective features of the project and scale them up province-wide and
nationally.

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is pleased to join the Global Water Challenge as
a way to learn whether school-based water sanitation and hygiene programs can be an
effective, sustainable and scalable approach to enhancing safe water and sanitation,”
the foundation said when the award was announced in November. SWASH+ is being
funded as part of a new learning initiative in water, sanitation and hygiene created by
the Gates Foundation’s Global Development division.

As in many other parts of the developing world, the need for such services is great in
Kenya, where more than half of the rural population lack access to safe water and com-
munities are severely impacted by water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and
typhoid.

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 Global Giving MATTERS

Call to action issued on global water crisis

The urgency of the global water crisis, and the stakes if it is not resolved, were under-
lined in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2006 Human Development
Report (hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/). Around the world today, 1.2 billion people are without
access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation. Two million children a
year die for want of clean water and sanitation.

The crisis afflicts millions of women and young girls who are forced to spend hours
each day collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and choices.
Water-borne diseases hold back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the
world’s poorest countries, the report concluded.

The report estimates the cost of achieving the Millennium Development Goal on water
and sanitation at about $10 billion a year, or “less than half of what rich countries
spend each year on mineral water,” yet “unlike wars and natural disasters, this global
crisis does not galvanize concerted international action.”
What is needed is a “global action plan to focus fragmented
World Economic Forum Water Initiative international efforts to mobilize resources and galvanize polit-
fosters partnerships ical action by putting water and sanitation front and centre on
the development agenda,” said Kevin Watkins, lead author of
Water is likely to surface on the agenda at the 2007 annual
meeting of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at
the report.
Davos, as leaders of the food and beverage industry gather
for a session on environmental security and green opportuni- Collective approach to problem-solving pays off
ties. A leading beverage company representative, Neville While the Human Development Report’s call to action was aimed
Isdell, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, will serve as co-
primarily at governments of wealthy nations, efforts such as
chair for the annual meeting. Industry heads will discuss how
those mounted by the Global Water Challenge point to the
to negotiate the complex challenges of operating in commu-
promise of public-private partnerships in bringing a collective
nities experiencing environmental stress while also producing
approach to the task of raising global awareness and support to
the jobs and products that serve as drivers of local
economies in the developing world.
tackle water and sanitation problems. The potential of such
efforts was underlined by the success of GWC’s maiden project
Over the past year, the Forum’s Water Initiative has been
in attracting a major grant from the Gates Foundation.
stepping up efforts to bring together different stakeholders in
the water debate to help improve resource management and The Global Water Challenge provides a mechanism for lever-
expand access to water services for all. Using its role as a aging the expertise and resources of each of its members,
neutral environment for discussion, the Forum has been able according to Coca-Cola’s Daniel Vermeer. The company pro-
to help move private and public stakeholders toward part- vided seed funding to start up GWC under the umbrella of the
nerships at the regional and national level in Rajasthan, India UN Foundation, and has been instrumental in bringing other
and South Africa. Both are regions facing serious water
companies and organizations to the table around the issue of
stress and competition for water resources. The Water
water. (A transcript and brief video of Vermeer speaking about
Initiative is supported by private and public partners
Coca-Cola’s efforts are available online at www.synergos.org/
including Alcan, Inc., Nestle, PepsiCo International,
gpcparlor/annualmeeting06/). The Coca-Cola Foundation also
Swiss Agency for International Development and
Cooperation, USAID India, UNDP India, Confederation of
provided start-up funds for GWC and, in conjunction with the
Indian Industries, Government of Rajasthan and NEPAD company’s Community Water Partnerships program, supports a
Business Foundation. While achieving progress can be a wide range of water projects around the globe in the 200 coun-
slow and challenging process, the Forum hopes to nurture tries where the firm’s 1000 facilities are located.
regional and national collaborations that will ultimately feed
Seed funding was also provided to GWC by the Wallace
into a broader global alliance to address the worldwide
Genetic Foundation, Cargill Corporation, Dow Chemical
water crisis.

December 2006–January 2007 3

 Global Giving MATTERS

Company and Procter & Gamble. Other partners include the Blue Planet Run
Foundation (see related story on founder Jin Zidell below), CARE, the Case Foundation,
Emory Center for Global Safe Water, the Millennium Water Alliance, the UN
Foundation, UNICEF, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Water
Advocates, Water for People and the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council.
Its executive director is Paul Faeth, who brings 20 years of experience working on
water and environment-related issues, most recently as executive vice president and
managing director for World Resources Institute.

Following its success in Kenya, GWC is now exploring whether it wants to seed Water
for Schools programs in other geographic locations such as Asia or Latin America.

Showcasing water as a platform for community development

“In Kenya, we have seen powerful effects from a single intervention. By pooling
resources where there are breakthrough opportunities, there is a potential to bring
them to scale at the regional, national or global level,” said Vermeer.

On a site visit to Nyanza Province in July, Vermeer said that he had been struck by the
ripple effect that safe water and sanitation is having throughout participating commu-
nities, but particularly among women and girls. Following a village ceremony, several
women took him aside to explain the changes that clean water had wrought in their
lives.

Instead of taking their daughters six miles to get unclean water, they were now able to
obtain clean water at the edge of their village. No longer are they chronically sick from
water-borne illnesses. With their newfound time and water, they are growing a veg-
etable garden, improving their diets and even selling some of the surplus at the local
market. With this income stream, they are pooling their money and have bought tables
and chairs that they rent out for local events.

“What’s beautiful about that is that nobody planned it. All it took was the water, and
the rest they did themselves. They had the resources, the intelligence and the ingenuity
to pull it off,” he said. The example illustrates the vision that Vermeer said he shares
with other partners in the GWC of “water as a platform for people to be able to
develop themselves.”

Feature: Running for life: Around the world in 80

days – on foot
Industrialist and philanthropist Jin Zidell wants to raise money and awareness to pro-
vide safe drinking water to every person on the planet. To focus attention on the issue,
Zidell’s foundation is organizing the longest relay event in the history of the world –
the Blue Planet Run.

The Blue Planet Run (www.blueplanetrun.org) will kick off on June 2, 2007 at United
Nations headquarters in New York. Running in relay style, a team of 18 will keep the

December 2006–January 2007 4

 Global Giving MATTERS

event going 24 hours a day, seven days a week, circumnavigating the globe at roughly
40 degrees north latitude. Approximately 80 days, 12,000 miles and 16 countries later,
the last runner will arrive back in NYC.

“We’re trying to bring safe drinking water to those who thirst for it. And this is the
beginning of the fundraising campaign for the world to get engaged and get behind
this movement,” said Zidell at the 2006 annual meeting in New York of The Synergos
Institute’s Global Philanthropists Circle in October. (A transcript and video of Zidell
describing his efforts are online at www.synergos.org/gpcparlor/annualmeeting06/.)

The Blue Planet Run version of Lance Armstrong’s “LiveStrong” bracelet is a pair of
blue shoelaces, available for a donation of $25. “Hopefully, in a year or so you’ll see
one maybe on a backpack, or through someone’s hair, and you’ll know that that person
saved a life. Our overall brand is really ordinary people doing something extraordinary
for their fellow man,” said Zidell.

“When we think of a billion people who do not have access to safe drinking water, we
cannot be thinking of water in isolation. It is literally the first rung on the ladder out of
the pit of poverty for those billion-plus people,” said Zidell, speaking as a panelist on
how philanthropists can effect change through public-private partnerships.

Zidell, along with his late wife Linda, had a long history of activism in environmental
philanthropy in their home town of San Francisco. In 2001, a year after Linda’s death, a
chance encounter with a marathon runner planted the idea in his head of a world run
for the environment.

A friend, environmental author and entrepreneur Paul Hawken,

International tennis stars team up for
clean water
In another example of action to provide clean water, South
African tennis player Johan Kriek has launched the Global
Water Foundation (GWF – www.globalwaterfoundation.org),
to bring safe water and sanitation to underserved communi-
ties. GWF’s first project has begun to provide clean water to
nearly 1,000 schoolchildren at the Ndolwa Parents School in
Budiope in southeastern Uganda. GWF worked with the
Ugandan government and community members to drill a
borehole and install a solar-powered pump at the school.
The effort will also supply water to 5,000 local residents.
GWF is looking to the Ndolwa project as a launching pad for
an additional initiative across Africa that will teach students
basic hygiene practices. A partner organization, University
of Pretoria’s Business Enterprises Department, plans to
donate to GWF a share of the profits from the sale of its rural
water pasteurization innovations. Tennis legends John
McEnroe, Jim Courier and Tom Gullikson, and Olympic
swimmers Aaron Peirsol, Janet Evans, Kate Ziegler and
Tara Kirk have signed on as “Clean Water Ambassadors” to
carry GWF’s message to a global audience. Plans are also
underway for a rock and roll benefit tour in 2007.
convinced Zidell to focus his efforts on safe drinking water.
Another acquaintance, Randy Hayes, director of the Rainforest
Action Network, became an early advisor on strategy.
To help make his vision a reality, Zidell created the Blue Planet
Run Foundation in 2002 and has mobilized a range of strategic
advisers and partners to support his efforts. Synergos’ chair and
co-founder Peggy Dulany is a member of the board.
The Coca-Cola Company provided early funding, and with its
corporate sponsorship of the Olympic Games torch relay, was in
a position to help Zidell understand the logistics of a relay
event. Last July Dow Chemical also signed on as a major
sponsor of the run.
Zidell’s campaign has placed him in the vanguard of the small,
but growing arena of public-private partnerships working glob-
ally to assure access to safe drinking water. Blue Planet Run
Foundation is a partner in the Global Water Challenge, a wide-
ranging alliance of leading businesses, private philanthropists,
nonprofits and government organizations formed in 2006 to
more effectively deliver clean water, sanitation and hygiene
education to those in need around the world (see related story
on page 2).

December 2006–January 2007 5

 Global Giving MATTERS
Global Giving Roundup
Overviews of best
practices around
the world and
links to learn more
about them
Links to websites with
more details are available
at the online edition of
Global Giving Matters at
www.globalgivingmatters.org
Zidell is currently the only private philanthropist serving on GWC’s steering com-
mittee.
Another GWC steering committee member, Michael Madnick, Senior Vice President of
the UN Foundation, is also a member of the board of the Blue Planet Run Foundation.
Beyond the vital role of raising global awareness, the 2007 run is also intended as a
major fundraiser for the Blue Planet Run Foundation’s water projects around the
world. In 2005, the foundation doubled its funding and broadened its network to
include 40 projects in nine countries: Nicaragua, Mali, India, Sierra Leone, Honduras,
Afghanistan, Vietnam, Malawi and Bolivia.
The focus is on community-based projects that local residents can maintain and run
themselves. The foundation’s partners include global NGOs such as WaterAid and
Water for People, as well as local organizations such as El Porvenir in Nicaragua and
Watershed Organization Trust in India.
“The power of partnership is unbelievable because what it allows us to do is divide the
tasks and multiply the results. Blue Planet Run is a very small organization. But with
the help of Coca-Cola, the UN Foundation and with the UN itself, we’ll be able to
expand this program around the world,” said Zidell.
WINGS global forum, Bangkok: how to make a difference in philanthropy
WINGS (Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support – www.wingsweb.org), held its
quadrennial conference, WINGSForum 2006, in November in Bangkok. The event
focused on the challenges facing global philanthropy and the lessons emerging from
new players in the field. The three-day conference drew 180 participants from 40 coun-
tries.
Plenary speaker Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, Chairman and CEO of the
Philippines-based Ayala Corporation, provided an overview of the global context in
which private philanthropists operate today. Ayala is a member of Synergos’ Global
Philanthropists Circle. Drawing from experience leading one of the largest business
groups in the Philippines as well as its social development arm, the Ayala Foundation,
he cited examples from the Asian business and philanthropic sectors. “One of the most
potentially fruitful areas for business engagement with social problems revolves
around the business of meeting the basic needs of low income groups,” Ayala said,
adding that communities themselves are coming up with better ways to deliver serv-
ices based around their needs.
In developing countries such as the Philippines, said Ayala, where problems are
tremendous and resources scarce, some in the business community are experimenting
with “social consortia,” which take their inspiration from the success of corporations
pooling together capital and technical skills for major business projects. One such
social consortium, Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, aims to put
computer labs with Internet access into all 5,789 public high schools in the Philippines
December 2006–January 2007 6
Global Giving MATTERS

and has connecting 1,000 schools to the Internet so far. The consortium includes not
only corporations but national and local government agencies, parent-teacher organiza-
tions, NGOs and even Filipinos in the diaspora.

Ayala shared the plenary podium with Juree Vichit-Vadakan of Thailand’s Center for
Philanthropy and Civil Society, who spoke about socio-cultural and political aspects of
giving in Thai society, and Barry Gaberman, former senior vice president of the Ford
Foundation. Reporting from WINGSForum 2006 is available on the WINGS website.

Sale of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” gown aids Calcutta’s poorest

Proceeds from the auction of the black Givenchy gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the
film Breakfast at Tiffany’s have been donated to the nonprofit organization City of Joy
Aid (www.cityofjoyaid.org). The organization was created by best-selling author and
philanthropist Dominique Lapierre, after a meeting with Mother Teresa in 1981 revealed
the needs of the poorest residents of Calcutta. The $807,000 raised at auction at
Christie’s in London will support City of Joy Aid programs that rescue and support
slum children and provide medical care to more than a million inhabitants of the tiny
islands that dot the Ganges delta.

CSR index for Malaysia launched

Investors seeking information on the corporate social responsibility performance of
businesses in Malaysia can turn to a new evaluation tool, launched by a private
research firm based in Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysia SRI Index is the first in a planned
series of reports on the region by Owens, Williams & Wood Consulting (OWW –
www.oww-consulting.com). OWW co-founder Arshad Adam says the index opens up
the Malaysian market to socially responsible investors for the first time by providing
“the most comprehensive assessment to date of the social and environmental perform-
ance of companies in Malaysia.” The first index covers large cap, publicly listed firms
and will be followed by reports on small cap and government-linked companies.

Sixth Social Entrepreneur’s Summit January 21-23

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (www.schwabfound.org) is hosting
its Sixth Social Entrepreneurs’ Summit in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, January 21-23, 2007.
The event seeks to build the global community of social entrepreneurs and create links
with business entrepreneurs, leaders of multinational corporations, social investors,
policymakers and academics. A focus of the 2007 summit will be the business case for
supporting social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs from various fields will present
their arguments for support, and business leaders will offer feedback. Other sessions
will explore how foundations work together to support social entrepreneurs, and offer
perspectives from regional development banks around the world. Keynote speakers
include Steve Case, founder of AOL, and the World Bank’s Paul Wolfowitz; the closing
address is by John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods.

Global Philanthropy Forum Sixth Annual Conference at the

Googleplex, April 11-13
Bringing together philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, and other experts from around
the world, the 2007 Global Philanthropy Forum’s conference is organized around the

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theme “Financing Social Change: Leveraging Markets and Entrepreneurship.” The two-
and-a-half day event, being held at Google’s headquarters in California, provides a
combination of plenaries, breakout sessions and opportunities for networking.
Speakers will include Google.org’s Executive Director Larry Brilliant, Julio Frenk,
Minister of Health of Mexico, Kurt Hoffman, head of the Shell Foundation, Peter Piot,
Executive Director of UNAIDS, Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation,
and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank.
Participation in the conference is by invitation only and is intended for individuals
with a commitment to philanthropy, as well as executives of private, public, and corpo-
rate foundations around the world. For more information on the event, and links to
extensive information on global philanthropy, visit www.philanthropyforum.org.

Bill and Melinda Gates set timeline for life of foundation

Bill and Melinda Gates announced that the organization will be spending all of its
resources within 50 years of their deaths. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has also
been divided into two distinct entities “to more cleanly separate asset management
from the programmatic work.” One is an “asset trust” that will hold the foundation’s
existing $32 billion in assets as well as allocations over time from the $31 billion gift
from financier and philanthropist Warren Buffett. The second is a “program founda-
tion” that will conduct all the foundation’s grantmaking from funding received from
the asset trust. “Warren’s gift has provided all of us with an opportunity to think
deeply about the foundation’s structure and work,” the Gateses said in an announce-
ment at www.gatesfoundation.org. “Focusing our efforts in the twenty-first century is a
statement of optimism for what we can all achieve together in our and our children’s
lifetimes.”

Reality TV shows to focus on giving

Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host, and ABC have announced plans to create two new
reality-television shows that involve giving, reports CNN.com. One show, The Big
Give, will donate money and resources to ten contestants who will compete to come up
with the most inventive ways to increase their holdings and then give them away to
help others. The other show, Your Money or Your Life, focuses on helping families in
trouble by providing them with advice from experts. Ms. Winfrey is herself a major
donor and has appeared on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the 60 most-
generous Americans. Chronicle of Philanthropy, Daily Update, December 18, 2006.

Making “hut calls” in remote Kenya: AID Village Clinics

The work of AID Village Clinics, founded by Ann Lurie, was featured in a one-hour
CNN special on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. The innovative health model conceived
and supported by Lurie, a pediatric nurse and member of Synergos’ Global
Philanthropists Circle, uses a central medical facility and health outreach workers on
motorcycles to deliver state-of-the-art healthcare to 90,000 people scattered across a
large, rural and resource-poor area of South East Kenya. The central health center,
located in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro on Maasai tribal lands, treats close to 100
patients each weekday. Mobile health workers treat another 100 patients a day in their
homes, some as far as 50 miles away. AID Village Clinics works in partnership with

December 2006–January 2007 8

Global Giving MATTERS

Riders for Health, a UK-based organization focused on solving medical transport issues
in Africa. An excerpt from the CNN broadcast is available at www.aidvillageclinics.org.

The Philanthropy Workshop: learning grantmaking in Ghana

In November, the Institute for Philanthropy (www.instituteforphilanthropy.org.uk) led a
group of 17 donors from Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United
States to Ghana for the second of three modules of its internationally regarded pro-
gram, The Philanthropy Workshop (TPW). The first TPW module was held in London
in June 2006; the third module will take place in New York in February 2007. The
“world modules” model employed by TPW permits donors to hone their skills in inter-
national giving by learning about barriers to development, and exploring the role of
government, donors, and the private sector in addressing poverty. A summary report
on the Ghana visit is available in the December issue of Philanthropy UK at
www.philanthropyuk.org.

New research center on philanthropy coming to UK

The United Kingdom’s first “centre of excellence” for research into charitable giving
and philanthropy is slated to open in the summer of 2007. Established by the Carnegie
UK Trust (www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk) in partnership with the UK Government, the
Scottish Executive and the Economic and Social Research Council, the center will
efforts to better understand philanthropy and inform policy and practice decisions in
the United Kingdom. “We see this centre as becoming something similar to the philan-
thropy research centers in the US,” said Jeremy Holmes, Chair of Carnegie’s Creative
Philanthropy Programme. “Unlike the US, the UK and Europe generally have only ad
hoc quantitative or qualitative research supporting philanthropy and charitable giving
and we believe this new research centre will meet an urgent need.” Carnegie UK Trust
News Release, October 13, 2006.

David Rockefeller’s $225 million bequest creates new global

development fund
In November, David Rockefeller announced that he will make a $225 million bequest to
the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF – www.rbf.org) endowment to create the David
Rockefeller Global Development Fund. RBF is a philanthropic organization that pro-
motes social change at the global, national and local level. The gift by Rockefeller, 91, a
founder and advisory trustee of RBF, is the largest single gift to the fund since his
father, the late John D. Rockefeller, Jr., established RBF’s endowment in 1952. “The
world’s most urgent problems – poverty, health and development – can only be solved
with a combination of resources, both public and private,” said David Rockefeller. “In
thinking about how I, personally, might make an impact, it seemed fitting to establish a
special fund at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which does such excellent work around
the world, and with which my family and I have been so closely associated.” The new
Global Development Fund is expected to expand RBF’s capacity to address critical
global challenges such as poverty, health care, sustainable development, management
of the global economy, and international trade. A pilot program will support a project
on global warming, which has been a longtime interest of RBF’s sustainable develop-
ment grantmaking. Rockefeller Brothers Fund News Release, November 20, 2006.

December 2006–January 2007 9

Global Giving MATTERS

Campaign to carry message of tolerance to global audience

The Spread Tolerance Campaign, a new initiative of the Third Millennium Foundation
(TMF) seeks to reach a global audience to raise awareness on the subject of intolerance,
particularly among youth. The campaign kicked off in Los Angeles on December 14
with former US Vice President Al Gore presiding at an awards ceremony for its Seeds
of Tolerance Film Competition. The project plans to spread tolerance via a variety of
media including film, mass advertising, and content on its website, www.spreadtoler-
ance.org, which offers a range of practical tips for parents, schools, and educators. In
response to incidents of intolerance at soccer and other sporting events in Europe, the
campaign is eyeing such venues for the next phase of its outreach. “We’re at a critical
time right now. Whether it’s on a soccer field in Europe or in Darfur, intolerance is
becoming commonplace,” said Marco Stoffel, founder and president of TMF, and
a member of Synergos’ Global Philanthropists Circle. “We might not be guilty,
but we’re responsible. That’s really the element we need to understand – as
children and as grown-ups, we need to learn to stand up for tolerance.” TMF
(www.seedsoftolerance.org) is a global grantmaker focusing on childhood education
and human rights, and support for young social entrepreneurs.

Global Philanthropists Circle meets world challenges with passion

and innovation
More than 100 leading international philanthropists convened in New York in October
for the annual meeting of The Synergos Institute’s Global Philanthropists Circle, a group
of individuals and families committed to using their resources and passions to create a
more equitable world. This annual event provides a forum for Circle members to find
inspiration and share new methods and possibilities for collaboration. “Finding the
opportunity to be able to interact not only in a grantmaking way, but in a learning way
– learning from those with whom we want to work – is essential,” Synergos founder
and chair Peggy Dulany, told the assembled participants.

The daylong meeting provided numerous opportunities for learning and exchange.
Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, and Blaise Judja-
Sato, founder and president of VillageReach, described how their past experiences
inspired them to take action on issues they are passionate about. Salbi, from a privi-
leged Iraqi family, spoke of her efforts today to empower women in regions of conflict.
Judja-Sato, a telecom executive, explained how family values absorbed as a boy in
Cameroon continue to influence his leadership of a nonprofit that delivers lifesaving
vaccines to remote corners of Mozambique.

Sheryl Sandberg, board member of the Google Foundation/google.org, and Judith

Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, offered insights into their strategies to
innovate and measure impact to address global challenges. And members of a unique
partnership aiming to bring safe drinking water to every person on the planet explored
how philanthropists can effect change through the power of private-public collabora-
tions (for more on the Blue Planet Run partnership see related feature on page 4).
Transcripts and video highlights of the GPC’s annual meeting are online at www.
gpcparlor.org. For more information on the Global Philanthropists Circle, contact
Melissa Durda at mdurda@synergos.org/ +1 646 963-2132.

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University for a Night celebrates power of partnership

In October, The Synergos Institute’s University for a Night (www.universityforanight.org)
brought together a diverse cross-section of leaders from around the globe to discuss
the world’s most pressing problems. The evening featured a plenary discussion and
question-and-answer session with Ted Turner, founder of the United Nations
Foundation, philanthropist and entrepreneur, Charles A. Minor, the Ambassador of
Liberia to the United States, Neville Isdell, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola
Company, and Ingrid Srinath, Chief Executive of India’s Child Rights and You.
Participants also honored two people whose work exemplifies what the evening is
about – building bridges across traditional boundaries to create a better world.
Outgoing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and David Rockefeller pre-
sented the 2006 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Awards to Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf, President of Liberia and the first woman elected head of state in Africa, and
Ted Turner. Later, participants met over dinner with the plenary speakers and other
“Distinguished Faculty” for focused discussion on topics such as “The power of
partnerships in improving education for children and youth,” “Using tourism for
local economic and social empowerment” and “The world we want – Future directions
in philanthropy.”

Resources & Links

Activities, web- Change in the wind at Alliance
The December 2006 issue of Alliance magazine (www.alliancemagazine.org) marks the
sites and other
final edition published by Allavida, an international development organization.
cutting-edge Beginning in March 2007, Alliance will be published by Alliance Publishing Trust (APT),
information for a UK charitable company. According to Alliance editor Caroline Hartnell, after five years
global givers of growth within Allavida, full independence was a “logical next step.” Alliance will
receive support from two other organizations: the Network of European Foundations
Links to websites with will put up a guarantee fund in the event of budgetary shortfalls, and the European
more details are available
Foundation Centre (EFC) will assist with wider opportunities for distribution of the
at the online edition of
Global Giving Matters at editorial content. APT’s first Trustees are the Van Leer Group Foundation’s Rien van
www.globalgivingmatters.org Gendt, Gerry Salole of the EFC and UK philanthropy consultant David Carrington.
Forthcoming in the March 2007 issue of Alliance is a special feature on “philanthrocap-
italism – myth or reality.” It explores whether donors in countries around the world
match stereotypes about what new donors are like. Olga Alexeeva of Charities Aid
Foundation Global Trustees, and Matthew Bishop of the Economist are guest editors of
this issue.

What’s in a name: Philanthropy 2173

Lucy Bernholz, a consultant to foundations, writes Philanthropy 2173 (online at
philanthropy.blogspot.com), a blog cited in Fast Company magazine’s December 2006
“Best Blog” column. The name of the blog was inspired by Woody Allen’s movie,
Sleeper, which takes place in the year 2173. “Among other things, Sleeper helps us
realize that so much of what we think is true may not be,” Bernholz explains on the
site. “Talking about the future – and making philanthropic investments – requires that

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we keep a sense of modesty and humor about what we are doing. Philanthropy is for
the long-term – for the year 2173.”

New resource launched for UK givers

Philanthropy UK has launched The Philanthropy Directory, a comprehensive guide to
the wide range of charitable services and products for givers in the United Kingdom.
The new directory, which is available online at www.philanthropyuk.org, complements
the organization’s popular handbook, A Guide to Giving, by connecting donors to the
variety of resources now available in the philanthropic sector. Susan Mackenzie,
Director of Philanthropy UK is seeking feedback and the submission of additional
resources to the directory that would be helpful for UK donors; she can be reached at
susan@philanthropyuk.org.

“Philanthropreneurs” changing the debate about giving

A special section on giving in the New York Times in November focuses in on the “phil-
anthropreneurs,” a new breed of billionaires out to harness the marketplace as a force
for doing good in the underdeveloped world. The Times profiles four individuals who
are blurring the line between business and philanthropy: Pierre Omidyar, founder of
eBay; Steve Case, co founder of AOL, Virgin Group’s Richard Branson and Jeff Skoll,
former president of eBay. The special giving section also includes an article on the
efforts of the Acumen Fund to tackle global poverty from a social venture fund
approach. Another story outlines the way one savvy UK investor is using a portion of
the fees generated by an extremely successful hedge fund, the Children’s Investment
Fund, to finance a range of international health and development causes through its
philanthropic foundation. New York Times Special Section on Giving, November 13,
2006.

Your Ideas Wanted

Global Giving Matters aims to present information on best practices and innovations in
philanthropy and social investment around the world. We encourage you to send us:
• Ideas about issues or people you would like to learn more about
• Examples of your own philanthropy
• Comments about this issue.
Write to us at comments@globalgivingmatters.org.

Global Giving Matters does not present solicitations of support for particular
initiatives or organizations.

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