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September 26, 2007

Clinton Announces More than $4.5-Billion in Pledges of Global Aid

By Caroline Preston

New York

Donors pledged more than $4.75-billion during the opening day of the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual event led by former President Bill Clinton to fight global problems. Approximately 1,300 political, corporate, and nonprofit leaders participated in this year’s gathering in New York, which focused on the issues of education, climate change, global health, and poverty.

As in past years, the vast majority of pledges were in the form of business investments or government commitments, rather than charitable gifts from individuals or foundations.

Two of the largest pledges by individuals came from the actor Brad Pitt and the real-estate heir Steve Bing, who announced that they would each match, up to $5-million, every dollar provided to an effort to rebuild New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward.

Mr. Pitt said he hopes to gain enough support to rebuild 150 homes at a cost of $150,000 each. “This is doable. It’s not that difficult,” he said. “We just need to ensure that these families get the attention they need so they are not set up for another catastrophe.”

Some foundations used the event as a forum to announce new grant-making projects. Others used the conference to introduce programs for which they may have received partial support, but are seeking additional gifts. BRAC, a charity from Bangladesh, announced a $271-million effort to improve girls’ education in Africa and Asia, for which it has raised $130-million from governments, nearly $1-million from the Nike Foundation, and $2-million from Oxfam NOVIB, the Dutch affiliate of Oxfam International, among other donations.

The event was also the scene of the announcement of a few partnerships.

Several foundations, corporations, and nonprofit organizations teamed up to start an effort to educate children affected by war, natural disasters, and other crises.

Contributions included a $1.2-million pledge from the foundation created by Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee who is the subject of Dave Eggers’ recent book, to build a boarding school in southern Sudan.

Commitments from governments and business investments, meanwhile, somewhat overshadowed the announcements of private and foundation giving.

In the conference’s opening session, Florida Power and Light Company, in Juno Beach, pledged $2.4-billion through 2012 to create new solar plants in Florida and produce new solar-energy and energy-efficient products. The government of Norway committed $1-billion for a global campaign to help meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals around the issues of women and children’s health. The Netherlands gave approximately $175-million. And Anthony Pratt, an Australian businessman, announced that his Pratt Industries would invest $1-billion paper recycling and cleaner infrastructure.

Some commitments were also defined in nonfinancial terms. The nonprofit group Interpeace and the government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste said they would work together to create “zones of peace” to promote reconciliation in the nation.

Spurring Action

The Clinton conference has sometimes been criticized for doing a better job of creating photo opportunities for donors than drumming up new donations for nonprofit groups. But Mr. Clinton pointed to at least one gift that he said stemmed directly from last year’s event. A $2-million contribution from several investment banks and corporations, including Merrill Lynch and the Goldman Sachs Foundation, came after a representative from one of the companies attended a session on Darfur at least year’s Clinton Global Initiative, Mr. Clinton said.

“This is an example of the kind of things that I hoped would come out of CGI,” he said. “People come here and learn about a specific issue and take action in a timely manner.”

Nonprofit leaders also said the networking and speaking opportunities at the conference have proved effective in helping them win new money.

John Marks, founder of the nonprofit group Search for Common Ground, said that a $200,000 donation from the Rockwool Foundation, in Copenhagen, came as a result of a speech his wife made at last year’s forum. He also said that Nestle, a longtime donor to his charity, made a $1.5-million gift two years ago — a much bigger gift than it had provided in the past — after Mr. Marks introduced the possibility of announcing a donation at the Manhattan event.

Indeed, the conference is candid about its emphasis on raising money, with moderators announcing commitments at the end of each session and contributors often being trotted out for public recognition. Nonprofit leaders praised that format.

“It’s a kind of heaven,” said Rodrigo Baggio, founder of the Committee for the Democratization of Internet Technology, in Rio de Janeiro. “I have been five times to Davos [the World Economic Forum], and there they show us, they highlight us, but they tell us you can’t ask for money. CGI was created with this as its focus.”

One of the key features of the Clinton Global Initiative is its monitoring of donors to ensure they follow through on their commitments. This year, five attendees were not invited back after failing to make good on their commitments last year, compared with 17 who were not invited back to the 2006 conference. “People understand in our third year that this is something we take very seriously,” said Ben Yarrow, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton. “Hopefully next year the number will be zero.”

Last year, the William J. Clinton Foundation hired new staff members to track the commitments, Mr. Yarrow said. Currently, 12 full-time and part-time employees help to oversee the pledges. People in the nonprofit world said they’ve seen improvements in how the foundation tracks contributions.

“One of the criticisms has been that the emphasis has just been on money and there hasn’t been enough focus on outcomes,” said Susan Davis, president of BRAC USA, in New York. But more recently, she said, the foundation has been looking more at program results, emphasizing the numbers of people who will be helped by various programs along with the dollar value of gifts.

Mr. Clinton last week announced an online effort to reach out to small donors and volunteers and encourage them to make conference-style commitments. The Web site will link people with nonprofit groups to which they might donate time or money, in much the same way that social-networking sites such as Facebook connect friends.

Posted on Wednesday September 26, 2007 | Permalink

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