Ford Foundation Focuses on Future of Rural Communities

The National Rural Assembly, supported by the Ford and W.K. Kellogg foundations, held a gathering in Chantilly, Virginia focusing on the pressing social and economic needs facing the nation’s rural communities. The gathering enabled regional and nationwide rural leaders to connect with state and federal lawmakers to actively promote policy priorities and initiatives.

This convening could not have come at a better time, as rural communities are feeling the brunt of rising oil prices, industrial restructuring, and outsourcing ever more acutely. Poverty rates have increased while household income has fallen well below the levels in metropolitan regions. While many programs have emerged to help combat these pressures, they have not been sufficiently supported and so lack the necessary funds for full implementation.

Over the past decade, the Ford Foundation has invested $54 million in more than 200 initiatives aiding rural community organizations. Support includes grants for projects in the Midwest and in Appalachia, where the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is training local leaders to boost local economic empowerment, and in Nebraska where the Center for Rural Strategies is analyzing federal budgets and government policies to learn best practices in reducing rural poverty. For more information on the Ford Foundation’s work, please visit www.fordfound.org

New York City and Major Philanthropic Foundations Unveil
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Linda Gibbs, announced that $42 million of the $50 million proposed for funding the City’s new conditional cash transfer program has been met through funds raised from private foundations. The program, based on a model in Mexico City, is an effort to help families break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It is part of the Opportunity NYC partnership outlined by the mayor for public-private partnerships and an initiative of the Mayor’s Center for Economic Opportunity. Rockefeller Foundation led the project, providing the initial research and development capital for Opportunity NYC.

The Opportunity NYC initiative aims to tackle poverty, which has proven resistant to conventional government programs, with new ideas such as the conditional cash transfer program. This program will include a sample of 5,000 families in Central and East Harlem in Manhattan, Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn, and Morris Heights/Mount Hope and East Tremont/Belmont in the Bronx. It will employ incentives to increase participation in activities and programs aimed at decreasing factors that contribute to poverty and dependency on social services.

Incentives are aimed at promoting superior attendance in school and higher achievement on standardized tests, maintaining adequate health coverage and promoting increased employment and earnings. Monetary incentives will be awarded when households meet specific targets in the areas of education, health, employment and training. Families can potentially earn $3,000-$5,000 a year based on targets met and family size. Donations made to Opportunity NYC were made to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, the non-for-profit organization established to strengthen public programs serving the needs and welfare of New Yorkers. In addition to the Rockefeller Foundation, Opportunity NYC is supported by the Starr Foundation, Robin Hood Foundation, Open Society Institute, and American International Group. For more information please visit: www.rockfound.org or www.nyc.gov.

Charitable Giving Increases With Recent Bank Mergers
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a watchdog, research and advocacy organization that promotes public accountability and accessibility among foundations, recently came out with a report citing a dramatic increase in corporate philanthropy. The report examines levels of giving at the Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust, Wachovia, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo. The NCRP found that despite recent mergers, bank philanthropy grew dramatically during a period of industry con-solidation, with total giving in-creasing from around $100 million in the late 1980’s to more than $400 million annually by 2001.

They conclude that as competition increased among a small number of national banks, executives embraced philanthropy as a means for attracting and retaining more business and employees. Banks that had an already robust philanthropic culture prior to a merger experienced a boost in giving programs after acquisitions. Areas of particular growth were in the southern United States and funding for national organizations.

The study also notes that while the rate of corporate giving has gone up overall, a majority of bank foundations violate IRS rules. Many of the bank foundations examined did not provide complete information as required by the IRS in their 990-PF forms.There were also instances of in-consistent figures and missing of illegible pages. For more information on the National Com-mittee for Responsive Philanthropy please visit www.ncrp.org

Clinton Foundation Launches Sustainable Development Initiative in Latin America
The Clinton Foundation has launched a new sustainable development initiative in an effort to alleviate poverty in Latin America. Known as the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI), this program will bring together key stake holders from the business community and the natural resource sector. It has so far received pledges of at least $100 million each from Canadian business man Frank Guistra and Carlos Slim Helu, chairman of Mexican conglomerate Grupo Carso.

“Collective action is the best strategy to address the economic, education and health hurdles that confront millions in the developing world,” said Clinton. The Clinton-Guistra Sustainable Growth Initiative in partnership with the mining industry and other sectors, will focus on improving living conditions in Latin American countries and other nations and will work toward bridging the gap between the rich and poor.

Since making its initial pledge, Petro Rubiales Energy Corp. has made a combined contribution of $4.2 million to the Initiative and an additional pledge of $200 mil-lion from Vancouver-based Lundin for Africa, the philanthropic arm of the Lundin Group of Companies, which will complement the Clinton Foundation’s activities in Africa. For more information please visit: http://clintonfoundation.org

MacArthur Explores Role of Philanthropy in Virtual Worlds
The MacArthur Foundation has launched the first in a series of activities to learn how foundations can be helpful in advancing the use of virtual worlds, such as Second Life, for social benefit.

The foundation is awarding $550,000 to the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School for Communication to explore the role of philanthropy
in the virtual world. Activities include: online conversations about pressing issues and ways foundations can help address community needs and simulcasts of face-to-face discussion of issues such as migration, human rights, education and global and civic engagement.

Virtual worlds such as Second Life and there.com are about accessing three-dimensional, vibrant participatory communities and interacting with millions of residents in real communities. Recently, nonprofits have started fundraising through Walk for Hunger, where residents of virtual worlds “walked” for the fundraiser. The event drew nearly 400 participants.

While MacArthur is cautious about claims that technology can solve longstanding social problems, it sees the beginning of a change in learning initiatives aimed to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play socialize and participate in civic life.

More information on MacArthur’s digital media initiative at www.digitallearning.macfound.org or the initiatives blog at spotlight.macfound.org

The International Women’s Media Foundation Supports coverage of Agriculture,
Rural Development and Women in Africa
The International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization launched in 1990 with a mission to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide, has re-ceived a $2.5 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to develop a project working with news media organizations in Africa to enhance their coverage of agricul-ture, rural development and women’s issues. Included in the project will be a four-year assessment of current coverage on these topics.

“Agriculture plays a crucial role in African economics. Poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition remain major challenges in the sub-Saharan region,” stated Jane Ransom, IWMF executive director. These issues are closely related to agriculture ,where there is a serious crisis in production. The media have a crucial role to play by reporting on the crisis and amplifying the voices.

The International Women’s Media Forum has a track record of building awareness within the media to enhance coverage of major issues. From 2003-2007 the organization enhanced coverage on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This pilot project, called Maisha Yeto (Our Lives in Swahili), which was just completed, saw a significant increase in the quality and quantity of news articles and broadcast stories on these health topics in Botswana, Kenya and Senegal. For more information on the International Women’s Media Foundation please visit: www.iwmf.org

Giving Cirlces, a new Force in Philanthropy
Giving circles, once thought of as a woman’s philanthropy phenomenon, have become a new force in the world of philanthropy. According to the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, giving groups have granted an estimated $100 million to support diverse charitable activities. The Forum’s report, “More Giving Together: The Growth and Impact of Giving Circles and Shared Giving,” found that the number of giving circles has more than doubled in the last two years.

“There’s never been a better time to start or join a giving circle because it multiplies the impact of your charitable donations,” said Daria Teutonico, director of the New Ventures in Philanthropy initiative at the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

Today there are more than 400 giving circles nationwide. The 160 giving circles surveyed donated an estimated $13 million for community needs in 2006 alone and involve nearly 12,000 members.

Giving circles have also become more diverse with men now members of nearly half of circles, along with people of color and gay men and lesbians. Individual giving levels are also diverse, ranging from spare change to many thousands of dollars each year. Giving circle membership can range from a scant four members in an informal group, to several hundred members in a giving circle with its own nonprofit status.

Giving circles raise money for myriad causes, from fighting world hunger through nutrition programs to underwriting programs in intensive math tutoring for low-income students in New Orleans.

To learn more about giving circles and or how to organize one of your own, please visit the Forum’s Giving Circle Knowledge Center at www.givingforum.org/givingcircles.

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