global giving matters march'02 issue 4

8/9/2019 Global Giving Matters March'02 Issue 4

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Global GivingMATTERS

Issue 4March 2002

2 Feature: John Michael Forgch: Giving globalization a human fac

4 Feature: Global Philanthropy Forum opens doors and dialogue on international giving

5 Global Giving Round-Up Costa Rican model shapes South African rural health care initiative

Sweat equity in South Africa leads to rural school improvement partnerships Charity brings taste of freedom to Nepali children living with jailed mothers

BasicNeeds supports self-help for mentally ill in India

South African environmentalist honored for innovative leadership

Bringing success back home South Asian businessmen share their USsuccesses

Volunteer high-tech initiative builds Web sites for nonprofits worldwide

Canadian competition encourages social entrepreneurs

Taking control of their destino US Hispanic philanthropists form foundation

Philanthropy Ink: Helping others How long will it last?

8 Resources & Links Mexico forum encourages social venture entrepreneurs

Book tells how social enterprise became big profitable business

New guide examines diversity funding activities in Europe

On-line resource documents NGO activities in South Asia

BytesforAll

9 Global Philanthropists Circle News Southern Africa Trip March 1121 2002

Special Telephone Briefing on Southern Africa with Desmond Tutu, March 8

10 Your Ideas Wanted

In this issue

Synergos

9 East 69th StreetNew York, NY10021 USATel +1 (212) 517-4900Fax +1 (212) [email protected]

In This IssueAmong the potentially most pow-

erful forms of social investment are

efforts to make money through so-

called green businesses busi-

nesses that promote conservation

of the environment.

This issue explores the efforts of a

Brazilian entrepreneur John

Michael Forgch who has com-

bined environmental sustainability

with financial success. And he is

building on his experience

through partnerships with the

Government of Brazil and groups

in the US and Latin America that

provide seed money and training

for other entrepreneurs who are

starting or switching into environ-

mentally sustainable business

ventures.

www.globalgivingmatters.org [email protected]

2002 Synergos/World Economic Forum

Global Giving Matters presents best practices and innovations in philanthropy and social

investment around the world. It is an initiative of The Synergos Institutes Global Philanthropists

Circle and the World Economic Forum under the direction of Adele Simmons, Senior Advisor to

the Forum, and James M. Brasher III, Director, Global Philanthropists Circle. If you would like to

subscribe to this newsletter, to unsubscribe, or to designate someone else in your organization

to receive it in your stead, contact us at [email protected].


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Global Giving MATTERS

March 2002

Last year John Michael Forgch added another prize to his collection of environment-

related honors: the 2001 Rainforest Alliances Green Globe for his efforts to promote

investments in environmentally sustainable businesses. In the growing world of social

entrepreneurship, Forgch is often described as a visionary. The Web site for A2R

(www.a2r.com.br), the investment business he heads in So Paulo, Brazil, blinks the

words profits + conservation + social responsibility = sustainable development." He

was instrumental last year in the creation ofIBENS (The Brazilian Institute for

Education in Sustainable Business), which provides training and other support to small,

emerging indigenous companies. And he spends about half the year traveling, lecturing

and consulting to advocate for sustainable investing, using his own experiences as acase study in success.

Reflecting on these achievements, Forgch expresses surprise at how his professional

life has turned out. Neither environmental advocacy nor philanthropy figured early in

his career. Rather, he was driven to make money and run companies. And he did.

Born in Brazil and educated at Harvard and the Acadmie de Paris, Forgch began his

career in investment banking and made a fortune in crude oil trading and shipping.

Starting out in Paris, he moved to Switzerland in 1983. By 1995, he was living com-

fortably in a spacious house on a lake. His two daughters were grown and on their

own.I had always felt like an outsider and was unhappy, he says. Among other things, he

was tired of never being able to fully in charge of the businesses he ran; Switzerland

does not allow non-citizens to control companies based there. He no longer needed to

prove himself. It was probably my mid-life crisis, he admits, and in 1995, at age 47,

Forgch decided to go home.

A macaw got him startedForgch might say that his change in direction started with a macaw. In 1983, his first

year in Switzerland, Forgch met a woman who had a macaw to sell. I was surrounded

by macaws growing up in Brazil, so I bought it, he says, but the bird was as miserableas I was. Six months later, he bought another bird to keep this one company. Nothing

happened. It turns out they were both males, so Forgch then purchased two females,

and soon he was building an aviary and breeding macaws. I became a convert, says

Forgch, who starting winning prizes for the quality of the birds he bred and also

attracted press attention. He wrote books and spoke widely on the subject, eventually

starting an NGO to breed and protect them. In 1995, as he prepared to leave

Switzerland, he created a foundation to make the aviary self-sustaining; additional

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FEATURE: JOHN MICHAEL FORGCH GIVING GLOBALIZATION A HUMAN FACE


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March 2002

income comes from selling macaws to zoos in major cities. Key to this enterprise is

that these macaws are bred for zoos, and arent taken out of their natural habitats, thus

stemming illegal traffic in wildlife. When I started this project, a blue and gold macaw

was about $2,000, says Forgch. Now there are so many that theyre about $250.

Next steps?

Back in Brazil, Forgch was ready for something else, but not yet sure what. Idbecome a millionaire very young and Id fulfilled my material goals, he says. But I

wasnt satisfied. So he essentially started over, cutting most of his earlier business ties

except for a few clients whose money he managed through a Swiss company,

Forgch & Co.

His initial efforts focused on animal welfare. After seeing the appalling conditions at

the So Paulo Zoo and becoming aware of animal smuggling in Brazil, he formed an

NGO to protect wildlife and rehabilitate animals retrieved by customs and police that

were being illegally transported out of the country. One of his projects was to produce

a video on the bad conditions at the zoo that he sent to animal support organizations

and potential supporters. He recruited people he knew to allow some of their property

to double as wildlife sanctuaries. More boldly, he organized a bond issue to raise the

funds to purchase a nearly-bankrupt timberland company so that its properties could

be used as an animal reserve (and managed in an environmentally sustainable manner).

He convinced some Brazilian pension funds to buy in.

Bringing the partners together for the timberland purchase was an arduous process

that made Forgch realize he couldnt continue operating on his own. So in 1996, he

joined with local partners to create Banco Axial, a boutique firm whose investments

included green businesses as well as dot-coms and biotechnology ventures. Some of

these included companies in the Amazon that provided materials valuable in geneticresearch. No one else had our resources, says Forgch. Multinationals were con-

sulting us. He garnered publicity and spoke at meetings examining emerging trends in

corporate responsibility in the Americas. But various factors led the bank to close in

2000. Forgch bought out the green interests at Axial and, with six people from its

staff, launched A2R, his new company, later that year, in partnership with a major fund

manager in Boston. A2R identifies indigenous industries with the potential to develop

export markets that can generate jobs and produce income while protecting communi-

ties.

Last year, Forgch took one step further into the world of social investment and phi-

lanthropy when he helped establish IBENS. IBENS provides seed money and trainingfor entrepreneurs starting or switching into sustainable endeavors. The program is

sponsored by A2R in conjunction with Brazils State Secretariat for Economic Affairs,

and with partners in the US and Latin America concerned with sustainable develop-

ment. An overarching goal is to spread the message, in media and with the private and

non-profit sectors, that sustainability is profitable. IBENS, Forgch says, is the focus of

his philanthropy: All my resources are in it. In addition to helping communities

develop successful indigenous businesses, IBENS also acts to protect and celebrate

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their cultures by producing musical recordings and videotapes. A new cultural archive

is growing.

Globalization with a human faceJohn Michael Forgch may seem to have become an idealist as the result of his identity

crisis, but he insists hes a pragmatist. Globalization is here to stay, he says, and his goal

through A2R, IBENS and his other activities is to put a human face on it.

4

A meeting on March 78 by the newly-formed Global Philanthropy Forum

(www.philanthropyforum.org), to be held at Stanford University, has a clear goal: to

highlight and increase international giving by individual donors. A partnership

among four organizations the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the

Stanford Business School, the TOSA Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett

Foundation the forum will join leaders in global philanthropy with about 200 philan-

thropists from the San Francisco Bay area concerned with learning how to be more

effective global givers. In addition, the program will include follow-through in print

and other media to bring its message to a broader audience.

The idea for the forum began during a discussion among the four groups in November

2000. We were concerned to know why, at a time of obvious global needs in educa-

tion, health care and nutrition, environmental sustainability, housing, security andequity affecting communities in developing countries, overseas giving by US donors

was so low, says Jane Wales, President and CEO of the World Affairs Council, espe-

cially since increasing globalization means that communities around the world are

more interconnected than ever. According to Giving USA 2001, an annual review of

philanthropy published by the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy, international giving for

the year 2000 represented only 1.3%, or $2.7 billion, of total giving of $203.5 billion.

(Individual giving represents a hefty 75% of this total.) The report also notes that

while the $2.7 billion is a 2.6% increase over 1999 international giving, it's actually

0.8% less when adjusted for inflation. Moreover, much of this giving does not help

communities directly, since it also includes research institutes and exchange programs.The meeting will explore how philanthropic input can have specific impact in Central

and Southern Asia. Although experts from these regions will speak at the conference,

event organizers have invited non-profit leaders from other southern countries whose

successes can be replicated. Representatives of diaspora philanthropies formed in the

US to assist organizations in their home countries (such as the American India

Foundation) will also take part. Were persuaded the probably the best response is to

build a strong and healthy transnational civil society, says Wales. The conference will

FEATURE: GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY FORUMOPENS DOORS AND DIALOGUE ONINTERNATIONAL GIVING


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include several plenary presentations, with a morning launch on March 7 by Gordon

Conway, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, and Kavita Ramdas, President and

CEO of the Global Fund for Women.

The invitation-only conference was originally organized when Bay area philanthropy,

(particularly in Silicon Valley) was growing fast, but international giving was barely

addressed. The urgency grew, says Wales, as the recession was in sight, and we fearedthat international giving would be one of the first casualties. The events of September

11 added a further chilling effect on giving, she adds. However, says Wales, The

biggest surprise, to me, has been that in this economic climate, people keep coming to

me asking if they can attend the conference. But I think people are more motivated by

what they're learning about the world.

5

GLOBAL GIVING ROUNDUPOverviews of best

practices aroundthe world and

links to learn more

about them

Links to Web sites with

more details are available

at the online edition ofGlobal Giving Matters at

www.globalgivingmatters.org

Costa Rican model shapes South African rural health care initiativeThe Africa Foundation (www.africafoundation.org) is using a $103,000 grant from the

Flora Family Foundation to implement a novel Health Care Container Clinic program in

rural South Africa. Based on a model developed byThe Costa Rican Foundation for

Sustainable Development and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the project

aims to overcome geographic isolation and the lack of health care infrastructure by

offering quality basic health care and medical expertise to medically underserved rural

communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sweat equity in South Africa leads to rural school improvement partnershipsPeople power has made a huge difference in rural South African communities where

schools were literally falling apart. A community-based initiative led by a teacher impa-

tient with the provincial governments slow pace at repairing schools, resulted in a

movement by local people to do repairs themselves, even building new classrooms.

Their work drew the attention ofReggie Naidoo, a former union activist now in the cor

porate sector, and he linked the community with the foundation his company (Decillion

Limited) had established; the Decillion Foundation then provided financial support.

Ultimately, the local education administrator joined in, resulting in a four-part partner-

ship including the community, government, individual leaders and corporate donors.

This sweat equity model is being replicated in other school communities in South

Africa. (Mail & Guardian, January 31, 2002)

Charity brings taste of freedom to Nepali children living with jailed mothersA British citizen who became interested in Nepal after studying the Nepali language

with a Nepali teacher in London, has turned his attention and resources towards


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helping children in Nepal whose mothers are in jail. Following the death of his wife,

Philip Holmes decided to focus his energies on philanthropy, and, following a first visit

to Nepal in 1999, created and registered the Nepal Child Welfare Organisation as an

NGO aiming to provide shelter, clothing and other care for these children, who previ-

ously lived in the prisons with their mothers. Thirty-two children are currently

receiving help. (The Kathmandu Post, January 21, 2002)

BasicNeeds supports self-help for mentally ill in IndiaOne of the gravest but often overlooked consequences of dire poverty is mental illness,

which makes even it even harder for people barely subsisting to help themselves in a

meaningful way. In 2000, to address this terrible problem, social entrepreneur Chris

Underhill launched BasicNeeds (www.basicneeds.org.uk), a British-based initiative, in

India with goal of strengthening the self-confidence, literacy, numeracy and practical

skills of people to help them become more independent and ultimately able to hold a

job or start a microenterprise. Underhill was previously CEO of the Intermediate

Technology Development Group and founded a horticultural therapy organization

called Thrive. A pilot program in Bangalore, India, includes community outreach pro-grams to break down prejudice against people with mental illness. Supported byWorld

in Need, a British charitable trust, and the Joel Joffe Charitable Trust, BasicNeeds is

organizing new projects in Sri Lanka and Ghana.

South African environmentalist honored for innovative leadershipPhilanthropy doesnt always come in the form of money, if you follow the model of

award-winning South African environmentalist/activist Mandla Mentoor. A little more

10 years ago, Mentoor launched a backyard recycling operation at his home near

Johannesburg. Today, that business is Amandla Waste Creations, an environmental

clean-up and waste-recycling business that is generates profits, jobs and a role modelfor what community-based businesses can be. As part of his operation, Mentoor has

developed and runs a program to educate children and adults about their environ-

mental rights through a system of enviro-shares made up of information-sharing and

management skills workshops dealing specifically with environmental problems. His

program now operates in conjunction with provincial government, NGOs and the pri-

vate sector. These achievements are among the reasons Mentoor, who serves as coordi-

nator for the Environmental Justice Networking Forum for Gauteng province, was

recently honored with the 2002 Individual Award in South Africas annual Investing in

the Environment competition. (Mail & Guardian, January 30, 2002)

Bringing success back home South Asian businessmen share their USsuccessesIn 1980 Safi Qureshy and two partners founded AST Research, a manufacturer of per-

sonal computers, in a California garage. In 1997, AST, by then a Fortune 500 com-

pany, was sold to Samsung, and Pakistan-born Qureshy (now based in southern

California) turned to two new careers one as venture capitalist, the other as philan-

thropist. His SQ Foundation (www.sqfoundation.org), established in 2000 and head-

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quartered in Karachi, focuses on using information technology to improve education

and health care delivery in poor communities within Pakistan. It purchased the

Pakistani rights to Sesame Street,which is produced asKhul Ja Sim Sim. The

Foundation says that in all its areas of intervention, [it] seeks to create partnerships

and linkages, which enable the development of replicable, scaleable models.

Volunteer high-tech initiative builds Web sites for nonprofits worldwideHeres a Silicon Valley dot-com that doesnt focus on creating multimillionaires; rather,

the goal ofCharityFocus (www.charityfocus.org) is to recruit volunteers to build infor-

mational Web sites for non-profits around the world and help them raise funds as

well as consciousness. Launched by four techies in 1999, CharityFocus now has

1,200 volunteers who have helped create 700 Web sites. It has formed alliances with

many corporations, including major high-tech companies, for product donations and

funding.

Canadian competition encourages social entrepreneurs

Toronto-based Social Capital Partners (SCP www.socialcapitalpartners.ca) hasannounced a new business plan competition that aims to encourage social entrepre-

neurship in Canada, with emphasis on projects that employ disadvantaged people. The

designer of the best plan will win Cdn. $15,000, plus a chance at Cdn. $1 million in

funding and the opportunity to work with SCP in developing the business. Founded in

2001, SCP is among a new and still very small generation of venture philanthro-

pists in Canada who use business approaches to solve social problems.

Taking control of their destino US Hispanic philanthropists form foundationLatino business and community leaders in California, troubled by the lack of grassroots

supports for community initiatives, have organized Destino 2000 as a model fund toencourage communities and business leaders to give back. Started by the Ventura

County Community Foundation in California, its close to reaching its goal of a

$400,000 endowment. Board member Danny Villanueva, a businessman and former

professional football player who is a key driver of the fund, and other Latino leaders,

are targeting not just the Hispanic community but a larger constituency of local leaders

to build it up. (Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2001)

Philanthropy Ink: Helping others How long will it last?Since the attacks of September 11, Americans have invested more time in volunteering

and helping others. But this current involvement may not last, asserts Robert Putnam,the Harvard University political scientist who wrote Bowling Alone: The Collapse and

Revival of American Community. He says that communal volunteering will likely wane

unless government, charities and others entities take action to encourage continued

social engagement. Putnams findings were included in an article inAmerican Prospect

(February 11, 2002).

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Mexico forum encourages social venture entrepreneursThe third New Ventures Investor Forum (NVIF), in partnership with the Fondo

Mexicano para la Conservacin de la Naturaleza (Mexican Nature Conservation Fund),

will be held in Mexico on June 2021 with the goal of providing entrepreneurs a venue

to showcase their businesses to international and regional venture capitalists and indi-

vidual investors. Most participating entrepreneurs come from sectors such as organic

foods and fiber, clean technologies, eco-tourism, non-timber forest products and certi-

fied wood, renewable energy and sustainable fisheries management. They present their

business plans to a panel of judges made up of top business executives and investors,

and winners receive business mentoring services and assistance with investor meetingsuntil capital is secured, or for a year after the Forum. NVIF also includes roundtable

discussions to educate the investment community about global market trends in envi-

ronmental sectors and the role of venture capital in promoting sustainable entrepre-

neurship. New Ventures is a project of the Sustainable Enterprise Program of the World

Resources Institute. For details, see www.new-ventures.org/investorforums.html.

Book tells how social enterprise became big profitable businessComing up from the StreetsbyTessa Swithinbank (Earthscan, 2001) describes a British

social enterprise that turned into big business, with international branches. The enter-

prise was a newspaper, The Big Issue(www.bigissue.com), written by professional jour-nalists and sold by homeless or disabled people. Founded in 1991 byGordon Roddick,

husband of Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, after seeing a prototype in the US, and

A. John Bird, The Big Issue now has a foundation, which provides jobs, education and

training, as well as a vendor program. International editions are published in South

Africa and Australia, and The Big Issue is linked with a global network of newspapers

that provide support to homeless people.

New guide examines diversity funding activities in EuropeThe Brussels-based European Foundation Centre (www.efc.be) has recently published

Funding Minorities and Multiculturalism in Europe: Funders Activities against Racism andfor Equality in Diversity as a joint effort with the European Monitoring Centre on Racism

and Xenophobia and the Freudenberg Stiftung. The book contains 99 detailed profiles

of funders from 31 countries, reviewing each funders mission and major activities; a

special section focuses specifically on minorities and multiculturalism issues including

inter-cultural relations and anti-discrimination of ethnic minorities.

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Activities, Web

sites and other

cutting-edgeinformation for

global givers

Links to Web sites with

more details are available

at the online edition of

Global Giving Matters atwww.globalgivingmatters.org

RESOURCES & LINKS


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March 2002

On-line resource documents NGO activities in South AsiaCurious about non-profits throughout South Asia? The ProPoor InfoTech Centre Trust

(www.propoor.org ) can help. Established in 1998, it aims to disseminate information

about sustainable development initiatives that address the needs of under-represented

and marginalized sectors of society in six countries of South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan,

India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Its Internet portal contains comprehensive infor-

mation on South Asian NGOs, donors and funding agencies, events, projects, and jobs.A free on-line newsletter is available by subscription.

BytesforAllBytes for All (www.bytesforall.org) is an Indian-based voluntary organization that pro-

vides information on Web-based resources to support development in the same coun-

tries served by the ProPoor InfoTech Centre (see item above).

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GLOBAL PHILANTHROPISTS CIRCLE NEWSSouthern Africa Trip March 1121

The Southern Africa trip promises to be a unique experience for everyone involved.

The GPC delegation will include people from seven countries, who will participate in

over three dozen special activities with a broad cross section of Southern African

society. Key issues to be examined include education, HIV/AIDS, rural development,

fostering leadership, eco-tourism and youth as an asset for the future.

The group will meet with leading nonprofit organizations that are supporting commu-

nity efforts in these areas, including Synergos partners such as the Community

Development Foundation of Mozambique, and the Social Change Assistance Trust andNelson Mandela Childrens Fund in South Africa. The delegation will also meet with

urban and rural community groups during site visits that will provide a unique view of

the actions citizens are taking to address local needs.

One example is the LoveLife Centre in South Africas Langa Township, where commu-

nity leaders are engaged in innovative initiatives that combine their volunteer efforts

with the resources and know-how of business, government and civil society to assist

people affected by HIV/AIDS. Another of the seven site visits will be to rural

Changalane in Mozambique, where a womens development association is helping

families make money through poultry production and marketing.

In the field of education, an afternoon at the University of Cape Town that includes dis-

cussion with the vice chancellor, students and professors, as well as visits to rural edu-

cation sites in Mozambique, will offer an inside view of how schools are responding to

the changing needs of South Africa.

In addition, the group will hold discussions with government leaders at the highest

levels including the presidents and ministers of finance of both South Africa and


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Mozambique and the speaker of parliament of South Africa. In the private sector, they

will meet with leaders of major companies and business associations for an exchange of

ideas about the role of business in bridging the gap between rich and poor. In addition,

they will attend a special session on social venture capital with entrepreneurs who are

using this innovate strategy for social and economic development in South Africa and

Zimbabwe.

And, of course, they will meet with major individual and family philanthropists,

including our South African GPC members the Appelbaum and Rupert families.

These families, together with Nelson Mandela and Graa Machel, are playing special

roles as hosts in this visit and we thank them for their assistance.

Special Telephone Briefing on Southern Africa with Desmond Tutu, March 8Archbishop Desmond Tutu has graciously agreed to give GPC members a briefing on

Southern Africa on March 8 at 11am Eastern Standard Time. Most participants will

join the briefing by phone please contact Jennie Walker at Synergos

([email protected], +1 (212) 517-4900) if you would like to take part.

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Global Giving Matters aims to present information on best practices and innovations in p

lanthropy 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 [email protected].

You may also give feedback online at: www.synergos.org/globalgivingmatters/feedback.

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

organizations.

YOUR IDEAS WANTED

global giving matters march'02 issue 4

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