Philanthrocapitalism_ How Giving Can Save the World - Matthew Bishop [6]
I thought I could help meet that challenge by convening the first Clinton Global Initiative around the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly, in September 2005. We brought together several hundred government leaders, philanthropists, business leaders, and NGO activists from all over the world to discuss what we could do about four global challenges: combating climate change; alleviating extreme poverty; improving governance in poor nations; and promoting religious, ethnic, and racial reconciliation. The unique thing about this gathering was that the participants were told in advance that they would be asked to make a specific commitment in time or money to one of these areas. For three days, we held intense discussions about the issues; collected many good new ideas as well as examples of successful projects that should be expanded; and secured more than $2.5 billion in pledges to take specific actions. All but fourteen of the individuals and groups who attended made commitments. In dollar terms, some were large, some were small, but all will make a difference.
At the second meeting, in September 2006, the total commitments exceeded $7 billion to fight poverty, improve health, combat climate change, and promote reconciliation—with some of the most impressive pledges involving smaller dollar amounts. We now have a full-time staff to help those who make commitments keep them effectively, to assist those who have good ideas but need to find funding partners, and to match people who want to give money with reliable partners to do the work they want to finance. We also webcast the 2006 meeting. About 48,000 people followed it over the Internet, and a few hundred of them spontaneously made their own commitments. I want to continue these meetings for at least a decade, with the objective of creating a global network of citizen activists who reach across the divides of our interdependent world to build real communities of shared opportunities, shared responsibilities, and a genuine sense of belonging. You can be one of those activists, helping to build that kind of world in an almost infinite number of ways.
TWO
Giving Money
ABOUT 70 PERCENT of American households and increasing numbers of people around the world give some money away every year. In 2006, Americans gave almost 2 percent of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product), about $300 billion, usually in one of three categories: to their place of worship or its affiliated activities; to an emergency with profound and highly publicized needs, like the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, or a sick child in their community who needs surgery the family can’t afford; or to other local fund-raising activities by a group in which the donor is involved or to which the donor is asked to give by a friend or family member.
What if you want to go beyond that, to make a gift within your means to tackle persistent problems in the United States or other countries? The most colossal example of this sort of giving is, of course, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gateses decided to put more than $35 billion into a foundation to address a wide range of global issues, focusing on education in the United States and health care in poor countries, and on creating breakthroughs in deploying new vaccines and preventive measures against AIDS, other diseases, and extreme poverty. They have a brilliant staff and fund promising projects and proven partners. Both Bill and Melinda are deeply involved in the foundation’s work, amazingly knowledgeable about the problems they’re tackling, and intensely committed to making a difference. Bill is in the process of disengaging from Microsoft and soon will join Melinda in devoting himself full-time to their foundation.
Why did the Gateses decide to give their money and time to reducing the world’s inequalities in health, education, and development? In his Harvard commencement speech on June 2, 2007, Bill Gates gave a powerful answer:
If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth