Alliance Online - December 2007

Developing best practice and innovation in global giving

Susan Beaudry

EVENT Global U: How to Connect Your Charitable Giving to Your Global Interests
Date 7 February
Venue Chicago, USA
Organizer Chicago Global Donors Network

Founded in 2003 by Marjorie Benton and Adele Simmons, active international philanthropists with first-hand experience in leading philanthropic institutions, the Chicago Global Donors Network (CGDN) aims to increase knowledge about and resources directed towards international philanthropy and to deepen its impact. To help realize these goals, CGDN provides networking opportunities and education and resources on global issues and on the art and practice of global philanthropy.

Global U is one of CGDN’s anchor events, created for people who are already giving globally and those who are considering expanding their charitable giving beyond borders. Using a focused, peer-learning model, Global U brings together seasoned international donors to share tools and strategies with emerging and experienced global donors alike, to build, strengthen and expand their global giving practices. Global U also highlights the diversity of experience and methodologies in global giving, from first-time to experienced donors, youth to senior donors, foundations to diaspora community donors.

This year’s programme on 7 February was attended by over 60 participants, including individual donors, trustees of family foundations, and representatives from public grantmaking charities. The range of topics was diverse, but all presentations shared the theme of best practices and innovations in global grantmaking. By the end of the day, those attending had developed and/or renewed personal or organizational giving mission statements; explored approaches to project selection and evaluation; strengthened cross-cultural communication abilities; deepened their understanding of due diligence from a variety of perspectives; and discussed the benefits and challenges of working with international intermediary organizations to further global giving goals.

John Harvey, Executive Director of Grantmakers Without Borders (Gw/oB), opened the gathering with a session entitled Anatomy of a Global Donor, using the human body as a metaphor for the qualities required of an effective donor. These include an open mind, an ability to use our ears to listen to others, hands for sharing and turning over power, a stomach that allows us to accept some risk, and a heart that demonstrates patience, trust and confident humility.

Betsy Brill, President of Strategic Philanthropy Inc, then led participants through an exercise to develop their mission and purpose in global giving. The session engaged participants in an exploration of their motivations, values, passions and inspirations, connecting these to developing a grounded vision and strategies rooted in addressing pressing community needs. The session provided an excellent methodology for donors new to global philanthropy to develop clarity and a sense of purpose. For more experienced donors, it created an opportunity to revisit their mission and strategies, an important exercise for ensuring that their vision as donors evolves, remains relevant, and can serve as a touch point for measuring success.

The morning sessions also included a fascinating discussion with Karen May of the May Foundation and Juan Ruiz, Vice President of the Federation of Oaxacans in the Midwest, an organized group of immigrants living in the US who contribute to the development of their communities of origin in Mexico. Both presenters shared their experiences working with rural communities with high rates of emigration to the US. May talked about her experiences as a member of a Hispanics in Philanthropy’s funding collaborative that seeks to build upon the extensive links that exist between Mexican migrants in the US and their sending communities in Mexico. Ruiz described the evolution of a handful of individual contributors sending remittances to their home communities in Oaxaca, Mexico into an organized federation that has enlisted matching funds from local, regional and national governments to fund broad-based, community development efforts.

While both presenters shared impressive models of funding rural development, the discussion was underscored by the grim reality that poverty and global economic realities have devastated communities in Mexico, with upward of 50 per cent of the adult population emigrating in order to find a means to support their families.

Other sessions at Global U focused on opportunities to leverage global philanthropy, from mission-related investing to reaching out to social networks. An inspiring example of creative global engagement was offered by Daniel Yang, a recent graduate from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Yang was deeply affected by a documentary film about the civil war in northern Uganda and the conscription of child soldiers. Yang and three friends decided to travel there, gain a better understanding of the conflict, and share their fi ndings.

Lacking money and a clear plan, Yang and his friends took to the streets of downtown Chicago, dressed in a pink teddy bear costume, offering hugs and sharing their concerns with the people of the city. With ‘the support of a few thousand hugs’, Yang made it to Uganda and provided 16 children in the slums of Kampala with a camera and an opportunity to share their stories. After returning from his trip, Yang co-founded Project FOCUS, a Chicago-based, youth-led initiative of artists, writers, activists and students committed to educate, inspire and empower youth through the arts. Yang explained, ‘We have found that we can really inspire compassion in people and that this is a successful strategy, instead of evoking guilt in our peers.’

Susan Beaudry is the Learning and Research Coordinator for Grantmakers Without Borders. Email susan@gwob.net

For more information
www.chicagoglobaldonors.org

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