from One+
Giving Goes Grassroots
When Mari Kuraishi left her job at the World Bank in 2003, colleagues thought she was nuts, but not because she was leaving a cushy job; she decided to launch a nonprofit organization that approaches international development opposite to that of the World Bank.
“They asked, ‘Why would you leave the World Bank? You’re at the peak of your career, you’ve got more ways to influence development inside the World Bank than by going outside it,’” she says.
But Kuraishi had spent years working to change the world with a top-down approach and saw its shortcomings as clearly as its strengths. The idea of top-down is that if you can affect change in governments and economies, then you’ll naturally reduce poverty and improve lives. And while that approach works, Kuraishi decided there was also room for a bottom-up approach—especially in countries with weak or corrupt governments.
“If you’re really committed to development, what are you going to do? Tell the people who live in countries where the governments are weak or corrupt, ‘Best of luck, your government couldn’t manage its way out of a brown paper bag so whatever support the World Bank gives you is probably going to be frittered away, but that’s your problem and not ours,’” she says.
Kuraishi and her colleague Dennis Whittle abandoned their desks at the World Bank in favor of a more direct approach to development. They resolved to work with the people living on the front lines—the people who have the strongest incentives to reduce poverty, protect human rights and the environment, spread education and improve health in their communities. In 2002, Kuraishi and Whittle launched GlobalGiving.org, based in Washington, D.C. Eight years later, the organization has raised US$29 million for grassroots charity projects in more than 100 countries. Perhaps Kuraishi’s former World Bank colleagues should reconsider.
Giving Gets Personal The premise of GlobalGiving.org is pretty simple: Individuals and corporations visit the site and identify a project that appeals to them. Maybe it’s a project that promotes freedom of the press in Sierra Leone or saves endangered turtles in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Maybe it’s a project that gives piglets to Nepalese families so they can eventually sell a pig for income rather than taking more drastic and destructive actions to survive.
The goals of each project are specific and measurable. The giving options have clear impact. For example, one of those piglets in Nepal costs $19. Add one to your cart, and you’ve just prevented a Nepalese family from selling a girl into a life of bonded servitude. Add another $20, and you’ve contributed enough to give her a year of primary school education and enable a better future.
The appeal of such a model is clear from a donor’s point of view: People give in the first place because they want to make a difference. GlobalGiving lets them choose exactly the difference they’ll make and ties it to results. It simplifies and humanizes giving in a way in which larger aid organizations often struggle.
From the recipient’s point of view, the bottom-up approach bypasses the weak and corrupt governments that might otherwise stand in the way and puts aid directly into the hands of the people who need it. Those people, Kuraishi says, are the ones most likely to see a project through.
“One observation from working with bureaucrats in-country is that they weren’t that committed, at the end of the day, to any one program working, whereas the people who live in the communities who have a small idea and just need $10,000 to get it going—they were going to make it work through their commitment rather than expertise,” Kuraishi says. “Commitment trumps experience a lot of times.”
Corporations Get in on the Act Another sign that Kuraishi’s idea is working: Since its launch, GlobalGiving has experienced 100 percent annual growth. That’s not only because individuals can easily find compelling projects worthy of their dollars, it’s because corporations are getting in on the act, too.
In 2009, about 50 percent of donations to GlobalGiving came from private individuals who donated small amounts via the website. The other 50 percent came from corporations and high-net-worth individuals.
More businesses are launching corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and becoming more sophisticated about how those programs are run. A 2009 report from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy found that corporate giving is becoming more proactive and strategic as companies donate to causes that align with their own competitive strengths. In effect, corporations are doing good while improving their own brands.
“CSR seems to have really gotten much more energized and creative,” Kuraishi says. “For instance, we’re working with Pepsi’s Refresh campaign, where it’s giving away $20 million they would have spent on Super Bowl ads on TV and using that money for grants for people who will make a difference in their communities. This isn’t just corporate philanthropy; this is a clear idea of shifting brand identity in people’s minds.”
GlobalGiving works with dozens of other corporations to find and vet projects that companies want to promote. Dell, eBay, Ford, Gap, Google, Liquidnet, Mashable, Nike, PayPal, Warner Brothers and Yahoo! all fund projects and make it easy for their employees to get involved in the giving, too.
One great example is the work GlobalGiving has done with The Girl Effect, an organization created by the Nike Foundation. At Girleffect.org, millions of people have watched a moving video about the way the world could change if a single girl were pulled from poverty and given an education. Many of those online visitors have donated to the cause’s projects, and the giving options are powered on the back end by GlobalGiving.
Incorporating Giving into Events Picking up on this trend, Kuraishi and her team have developed ways to help organizations incorporate giving into their events. Instead of free products and swag bags, attendees can receive a GlobalGiving gift card. It’s made from corn but looks and feels just like a plastic credit card. Each card has a code that is tied to a donation amount. Event attendees simply go to GlobalGiving.org, choose from more than 1,000 projects around the world and donate the money directly.
“Hyatt Hotels gave them to an event of meeting planners last year,” Kuraishi says. “Other companies we work with give them out to their supply chains—SAP did that. Dell uses them to thank volunteers. An SAS executive gave them to his key employees as Christmas gifts. Liquidnet uses them for on-boarding employees as one of its ways to show new employees that it’s serious about CSR and that it’s part of the lifeblood of the company.”
GlobalGiving also works directly with event planners. If an organization wants to tie giving into its annual event, Kuraishi’s team can work with planners to create a co-branded Web page promoting the event and the company’s commitment to philanthropy. The organization can let employees choose their own projects. Maybe they’ve identified a project that aligns with their own values and brand and want to direct donations to that cause.
In fact, organizations and event planners can incorporate giving into their initiatives in just about any way they can dream up, and partner with GlobalGiving to handle the logistics. This model can satisfy people’s hunger to make a visible impact with their dollars and bolster the good that corporations can actually accomplish.
“There are lots of smaller organizations doing great work in the field…one of them could be the next Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner,” Kuraishi says. “And if we don’t create an environment where these people can have a chance to grow, [we won’t] get enough innovation.” One+
TARA SWORDS covers business, technology, lifestyle, women’s issues and travel topics. She currently resides in Mozambique.
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TAGS: Mari Kuraishi, One+ July 2010, GlobalGiving.org