Global Philanthropy Update — March 2017
How did you celebrate International Women’s Day this year? Council staff wore red in solidarity with the “A Day Without a Woman” campaign.
Are you worried about how proposed cuts to USG development funding might impact your international grantmaking? I recently spoke to the Chronicle about what we're seeing, and we are also planning to discuss this issue during a panel moderated by Devex at our upcoming conference in Dallas.
Below are a number of updates related to our global philanthropy program, including relevant industry reports as well as upcoming opportunities for you to engage with fellow foundations. Remember to keep checking our global program page and the global grantmaking resources for all the latest updates!
2017 Annual Conference – Register Now
With a month to go before our 2017 Annual Conference on April 23-26, we are busy finalizing plans for Dallas. Global programming will be woven throughout the conference – most notably, our annual Global Reception and Dinner will take place on Tuesday, April 25, from 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. The dinner will focus on issues and opportunities facing women and girls, globally and here at home. There is no additional cost to attend this event, but space is limited and advance registration is required.
I’m excited to announce that the evening’s discussion will be moderated by Kathleen McLaughlin, President of the Walmart Foundation, and will feature a rock star panel of women activists:
- Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Founding Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, and Chair of the Hunt Alternatives Fund;
- Zainab Salbi, a humanitarian, media host, author, and Founder of Women for Women International; and
- Jaha Dukureh, a Gambian women's right activist and anti-female genital mutilation campaigner.
Other great global happenings will include:
- International Preconference: Grantmaking into Latin America: Regulatory Challenges, Strategic Partnerships, and Emerging Opportunities will be held on Sunday, April 23.
- Lunchtime discussion for funders in China: We will host a closed-door, funders-only lunch discussion on Monday, April 24, from 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. Please contact me to join this conversation.
- We will release new data on the international activity of U.S. community foundations during a session with Foundation Center on Monday, April 24, and fresh data on global grantmaking by all U.S. foundations during a session on Wednesday, April 26.
- Globally focused concurrent sessions: International Grantmaking in the Trump Era, Investing in the Arts: Three Models for Creating Community in Mexico, and more. See the full list of sessions here.
Updates on Nonprofit Regulations Overseas
Recent regulatory changes in China, India, Pakistan, and Hungary may impact U.S. grantmakers and your grantees.
- In China, a new foreign NGO law is in full effect and the Chinese government has issued a first round of registrations for international institutions. Funders of different types and sizes are still deciding whether to register for permanent offices or request temporary activity permits.
- The Interior Ministry in Pakistan recently issued a dozen letters to national NGOs in Punjab Province ordering them to stop work. This follows the Pakistani government’s October 2015 imposition of a new Policy for Regulations of INGOs in Pakistan that restricted the operations of international NGOs in the country.
- Tensions have been rising in India between the government, NGOs, and foreign funders. More than 200 local NGOs in India, licensed under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), have been forced to suspend or cease their operations because of cancelations of licenses that allowed them to receive foreign donations.
- The President of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe and the President of the Expert Council on NGO Law in Hungary issued a statement about labeling NGOs as foreign agents and expressed concerns about foreseen legislative changes around foreign funding of NGOs.
Read More: Recent Reports That Matter to International Grantmakers
Financial Access for U.S. Nonprofits: New research from the Charity & Security Network shows that the scope of financial access challenges for U.S. nonprofit organizations (NPOs) working internationally is much more significant than previously estimated: Two-thirds of NPOs working abroad are facing problems accessing financial services. The report is the first empirical study of bank “derisking” as it relates to U.S.-based NPOs.
Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances 2016: The Center for Global Prosperity (CGP) at the Hudson Institute recently launched their 2016 report, which analyzes the sources and magnitude of global philanthropy. The Council attended the report’s release, which also celebrated the transfer of this publication as well as the Index of Philanthropic Freedom to the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Advancing Human Rights: Update on Global Foundation Grantmaking: International Human Rights Funders Group (IHRFG) and Foundation Center’s new analysis explores global human rights funding by foundations in 2014 as well as bilateral and multilateral donors.
The U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016: The U.S. Department of State released its annual country reports on global human rights this month. The reports cover nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide, including all U.N. member states and any country receiving U.S. foreign assistance.
Recent Events, Articles, and Webinars
Global Partnerships Week: The Council’s President and CEO Vikki Spruill gave a keynote address on March 6 at the Partnership Practitioners Forum, kicking off the U.S. Department of State’s annual Global Partnerships Week. The event brought together government and private sector leaders to discuss the role that public-private partnerships must play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. You can read Vikki’s speech here.
Localizing the Global Goals in Minnesota: The Council co-hosted a meeting in Minneapolis on March 9 to discuss how work already underway across Minnesota supports the SDGs. The meeting had more than 75 attendees from a broad range of Minnesota philanthropic organizations and included an address by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who has pledged her support to implementing the goals in her city. Read more about the event in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
This event was the fifth in a series of national dialogues with local philanthropic organizations on the SDGs, following convenings in Little Rock, San Francisco, New York City, and Jacksonville. The next SDGs event will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 23. Please save the date!
WINGSForum 2017: The Council participated in WINGSForum 2017 on February 22-24, which brought together more than 300 participants representing 44 countries and over 170 organizations. You can read some of my main takeaways for U.S. philanthropy here; I’ve also posted on our blog about what Mexico, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the U.S. have in common when it comes to implementing the SDGs.
Recent webinars on immigration and refugees: In light of the recent executive orders, we’ve hosted three conversations about immigration and refugees. All three are available for online viewing:
