Giving Globally
by Victoria Dunning
You might already suspect from your Facebook or LinkedIn profiles that the world is getting smaller. It's true. The folks on the far sides of the Earth are practically down the block in terms of human connections. A recent study showed that there are only 4.74 degrees of separation between every person on the planet. In the U.S., that number goes down to 4.37. You are not as distant as you might think from the refugee in Somalia, the AIDS orphan in Thailand, or the child bride in India. It's likely that your friend's friend knows their friend's friend. When you think of it like that, it begins to sound a bit more like a global community — a global community that requires global philanthropy.
The global need is great and the statistics are compelling. As vice president of the Global Fund for Children, I am steeped in some of the greatest challenges facing children and youth around the world. Education and health statistics in many developing countries are appalling. In Afghanistan, primary school enrollment is 74 percent for males and an even lower 46 percent for females. HIV prevalence in South Africa is an alarming 17.8 percent. Yet the education of all the world's children is fundamental to our global economy and a fundamental right for all children, wherever they're born.
HIV/AIDS and the H1N1 flu can spread across the globe on a long-haul flight. Ancient global trade routes have evolved to a globalized economy that includes the more menacing aspects of trafficking and modern-day slavery. Many of the world's trafficking victims are women and children faced with a life of prostitution or forced labor in indentured servitude. These seemingly distant issues actually impact our home communities. They might affect a sex worker on a nearby street corner or a domestic worker in a nice house within a gated community. AIDS in Africa and trafficking in Asia are not remote. They touch us all.
Despite issues that are global in magnitude and interconnected in reach, the challenges and their solutions are often disproportionate to local capital in developing countries and require collaborative problem-solving and resources. Bangladesh has a per capita GDP of $550 and Peru $4,403, while wealthier countries like the U.S. ($44,871 GDP per capita), Canada ($39,995), and the U.K. ($35,328) have proportionately more to deploy to address global challenges.
Access to philanthropic capital for social good is severely limited in developing countries. While the U.S. has a thriving culture of philanthropy that totals nearly $300 billion per year, the philanthropic sector is neither established nor accessible in many countries with great need. Where much of the wealth generated in the U.S. is a result of global consumers and producers, global philanthropy should naturally follow.
While international grantmaking might seem to pose some logistical challenges at first glance, its rewards are immense. Whether through a Skype call or a site visit, stepping up to the role of global citizen is both awesome and humbling. The basic principles and practice of local philanthropy are readily transferable to an international setting. International grantmaking mechanisms exist, and are accessible to individuals and foundations of all sizes and types: institutional foundations, family foundations, donor-advised funds, and intermediary grantmakers. Each has experience to share in becoming a global grantmaker.
Global philanthropy is an important part of an interconnected, interdisciplinary approach to maximizing social good. Local giving in our home communities remains vitally important. However, the bustling streets of Rio, the rice fields of Vietnam, and the rural village in Kenya are all part of a global neighborhood, and the people there are our neighbors living a virtual 4.37 houses away.
Victoria Dunning is vice president for programs at The Global Fund for Children.
