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Global Philanthropy

The World's Conscience

By Rüdiger Falksohn

The world's ultra-rich are giving to worthy causes more than ever before. Charitable foundations now jump in where governments cut official aid. It can make a huge difference to the needy -- even if the donors' motives are often self-serving.

DPA

US President George W. Bush and Irish singer Bono, aka Paul Hewson, discuss global AIDS and Africa policy in the Oval Office in October 2005.

When Paul Hewson drops in on the planet's richest couple, Bill and Melinda Gates, horizons quickly expand as the conversation jumps from one topic to the next. "We don't leave anything out from stand-up comedy to quantum physics," Hewson says.

The Gates often play host to people with a wide range of interests in their high-tech villa in Seattle. But this man visiting the Microsoft mogul and his wife is someone whose stage name carries weight in two respects: Bono the pop idol and the voice of Irish rock band U2, and Bono the ultimate Good Samaritan.

The trio has a lot in common: their middle-class backgrounds and their dizzying ascents to the sunny realm of the carefree. They have money to spare and the will to become involved in good causes. Having hit midlife, they've realized that success and fame can also be tied to obligations.

Bono, with his trademark pink designer glasses and cowboy hat, prefers to take his concerns right to the top. He now has so much clout that he has no trouble gaining access to some of the world's most powerful leaders -- including US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- to campaign on behalf of more justice and more charitable giving. He stumps for Africa and other regions where poverty, famine and disease ensure the local populations have a life that couldn't be further from his charmed pop star existence. During his first visit to Washington, he asked, unabashedly: "Who's the Elvis here? With whom do I have to speak to change the world?"

Since then, Bono has put together a network of bonhomie that includes many artists of his generation. His own agency, Data, coordinates the activities and works with lobbyists, and even manages to get US senators involved. With everyone attempting to influence decision-makers, political and business leaders are at least not inclined to spurn the promise of a celebrity photo-op. To improve his line of argumentation among these people, the extrovert singer has taken a few pointers from Jeffrey Sachs, a professor of economics at Columbia University and author of the bestseller "The End of Poverty."

Advocates of the meek

As the advocate of the world's meek and poor, Bono jets to G-8 summits in places like Gleneagles, where he knows Oscar winner George Clooney will be standing by his side, or the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland -- and not to the alternative World Social Forum in Caracas, since Bono is only drawn by the true powerbrokers. At an appearance in the Swiss resort in January, Bono campaigned for a concept dubbed "Red," under which companies pay a portion of their profits to a humanitarian fund. In late February, the Grammy winner showed up in Chile to receive the Pablo Neruda Award for Human Rights from outgoing President Ricardo Lagos. While he was there he also rocked Santiago's national stadium at a concert for 75,000 fans.

The Gates were also in Davos. They had just visited South Asia, traveling in their Bombardier private jet, to see firsthand where their charitable funds could be invested most effectively -- and, of course, to intensify business contacts in the region.

"Very impressive," mumbled the reedy software entrepreneur, somewhat awkwardly, when he was introduced to the four members of a New Delhi family only to discover they pay $13 a month in rent for their windowless room. In Bangladesh, the Gates visited hospitals, posed for photos while feeding bedridden children and listened to housewives tell them about a successful micro-loan program for women launching small businesses.

The growing presence of private philanthropy, especially in the United States, is shining a spotlight on the global suffering many governments are either unable or unwilling to address. At least a third of the world's six billion people live on $2 or less a day and cannot even dream of Western standards of living -- let alone those of Bill Gates. The charitable activities of the ultra-rich, programs beyond the scope of official development aid, are often devoted to the poorest of the poor. But the donors are also well aware of the fact that their involvement does wonders for their public images and that such magnanimity is beneficial to both those giving and receiving.

For the past six years, Bill and Melinda Gates have funded the biggest foundation of all time. Before the foundation was established and endowed with just under $32 billion -- more than half of the Gates' estimated $50 billion fortune -- Microsoft was suffering major image problems as a result of an antitrust suit. Today, the 263 employees of the Gates Foundation work on behalf of education and healthcare programs, with an emphasis on fighting malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, as well as supporting charitable organizations, libraries and researchers. The Carter Center, run by former US President Jimmy Carter, which is currently involved in efforts to eradicate the parasitic Guinea worm, has received $25 million. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, a UN project, has been promised $750 million for the next 10 years. The Gates Foundation also plans to spend $900 million on battling tuberculosis over the next decade.

So far the Gates Foundation has spent a total of $6 billion on healthcare projects alone. The organization's total budget for 2004, $3.35 billion, was substantially larger than the national budgets of many governments, including underdeveloped countries like Mali and Haiti. Given these numbers, it comes as no surprise that Time magazine declared the Gates and Bono as its "Persons of the Year" for 2005. The ultra-rich and the superstars who use their fortunes and fame to assume positions of social leadership, serving as untiring heralds and fundraisers, have become the public conscience of this world.

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