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International Giving . . .
Five Reasons to Make an International Gift
Charity may begin at home, but it doesn’t end there. As private investment capital profits from “emerging markets” so private philanthropic capital discovers “emerging opportunities” when it goes abroad. Here are five good reasons why donors give internationally.
1. High Impact
International giving is intelligent giving. Why? Because it is efficient giving. Small donations can yield big results. Although the overall need far exceeds the capacity of private philanthropy, the needs of specific communities at the grassroots are simple, concrete and they can be addressed.
2. Unusual Reward
Few activities provide the same satisfaction, achievement and sense of contribution as international philanthropy. By supporting a foreign project overseas, you not only help people take control of their lives, you challenge global inequity and break down the national and cultural barriers that feed poverty, tension and conflict. As a donor, you also get the rare and wonderful feeling of seeing concrete and dramatic results from your gift.
3. Official Failure
Governments from post-industrialized countries are the primary donors for international development and relief. Since the end of the Cold War, individual Governments have significantly decreased their contributions. Between 1992 and 1997, official assistance from rich countries dropped 30 percent, while their GNPs jumped almost 30 percent. To make matters worse, these countries have created multi-national lending institutions whose stringent policies help maintain the majority of the world’s population on less than two U.S. dollars a day.
4. Philanthropic Isolation
No fact of life in today’s world is purely local. Even our most basic and intimate details—the food we eat, the clothes we wear—are enmeshed in the flow of international capital, goods, services and labor. Does it make sense in this context that philanthropy should maintain an exclusively local orientation? Of course not. Yet, international funding barely makes it onto philanthropy’s radar screen in the United States. Only 10% of U.S. foundation grants, and less than 2% of all U.S. philanthropy, goes overseas. And most of that comes from big foundations funding scholarships and other big-ticket programs. Very little gets down to the grassroots and what resources make it through generally don’t last for long.
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