The final Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting convenes in New York this week with some nonprofit leaders expressing a sense of “mission accomplished,” saying it elevated the status of public-private partnerships and helped spawn a new generation of similar efforts.
Commonly referred to as CGI, the program was launched in 2005 by the Clinton Foundation and has bundled billions of corporate, government, and philanthropic dollars to deal with a slate of global issues like climate change and economic opportunities for women in developing countries. While the concept of public-private partnerships dates back half a century or more, Bill Clinton elevated the model by providing corporations and others with the CGI stage upon which they could publicly trumpet their commitments.
“My feeling is the job is done. It is a success,” said Jane Wales, a vice president at the Aspen Institute focusing on philanthropy and social innovation who has attended 11 of the 12 annual meetings. “And I think I would argue that if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, well, in philanthropy, it is the quickest way to impact.”
Events modeled after the CGI annual meeting have popped up around the world, Ms. Wales said, including in fast-growing economies with scant histories of structured philanthropy. She cited the Xin Philanthropy Conference, put on by Chinese internet entrepreneur and billionaire philanthropist Jack Ma in July. It drew about 1,000 people, among them, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Howard Schultz, who spoke by video, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who participated in person.
‘Terrific Communicator’
The CGI annual meeting presented an “opportunity to tell the story, and mostly the story was told by this terrific communicator, by Bill Clinton,” Ms. Wales said. “There was a sense that he had a talent for understanding what combination of people, institutions, and strategies would get the job done.”
The central message of the work has been that everyone, whether a corporate CEO, a nonprofit leader, or an individual philanthropist, has a role to play in advancing the public good, nonprofit leaders said.
“I think what it offered, and it offered it very well, is a really terrific place to network between corporations and NGOs who have shared values and shared goals,” said Marshall Stowell, vice president for external relations and communications at the international nonprofit Population Services International, a CGI nonprofit member. The advocacy component of the meetings “undoubtedly changed the way people look at business,” Mr. Stowell said. “That will be missed.”
Still, Mr. Stowell said, he thinks the financial commitments made at the annual meeting may have already peaked.
Procter & Gamble, which has given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Global Initiative, according to donor logs, is again a sponsor and attendee at the New York meeting this year, a spokeswoman said in an email. The annual gathering “has enabled us to connect with hundreds of organizations with whom we partner on our community-impact programs like the P&G’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program.”
A spokeswoman for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the Clinton Foundation’s biggest backers, with at least $25 million in contributions, said in an email that the New York-based nonprofit has been a key partner in its global health work and that the CGI gathering has been “an important forum to spark global discussion and engagement on some of the most challenging issues of poverty facing the world.”
When pressed about how a scaled-back Clinton Foundation might affect that work, the spokeswoman said it was too early to speculate but added that the Clinton Foundation would “continue to be a strong partner in our work.”
Rapid Growth
Bill Clinton announced last month that the Clinton Foundation would largely eliminate CGI and that this week’s annual meeting would be its last. The decision was made in light of Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House and questions about the motives and influence of corporate and foreign donors. (A portion of CGI focused on college-age leaders will continue.) In addition, if Hillary Clinton wins the election, the foundation will stop accepting foreign and corporate donations and spin off many of its international programs.
Within a few short years of its founding, the annual meeting in New York, nestled on the calendar alongside the United Nations General Assembly, was a draw for heads of state, corporate titans, foundation leaders, celebrities, and others. The program eventually expanded to include a slate of international meetings and the effort focused on young leaders at colleges and universities.
The annual CGI gathering in New York has been criticized by some, who say it was light on substance and heavy on photo opportunities and corporate PR spin.
Bob Harrison, chief executive of the Clinton Global Initiative since October 2007, told The Chronicle that whatever entertainment and socializing that take place, “there is also a tremendous amount of great work that addresses really important problems in the world that also takes place.”
About 1,000 people are attending this week’s 12th and final meeting, among them the president of Colombia, the prime minister of Italy, and the head of the World Bank. According to the Clinton Foundation, CGI members have made more than 3,500 commitments affecting the lives of 430 million people in 180 countries.
No Pink Slips
Mr. Harrison said that the Clinton Foundation will maintain some staff to work with CGI members on ongoing commitments and to update its database tracking the progress of those commitments. Other staff will move on to other organizations and jobs, with support from the foundation, leaders there said.
“Nobody is getting a pink slip after CGI,” Clinton Foundation President Donna Shalala told The Chronicle. “What they are getting is a lot of help.”
Mr. Harrison did not respond to a question about his future role at the foundation.
When asked to describe his favorite CGI moment over the years, Mr. Harrison cited two. The first, he said, occurred shortly after the 2007 annual meeting. Mr. Clinton was at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, where, flanked by entertainment stars such as Bono, Shakira, and Chris Rock, he announced on MTV the creation of CGI University. It was magical to see the CGI commitment-making model reaching the next-generation leaders, Mr. Harrison said.
“More importantly, it was the recognition that this experiment was actually working and that we were in a growth mode. That in fact is what happened for next eight years,” Mr. Harrison said.
The other, Mr. Harrison said, took place at the 2011 annual meeting during a session hosted by Charlie Rose that featured South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Myanmar political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the latter of whom participated via video. Thousands of miles apart, the two leaders talked human rights and democracy.
“I’m like a smitten young man,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a spontaneous expression of admiration and affection for his fellow activist. “I love you.”
