History
Before founding GlobalGiving, Mari Kuraishi and Dennis Whittle were heads of strategy and innovation at the World Bank. During their tenure, they created the world's first Innovation Marketplace in 1998, an internal competition enabling World Bank employees to propose ideas for combating global poverty. The winners received grants to develop their ideas. [7] [4]
In 2000, they took the concept and competition to the outside world. The Development Marketplace enabled any social entrepreneur to compete for Bank funds. [7] The program resulted in finalists from around the world gathering in Washington, D.C., with $5 million awarded to 44 projects.
Based on the Marketplaces' success, Mari and Dennis created an Internet-based platform to facilitate a broader range of social and economic investments in developing countries. In October 2000, they left the World Bank and on February 14, 2002, GlobalGiving (formerly DevelopmentSpace) was launched.
Initial funding for the launch was provided by the Omidyar Network, the Skoll Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Sall Foundation. [8] GlobalGiving was launched as a collaboration between the GlobalGiving Foundation and ManyFutures, Inc. In December 2008, ManyFutures became a formal subsidiary of the GlobalGiving Foundation, and all operations were placed under direct foundation management. [9]
GlobalGiving has undergone several leadership transitions in recent years. Mari Kuraishi stepped down as President on November 1, 2018, and joined the organization's Board of Directors alongside co-founder and former CEO Dennis Whittle. Alix Guerrier served as CEO from 2018 until December 2021, when Donna Callejon—who has held multiple leadership positions within the organization since 2003—was appointed Interim CEO. Victoria Vrana, a longtime senior leader at the Gates Foundation, became CEO in January 2023. [10]
In January 2024, Russian authorities designated GlobalGiving as an "undesirable organization." [11]
Structure
The GlobalGiving Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization that individuals and companies can donate to through the website globalgiving.org. It is supported by a network of implementing, corporate and institutional partners. [12]
Potential donors can browse and select from a wide offering of projects that are organized by geography or by themes such as health care, the environment and education. [13] A donor can contribute any amount using a variety of financial instruments and platforms including DAF and M-Pesa. Donors can purchase gift cards which recipients can redeem in support of a project of their choosing. [14] Companies can use the GlobalGiving platform to allow their employees, customers, partners, or foundation entities to donate directly to grassroots social and economic development projects around the world. [15]
GlobalGiving funds itself by retaining a 5–12% nonprofit support fee plus a 3% third-party processing fee for each donation. [16] The nonprofit support fee covers the cost of providing support and training to nonprofits, conducting due diligence on organizations, and conducting field visits. GlobalGiving's administrative overhead is 3.0%. [17]
Unlike the World Bank Development Marketplace, GlobalGiving uses social networks and real-time feedback between donors and project leaders for its crowdfunding approach. Each organization pitches one or more development projects to prospective donors on the website. The funding decision for each project is crowd-sourced to the public, rather than determined by a team of experts, as in the Development Marketplace. Organizations that promote themselves through email and social media campaigns typically achieve better fundraising results. The funding and project update history for each project is public and acts as a form of reputation system for the organization implementing the project.
Disaster relief
In response to natural disasters and humanitarian crises, GlobalGiving regularly launches relief funds to support nonprofits helping those in need. The Disaster Recovery Network at GlobalGiving [18] deploys a "model of effective, community-led relief and recovery through locally focused grants, advocacy, and training programs." GlobalGiving's former Chief Program Officer describes the approach as:
Through its platform, GlobalGiving has facilitated funding for relief work in response to disasters, including Hurricane Maria in 2017, the Nepal earthquake in 2015, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011, and the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, among others. [18] GlobalGiving is regularly recommended by USAID's Center for International Disaster Information to donors looking to support disaster relief efforts. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]
Vetting
GlobalGiving runs a vetting program for nonprofits participating in its community. Nonprofits are judged on characteristics such as transparency, accountability, financials, and compliance with local regulations and international philanthropic guidelines. Vetting also includes GlobalGiving-specific criteria, such as an organization's engagement with the platform community, crowdfunding capability, and proficiency in managing fundraising programs on the site. [24]
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