History
Parent charitable organizations – 1987
AIDS was first recognized on June 5, 1981. In 1986, it was reported that three to five million Americans would be HIV positive and one million would be dead of AIDS by 1996. [3] In response to such reports, Virgin incorporated a charitable group called The Healthcare Foundation on August 3, 1987, to provide research in and education about AIDS. [4] In July 1988, the foundation's charitable objectives expanded to include the relief of poverty and the relief of disabled persons from their disabilities. [4]
Virgin Unite – 2004
In 2003, the foundation sought to determine what others thought it should focus on. [5] After spending six months speaking with social issues groups, Virgin Group suppliers and partners, and numerous Virgin staff members in South Africa, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, the organization concluded that many people and companies were deterred from participating in philanthropic activities by the complexities of the charity sector. [5] The foundation sought then to use the Virgin Group's corporate and organizational experience to identify the best practices in this sector and to facilitate the entry of new participants.
Between 1987 and 2004, Virgin Unite operated first as The Healthcare Foundation and then The Virgin Healthcare Foundation. [4] In mid-September 2004, Virgin established the subsidiary The Virgin Foundation doing business as Virgin Unite in the United Kingdom to coordinate all Virgin's worldwide charitable ventures. Citing the spread of HIV in Africa and the twin problems of malaria and malnutrition as the first priority issues, Branson explained his reasoning behind Virgin Unite:
I've reached the age [54] where I've made a lot of money, the companies are going really well and we've got a lot of talented people working for us. Now we are going to turn our business skills into tackling issues around the world where we can help. ... In the next 30 years or so I can make an enormous difference to a lot of people's lives just by using the strength of my own brand name and being able to pick up the phone and get through to the President of Nigeria or Thabo Mbeki. We have the financial resources and the business know-how. If the Virgin foundation works as I hope it will, it could be that Virgin becomes better known for that than for the businesses we are in. [6]
Branding
Virgin Unite has created a branding scheme based around the idea of redemption to encourage Virgin company employees to donate their time, rather than their money, to one of twelve partner charities. [7] The launch scheme included the strapline 'Spend time with your better side', a brochure, posters and promotional items that juxtapose the seven deadly sins with seven good deeds: lust is contrasted with love, for instance, and gluttony with generosity. [7] According to Virgin Unite, this approach was largely driven by the principles of having fun and celebrating the reality of how people live their lives, while encouraging them to donate time. [8] [7]
Distribution of educational materials
Also in 2004, Virgin Unite helped launch "Your Finest Hour", a campaign that distributed more than one million copies of educational materials across the United Kingdom. [9] The campaign also raised more than GB£50,000 for South Africa's "Women and Men on the Move Project", [10] uniting three South African charities and targets vulnerable young women between ages 15 and 24, who comprise four of every five new HIV infections among South Africans in this demographic. [9] For these actions, Virgin Unite received the Business Excellence Leadership award from the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) in September 2005. [9] [11]
Outside the UK
In 2006, Virgin Unite established itself in the United States and Canada and presently is operational in South Africa and Australia. In addition, Virgin Unite was cited in 2006 as an example of organizations founded by philanthropic entrepreneurs, young billionaires putting the benefits of capitalism to charitable use. [12]
Activities
The foundation is involved in several activities, including to end obstetric fistula. [13] It has also been involved in youth AIDS awareness campaign, [14] and helped organize a clothing drive for homeless and at-risk youth at Virgin Megastores in cooperation with the charity StandUp For Kids. [2] A main activity of Virgin Unite is to raise money and awareness to help defeat on a global scale what the foundation refers to as The Big 3: AIDS, HIV, and malaria/tuberculosis. [15] In the United States, Virgin Unite is focusing on global warming and rehabilitating homeless children. [16]
Since 2007, Virgin Unite has held the Rock the Kasbah gala in Los Angeles each year to raise funds for their programs. Rock the Kasbah is their only US fundraising event. [17]
Joe Polish, who helped raise over $3 million for Virgin Unite, was the inaugural winner of Sir Richard and Virgin Unite's One in a Million Award, which Polish received at the 2009 Rock the Kasbah Gala. [18] [19] In 2010, Virgin Unite recognised Polish as their first “Entrepreneur of the Quarter”. [20]
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate best known for co-founding the Virgin Group in 1970, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields.
Virgin Megastores is an international entertainment retailing chain, founded in early 1976 by Richard Branson as a record shop on London's Oxford Street.
The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2003, as of May 2020, PEPFAR has provided about $90 billion in cumulative funding for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and research since its inception, making it the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history until the COVID-19 pandemic. PEPFAR is implemented by a combination of U.S. government agencies in over 50 countries and overseen by the Global AIDS Coordinator at the United States Department of State. As of 2023, PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.
Yvonne Chaka Chaka OIS is a South African singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, humanitarian and teacher. Dubbed the "Princess of Africa", Chaka Chaka has been at the forefront of South African popular music for 35 years and has been popular in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Gabon, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. Songs such as "I'm Burning Up", "Thank You Mr. DJ", "I Cry For Freedom", "Motherland" and the ever-popular "Umqombothi" ensured Chaka Chaka's stardom. The song "Umqombothi" was featured in the opening scene of the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international financing and partnership organization that aims to "attract, leverage and invest additional resources to end the epidemics of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to support attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations". This multistakeholder international organization maintains its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization began operations in January 2002. Microsoft founder Bill Gates was one of the first donors to provide seed money for the partnership. From January 2006 it has benefited from certain US Privileges, Exemptions, and Immunities under executive order 13395, which conferred International Organizations Immunities Act status on it.
amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, known until 2005 as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of AIDS-related public policy.
ValeFest, previously known as The Vale Festival, is a charitable summer music and arts festival that takes place on the Vale, a park and student accommodation site at the University of Birmingham, in Birmingham, England now going into its 19th year.
Product Red is a licensed brand by the company Red that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries, namely Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. It is licensed to partner companies including Apple Inc., Nike, American Express (UK), The Coca-Cola Company, Starbucks, Converse, Electronic Arts, Primark, Head, Buckaroo, Penguin Classics, Gap, Armani, FIAT, Hallmark (US), SAP, Beats Electronics, and Supercell.
PATH is an international, nonprofit global health organization. PATH is based in Seattle with 1,600 employees in more than 70 countries around the world. Its president and CEO is Nikolaj Gilbert, who is also the Managing Director and CEO of Foundations for Appropriate Technologies in Health (FATH), PATH's Swiss subsidiary. PATH focuses on six platforms: vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, system, and service innovations.
Keep a Child Alive (KCA) is a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare, housing, and other support services to HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa and India. Co-founded by Leigh Blake and Alicia Keys, the organization aims to "realize the end of AIDS for children and families, by combating the physical, social and economic impacts of HIV." Keep a Child Alive organizes the annual fundraiser gala The Black Ball, established in 2004, where celebrities and philanthropists gather to support and raise awareness for the cause. Since the first Black Ball, the organization has raised over $28.7 million for HIV/AIDS treatment.
Alison Lawton is a Canadian social venture philanthropist, social advocate, and business investor.
Global Action for Children (GAC) was a highly effective nonpartisan coalition dedicated to improving the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world active from 2004 - 2010.
Starfish Greathearts Foundation is an international non-governmental organisation formed in 2001 to help orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa. Its mission is to help make a difference in the lives of such children via community-based projects working at grassroots level. This enables individual communities to develop their own solutions to fight the challenges they come across. As of January 2022, Starfish projects have reached more than 220,000 children in 110 communities across South Africa.</ref> Starfish Greathearts Foundation.
Inder Singh is the founder and CEO of Kinsa. He formerly served as the Executive Vice President of the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Health Access Initiative, a global non-profit organization fighting malaria and other diseases. Singh is known for his work towards improving global health, most notably by brokering the deals announced by former President Clinton that reduced the price of life-saving treatments throughout the developing world, particularly aiding in malaria eradication. Singh is credited with saving over $1 billion in drug costs for developing nations. More than 2.6 million HIV/AIDS patients have received drugs subsidized through CHAI, and more than 30 million malaria patients have received drugs produced at lower cost thanks to CHAI licensing deals.
Rock the Kasbah is an annual gala fundraiser co-hosted by Sir Richard Branson and his mother Eve Branson. Funds raised go to Richard Branson's Virgin Unite foundation and also to the Eve Branson Foundation.
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) is a Unitaid-backed international organisation founded in July 2010, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its public health driven business model aims to lower the prices of HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C medicines and facilitate the development of better-adapted HIV treatments through voluntary licensing and patent pooling. Its goal is to improve access to affordable and appropriate HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In May 2020, the MPP become an implementing partner of the WHO's Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).
The Branson School of Entrepreneurship is a charitable organization that provides entrepreneurial training and financial support to international youth.
.hiv is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) proposed by the Berlin-based nonprofit dotHIV and owned by Uniregistry as of September 2014. It is the first open charitable gTLD and its ICANN designation states that the domain's operator is precluded from making a profit. Funds raised from .hiv domain sales will initially benefit projects to increase access to HIV/AIDS treatment in Rwanda, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States.
The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is an international, faith-based NGO, providing long-term, co-operative medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and healthcare issues. It was established in 1912 and officially registered in 1928. CMMB is headquartered in New York City, USA, and currently has country offices in Haiti, Kenya, Peru, South Sudan, and Zambia.
The END Fund is a private non-profit organisation dedicated to combating the five most common neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that cause up to 90% of the NTD burden in Sub-Saharan Africa.
