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A new report from Philanthropy University, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and GSVlabs offers recommendations for strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships focused on advancing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. According to the report, SDG Partnerships Agenda 2030: Accelerating Progress, According to the report, the global community faces a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap with respect to the SDGs and no nation is on track. Studies have shown that only about a quarter of existing partnerships are meeting their objectives, while many participants in such partnerships are concerned about their costs. Taking steps to partner differently will enable stakeholders to leverage the untapped potential of philanthropy as not only a funder but a facilitator, of government as not only an approver but a builder, of civil society organizations not only as implementors but experts, and of the private sector as an accelerator of rather than a barrier to SDG efforts.

The Islamic Development Bank Group’s President Dr. Bandar Hajjar inaugurated 'the International Day of Education' event at the bank’s headquarters in Jeddah. The aim of this celebration is to support the efforts to achieve the 4th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) of the United Nations relative to education, to provide quality, equitable and inclusive education for all. Today, over 258 million children and young adults are still out of school worldwide, two thirds of them in member countries. There are 617 million children and adolescents who are illiterate and cannot perform basic mathematical operations. In sub-Saharan Africa, the completion rate for the lower secondary level of education is less than 40%, and approximately 4 million children and refugees are out of school. The IsDB supports investment in education and human resources development through numerous programs and projects. Cooperations include the Global Partnership for Education "GPE", UNESCO, the German GIZ, Education Above All, Save the Children, etc.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) and Campden Wealth published the report "Global Trends and Strategic Time Horizons in Family Philanthropy 2020". The report is based on a survey of 201 families of significant wealth who are engaged in philanthropic giving. According to the report, education is the top cause families give to globally, constituting 29% of the average philanthropic portfolio, followed by health at 14%, and the arts, culture and sports at 10%. Just 8% of giving goes towards the environment global concern for climate change. According to Dr. Rebecca Gooch, Director of Research at Campden Wealth, we are in the early stages of a significant transition in which vast sums of wealth are changing hands between generations. The emerging generation is acutely aware of the largescale global challenges it will face, such as climate change.

Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference (DIHAD) is scheduled to take place from 6-12 March 2020 and is focusing on Africa this year. DIHAD’s two key events include a marathon and hackathon. The marathon is expected to attract participation from over 202 nationalities. The hackathon, which is likely to have 200 participants, will focus on finding technology solutions for humanitarian projects. It will focus on telehealth, tele education for developing nations, humanitarian devices, and other innovative ideas. Interested participants can register for the two events via DIHAD’s official website: www.dihad.org. Dubai Sports Council, Dubai Islamic Bank, Noor Dubai Foundation and Dubai Future Council are also collaborating in the upcoming events.

The Multilateral Development Banks are set to support for refugees and people affected by forced displacement. The African Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank Group have made the pledges. Over 70 million people are forcibly displaced globally, with African countries hosting about 8 million refugees and 16 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). To help resolve the situation, the African Development Fund donors committed USD 7.6 billion to help and stimulate inclusive growth in 37 African countries. The African Development Fund is the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group.

A high-level delegation of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) re-affirmed their commitment to support Pakistan in their fight against polio. The LLF has prioritized the eradication of polio and contributed over US$ 100 million to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme. During the visit, the LLF and IsDB team visited the outskirts of Islamabad Capital Territory and participated in the nationwide vaccination campaign which started on December 16, 2019. During this campaign 39.5 million children under the age of five were vaccinated. The LLF is the largest development initiative of its kind and donor partners include the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and Qatar Fund for Development.

The Bait Al Khair Society donated AED 53.3 million to the "Aman Programme" through four major projects, titled "Monthly Cash Assistance for Families," "Monthly Food Assistance," "Families of Orphans" and "Families of People of Determination." According to Director-General Abdin Tahir Al Awadhi, the Society selects the neediest families among the thousands registered in its database numbering over 52,000, including 4,194 registered families receiving monthly assistance. These families receive cash assistance on a monthly basis, and the Society has adopted an integrated system of social research to assess their needs in terms of debt and the assistance required to improve their conditions.

Dear Visitors,

The Global Donors Forum is being conducted since 2008. Now, for the first time it is coming down to Geneva, scheduled for June 22-24 2020.

Geneva is an unique cluster of international organisations (UN, WTO, WHO, ICRC, IFRC ...), private banks, family offices and foundations, trading companies, art & culture and also lifescience and food.

The working title of linking Muslim Philanthropy to Inclusive Capitalism allows donors and impact investors from the Muslim world and beyond to network with direct access to representatives of the Geneva community.

Please find more background and partnership options below:

Profile: https://globaldonorsforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/GDF_PROFILE2020.pdf
Proposal: https://globaldonorsforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/Partnership_Propos...

Best regards,

Michael Gassner
Editor, IslamicFinance.de
Convener, GlobalDonorsForum.org

According to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an additional $3.27 billion in support is needed to make polio eradication a reality. Jay Wenger, Director of the Polio Eradication Programme at the Gates Foundation, said that it is vital that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, GPEI, receives renewed political and financial support. The biennial Reaching the Last Mile Forum convenes global health leaders to share insights on how to eradicate infectious diseases. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, this year's forum in Abu Dhabi is themed 'Accelerating the Pace' and hopes to ensure full financing to finish the job. Wenger said the Gates Foundation is proud to partner with the UAE across a number of initiatives to eliminate diseases.

Members of European Parliament, representatives of the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee discussed creating a European space for donors and fostering cross-border giving. The debate was entitled 'Single Market for Philanthropy – Helping unlock the potential for public good across Europe' and saw the emergence of a cross-party alliance between Greens, Renew, EPP and S&D. To create a European space for donors, MEPs Sven Giegold and Sergey Lagodinsky discussed a potential proposal for a 29th regime of a 'European public benefit statute'. Regulatory tax barriers, affecting cross-border philanthropy within the EU, currently undermine this. The Romanian Council Presidency issued an EESC opinion on Philanthropy, calling on the EU to promote organised philanthropy, and asking for elimination of barriers within the internal market.

Istanbul is hosting a two-day conference to discuss the economic inclusion of young refugees in their host communities. The conference is set to bring together more than 150 stakeholders from the MENA region, policymakers, international and national NGOs, private sector, academia, and entrepreneurs. Participants will discuss various methods for enhancing economic inclusion of refugees and host communities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The two-day program will be held in partnership between the Dutch International NGO Spark and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), with the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as sponsors.

Alwaleed Philanthropies is investing a further $5 million in its partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The foundation will make the investment through Gavi’s INFUSE initiative (Innovation for Uptake, Scale and Equity in Immunization). The grant is part of a range of efforts by Alwaleed Philanthropies to improve routine immunization and builds on the original $1 million investment made in 2015 to support vaccines in Timor Leste, Kiribati, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Guyana for the 2016-2020 program. Princess Lamia bint Majid Al-Saud, general-secretary of Alwaleed Philanthropies, announced the partnership at the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Alwaleed Philanthropies recognize the pressing need to support immunization, as the majority of the world’s population is increasingly living in urban areas, and more than 19.4 million children are still under-immunized.

The UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund has raised $38.1 million in six months and supported 111,209 families (648,476 individuals) across seven countries. The United Nations' refugee agency’s zakat fund is a Sharia-compliant structure that channels zakat funds to the most vulnerable refugees. It is a dedicated non-interest-bearing account in Switzerland. Due to generous contributions from donors across the globe, the fund surpassed the fundraising target of $26 million originally set for 2019. The largest three destination countries comprise Yemen ($13.5 million); Jordan ($0.7 million), and Lebanon ($0.6 million). The remainder of the funds are mostly assigned to help some 670,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and distribution is in progress.

The European Union has rules implementing a single market for for-profit activities while nonprofit, philanthropic activities lack any comparable system. There is increasingly a 'closing space' for civil society organizations engaged in cross-border activities. The legal barriers to cross-border philanthropy represent complex issues in Europe, especially since they reflect the larger division over the extent of European integration and union. Addressing them therefore requires diligence, creativity, and an appreciation of the larger political context. The European organizations have all of these characteristics.
It is their efforts that have led to growing support for philanthropy, as demonstrated most recently by the European Philanthropy Manifesto and the European Economic and Social Committee’s opinion on 'European philanthropy: an untapped potential'.

A group of wealthy Americans have written an open letter to the 2020 presidential candidates in support of a wealth tax. The letter is signed by 20 individuals including philanthropist George Soros, Facebook’s co-founder Chris Hughes, Disney heiress Abigail Disney and Blue Haven Initiative co-founders Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Ian Simmons. The group outlined six key reasons why they are in favour of a wealth tax, including using it to fight climate crisis, boosting the economy, improving public health and strengthening freedom and democracy. While the letter refers to arguments against a wealth tax, the signatories claim these are mostly technical and often overstated. The letter further shows that polls indicate that higher taxes for the wealthy is politically popular.

New York's Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art has announced fifteen grants totaling $2.49 million in support of arts and media projects dedicated to strengthening relationships between U.S. Muslim and non-Muslim communities. The grants are part of the foundation's Building Bridges 2018-2019 Program, which supports theatrical and literary programming, documentary films, hands-on workshops, and a "jingle truck" created by a Pakistani truck-art painter that will tour elementary schools. Senior program officer Zeyba Rahman said the projects proposed by grantees offer an inspired, inventive, arts-based approach to deepen connections between Muslims and their neighbors in the U.S. For a complete list of Building Bridges Grant Program awardees, see the DDCF website.

Heads of 48 NGOs working in Syria have signed an open letter to the UN Security Council calling for an immediate end to attacks on civilians and hospitals in Idlib. Three million civilians in northwest Syria are scared and many are homeless. According to the United Nations, over 200,000 people were forced to flee the continuous bombing and shelling of towns in southern Idlib and northern Hama. SAMS President Dr Ahmad Tarakji says the United Nations has a responsibility to protect the schools, hospitals and homes and present a tangible plan to deter such attacks. Human rights organizations are now urging all parties to act quickly to ensure the protection of civilians in northwest Syria.

The United Nations Refugee Agency has launched a new global structure that transforms UNHCR’s existing Zakat programme into a global fund. UNHCR unveiled its 'UNHCR Zakat Program: 2019 Launch Report', which shows that global Zakat giving stands at $76 billion worldwide, and could potentially reach an amount as high as $356 billion. According to Houssam Chahine, UNHCR’s Head of Private Sector Partnerships, it was inevitable for the Zakat program to evolve into a structure that better appeals to the global Islamic finance industry. The Fund allows UNHCR to be even more transparent. The decision to restructure the Zakat program into the global Refugee Zakat Fund is due to the high donor turnout UNHCR has witnessed in the past years.

A new guide from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors offers advice for philanthropic funders on how to align their missions and activities with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The publication provides practical advice as well as examples of how other funders are addressing social and environmental challenges. The guide argues philanthropy has a critical role to play not only in providing support for the goals but also in providing risk capital for innovative approaches. Volume one of the guide lays out the economic, social, and environmental issues encompassed by the SDGs. Volume two outlines three steps: planning, assessing progress, and reporting and using data, that funders can take to align their efforts with the SDGs and increase their impact.

The practitioners of Islamic finance are increasingly framing their practices as ethical, socially responsible and conducive to humanity’s wellbeing. Tools like the obligatory zakat and charitable donations generate between $200 billion to $1 trillion annually. According to the World Bank, zakat can alleviate poverty in 20 of the 39 OIC countries. In Indonesia, Baznas—a national institution mandated to collect, distribute and manage zakat— has benefited around 6.8 million people. Baznas is also believed to be the first zakat organization to have formally committed to supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2018, in neighboring Malaysia, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) pioneered a zakat-financing instrument with a local zakat authority to support Kenya’s Drought Assistance Programme. Green-gram seeds were bought with the zakat monies and distributed to 175,000 households. In six months, the crops produced and sold a yield worth $20 million.