International Fundraising

The X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit that designs and administers competitions with prizes of up to $30 million, the Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have formed a partnership to create a global competition to develop and deploy clean and efficient cookstoves. The competition will focus on the development of affordable and clean-burning cookstove technologies (and possibly delivery models) and is a part of the MNRE’s National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative, which was launched in December 2009.

Its a common refrain from grassroots Pakistani-Canadian and Muslim organizations in Canada frantically raising funds to help flood victims halfway around the world: Trust us, we are delivering the aid ourselves. Distrust of the Pakistani government and its reputation for corruption have donors insisting on giving aid to organizations with an independent presence on the ground, those scrambling to raise funds say. Some groups raising money to aid flood victims make a point of emphasizing that their own staff and volunteers actually make use of the donations themselves to provide food, medical assistance or other help on the ground

Faced with growing news about the lack of donations for the millions affected by the Pakistani flood, the Metro Vancouver Sikh community has stepped up with plans for a daylong fundraiser Saturday. "After hearing from the UN secretary-general (on the horrors he witnessed in Pakistan) and finding out that not too many people have been donating, we found it necessary to do something," said Sukhminder Virk, spokesman for the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey. The Sikh temple is inviting donors to drop off their pledges between 9 a.m. And 9 p.m. On Saturday (EDS: AUG. 21). Virk is

Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investing firm of eBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar, plans to plough as much as $200 million into India in the next five years. The organization’s target: businesses and non-profits that can make a “social impact” and improve life for people on the lowest economic rungs.

When the Haiti earthquake hit back in January, the outcry and response were swift and plentiful. In this new era of the iPhone and other mobile devices, the biggest buzz in the fundraising sector was generated from the mobile-giving explosion following the disaster. But the biggest takeaway for fundraisers — all of them, not just disaster-relief organizations — is that donors have certain, higher expectations these days, and your organization must meet them.

The Ford Foundation announced it would commit $85 million in grants to ensure that rural and indigenous people around the world are not ignored in efforts to combat climate change.

The money, which will be spent over five years, advances a fresh approach to managing forests and other vast tracts of land, based on a recognition that such areas are home to hundreds of millions of people who often do not have a voice in how the lands are preserved.

HAR BRACHA, West Bank — Twice a year, American evangelicals show up at a winery in this Jewish settlement in the hills of ancient Samaria to play a direct role in biblical prophecy, picking grapes and pruning vines.

Believing that Christian help for Jewish winemakers here in the occupied West Bank foretells Christ’s second coming, they are recruited by a Tennessee-based charity called HaYovel that invites volunteers “to labor side by side with the people of Israel” and “to share with them a passion for the soon coming jubilee in Yeshua, messiah.”

The mHealth Alliance, which comprises several nonprofit organizations seeking to improve health in underserved communities through sustainable mobile campaigns, has called for collaboration to accelerate the use of mobile and other modern information and communications technologies to improve maternal and newborn health in developing nations.

Blackbaud announced it has opened an office in Hong Kong to better serve its international customers. The decision to open Blackbaud Asia Ltd., a Hong Kong corporation, was customer- and market-focused, as the company has seen an increased demand for services from nonprofit organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The GSMA announced the details of a further seven grantees from the Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) Fund, which is administered by the GSMA Foundation, Inc., with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. New grantees are Cellcard in Cambodia, Digicel in Fiji, Orange in West Africa, Safaricom in Kenya, Tata Indicom in India, Telenor in Pakistan, and Tigo in Africa.

“Just 15 months after we first announced the launch of the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Programme we are proud to announce that all funds have been committed in support of mobile money deployments across the globe,” said Gavin Krugel, Director GSMA. “Projects were chosen on their ability to deliver, speed of delivery, scale and sophistication. Between now and the end of 2011 millions of consumers are expected to directly benefit from mobile money services launched with the support of the Fund – that is 170 million customers at the base of the economic pyramid and who previously lacked access to financial services, from 19 operators in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.”