• Bill Clinton's sprawling business and charitable empire attracts more scrutiny as the Democratic presidential nomination race gets tighter.  [Wall Street Journal]

• Grass-roots giving is reshaping campaign fundraising.  [Los Angeles Times]

• Trusts and foundations left in the hands of lawyers or local banks can be swallowed up by multinational financial institutions.  [New York Times]

• Corporate and foundation executives mingle with heads of nonprofits at Clinton Global Initiative.  [New York Times]

• Charity bounces back after lead found in beaded bracelets forces a major recall of the accessories weeks before Breast Cancer Awareness month.  [Boston Globe]

In a closing session that highlighted the size and scope of its outreach beyond a ballroom in midtown Manhattan, the Clinton Global Initiative wrapped up its three days of meetings with former President Clinton announcing the gathering's signature statistic - nearly 250 commitments by participants that will impact more than 100 million people around the world.

"And I think that's really pretty good," he said.

The President closed by telling a story about his post-tsunami travels with former President Bush a few years ago, and in particular his visit with a couple who had lost nine of its 10 children. And yet they wanted to help their fellow survivors, especially the surviving children.

"I want you to think about something," said Clinton. "I want you to see whether all the people whose lives you're going to touch in the next year, if they can turn around and become givers."

You can find some of this year's commitments online at the CGI site.

At the closing, Clinton pointed to Northern Irish leader Gerry Adams and thanked him for helping to end one of the world's longest-running sectarian struggles.

"There's proof that it's not a waste of time to spend years and years and years and to be frustrated day in and day out to try and bridge religious and sectarian diferences," he said. "Thank you for making me think it's always good to take a chance for peace."

The President thanked his 450 volunteers and the media - more than 900-strong credentialed press, including this blogger - for committing to telling the story of CGI, and he emphasized the virtual audience for the gathering: more than 20,000 people "from as close as New York City's boroughs to as far away as Indonesia and Kenya" made commitments online, totalling 200,000 hours in volunteer time and $130,000 in donations. CGI's YouTube videos were seen by half a million people, he said.

The Clinton Global Initiative added a new twist to this year's gathering - a new awards ceremony honoring social entrepreneurs. Kicking off the Inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Awards at Carnegie Hall last night, President Clinton and CGI members honored "the work of four people whose success in helping others has created lasting, positive social change."

• Andre Agassi, Founder, Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
• Vicky Colbert, Executive Director, Escuela Nueva Foundation
• Fazle Abed, Founder and Chairperson, BRAC
• John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems

Honorees were selected from among hundreds of citizens and leaders from a range of fields including government, non-governmental organizations, private sector and media/ entertainment/ sports. The four chosen were "distinguished by their vision, ingenuity, demonstrated commitment to creative positive social change, and the measurable impact of the projects they initiated."

President Clinton was joined on stage by Jessica Biel, Co-Founder of Make the Difference Network, who served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and Tom Golisano, Major Underwriter of CGI who delivered opening remarks. The awards were presented by Senator John Glenn, and Nobel Laureates Toni Morrison, Robert F. Goheen Professor of the Humanities, Princeton University, and Wangari Maathai, Founder, Green Belt Movement. The evening also included special musical performances by Tony Bennett and the African Children’s Choir. 

Here at the Sheraton New York, it's been a tightly organized schedule, with energetic CGI staff and volunteers shuttling reporters, philanthropists, heads of state and corporate CEOs from the ballroom to breakout sessions to one-on-one interviews and press conferences. President Clinton, a few times each day, announces commitments in the millions and billions.

Out of sight, one suspects, there are also sidebars and conversations taking place, tentative explorations and bold overtures, as philanthropic entrepreneurs seize the opportunity to connect and create new alliances. "That's the genius of this meeting," Clinton said today. "When people have good ideas, it gives us a chance to hold them up to the light, to strengthen the power of the idea."

This morning President Clinton introuced Dr. Paul Farmer, who heads Partners in Health in Rwanda, and leaders of the  Schooner Foundation, to create a global health community practice, in which medical professionals can share their experience on the Internet. This model of health care delivery science, in fact, is a new academic discipline, providing web-based information to share with low resource communities in developing countries. It will be implemented first in Rwanda, a country with a per capita income less than $1 a day, which can only spend $7 per capita on healthcare.

While the value of this specific commitment may only be $500,000, it could be a model worth billions eventually in delivery of healthcare to poorly served communities.

The value of the CGI process was further demonstrated by a commitment Clinton later announced from John Podesta, from the Center for  American Progress, AIG and others: a Middle East financial initiative, which will provide political risk insurance to Palestinian small businesses. Ninety percent of Palestinian businesses are small to mid-size, so the value of this commitment is potentially significant, both monetarily and symbolically. In recognizing this commitment, Clinton declared with obvious satisfaction that the first Clinton Global Initiative had been the catalyst for this idea. Its creation emerged from the collaboration of businesses, academics and nonprofits.

Whether in climate change, alleviation of poverty, education or healthcare, the commitments that have announced in these three days are heavily dominated by collaborations. Indeed, many new entities are being formed, which are hybrid alliances combining nonprofit, corporate and often government components. As we've noted in onPhilanthropy over the past several months, the walls are being breached and the definitions melting. More and more, nonprofits are behaving more like corporations and for-profit firms are realizing that corporate social responsibility needs to be woven into their fabric. And governments, increasingly challenged to address socio-economic problems on a macro level, are seeking to leverage their significant but not infinite resources through collaboration with these two sectors.

As the Clinton Global Initiative winds down today, President Clinton is expected  to announce record numbers of commitments, with millions of lives potentially impacted. And one of the most powerful effects may be difficult to measure, but I suspect that its benefit will be multiplied exponentially. If the process for forming collaborations can be replicated on smaller scale, the evolution of philanthropy will accelerate. Partly as a result of the exponential growth of communications, partly from the increasing visibility of philanthropy, there will be heightened expectations for change. Pressure to remove barriers to progress will grow, as examples of successful public-private and other collaborations demonstrate what can be achieved.

It can only be hoped that the accumulating knowledge of how to create successful alliances for change will not merely be used as inspirational anecdotes, but converted to practical guidelines to replicate the innovative breakthroughs they make possible.

As they discussed public-private partnerships in Latin America yesterday, the world's richest man said something that I don't think has been picked up on anywhere else. Carlos Slim Helu, chairman of the board of Grupo Carso SA and reputed to be the wealthiest person on earth, was talking about commitments from the private sector when he said this:

"Be sure that when I pass away I will not take anything with me."

Was it a prelude to a Warren Buffett-like decapitalization toward philanthropy? Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria didn't follow up, but the Financial Times recently noted Slim's acceleration of his philanthropy during an interview.

Last night, former President Clinton gave a break-down of all the partners making commitments over the last three years at the Clinton Global Initiative. For all the headlines about companies and governments here, you might be surprised to see nonprofits/NGOs in the top slot for partnerships - but that's exactly the case.Here's the percentage snapshot:

35% - NGOs/nonprofiit organizations
21% - corporations
19% - foundations
14% - individuals
11% - governments

Commitment is the widest of words here at the Clinton Global Initiative. A "commitment" can range from a small philanthropic gift or the start of a modest foundation to a global investment running to ten figures and more. Nowhere is this flexible definition more in evidence - or perhaps more appropriate - than in the area of climate change and ecology.

Because of the collision of political worlds just outside of CGI - the coming Bali meetings on global warming, the lukewarm response to President Bush's 15-country conference on climate change, and this week's United Nations summit on global warming - commitments to the environment have dominated some of the  proceedings here.

From actor Brad Pitt and eco-warrior Al Gore to teen singer Shakira, Monaco's Prince Albert and media mogul Ted Turner, global warming has been on everyone's lips - and it's amazing to see how, in just a year, almost all skepticism on the science of climate change has been erased, especially on the part of the capitalists and bankers.

"I see New Orleans as a microcosm for the global problem," said Pitt. "If there's anyone who understands the repercussions of climate change it's the people of the Gulf Coast."

Turner called global warming this "the big story of our lives."

"Outside of a nuclear exchange, global warming is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced," he said. "Businessmen are human beings - they're fathers and grandfathers just like all the rest of us - and we do care what happens to the world."

But are the commitments being announced at this year's CGI any more "philanthropy" than, say, last year's headline-inducing announcement by Sir Richard Branson to invest $3 billion in alternative fuels? And perhaps it's not organized philanthropy that can solve the problem, or organize nations to agree in any case.

After committing his company to investing between $4 and $5 billion in debt and equity to underwrite the development of alternative energy sources and renewable fuels in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank was straightforward:

"This is part of our belief in running our business as a sustainable business," said Peter Sands, CEO of the British lender. "We intend to make loads of profits out of this but we also think it's a good thing to be doing."

Earlier in the day, Jim Rogers, the chairman of Duke Energy, said much the same thing about a coalition of U.S. energy companies that committed to increase their investment in energy efficiency to $1.5 billion annually in order to reduce carbon emissions by about 30 million tons. But he also spoke about the value of social action for a corporation.

"We have a special responsibility for this problem," said Rogers, who noted that utilities emit some 35-40 percent of U.S. carbon. "I personally believe we have to act now on this issue. One of our aspirations should be this: to be the most energy efficient economy in the world. That's the right aspiration."

It was lost on no one that major corporations are now a step or two ahead of the Bush Administration in pushing for efficient energy. The President's gathering of European nations to discuss global warming has come in for some strong criticism, including the not-so-veiled uppercut punch thrown by the foreign minister of China - who had to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative to get a voice in the American debate. Some of Yang Jiechi's remarks:

To prevent climate change from endangering human survival and development while maintaining economic development and meeting the legitimate demand of the people, this is an issue that concerns the well being and the future of all mankind.

Economic development and the environmental protection and efforts to tackle climate change should be mutually reinforcing rather than mutually conflicting.For developing countries like China, whose level of economic development is still low and whose people are yet to live a better life, the most depressing issue for them is to grow the economy and raise people's living standards.

Efforts to tackle climate change should promote economic development and not be pursued at the expense of the economic development.

On the other hand, we must not fail to see that the economic development model of high-energy consumption, high pollution, and high emissions is not sustainable.  And the path of pursuing development first and treating pollution next is not a viable one.

The best environment policy is also the best economic policy.

And there was the Republican Governor of Florida, the political heir to President Bush's brother, announcing his own global warming initiative, an innovative plan by Florida Power & Light to build a solar power plant as part of a $2.4 billion clean energy program. And earning the praise of Bush's predecessor, too:

"As we all know, Florida is one of the sunniest places in America, but this is the sort of thing, if they can prove it works, it can be done in sunny places all over the world," he said. "If you mix it in to your overall power mix, the extra cost is not particularly great."

So it's public policy on a massive scale that can and should tackle the carbon problem, along with increased investments in the private sector that leverage new technologies. The consensus here was summed up neatly by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"The problem is now really simple - how do you get a global framework that incentivizes the development of technology toward the elimination of emissions, and how do you get a framework to get China and India and the developing nations incentivized behind that technology. One key is the private sector."

But what about philanthropy? I looked through some of the many commitments announced here and came up with a few that were either powered by philanthropic dollars, or where donor foundations assisted is strategy or organization. When you hit the charitable dollars, the money is much smaller - but it's actual money, given for the cause.

• The Center for International Forestry Research committed $6 million to launch "independent and timely analysis" of deforestation and national climate policies.
• The Wallace Global Fund announced a coalition of NGOs, foundations and universities to support the policy of Ecuador President Rafael Correa to forego the development of a major oil field in the Amazon basin.
• The Rainforest Alliance partnered with Gibson Guitars in a $480 project on forestry management in the manufacture of musical instruments.

And then there's the pledge of the world's richest man, Carlos Slim Helu - who pledged $100 million as part of a partnership with the Clinton Foundation and Vancouver mining and movie mogul Frank Giustra. The charitable dollars will create a coalition of extractive resource industry companies - along with Latin American governments - to help build sustainable economies. Perhaps that's the three-sided partnership model in action after all.

In today's opening plenary at CGI, President Clinton announced a commitment from Prince Albert II of Monaco to work with the United Nations Foundation and Club of Madrid to support Leadership for Climate Action,  a step toward the creation of a framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. "The need for this is clear," Clinton said, of the effort to build an international consensus.

This was a theme that would echo through a panel discussion following this announcement, in which Tony Blair and several other current or former world leaders emphasized that the corporate sectors of several nations were in fact ready to pursue actions to reduce global warming, but were looking to governments to construct a framework that would incentivize behaviors that cut carbon emissions. 

In a sense, the Prince is continuing a commitment to the environment that traces back several generations, to when his great-great-grandfather, Albert I, made four expeditions to the North Pole. "The commitment of the Prince to the Arctic and our environment is, you could say, in his genes," said Bernard Fautrier, CEO of the Albert II Foundation. In announcing the formation of the Albert II Foundation last year, the Prince cited his own recent trips to the North Pole, and the "urgency" indicated by a significant reduction in the glacier.

Indeed, in the opening plenary session of CGI, Al Gore evoked the frightening specter of the shrinking polar ice cap. "Last year, it was measured at 22% below its previous low point. It could be gone in 23 years - and it won't come back for millions of years."

In an interview on the eve of CGI, CEO Bernard Fautrier explained that the Albert II Foundation was focused on thee geographic areas and three missions: in the Mediterranean basin, the Polar regions, and countries most vulnerable to climate change, it's committed to supporting projects, raising awareness, and providing awards and grants to support innovative solutions.

Fautrier suggested that CGI gave the Prince the opportunity to leverage his own support for the environment by focusing greater attention on the field. "That's the value of strategic philanthropy," he said, allowing more people to be part of the solution. In addition, if we can change people's behavior, we'll develop models that can be adapted elsewehere."

A noteworthy aspect of the Albert II Foundation is its commitment to have all administrative costs paid by its board, so that donors can be assure that their contributions will be 100% dedicated to the foundation's work. The project it funds are primarily aimed at climate change, biodiversity and the provision of drinking water.

The former President's announcement of this commitment today also recognized the role of Ted Turner, whose historic $1 billion pledge created the UN Foundation several years ago. "Without him," Clinton said, there would be no UN Foundation, no mechanism for partnership between the world's most important international organization and the private sector."

In a press conference this afternoon, Clinton cited partnerships as one of his proudest achievements since CGI began in 2005. Reeling off statistics showing the impact of the 700+ commitments made to date, he paused over the fact that 60% of all the commitments had not been made by individual NGOs, corporations or agencies, but were actually done by new partnerships that had been created through the Clinton Global Initiative.

At last year's Clinton Global Initiative, we watched the billions rise each day - each commitment had a price-tag and the score at the end read in dollars. This time around, there's clearly been a chance and it was apparent during a press conference just concluded by President Clinton. This year, the big measurement is people.

Indeed, the biggest reaction in Clinton's Q&A came when he announced that the size of the audience following the online video stream had grown to 400,000 people, an increase of 350,000 over last year. And the other score-keeping items were telling as well. Here's a quote from one of the briefings we get: "The commitments to action of CGI members have allowed 34,000,000 people to be treated for neglected tropical diseases; 857,300 children under the age of five to be reached with life-saving services; and 20,070,524 tons of greenhouse gas emissions to be avoided or reduced."

The new score-keeping is part of a slight repositioning of CGI - or rather, a claim to maturity as a major mover on the global scene in its third year. Clinton pointed this out earlier when he told us that "more than 60 percent of the commitments are not made by individuals but by new partners, people and organizations who met here at CGI and decided to work together. I think that's one of the best indicators so far of the success of this gathering."

The former President rattled off a few impressive statistics I'll share with you quickly:

• There have been more than 800 commitments so far
• 1,288 people from six continents are attending
• 400 people from 50 countries have spoken at CGI
• 38 NGOs from the developing world (not the U.S.) are here
• 1,000 different organizations from 100 countries have taken part in those commitments

These led to the "people" portion of the metrics report:

• 80 million people were served or assisted by the commitments in the first two years of CGI
• More than 3.2 million have been reached with clean energy services in the developing world
• 1.2 million patients in Sudan, Chad, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have received emergency and primary health care
• 857,300 children under 5 in 25 developing countries have received "life-saving services over the last year"
• Close to three million micro-entrepreneurs have received access to funding thanks to partnerships with 270 microfinance institutions.

Clinton also announced that next May, CGI will move to Asia and hold its first gathering in Hong Kong: "Asia is the largest and most populous continent and while its wealth has grown faster than most other parts of the world, major socioeconomic disparities remain and must be tackled."

Toward the end of his press conference, Clinton has asked why he spends so much time on CGI and his foundation work.

"First, I thought I should spend the rest of my life giving back to my country and to the world in thanks for the great life I've had. Second, I didn't lose interest in matters of this sort when I stopped being President, and I think I can make a difference. And the third reason is...I just like it."

This year's Clinton Global Initiative has a huge press corps, with a ton of bloggers covering the proceedings from a variety of viewpoints. We thought we'd share some thoughts from other voices with onPhilanthropy readers as the conference goes on. To lead off, here's a bit from Dave Johnson, who's blogging for Skoll's SocialEdge site, which really sets the scene:

When you have a number of world leaders in town there are vast security concerns. You have to worry about terrorists. Then you have to keep Bush and Ahmadinejad apart. Then you have to keep Bush and the Cubans apart. You have to keep Bush and Hugo Chavez away from each other. (Chavez didn't show up this year but last year's address was memorable.) 

Yesterday I took a walk in the area around the UN building. Block after block is lined with police officers and vehicles. Intersections are blocked by dump trucks filed with sand. Every intersection has a police presence. Everywhere you see police, people with "Secret Service" jackets, black Suburbans with tinted windows and really strange-looking antennas all over them, and license plates that say "US Government" are everywhere. And there are the black Suburbans with tinted windows and signs saying "Zimbabwe Press" or "Ethiopian Government." Also there are black Suburbans with tinted windows and no apparent government connection driven by large men with earpieces. The middle lane of the FDR highway, which passes under the UN building, is blocked by a dozen police cars, accompanied by black Suburbans with tinted windows. Even stores are lined with security men with earpieces. Barnes and Noble had three or four, looking at me. (I decided not to browse the section of book on how to construct bombs.)

While I was walking a press gaggle passed buy, big hurry, cameramen walking backwards, microphones on booms pointing into the center of the group, everyone running up the street.  A few minutes later a woman ran up, asked, "Did the Secretary General pass this way?" and ran down the street.

And here's a post from Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell that catpures some of the star quality of the proceedings:

At a packed press conference at the annual conference of the Clinton Global Initiative this afternoon, Jolie helped launch a "historic education partnership for children of conflict" in partnership with CGI, UNICEF, Save the Children, and a number of other organizations. (Just to give you a sense of the atmosphere in the room, a casual flip of Jolie's hair set off every flash bulb in the room, not to mention a few camera phones.)

As for Brad, introduced earlier today as "the sexiest man alive," he debuted a plan in concert with famed green designer Bill McDonough to build 150 new "affordable and sustainable homes" in New Orleans's devastated Ninth Ward. (For you gossips out there, Angelina and Brad never appeared publicly in the same room today at CGI, as far as I know—though they did show up together last week for the New York premiere of "Darfur Now".)

Richard Edelman, the CEO of Edelman, has been attended as a delegate and he blogs his thoughts from a global (and public relations) standpoint. Here's a taste:

The rising wealth of Asia and the greater share of total assets moving toward natural resource rich nations have changed the global balance of power. Business will have to accommodate dispersion of authority, where rules are written not just in the EU or USA, but in the case of green buildings, in China. PR will play a vital role in this transition. We will help global business to identify major issues such as environment or rural development in which it can make common cause with government, NGOs and communities while selling their own products, so that “green equals green.”

Every time Angelina Jolie looked up from her remarks, hundreds of shutters clicked open and the noise was like a swarm of large, flying insects. The lights may have blinded the dozen or so partners in the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict standing behind her, but they also helped to add that movie star glamour to a new coalition that has a chance to make an impact on children, from New Orleans to the villages of Africa.

The new partnership, founded by Jolie and Gene Sperling, director of the Center for Universal Education on the Council on Foreign Relations, at last year's Clinton Global Initiatve. The big news was the commitment to educate more than one million children affected by conflict around the world.

"Nothing wins more hearts and minds and nothing gives more freedom than education and nothing is a better deterrent for conflict than an educated child," Jolie said.

The partnership helps fund new education projects for children in conflict, post-conflict, refugee and emergency situations. Under today's announced partnership, a total of 19 organizations have come together to make 18 commitments in 15 different countries - including a commitment to assist 200,000 Iraqi refugee children and more than 300,000 children affected by the Darfur genocide. Seed money over the past year came from the Novo Foundation, run by Warren Buffett's son Peter and his wife Jennifer.

Among the partner organizations are Save the Children (whose CEO,  Charles MacCormack, was effusive in his praise of Jolie and the program), UNICEF,the International Rescue Committee, Sesame Workshop and the Population Council.

Partnering with existing, successful organizations was a big part of the idea, said Jolie. "We knew we shouldn't start from scratch because there were amazing organizations already doing incredible work."

At the close of last year's Clinton Global Initiative, the value of commitments topped $5 billion, given a healthy boost by Richard Branson's commitment to invest some $3 billion of Virgin transportation company profits in new energy solutions. So the first day of the 2007 brought a few questions about what's happened since and what we can expect this year. First, since the premise of CGI is that it must involve more than brainstorming and earnest intentions, how firmly have they held to the principle that attendees must make commitments and stick to them? Actually, they're pretty strict about it, although a spokesman demurred that "we're not the philanthropy police." Five commitment makers were not invited back for that reason, which is an improvement from the first year, when three times as many were disinvited.

Among the 1300 attendees, there are 52 current and former heads of state, a title Bill Clinton has given new meanikng to, and dozens of bold-faced names. For this crowd, of course, Desmond Tutu, Al Gore and Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus get the red-carpet treatment. All right, I'll mention them: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are here but they have, in fact separated - just long enough for him to speak about New Orleans rebuilding and her to discuss education, 2 causes to which they've dedicated much of their philanthropy.

In what has likely been months in planning, last year's conference themes of reconciliation, climate change, global health and poverty allevation have been reorganized to include education. According to Clinton,  the assemblage of government  leaders, business executives, academics, philanthropists and NGOs are challenged to address problems which government cannot solve alone. The commitments are to entail time, money, skills or organization building. He estimates that tens of millions of lives in over 100 countries have been affected; 20 million tons of greenhouse gases kept out of the atmosphere; 3 million micro-entrpreneurs provided with capital.

However, Clinton has stressed since the first CGI was organized that he did not want to see the impressive commitments discourage smaller individual gifts and efforts, a point he underscored in his newly released book, "Giving." The latest iteration of that theme is the announcement today of a new website, mycommitment.org, where individuals around the globe can log on and make their own commitments of any size. Clinton announced this morning that more than 600 commitments have been made since CGI began. Now, it will be fascinating to see how the numbers  - of gifts, givers, and last but not least, dollars - accumulate now that CGI's gone virtual.

You quickly get used to a lot of big numbers being tossed around at the Clinton Global Initiative, as millionaires and billionaires, governments, international NGOs and corporations talk about massive commitments. This morning, President Clinton invited Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister of Norway up to the podium at the end of the opening plenary session, to talk about a renewed, strengthened commitment to fulfill Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, addressing maternal and child health. Those goals, Stoltenberg said, called for child mortality to be reduced by 2/3 by 2015 - yet the world is not moving quickly enough - and for the rate of maternal mortality, which he described as "unacceptable"  to be cut by 3/4 by 2015.

At a press conference following the announcement, he brought those numbers down to painfully intimate scale:for many women, the most dangerous day in their lives is the day they give birth, he said. One in seven women die giving birth in some countries. Joining him in the announcement were leaders from Mozambique and Tanzania, the Netherlands and Idonesia, as well as UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The campaign will focus on mobilizing more money to achieve the current goals, increasing awareness of the problem around the world and spending funds in smarter ways. World Bank President Robert Zoellick cited the last point, which has grown in significance in international government aid, just as in philanthropy: "It's results-based financing, " he said. "You have to show results to continue to get aid from the taxpayers."

Although Ann Vennemann of UNICEF recently announced a significant drop in the mortality rate of children under five, the group agreed there is far more that can be - and must be  - done. "The clock is ticking," said Margaret Cho, of WHO. "In 2000, a strong commitment was made to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. So we can't say we didn't know" how severe the needs were.

According to Clinton, $1 billion equals two billion children's lives saved. The combined efforts of world leaders, corporate and private philanthropists, international agencies and NGOs will be aimed at translating more of those numbers into tangible results.

There's more press and way more bloggers this year the Clinton Global Initiative, so we thought we'd point out a few feeds for you. We'll try and update this post as we find more, or meet people in the hallway.

- Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise is here and taking some fantastic photos of the proceedings. You can see them on Flickr. (That's her pic of Clinton and Gore up top).

- TreeHugger is covering CGI from the environmental standpoint.

- Longtime blogger Dave Johnson is covering CGI for the Skoll Foundation's SocialEdge blog.

- Jessica Valenti from Feministing is blogging (she's also working to organize bloggers here).

- Michelle Kraus is reporting live for the Huffington Post.

- CGI has its own bloggers over at mycommitment.org.

- NPR's Tom Regan is blogging.

- Reed Hundt at TPMCafe is posting.

- Matthew Yglesias is blogging for the Atlantic.

- Blake Hounshell is posting for Foreign Policy.

The first big celebrity siting (outside of George Soros) at the Clinton Global Initiative is Brad Pitt, who told a luncheon audience about his commitment to building housing in New Orleans' Lower Ninth. Pitt's sharkskin vest, two-day stubble, and blonde highlights contrasted sharply to, say, Al Gore's gray suit - but he had a serious point to make.

"What should be made clear is that Katrina was a man-made disaster - and that climate change is certainly a man-made problem caused by decades of irresponsible planning," said the actor, who famously moved to New Orleans last year.

Pitt announced that he will partner with real-estate developer and philanthropist Steve Bing to create 150 low-price, sustainable homes as part of Pitt's "Make it Right" project, and he asked CGI attendees to match his commitment of up to $10 million. A representative of the Virgin Group promptly pledged the first $100,000.

"I thought that maybe we could build a better home for these people, maybe we can bring intelligent design to New Orleans and please I don't want any confusion, I'm not talking about creationism," he said.

The green blog TreeHugger has more on the commitment.

One further style point: when Pitt announced the commitment, there was silence. But he grinned his movie star grin and looked around the room. "C'mon a little applause," he urged. "I know ... it's cool."

Two related posts from our blogs at onPhilanthropy. Ed Arias points out over in media, that CGI is being webcast live (and with almost-instant video archives) at www.clintonglobalintiative.org. And Jenn Thompson has a post on the new www.mycommitment.org today at the Clinton Global Initiative. From Jenn:

Overall, it's a nice model for organizations to use who are interested in cultivating their constituents and encouraging them to make a commitment and follow through, whether it be for donating, volunteering, advocacy, or other support methods.

There are 52 heads of state attending this third annual Clinton Global Initiative, and they were given the respect of a dramatic roll call of names and titles as they took their seats in the Sheraton ballroom this morning. But President Clinton quickly banished any formality from the proceedings with his performance in the opening plenary session.

The former president set a tone of cross-sector collaboration, leading an eclectic panel that included two presidents, one CEO, one NGO president, a film star and an archbishop.

Now, the film star in question wasn't Angelina Jolie, who is expected here on Seventh Avenue this afternoon; it was Al Gore, star of An Inconvenient Truth and former Vice-President. Clinton and Gore sat on the far ends of the panel that included Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines, World Bank president Robert Zoellick, and Lee Scott, the CEO of Wal-Mart.

The former two-time Democratic ticket resembled nothing so much as an graying boomer rock band - a power duo, if you will - coming back for one more tour. But instead of singing bland old lyrics of peace, love and understanding they pushed hard and publicly for a global agreement on greenhouse emissions - with President Clinton particularly holding the World Bank chief's feet to the fire on initiatives in the developing world.

It's Clinton's view that the World Bank can use its economic might with poor nations to lead on sustainable development, with special attention to carbon emissions, "We don't have the right to to ask anyone in the world to stay poor," he said, but he added that "people can't seize on options they don't know about."

Zoellick was measured in his response; he became the head of the international development institution in July after the disastrous tenture of his precedessor, Paul Wolfowitz. "We can be helpful," he said. But he added that it's important for the World Bank as an institution "not to preach" to development nations, but to work with governments to balance the global warming crisis with the need to increase economies - and provide energy - in those countries.

The panel was a short one and Clinton, who was moderating, moved on - but it was clear he was pushing the World Bank (teaming with Gore) and using the example of Wal-Mart's new commitment to reduce its carbon footprint (and that of its customers and suppliers). Scott said his global giant of a company had finally "come to terms with what has long been an area of argument" - the conflict between "social good" and making money for shareholders. But, he discovered, "our suppliers were waiting for us to ask" and the Wal-Mart employees are ecstatic with the company's pledge to slash its carbon footprint. "The level of pride and enthusiasm among our associates is incredible," he said.

Gore, as is his habit, went right at the audience in the few minutes allotted him, saying that the polar ice cap would disappear in 23 years without concerted global action "and it won't come back for a million years."

"I'd call on President Bush to follow President Reagan's example and listen to the scientists. The United States of America has to lead the world to solve the climate crisis."

In a mark of how Clinton pushes the cross-pollination factor here, the panel switched to the role of religion, with President Karzai and Bishop Tutu describing a positive role for faith of world development. Karzai said that invesment was viable in Afghanistan and pointed to the growth of its wireless telephone business. And Tutu paid tribute to the monks of Burma, who are leading an anti-totalitarian movement.

• World leaders, celebrities, and scholars gather for the third annual Clinton Global Initiative.  [Associated Press]

• Chuck Feeney, a secretive and generous philanthropist, tells his story to biographer Conor O'Clery.  [New York Times]

Over on Seventh Avenue, they're backing up the satellite trucks, offloading the lecterns and signage, and wiring up the digital feeds at the Sheraton. The Clinton Global Initiative, gathering of bigshots and world leaders, is setting up shop here in New York in parallel to the United Nations' confab across town - and CGI has become the central stage innovative philanthropy.

It's also the setting for the big public relations work around Bill Clinton's second career: in my view, the former President has become the pre-eminent investment banker in the world of development, if one can be said to exist.

In short, CGI is a deal-making venue with a dizzying array of partners at the table. Philanthropists fund projects. NGOs partner with corporations. Governments work with foundations. And every combination in between.

Susan Carey Dempsey, editor-in-chief of onPhilanthropy, and I will be reporting live from CGI Wednesday through Friday, bringing readers not just the "deals" - or commitments as the CGI types like to call them - but also an honest attempt to tell you what they mean for the world of philanhropy and the nonprofit sector. Check back often throughout the week for updates. A couple of developments we're looking at:

- Clinton's increased commitment to battling global warming and its effects. This will likely be a major topics.

- CGI's planned launch of mycommitment.org, a social network for the development community

- The rolling out of the CGI summit to Asia next year, with an event planned for Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, here are a few previews from other venues to whet your appetite:

- The Financial Times has a package, including an exclusive interview with President Clinton, who describes his flavor of "business philanthropy."

- The UN Refugee Agency has a profile of a program to train teachers in Chad, and will promote its "goal of enhancing education for millions of refugee children" at CGI.

- Earthtimes previews an event featuring President Clinton, Bono, Chris Rock, Alicia Keys, Shakira, and Christina Norman, President of MTV at New York's historic Apollo Theatre. Each of the panelists will "discuss their efforts to influence change on pressing social issues and invite young people to partner with them on a new initiative."

In a spectacular hall overlooking Central Park, the Clinton Global Initiative is giving its spring update on the unique partnerships it helps to create - the "commitments" that companies, organizations, foundations, and individuals make under former President Bill Clinton's personal banner. We're here in the hall this morning to cover the proceedings, which book-ends CGI's annual three-day conference in New York each fall.

About 200 "members" - representatives of the commitment-making organizations - are here for a brief program in the new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle.  A video highlighting the brief but star-studded history of CGI began the proceedings, with a range of taped remarks from people like Bill Gates and Bishop Desmond Tutu talking about commitments to change the world.

To date, CGI (launched in 2005) has generated more than 500 commitments in excess of $10 billion, benefiting more than 1,000 organizations in more than 100 countries.

Bill Clinton: "We believed that if we created a space where people from all over the world could come together, form partnerships, come up with solutions, and then come up with specific measures, we could impact a lot of lives....two and half years later it is, I believe, a working model that can change the world."

In addition to CGI's other areas of focus (climate change, health, reconciliation/poverty alleviation), President Clinton said the initiative is adding education as a focus area.

Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons: The role of former President has changed and evolved; "and the 42nd President has taken that role to a whole other level...it's like you come through this Vale of tears and emerge on the other side stronger and ready to lead." Parsons, a prominent Republican widely rumored to be considering a run for New York City Mayor, said President Clinton "is entirely motivated by doing what's right." Parsons admitted to  be "prodded" by the former President to increase Time Warner's support for philanthropic initiatives, particularly in education.

The President runs through some impressive numbers (I'll get to these later when time allows) and notes that a third of the commitments affect three or more geographic regions. And he applauded growing U.S. attention to the genocide in Darfur; he said "oft-criticized Hollywood celebrities" have taken a major and serious role in bringing the slaughter to more attention. And there's actor Kevin Spacey in the front row.

Clinton: "I'm grateful we 've been able to convince people that no gift of time or financial commitment is too small ... but there are still too many people dying" and too many big challenges. "The results are meaningful but we've still got a lot to do."

Updates on four commitments, with participants speaking from the audience as President Clinton listens intently from the stage (quite dramatic). First up in InterACTION Youth Exchange, a partnership between Interfaith Youth Core and Queen Rania of Jordan - a commitment to promote "religious peace-builders," according to Dr. Eboo Patel. This January, 15 young Americans traveled to Jordan to live and work with 17 young Jordanians. Two of the young participants spoke: Nabeel Ali, a Jordanian, and Adva Saldinger, an Israeli-born American, who spoke movingly of the personal medical treatment she received in a Jordanian home - "I want everyone to have the experience of having someone you once saw as an 'other' treat you as a daughter."

Jim Stengel from Procter & Gamble stood up to update CGI on his company's commitment to provide 35 million liters of drinking water to more than a million African children; he held up a portable sachet filled with a powdered purification product that when dropped into a bucket of water makes it safe the drink. Stengel said: "We have reached 400,000 children and we will exceed our goal of a million children." In addition, CGI has helped P&G establish more partnerships to advance the clean water cause.

"People say I'll never have the money of Bill Gates or even the millionaire down the street. I'll never have the influence Bill Clinton has," said President Clinton. but he told the story of his grocer in Chappaqua, who has seven children and commutes daily from Brooklyn - "this guy loves what we do and wants to be involved." Clinton said CGI got an email from a woman who wrote, "I don't have much money, but I'm going to buy as many packets as I can and give a bunch of kids clean water." It's all about the partnerships that allow the average person to get involved.

The third update comes from Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of the Acumen Fund, which launched a clean air portfolio at last fall's CGI meeting - she reported that the fund has made its first energy investment in rural electrification and has raised more investment dollars. Acumen is also looking at solar energy enterprises in India and more than 50 South Asian energy enterprises. The poor, said Novogratz, pay more for energy than their counterparts in developed nations - and also suffer greater impact from pollution.

The last update is the Ubuntu Education Fund, which works with orphaned and vulnerable children in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The program was made possible by a commitment from Vincent Mai, chairman of AEA Investors. Mai, a native South African and naturalized American, talked about the thirst for live and learning among the orphans of Port Elizabeth - and the "high-impact" work of the Ubuntu workers in the townships. President Clinton personally welcomed Fezeka Mzalazala, a caseworker, and a student Ntombizethu "Zethu" Ngceza to the stage. Mzalazala recalled growing up during Apartheid, and said she fells lucky to be a senior caseworker and serve the families and children facing the high odds of poverty and HIV/AIDS. "I want to make a difference in my community," she said.

The 17-year-old sudent in her blue school uniform spoke brightly and enthusiastically about the Ubunto - translation: "I am, because you are" -  program, after recalling the deaths of her father and mother from AIDS. Now, she said, she wants to be come an accountant. She also promised her own commitment, CGI's first commitment of 2007 - that she will start a support groupo for 10 HIV-positive girls. "This is how I will change the world."

Her brief talk stirred the audience, which gave her a standing ovation. Said Clinton: "I think you might reconsider being an accountant. You might be a politician...and I may move to South Africa so I can vote for you."

President Clinton closes: "For all the attention we get at CGI we're really just a catalyst for bringing people together. It's really a large experiment in philanthropy, in changing the model." He also revealed he's working on a book on "why people give." That should make interesting reading in our sector.

UPDATE: Here are some of those statistics I promised earlier - basically a breakdown of the commitments made to CGI - 221 commitments have been made by non-profits (38%), 118 by corporations (21%), 108 by foundations (19%), 79 by individuals (13%) and the rest by governments, universities and other entitites.

New York Times:  The cost of treating children infected with H.I.V. and AIDS is poised to plummet next year, under a deal announced today between two Indian drugmakers and former President Bill Clinton’s foundation.

Forbes: Sir  Richard Branson is just as well known for his wild antics as he is for being a brilliant entrepreneur. He has dressed as a bride to publicize his wedding stores, Virgin Bride. Plus, he’s attempted to fly around the world in a hot-air balloon and starred in his own reality TV show, The Rebel Billionaire. His reputation is more stuntman than elder statesman. That changed last September. After a philanthropy-filled summer that saw major donations by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Branson capped the season with an announcement of his own.

The barricades have come down, the explosive-sniffing dogs are back in their kennels, and you can rent a room without a full body search at the Sheraton. The Clinton Global Initiative wrapped up last Friday afternoon in New York, sending 50 heads of state, one first lady and one former first lady, two ex-presidents, one almost president, several secretaries of state, a few movie stars and singers, and scads of pinstriped moguls and CEOs back into the real world - the one where war dominates, politics polarizes, and well-intentioned efforts often smash to tiny bits of well-funded flotsam on the sea of world turmoil and base human hatred.

For three days, CGI was a kind of dressed-up Woodstock for corporate generals and NGO dreamers - three days of peace, love and understanding keyed by groovy world music overtones to accompany slick Powerpoint and desktop video. Everybody got along (at least onstage - cable interviews were another thing entirely). Bushes and Clintons mixed with Gores and Murdochs. And 215 pledges were made totaling $7.3 billion, all aimed at changing the world in one of four areas: environment, poverty, tolerance and health.

But in the words of one waggish bystander in the Sheraton hallways last week: this ain't no capital campaign.

Indeed not. Nor was it - like someone else suggested, an upscale Jerry Lewis Telethon (Ed McMahon was not present). The "pledges" were really was the Clinton team would prefer to think of commitments; multi-year promises to invest time and money and in-kind goods in making the world a better place. In some cases, the dollar value was extraneous to the importance of the commitment.

And although they were all "philanthropic," much of the total was not philanthropy - not as the U.S. Tax Code defines it, or really, how popular culture has always considered it since the earliest societies adopted alms giving to the poor.

  Bill Clinton 
  Originally uploaded by onPhilanthropy.

The largest single commitment was Sir Richard Branson's pledge to use all the profits from his Virgin transportation businesses to fund research into alternative energy sources and technologies. But the estimated $3 billion was not a gift; Sir Richard will invest the company in other companies, including one he already owns, to try and move the developed world to better energy policies. Yet he could have put the money into his pocket, as the largest shareholder.

It's as if the Clinton team was determined to destroy the entire accepted parlance of the philanthropic world. Venture philanthropy? Not quite. Corporate philanthropy? In part. Foundations, nonprofits, NGOs? All part of the mix. Major gifts? Very major indeed, but not all "gifts."

Last week's Clinton confab was part of a discernible trend in "philanthropy" - that is to day, the rapid deconstruction of the accepted term. The reach and economic might of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the disposal of Warren Buffett's fortune, the creation of the loosely for-profit Google.org, Branson's "gift," and the kind of economic studies that come out of the World Economic Forum and the Milken Global Conference all point in the direction of blurring the boundaries between philanthropy, business, and nonprofits.

How this changes democracy is clearly a question we who live in democracies must ask. As major-league funding efforts to change the world cross international boundaries and move far outside the oversight of our individual elected representatives, does the average Joe maintain any say on the global commons? Does this mean we have to reconsider how we view tax-exempt status in the U.S.? Should we reconsider the legal strictures on American foundations?

And beyond that, does it work? In the end, even a room with the heft of the Clinton Global Initiative has a hard time fixing the political realities that hinder real change in the world, that keep people dying from bad water and poverty and disease - ills that modern society can fix. Cynics blasted CGI as a staged love-in that broke down fewer boundaries than it appeared to. Part of that is fair criticism; no three-day conference can change the world.

But what it can do is get people talking, and get people thinking - and at a level where real change is possible. You can dismiss CGI as Clinton's government in exile, but you can't dismiss the very real commitments made there. And the sense that an American leader can and should set the stage for change - and commitment throughout the world.

New York Times:  A Sheraton hotel in Midtown Manhattan was the scene of feverish matchmaking over the past three days during Bill Clinton’s second annual gathering on global problems.

The Clinton Global Initiative has gone out of its way to accommodate bloggers, and many are here. This may be due to the influence of Salon's Peter Daou, who has been hired by the campaign of Senator Clinton to reach out to the blogger ranks. In any case, my fellow blog-writers bring their own unique take to the proceedings, so I thought I'd share a smattering with onPhilanthropy readers.

David Johnson from Seeing the Forest, who created a special CGI blog:

I overheard a cynic, "This is more about publicity for the people involved, things that could be done in a press release."

Maybe so, but I think being on a stage with a former President is a motivator that makes things happen. Sure Branson might get a good press release, or Wal Mart builds its brand, but I suspect that there is a strong personal motivation to get that Clinton handshake photo for the wall.

So here's an idea for a great way readers of this blog can better motivate people and get things done: First: get elected President of the United States of America. Second: Serve two terms. Then: ask people to do good things.

Mahablog's take on Desmond Tutu's grace and charm was spot-on:

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu radiates more sweet, selfless joy than his little body could possibly contain. No religion in the world promotes death and murder, he said. Instead, all of the world’s religions promote compassion, justice, love, caring. It is unfortunate that people misuse religion for bad purposes, like a knife intended to cut bread might be used to hurt someone.

It’s a mistake to associate the terrorism of the Middle East with Islam, the Archbishop said. If a Muslim commits an act of terrorism, it’s called Muslims terrorism; but when a Christian man blew up a building in Oklahoma, no one called it Christian terrorism. Likewise, terrorism in Northern Ireland, or the Holocaust, was not called Christian terrorism.

Jude Nagurney Camwell's words about trading on celebrity in the cause of human rights:

Trading in on your celebrity or cashing in on your business influence is ethically neutral in and of itself. Most people would probably see it as "bad" if someone uses their influence for matters of greed or pure self-interest. What do most of us see as the right thing to do? A person might use their corporate influence in a way that sheer profiteers would consider crazy because there's no pocket value in it. A celebrity might "throw his weight around" in the service of human rights, and he might be inspiring and followed - or he might be called a "Hollywood busybody" by careless naysayers. In a discussion today at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, it was clear that two particular men have cast aside the possibility of worrying too much about any of those public perceptions while they are in the service of their fellow men and women's human rights. They are hoping that other world citizens will join them.

  Senator Hillary Clinton 
  Originally uploaded by onPhilanthropy.

Any major gathering headed by a still-active former President is going to have its political side, and the Clinton Global Initiative is no exception. Although Bill Clinton clearly takes pains to frame this conference - and many of his activities - as post-electoral, the same can't be said of the attendees, whether they're from the United States or elsewhere.

Even as they discuss philanthropy as a change agent in partnership with business and government, many of the attendees as also keenly aware of their own political future; that said, the wide-ranging nature of the CGI (this is far from a Democratic Party outlet) creates some interesting moments. Here are a few:

• Laura Bush embraced Bill Clinton at the opening plenary, another episode in the growing relationship between the Clintons and the Bush family. Commentators like Arianna Huffington blasted Clinton for inviting the First Lady during a political season, but I can tell you that the talk in the hallways was update: the business guys especially like to see their major political figures cooperating.
• General Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, was clearly interested in sending a message to his restive nation back home, including hard-line Muslim group; he took pains to paint his country as the major force in driving the Cold War to its conclusion and interestingly, painted al Quaeda as nearly defunct in his region.
• Al Gore gave a passionate address on global warming, overwhelming his panel discussion on the environment. The once and possibly future Presidential candidate then warmly embraced President Clinton and Sir Richard Branson onstage - to a standing ovation from the crowd.
• British politics infused in recent weeks with stories of a Labour Party insurrection against PM Tony Blair, was well represented. this morning, London Mayor Ken Livingstone, a socialist, discussed environmentally-friendly cities and claimed that technology is no issue - "we have all the technology we need" - but that the political will is lacking. Yesterday, British Chancellor Gordon Brown, widely seen as leading the palace coup against Blair, spoke about international policy on Africa and sounded confident, in charge, and ready to assume the mantle of No. 10 Downing Street. noted the Independent:</