Father Damien Redeems the Lepers of Hawaii
Through human history, leprosy has been one of the most supremely feared diseases, sometimes known as “the death before death.” When the affliction reached the Hawaiian Islands, every victim was Read more…
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Soros Overseas Spending
Since 1979, when he began his philanthropy, George Soros has donated large sums to international causes—more than $8 billion by 2015, with additional hundreds of millions being sent overseas with Read more…
Private Schools in Poor Countries
Officially, education in most poor countries is provided by the government at no charge to parents. But in practice, these state-run schools are often terrible—with teachers appointed by nepotism rather Read more…
Accelerating Microfinance
The arrival of microfinance—offering small loans to poor people so they can start businesses that help support their families—is one of the most important developments in overseas philanthropy over the Read more…
Ford’s International Fellows
Drawing from its long history of supporting international scholars, the Ford Foundation launched a freestanding International Fellowships Program with a $280 million grant in 2001—the largest single gift ever allotted Read more…
Clean Water Thanks to Coke
The world’s largest beverage company, Coca-Cola, has since the early 1990s made investments in water supply and sanitation one of the top priorities of its philanthropic arm, the Coca-Cola Foundation. Read more…
Gates Cambridge Trust
In 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the Gates Cambridge Trust with a $210 million endowment. This program brings college graduates to England’s Cambridge University for two or Read more…
Andes-Amazon Initiative
A signature international effort of the $6 billion Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is the Andes-Amazon Initiative. The Amazon River basin stretching from the Andes mountains to the south Atlantic Read more…
Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe
In 2000, six U.S. foundations joined together to form the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe. Its charge was to help build up the fragile elements of Read more…
Partnership for Higher Education in Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa, only 4 percent of the college-age population got a chance to enroll at a university when the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa kicked off. Believing that Read more…
Energy Foundation China
Concerned over the energy and environmental impact of China’s breakneck industrial expansion, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation provided $22.2 million in 1999 to create the China Sustainable Energy Program. Read more…
Fair Trade USA
Recognizing how easily foreign aid can encourage corruption and dependency in poor countries, an alternative movement has grown up which emphasizes international trade as a means of helping farmers, small Read more…
Massive Gifts to Global Health from the Gates Family
Bill Gates often explains in interviews how he decided to become a philanthropist: He was “exclusively focused” on Microsoft in the mid-1990s when his attention was captured by an article Read more…
Saving Bosnians and Serbs
In 1992, Serbian forces encircled the city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. Their siege lasted until 1995 and killed more than 10,000 people, most of them unarmed civilians out on the Read more…
Central European University
After the Berlin Wall fell, George Soros decided to found the first American-style university in Eastern Europe to help encourage the democratic transition of the region. The school, which offers Read more…
Reinventing Development Economics
In 1981 a Peruvian economist named Hernando de Soto formed a nonprofit in his country called the Institute for Liberty and Democracy. He had become convinced that a lack of Read more…
A Cool Billion After Armenia’s Earthquake
Late in 1988, a devastating earthquake struck Armenia, followed by months of aftershocks, killing more than 25,000 people and injuring 15,000 more. Factories and utilities were destroyed; roads and railways Read more…
Donating Drugs to Stop Dreadful Diseases
Private corporations have been key partners in certain philanthropic causes—particularly battles against diseases. Most of the major pharmaceutical companies now have charitable arms through which they give away free or Read more…
Partners in Health
Ophelia Dahl, daughter of the late writer Roald Dahl, volunteered at an eye clinic in Haiti in the mid-1980s, where she met a medical student named Paul Farmer. A few Read more…
Mobilizing African Aid
In 1986, the Christian charity World Vision invited popular rock musician Paul Hewson, better known as Bono, to visit some of their aid sites in Ethiopia. Moved by what he Read more…