September 23, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Every year, Bill Clinton plays philanthropy matchmaker during the Clinton Global Initiative, connecting would-be donors with charities. For the 2008 event, he got started a day early.
One day before the official start of the event, nonprofit groups, corporate foundations, and others filled the ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers to pitch their charitable projects, looking for money and partners.
Initiative members, usually wealthy businesspeople, strolled past tables filled with promotional material — brochures, buttons, plastic water bottles, T-shirts, etc. — from more than 100 groups. Among the crowd, the former Army general and Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clarke browsed the charity bazaar.
The American Red Cross promoted its antimeasles effort; the Seva Foundation told attendees about how it fights diseases that cause blindness in Asia and elsewhere; the Posse Foundation discussed how it helps college students from impoverished neighborhoods.
The so-called CGI Exchange is part of a new effort by Mr. Clinton to get donors at the conference to commit to existing nonprofit projects, rather than reinvent the wheel, as it were.
In addition to today’s exhibition, the Clinton Global Initiative offers computer kiosks, known as CGI Connect, that allow attendees to search for charitable commitments pledged at the meeting, and “whisper rooms,” where attendees can have private meetings with nonprofit leaders and others
As for the CGI Exchange, Katherine Manning, a business-development manager at Oxfam, said she loved the opportunity. With a placard and stacks of paper emblazoned with the charity’s green logo, Ms. Manning said she has generated a lot of interest for the group’s microfinance work in developing countries.
“It’s a packed house in here,” she said.
