Pulling for the Underdog

Thursday, September 18, 2008

GlobalGiving Launches in the UK

Last Monday, GlobalGiving UK launched its brand new web site in London at a big gathering of NGO, private sector, and government leaders.  This is particularly exciting since UK donors are among the most generous and progressive in the world when it comes to supporting causes overseas.


The creation of GlobalGiving UK has been supported financially by the Charities Aid Foundation's Venturesome Fund and the Travel Foundation, with key advice and operational support from Google, Expedia UK, Paypal, and Isango.  Booz and Company hosted the launch on Monday and provided office space in the start up phase.  The GlobalGiving US team worked overtime to provide back-end services and adapt the front-end website to the UK context.

Minister Shahid Malik of DFID (the UK's aid agency) gave the keynote speech and made the first donation through the site, which speaks volumes.  DFID is at the very top of official aid agencies in terms of innovation and leadership in key areas.

The GG UK team is outstanding.

It is headed up by Sharath Jeevan, who has the kind of eclectic background that makes him specially suited for the job.  Most recently, he ran eBay's charity division in the UK.  Previously,  he has worked at the international NGO ActionAid, been a project leader at Booz Allen, and has even done a high-tech startup in Asia.  Having grown up near London, Sharath has an economics degree from Cambridge, an MBA from INSEAD in France, and graduate degree in creative writing from Oxford.

UK team members include Rachel Smith, who heads up relationships with NGOs and campaigns, Svetlana Gitman, Tanya Serov, Ann Dugan and Becky Hill - all of whom have played key roles in the launch.   

We at GlobalGiving US are proud of our new cousins in London.  But we are a little nervous, too.  They have already introduced a couple of key innovations that we don't have on our own site :)

1 Comments:

Blogger mikemathew said...

I’ve sponsored one child in Tanzania for 10+ years, and one child in Kenya for 1+ years, so I know World Vision well. website: information on World Vision’s viewpoint on China Earthquake donation link: Emergency Aid Disaster response fund Interviewed Jeff Wright, Sr. Program Officer for Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, 5/13 Blog post coming soon, but here’s a quick synopsis: World Vision has been operating in China since 1962. Operating legally with some kind of government approval Primary country office in Beijing, with support office in Hong Kong, and regional offices in Yunnan, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces Has existing national offices with large local Chinese staff Staff is not full-time focused on disaster recovery, but serving in other development projects like HIV/AIDS and agriculture, but all have training in disaster response World Vision has sought to be effective through “pre-positioning” of three key assets: people, relief supplies/materials, and funding. Funds have already been set aside to provide rapid relief Clear and stringent operational guidelines for WorldVision volunteers or employees to directly deliver aid to the victim or “end user”
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mikemathew
Marven

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