After a six-year hiatus, the Clinton Global Initiative returned to New York City this week, bringing together leaders from the nonprofit, government, and business worlds, and sprinkled with some big names. It’s been a tumultuous few years since then.
Former President Bill Clinton said in opening remarks Monday at the Hilton in midtown Manhattan, “The challenges we face are steep, but they’ve been steep for quite some time.” It’s not about what you can’t do, it’s about what you can do.”
The Clinton Global Initiative began in 2005 and quickly became similar to the Davos on the Hudson event, but with a greater focus on philanthropy, nonprofits and corporate goodwill. I was. What differentiated it from most conferences was that it required participants to make promises, sometimes dollars, sometimes goals, such as creating jobs or providing clean water.
By the 2016 hiatus, participants had published more than 3,700 initiatives. In more than 180 countries, he has helped more than 435 million people, according to the organization’s own tally.
In many ways, the early days were the high water mark of the philanthropic capitalist era, with a growing trust in the rich and famous to save the world. In turn, many important organizations modeled on Clinton’s efforts.
Then, in 2016, as Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump’s general election heats up, and reporters ask dozens of questions about the foundation and its donors, Clinton announces that the 2016 meeting will be final. . initiative.
Now, when world leaders gather in New York for the first full face-to-face UN General Assembly in three years, the goal is to bring back the old magic of Clinton and see if there’s still room in the thought-leading arena. is to check This week, the pledge symposium that is bustling the city.
Since then, Clinton has been desperate to get the event back, according to Clinton advisers. “When we were speaking before board meetings, he would regularly say to me, ‘I just went out last night and someone said when he was going to start doing CGI again.'” From 2007 he served on the board of the Clinton Foundation until 2016.
“A year ago, 10 months ago, we looked at each other and said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Harrison recalls.
The Clintons’ return to the world stage announced in March Along with a letter from Mr. Clinton that also served as a request for arms. According to Clinton, the world needed his CGI revival due to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and challenges to democracy at home and abroad.
Judging by the name of the event, philanthropists Lauren Powell Jobs and Melinda French Gates, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, state governors, corporate chief executives, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the World Health Organization. Secretary General of.
This year, the initiative has tallied 144 commitments, resulting in more than 1.6 million jobs and 3.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions reduction.
Commitments ranged from programs to build soccer fields in underserved communities to making bricks from volcanic ash. Members from nine countries have pledged to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Clinton interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday via videoconference, and Mr. Zelensky wore his trademark form-fitting T-shirt.
At the event, former Virginia governor and longtime resident of the Clinton world, Terry McAuliffe, walked past with a smartphone pressed to his face. Petra Nemcova, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model who survived the deadly 2004 Thailand tsunami and is now a philanthropist, has an all plant-based soy, oat and almond milk. I chatted with Ukrainian officials by the coffee urn. She agrees with Mr. Clinton’s veganism and the climate impact of cows. All meals were plant-based as well.
The mood between sessions was like a college reunion, with people hugging and talking with warmth and nostalgia after years apart. Cheerful, but probably not the most positive.
“Why did they leave in the first place?” said Paloma Ruggo, a philanthropy expert and professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Carleton University in Ottawa. “It wasn’t the right political environment for them to be at the forefront of things.”
Clinton has closed the initiative due to scrutiny during the campaign. And they kept it on ice for six years for a variety of reasons. Then the #MeToo movement put a grim spotlight on Clinton’s past ties to Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein. It is said to have moved away from
Still, the timing does not seem clear to critical observers. “Is it because there’s a problem that needs it now and they’re here, or is it because at this point the political influence or the bad juju has dissolved a bit and they’ve reappeared?” asked.
Some former advisers say the time for the Clinton Global Initiative is over and the event should not be revived. Former CEO Harrison said membership costs of $15,000 and $20,000 in previous years were only $5,000 for this year’s event. In addition to wanting Clinton to return to the limelight, some see her former eldest daughter as a driving force.
The Clintons launched a documentary series called “Gutsy” on AppleTV+ this month. In this series, a mother and daughter talk to famous women and activists. Mrs. Clinton, who has written or co-written four books since the 2016 election, has written or co-written two books with Chelsea since the 2016 election, to a standing ovation Monday afternoon. I went up on stage.
“I don’t know about you, but when people ask me how I’m doing these days, I’m like, ‘Well, personally, it’s been great. I worry about everything,'” Mrs. Clinton told the crowd.
Shortly afterwards, on the same stage, Ms. French Gates announced a $50 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund a scholarship at Rwanda’s College of Health Sciences in the name of Dr. Paul Farmer, who died suddenly in February. provided.
Mrs. Clinton then said, “Someone else who appreciates, respects and understands the value of this work has stepped up.” “One of Paul’s friends in our CGI community told us about making her $10 million donation.”
The foundation began in 1997 as a charity to fund the design and construction of Clinton’s presidential library. When he left the White House, Mark Rich’s pardon and endowment came into question, and it ignited controversy pretty quickly. In 2002, the Clintons launched the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative with the goal of saving millions of lives around the world. It was spun off from the Foundation in 2010 and survives today as the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
George W. Bush was president when the Clinton Global Initiative was launched in 2005. Hillary Clinton is a New York Senator and a likely presidential candidate, Bill Clinton was his most recent two-term president. Chelsea seemed ready to follow in his parents’ footsteps.
The first version of the 2005 Clinton Global Initiative was created to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. The currency of the initiative was “commitment”. Participants pledged $2.5 billion from 300 people to various causes including global poverty, conflict resolution and climate change.
A convoy jammed between events during the United Nations General Assembly in September was a moment to draw out these pledges.
“I think CGI was the rocket fuel for all of this,” said John Prendergast, Sentry co-founder and who has appeared on several panels with heads of state over the years. . “He’s got a real nose for bringing these different communities together,” he said of Clinton.
Many other events are now vying for attention and participation, including the Concordia Summit and the Gates Foundation Goalkeeper Event.
Former Secretary of Health and Human Services and former president of the Clinton Foundation, Donna Shalala, said in an interview that she had terminated the Clinton Global Initiative to avoid a potential conflict of interest with Mrs. Clinton’s campaign.
“It hurt,” she said. “The president loved CGI, and so did we. And the foundation was he was defined by CGI. That’s what everyone knew us to be.”
When the election was over and Mrs. Clinton lost, it was no easy task to restart the Annual Meeting.
This is more than just pausing the song. Mrs Clinton’s longtime adviser, Philip Reines, said: “Once you turn it off, it has energy and ramps up and takes time.”
Even after the initiative’s dormant period, the foundation’s signature event, tax returns show the foundation had a net worth of over $300 million as of the latest available 2020 tax year.
For nonprofits, CGI can be a powerful place to raise money and make connections.
Water.org chief executive and co-founder Gary White said he met with CGI’s most significant donors, including the PepsiCo Foundation, Mastercard Foundation and IKEA Foundation.
“Where rubber meets road is CGI, and they’re there to make an appointment, not as a sideshow,” White said.
He also met CGI actor Matt Damon in 2008 when his organization was called Water Partners. Damon had his own group known as H2O Africa. The following year they announced that they had merged the groups. This year, they pledged to provide clean water and sanitation to his 100 million people in need. The group said the target is almost halfway there.
Mrs Clinton’s opening remarks at the conference were a little quieter, a little harsher than usual, and a little slower.
He referred to “people who didn’t have dogs to hunt” and quipped, “Forgive me if I sometimes slip into my colloquial past.” I was.
Towards the end of the first panel discussion, Mrs. Clinton told attendees, “I wish I could have kept you here all day.”
After the panel discussion, Mrs. Clinton leaned over the stage, held hands, smiled, posed for photos and addressed the audience. He seemed to have his campaign trajectory muscle memory kicking in.