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Clinton discusses ways charity could be more effective Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - More people without deep pockets need to give to charity, former President Bill Clinton said Monday to a group of people who donated the most money in the nation last year. "I think it's important for us to keep trying to find ways to get more people involved in this kind of work in an intelligent way," Clinton said in an address to the Slate 60 conference held at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Slate magazine hosted the annual conference to discuss ways philanthropists can make a greater impact on the world. The conference is held in conjunction with the magazine's release of its annual Slate 60 list of the nation's most generous charitable givers. The two-day conference that ended Monday featured panel discussions on giving to support schools, the alternative fuels industry, and remote areas. Panelists and speakers included actor Michael J. Fox, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., New York Gov. Eliot Sptizer, and Carlos Slim Helu, who recently contributed $100 million to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative. In his keynote address, Clinton said giving has caught on recently in the U.S. Of the one million U.S. foundations, half were created in this decade, he noted. "Part of it is that people really do believe that there's a role for non-governmental action here and that they can make a difference," he said. But more of an impact could be made if people with less money felt like their donations also could make a difference, he said. Further encouraging the aggregation of donations, as the Internet has done, could make more people feel they can make a difference in the world and could raise more money for causes, he said. More philanthropy is needed in rural areas, which receive 1.5 percent of grant dollars in the U.S., even though those areas are disproportionately poor, Clinton said. "You could make me dictator for a day and let me design a health care system that every medical professional would love, would cover everybody and that within five years would otherwise bring our costs along with our competitors and it would still implode," Clinton said. "There is a role there for those of us in the giving community," he said, suggesting that philanthropy could benefit medical research among other things. With so much need in the world, Clinton said, it's necessary to get as many people involved in the giving process as possible. The giving spirit needs to be instilled in America's youth, he said. Clinton suggested that middle school students be required to participate in community service projects and that each American high school form its own non-governmental organization and pick its own project, whether its in the neighborhood or across the globe. "We need to find a way to make this a part of the definition of citizenship in our country," Clinton said. |
