A London-based coalition of aid agencies is launching a carbon-offset program designed to marry emissions savings with help for people living with the effects of climate change, Reuters reports.
Coordinated by the New Economics Foundation and the International Institute for Environment and Development, the international coalition will work to address the concern that existing trade in carbon credits excludes the world’s poorest communities, which are most at risk from the impact of global warming. While conventional carbon offsetting has focused mostly on promoting renewable energy, the new program will combine measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions with efforts to enable vulnerable individuals to cope with climate-related problems they are already experiencing.
Over the coming year, the coalition’s partners, including UNICEF, Greenpeace, CARE International, and Trócaire, will test pilot programs in regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America that are expected to be hardest hit by the effects of climate change. The projects will prioritize adaptation — for example, teaching children in India to swim so they can survive floods — as well as initiatives to curb carbon dioxide emissions, such as providing solar-powered lights.
“Aid Agencies Plan CO2 Offsets That Also Help Poor.” Reuters

As floods, drought, and variable weather increase, Google.org is leading an effort to look at the effects of climate change on the distribution and severity of diseases such as cholera, Rift Valley fever, and malaria, the New York Times reports.
This month Google.org will convene African health, weather, insect, and climate experts to identify research gaps and opportunities for collaboration to help address deteriorating meteorological systems on the continent. Increasingly, the scant data gathered from such systems is failing to reach health officials who could use it to detect disease outbreaks before they become epidemics. Other international groups also are focusing on weather data collection.
“Google's Philanthropy Arm Leads Effort to Use Weather Data to Fight Disease.” New York Times

This news item was sent out as a Chapel & York Fundraising Alert on September 4th 2008. Sign up to Fundraising Alerts.Every time we identify a new opportunity to make an application for funds, or a new cross border grant, we will email you details.

Australia's richest man is planning to give away nearly all of his fortune before he dies. Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, who has an estimated $8 billion, has donated tens of millions of dollars to Aboriginal causes. Last September he donated shares and options worth nearly $80 million to The Australian Children's Trust. [Read more]

This program seeks to form Global Development Alliances to carry out activities in support of USAID's international development objectives.
Alliance partners are expected to bring significant new resources, ideas, technologies, or partners to address development problems in countries where USAID is currently working. Primary interest areas for alliances include agriculture; anti-corruption, governance, and civil society strengthening; conflict, relief, and humanitarian assistance; disaster preparedness, response, and recovery; food security; economic growth and trade capacity building; education, universities, and job training; environment and energy; health; information technology; urban programs; and water... [Read more]
Deadline: September 30, 2008

The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) seeks to assist in solving environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe. REC promotes cooperation among non-governmental organizations, governments, businesses, and other environmental stakeholders, and supports the free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision making. Types of grants include local grants for local environmental problems and non-governmental organization development; national grants for earmarked topics such as climate change, biodiversity, and brown issues; and regional grants that support cross-border cooperation. The third round of SECTOR Grants has begun and is targeting the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia (eligible only for Regional Grants), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia (including UN administered Kosovo). The third round begins accepting applications on September 1, 2008, and runs through March 1 of 2009, while award amounts range from EUR 35,000 to 90,000 based on the country of support.... [Read more]

The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health has announced a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help select new vaccines that have the best chance of preventing infectious disease outbreaks in the developing world.
The grant will support a project to create computer simulations of epidemics showing worst- and best-case outbreak scenarios that can be used to evaluate new vaccine technologies and modes of vaccine delivery. During its initial phase, the effort will focus on the evaluation of new vaccine technologies for influenza, measles, and dengue; subsequently, it will develop models for epidemic pertussis, rotavirus, polio, pneumococcus, malaria, and... [Read more]

The French-American Jazz Exchange was created by Chamber Music  America the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, and French American Cultural Exchange to foster collaborative projects that unite French and American jazz artists. The program supports initiatives in both countries.
In forming international relationships, artists are encouraged to think beyond traditional boundaries. Collaborations with musicians who champion world, electronic, contemporary classical, or other genres are welcome.
Projects may include, but are not limited to, composition, touring, recording, and audience development activities. Public performance is required, with the understanding that... [Read more]Deadline: October 15, 2008

Poor parenting? Lack of community spirit? Anti-social behaviour? This site discusses your rights and how to encourage responsible citizenship. GO>>>

Trustfunding details all trusts included within Directory of Social Change (DSC) and Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) publications and is updated regularly throughout the year.
It includes information on over 4,200 grant-making trusts with a total of over £3.1 billion a year. GO>>>
A similar database for government funding GO>>>

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced that it is accepting grant proposals for Round 2 of  Grand Challenges Explorations, a  five-year, $100 million initiative to encourage bold and unconventional research into new global health solutions.
An expansion of the Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges in Global Health, Grand Challenges Explorations  will support hundreds of innovative, early stage research projects -- many pursuing ideas that have never before been tested  and involving scientists from a wide range of disciplines and  regions. See the Grand Challenges Web site for complete proposal guidelines. [Read more]
Initial grants will be for $100,000 each. Projects showing success will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of $1 million or more. Deadline: November 2, 2008

The John Smith Memorial Trust is currently seeking applications from potential candidates for its 2009 Fellowship Programme, to take place in June/July next year.
The Programme aims to strengthen and deepen democratic awareness and good governance through a study programme in the UK and placements that show the workings of democratic organisations and their role within a democratic society.
Applications for Fellowships are invited from: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine.
The Trust only accepts applications from these seven countries.
The Trust aims to recruit high-flying and influential young leaders who will make a substantial impact on the future development of their countries. The Fellowship Programme is open to political leaders, government or local government officials, journalists/media experts, lawyers and influential young leaders from [Read More]
Further information about recruitment criteria, application details and deadlines can be obtained from the Trust's website: http://www.johnsmithmemorialtrust.org/Web/

BRAC believed to be the largest non-governmental organization in the developing world, has been  named the winner of the annual $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton  Humanitarian Prize, the world's largest award for humanitarian achievement.
Founded as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee in 1972  by a former Shell Oil executive, BRAC, which has field offices in nine Asian and African countries, uses a holistic approach to address poverty by providing microloans, education, health  services, and jobs. Since its inception, the organization has issued $5 billion in microloans to nearly seven million borrowers; graduated 3.8 million students from its primary schools and... [Read more]

The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation's Justice Prize honors individuals  who have advanced the cause of justice as delivered through the legal system. The award is intended to both acknowledge individual efforts and encourage further advancements toward bringing about a fundamentally just world.
The prize -- a gold medal and an unrestricted $500,000 cash award -- is an international award presented annually. Recipients  are selected by a distinguished panel of international legal  experts from nominations that are received from around the world.
Nominees may be individuals or organizations whose contributions  have advanced the cause of justice as delivered through the legal system.
Visit the Gruber Foundation Web site for complete nomination  guidelines and information on previous Justice Prize recipients. Deadline: December 15, 2008 [Read more]

New data released by the World Bank estimates that the number of poor people around the world is far higher than originally estimated. The number of poor people in 2005 is now estimated at 1.4 billion, an increase of 500 million from earlier estimates of 948 million.
According to Asma Lateef, director of Bread for the World Institute, this data gives a more accurate picture of how widespread poverty is and reflects improved ways of measuring the cost of living in developing countries and a larger set of household surveys in more countries. "It suggests that the earlier measure of extreme poverty, the number of people who live on less than $1 a day, underestimated the cost of living in developing countries. The new poverty line is $1.25 a day."
The World Bank report, "The Developing World is Poorer Than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight against Poverty," recalculates poverty rates for the last 25 years and finds that although the number of people living in poverty is higher under this new measure, we have seen an overall, long-term decline in the number of people living in poverty, from 1.9 billion in 1981 to 1.4 billion.
The world has been making steady progress in reducing poverty since 1981 at about one percent a year. At this rate, the world is on target to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015 from... [Read more]

GoodTube is an Internet community and video sharing site for nonprofit organizations and people involved in volunteerism worldwide. GoodTube offers a unique opportunity for nonprofits to share their message through video on a website committed exclusively to charitable work. It provides charities with a way to showcase their work, reach potential donors, and inspire viewers. The service is available free of charge. GoodTube also offers contests to recognize outstanding videos... [Read more]