"This award reflects an understanding that small, flexible, general support grants can be the most effective way to strengthen non-profit groups abroad, especially women-led organisations, which are often catalysts for change in their communities," said Kavita N Ramdas, president and CEO of the Global Fund for Women.

The Global Fund for Women makes small grants, ranging from $500 to $15,000, to international women's rights organisations working on issues critical to women and girls. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has also announced a $3 million grant to Partners in Population and Development for further information sharing on reproductive health issues among Southern Hemisphere countries. The grant will allow Partners to establish the Global Training and Leadership Development Programme in coordination with training institutions from its member countries to develop a new generation of planners, programme managers, technical experts and service providers.

Launched at the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the Dhaka, Bangladesh, based Partners is an association of member countries dedicated to sharing "best practices" in the provision of voluntary family planning and reproductive health services.

Glaxo Wellcome sponsors black church HIV testing
A new national campaign to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in black communities is using the power of churches to encourage African-Americans to take the HIV test. Called `Black Church Lights the Way: The Black Church HIV Testing Campaign', the effort is being organised by the Balm In Gilead, a New York City based non-profit group that works to assist black churches to become community centres for HIV/AIDS education, with financial support from pharmaceutical firm Glaxo Wellcome.

The campaign includes television, newspaper and radio advertisements, as well as grassroots activities in cities across the US. Additionally, the Balm In Gilead will provide churches with free resource kits to help them educate their congregations and communities on the importance of HIV testing. The campaign features a toll free number that people can call to find out how to get a free HIV test or free information and resources.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-American men and women aged 25 to 44. Although African-Americans account for only 13 per cent of the US population, in 1998, they accounted for 45 per cent of new AIDS cases and 49 per cent of AIDS deaths.

Strategic philanthropy gains popularity in the corporate world
The practice of "strategic philanthropy", donating money to causes that help enhance a company's objectives, has grown into a popular and widespread trend used by many businesses in corporate America, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Some experts in philanthropy view the trend as an opportunity to engage more companies in giving. "The only way, in my view, that corporations are ever, ever going to play a much stronger financial role in the nonprofit community is if we advance this notion of corporate social investing," said Curt Weeden, author of Corporate Social Investing, a book on how to make giving pay. Frank Walker, chairman of market research company Walker Information, is working with the Council on Foundations to develop ways to increase corporate giving, including demonstrating the link between corporate donations and a company's business objectives.

"When CEOs figure out that philanthropy is imperative to success, corporate giving programmes will become more accountable," said Walker.