http://www.unfoundation.org/media_center/press/2005/pr_011305.asp

For Immediate Release
January 13, 2005
Contact: Debra DeShong, 202.778.3511
Christina LoNigro, 212.697.3315

The United Nations Foundation and the International Community Foundation
Raise $300,000 for UN Tsunami Disaster Relief

In the aftermath of the crisis created by the earthquake and tsunami destruction, the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation) and the San Diego-based International Community Foundation (ICF) have partnered to raise funds for the rapid response needs of UN Country Coordination teams on the ground assisting in this emergency.

In the first two weeks of this partnership, the groups raised $300,000, with the UN Foundation matching ICF contributions one dollar for every two dollars raised. The UN Foundation announced today another $100,000 challenge grant to ICF due to the overwhelming response the partnership has received.

"The devastating tsunami in South Asia has been an unprecedented global catastrophe yet it has also brought forth its own positive tsunami effect of global giving," noted Richard Kiy, President & CEO of the International Community Foundation. According to Kiy, "Through ICF's partnership with the UN Foundation, donors have come together from eight North American community foundations, including San Diego, Orange County, Boulder, Kansas City, Dallas and Tijuana, Mexico to provide critical assistance to UN agencies that are playing a critical first responder role in the impacted communities."
"I am gratified that the UN Foundation can serve as a helpful entry point for ICF and its donors, and wish to thank ICF and its remarkable constituency," said Senator Timothy E. Wirth, President of the UN Foundation. "The United Nations has been a leader in the response to this humanitarian crisis, benefiting from its presence all over the globe. The commitment being made by the UN Foundation and ICF recognize that leadership and will help further their efforts."

100 percent of the funds raised will go immediately to UN Country Coordination teams on the ground in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Maldives. These teams are vital in helping countries organize and deliver an effective emergency response and need immediate resources in order to organize distribution of relief and planning for long-term rehabilitation.

ICF and the UN Foundation have been working together as strategic partners since 2002 to expand the level of charitable giving in priority funding areas of mutual interest where the UN can play a catalytic role in affecting change. ICF and the UN Foundation were successful in jointly committing $500,000 to support an innovative conservation management initiative for Isla Espiritu Santo in Mexico's Gulf of California that has led to UNESCO's active consideration of this area as a World Heritage Site. ICF and the UN Foundation are now beginning to collaborate in promoting the UN's Millennium Development Goals for the U.S.-Mexico border region by expanding funding in the areas of health and education. ###

The United Nations Foundation was created in 1998 with businessman and philanthropist R.E. Turner's historic gift to support UN causes. The United Nations Foundation promotes a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world through the support of the United Nations and its Charter. Through its grantmaking and by building new and innovative public-private partnerships, the United Nations Foundation acts to meet the most pressing health, humanitarian, socioeconomic,
and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
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ICF is a 501(c)(3) public charity committed to providing leadership and strategically focused guidance to U.S. donors who want to contribute to worthwhile non-profit groups and other charitable organizations throughout the Americas and Asia in the areas of education, health, human services, community development, the environment and arts and culture. Established in 1990 through the vision of the San Diego Foundation (TSDF), ICF is now an independent entity, which maintains a strong relationship to its founder. For more information visit: www.icfdn.org