Special Events for 2014 CGD Society - Join Now!

It’s impossible to believe. Just 12 years after the Center for Global Development began in borrowed offices, we are now settling into new headquarters on the fifth floor of a freshly renovated mid-century modern office building at 2055 L Street NW in downtown Washington, DC. The new location includes a 170-seat state-of-the art conference center and a 60-seat seminar room. These new meeting venues will make it possible for us to offer more and better events—including activities designed especially for our friends and supporters who are members of the 2014 CGD Society.

If you are reading this letter you probably already know about the unusually powerful “ideas to action” approach that CGD uses to make the world a fairer, safer, and more prosperous place. Instead of giving poorer countries unsolicited and at times unwelcome policy advice, our experts independently analyze ways the development policies of rich countries and powerful institutions could improve in areas such as trade, climate change, migration, global health, aid effectiveness, and more. I’ll have more to say about that below. But first I hope to entice you to join the 2014 CGD Society with a gift of $150 or more by telling you about three invitation-only events early next year that will be open to 2014 CGD Society members.

• CGD State of the Union Game Night! State of the Union Bingo has long been one of CGD’s most popular events—serious fun. Lacking a suitable room of our own, we have held it public venues that could accommodate only a fraction of those who wanted to attend. This year we are hosting it in our new conference center, taking full advantage of the surround-sound audio and five high-resolution screens so you can catch the president's every word. If you care about development, this will be the best place in Washington to see old friends, meet new ones, and listen to the 2014 State of the Union. There will be food and drink, plus a yet-to-be-disclosed mystery game to entertain participants while we wait for the speech to start. Hope to see you on January 28.
• Presentation of the Commitment to Development Award. In early February I will have the pleasure of presenting the CGD/FP Commitment to Development Award to Unilever CEO Paul Polman for his leadership in efforts to reduce tropical deforestation. Paul is making a real difference in in the attitudes and practices of international businesses, especially those that rely on raw materials from tropical nations for the production of consumer products, thereby helping to curtail an important source of greenhouse gases driving climate change. The award dinner will be a great opportunity to celebrate such efforts and learn more about how global citizens and corporate leaders like Paul are pushing for more sustainable tropical forest policies, to benefit the climate and development. This invitation-only dinner will be open only to CGD Society members and special guests.
• Housewarming Reception. We will begin 2014 by inaugurating our new headquarters with a special reception in early January for members of the CGD Society and other supporters. This will be a chance for me and my colleagues to welcome you to our new home. Join the 2014 CGD Society now so we can add your name to the invitation list for this reception and other 2014 special events.

There are, of course, other benefits to joining the 2014 CGD Society. As in past years, CGD Society members will enjoy preferential access to our public events and complimentary copies of CGD books and reports.

But the real benefit comes in knowing that your gift is supporting improvements in the policies and practices of the rich and powerful that can have a huge impact on the lives of the world’s most disadvantaged people. Here are some examples of how support from the CGD Society furthered the Center’s work in 2013 and can help turn ideas into action in 2014:

• When Typhoon Haiyan devastated a swath of the central Philippines in November, CGD experts drawing on their research findings about the disappointing results of post-earthquake relief in Haiti urged USAID and other donors to take full advantage of new information sharing platforms by posting real-time data on their commitments, plans, and actions. Thousands of Filipinos endorsed the call, bolstering the Philippines’ own relief and aid transparency efforts. Other CGD work on transparency includes efforts to end loopholes that facilitate illicit financial flows and to encourage open contracting by governments.
• Work led by the CGD in Europe office on Development Impact Bonds, a new financing model that rewards private investors with a financial return on social results, has led to the launch of six pilot projects. In the coming year we expect that these will begin to yield lessons that will contribute to the burgeoning movement to tap the creativity, entrepreneurship, and capital of the private sector to address development challenges.
• Thanks to analysis from CGD experts, we can provide concrete recommendations to policymakers in 2014 for unleashing OPIC as a premier development institution that can strengthen US commercial access in emerging economies and reflect target countries’ economic and political needs at no extra cost to the US taxpayers.
• Drawing on a growing body of research and experience with Cash on Delivery (COD) and other “pay-for-performance” financing approaches, CGD has launched a new initiative focused on tropical forest conservation as a means to reduce carbon emissions and thus slow climate change, while improving the livelihoods of people who live in and near the forests.

Contributions from CGD Society members help support these and many other activities at CGD. Your gift to the 2014 Society is especially welcome because it is not tied to any single program or initiative and can therefore be used to support promising new ideas that that are in the early stages and have yet to attract the support of larger funders. Please join me and this growing global network by becoming a 2014 CGD Society member today.

Warm regards,

Nancy Birdsall
President
Center for Global Development