“Considering that Bono’s nonprofit took in $14,993,873 in public donations in 2008 and donated only $184,732 to three charities, it’s pretty suspicious. ONE answered by saying that it “does advocacy work, not charity work.” Yet, $8 million was spent on executive and employee salaries.”
-Perez Hilton
One is an advocacy company which raises money from corporations to pay off politicians so they will help causes like radicating AIDS in Africa.
It is owned by Bono.
Now everybody who reads this blog knows my distaste for Bono -really I just hate righteousness in most forms, but self-righteousness most of all. And self-righteousness by crappy rock stars on top of all the above.
But honestly? I think paying off politicians is a fucking excellent way to get the changes you want. I think it is a genius move. And if Bono can be trusted, and I think he can in this, ONE are doing very, very well.
Here is the statement.
“Contrary to the suggestion in the New York Post yesterday, ONE does not fundraise from the general public and we are not a grant-making organization. We are funded almost entirely by a handful of philanthropists on our board of directors to raise awareness and pressure political leaders to fight extreme poverty through smart and effective policies and programs, like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which is saving 4,000 lives a day.
ONE has nearly 120 staff in the US, UK, Germany, Brussels, France, Nigeria and South Africa whose job it is to fight for funding for effective programs like the Fund and the US global AIDS program PEPFAR. As a result of those programs, today more than 4 million Africans have access to life-saving AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 people in 2002. Malaria deaths have been cut in half in countries across Africa in less than 2 years.
As other examples of our work, ONE helped successfully press for debt relief for Haiti after the devastating earthquake there and we recently played an important role in the passage of a law in the US requiring oil companies to report any payments to government officials – an effort to end backhanded deals between energy companies and corrupt politicians that hurt people in poor countries.
ONE has been a relentless advocate for these programs and policies and we have used the media spotlight to ensure world leaders keep their commitments. The media kits that were mentioned in the New York Post article, which were produced for far less than was cited and delivered by staff and volunteers, not a messenger service, were an effort to focus reporters on the Millennium Development Goals, a set of promises world leaders made to cut poverty, hunger and disease by 2015.”
I realize I am being a contrarian, but I vastly prefer Bono’s work for ONE than, say the thieving bullshit that goes into a charity work like the Haiti stuff.
Look at it this way: if you say here is $14M in cash in the bank, go out and buy food, everybody in the world is gonna go their cut but if you go to, say, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and say, “I’ll give you a million bucks if you will distribute all these condoms. And another million after they’re distributed” you’ve got a much better chance of actually getting something done.
So, let’s be clear here, ONE is not a charity and people should relax and nail Bono on something else.