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From Philanderer To Philanthropist

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

Anyone who thought that his wife's run for the presidency would cause Bill Clinton to avoid the limelight has been proved utterly wrong.

September began with the publication of the former president's book, 'Giving,' about 'how each of us can change the world,' and ended as he took center stage at a celebration of philanthropy self-effacingly called the Clinton Global Initiative.

There is no stopping the man once nicknamed the 'comeback kid.' Having left the White House under something of a cloud, he has since transformed himself into one of the hottest brands in the booming business of giving away money.

This is a remarkable piece of rebranding, to say the least, for a man never blessed with spare cash to give. 'I entered the White House with the lowest net worth of any president in the 20th century, and I left it $10 million-12 million in debt,' Clinton says.

Speaking fees have helped of late, but only a bit. His genius has been to get other people to attach his name to their money - like a sort of philanthropic version of Donald Trump - to increase its impact.

As with Trump, the Clinton brand is not to everyone's taste. But it is proving valuable in the philanthropic world. Distance from office restores and even adds to the lustre. So does distance from home: The Clinton name is probably strongest abroad, not least in places such as Africa where the need for philanthropy is arguably greatest.

Many people, especially business leaders, love to be pictured with the former president, perhaps hoping that some of his charisma will rub off on them. Powerful people take his calls. And his famous wonkiness may enable philanthropists to find more effective ways to give money.

The impact of the Clinton brand has been increased considerably by its institutionalization in the Clinton Foundation. Despite its name, this is really a non-governmental organization, not a classic grant-making foundation, though there are plans to raise an endowment.

It takes to a new level the post-presidential activism pioneered by Jimmy Carter.

Founded in 1997 to oversee the building of the Clinton Presidential Library, the foundation is now a global organization that both runs programs in areas such as fighting HIV/AIDS, poverty and climate change, and also helps other philanthropists develop programs of their own.

Clinton espouses a businesslike approach to giving money that is now fashionable among the new rich. He calls these philanthropists 'bleeding-heart cheapskates:' they are 'not naive, they don't want to waste a lot of money, they like low administrative overhead, they measure pretty ruthlessly for return.'

Clinton's greatest success so far has been cutting the price of antiretroviral drugs for AIDS victims in poor countries. This involved negotiating bulk-purchase agreements with generic drugmakers. Although critics say that an arrangement of this sort was on the cards before Clinton got involved, at the very least he accelerated it, benefiting many people.

Now he is trying to repeat this trick to mitigate climate change by coordinating bulk-purchase agreements between the governments of some of the world's biggest cities and makers of low- energy products.

Partnership is the essence of brand Clinton. Antiretrovirals are supplied to poor children jointly with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation of Chris Hohn, a hedge-fund boss. In 2006 the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative to promote sustainable growth in Africa launched with $100 million from Sir Tom Hunter, a British billionaire.

This year brought the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative to create alternative jobs in mining communities: $100 million from Frank Giustra, a mining mogul, inspired matching sums from Lukas Lundin and Carlos Slim of Mexico, the world's richest man. 'This ought to be a multibillion-dollar effort,' says Clinton. 'Twenty-four other mining firms want to contribute, so this could get very big in a hurry.'

Clinton insists he will continue his philanthropic work even if he becomes First Spouse - though some things would have to change. In particular, he would have to be more transparent.

'Now we don't have to publish all of our donors, for example, and if Hillary became president, I think there would be all these questions about whether people would try to win favor with her by giving money to me,' he says. 'You know it wouldn't work, and I don't think they would. Still, there are legitimate questions.'

But given the power of Clinton's personal brand, that transparency may be a price worth paying.

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