MassiveGood under massive attack by media

The Spanish National Football team supporting the MassiveGood campaign to achieve the Millennium Development Goals SEE VIDEO
 

Allegations that the charity backed by GDS groups and a star studded cast of global celebrities including Bill Clinton, Spike Lee, Gordon Brown, Mary J. Blige, Samuel L. Jackson, Professor Brian Greene, Susan Sarandon and writer Paul Auster, is falling well short of its targets are refuted by COO in exclusive Vision interview

The Financial Times has alleged that the Geneva-based Millennium Foundation has fallen dramatically behind schedule in efforts to generate up to $1.5 billion (€791m, £657m) a year since its creation in 2008, raising about $14,000 directly from the public while spending $11m given to it by governments on salaries, advertising and legal expenses.

The publication says that the Millennium Foundation directors – who include representatives of the British, French and Brazilian governments, as well as the charity Oxfam – have requested fresh scrutiny of its operations and are holding a board meetings to discuss a revised strategy and spending plans for the organisation.

The problems have apparently intensified a debate over the governance of the foundation and Unitaid, the United Nations agency, which has given $22m to fund its development.

Initially, the management consultancy McKinsey projected that annual income from these clicks would be $120m- $1.8bn, with forecasts suggesting the foundation – through its internet brand dubbed “Massivegood” – would raise $590m in 2010, rising to $980m in 2011.

However, the foundation’s first progress report, prepared for the board and obtained by the Financial Times, describes repeated launch delays caused by technical difficulties over the software, reluctance by travel agents to agree to the “click”, delays caused by the need to create a US-based charitable foundation, tensions with its communications agency, and disagreement between corporate partners over how funds raised should be distributed.

The FT alleges:

• It  hired 23 staff (although some have now been made redundant) paid for offices in Paris and Geneva, and is believed to have spent more than $500,000 alone on a short promotional film directed by Spike Lee, including interviews with novelist Paul Auster, and a voice-over from former US president Bill Clinton.
• It recorded a song with will.i.am and Yvonne Chaka Chaka, but says the sound quality “was not of sufficiently high quality”.

Vision on Sustainable Tourism put the following questions to Jean-Louis Richard, COO of the Millennium Foundation:

Have you fallen drastically behind schedule?
“All components of the program (technology, branding, support…) have been delivered according to schedule. The initial intent was to launch MASSIVEGOOD worldwide at once. The cost/efficiency ratio of such a decision led us to reconsider it and to go for a market-by-market approach. It is also important to note that if the political launch took place in the US on March 4th, 2010; the launch of the Massive Good leisure solution took place in Spain only on June 1st.”

 Have you only raised about $14,000 directly from the public so far?
“After those few weeks, we have raised close to 200 000 USD, coming mainly from Corporate donations but also from individual donations, be it directly on the MassiveGood website or through our industry partners’channels”

Have you spent $11m given to you by governments on salaries, advertising and legal expenses?
“The initial investment to launch the project has been funded by UNITAID grant of m22.3 $. Only 52% of this amount has been spent today, which has allowed us to set-up a legal straucture, to create our brand, to develop a flawless technology to support the solution, to sign cre strategic industr wide partnerships as well as developping marketing material and activities.”

 Did you dump the song with will.i.am and Yvonne Chaka Chaka due bad sound quality?
“Will.i.am has not been available to record its part of the production in a professional environment, which subsequently could not be released.  The reference to "bad sound quality" may refer to the MASSIVEGOOD studio images whose video is posted on our website. It was never our intention to use such a material.”

Bernard Salomé, the foundation’s manager, told the FT: “This is an operation which is extremely complicated. It’s normal that it takes a bit of time to build.”

He said he had imposed a tough budget and was starting to see “incredible support” from a campaign launched recently in Spain.

Mr Douste-Blazy said: “Our objective is to reimburse our costs as soon as possible. It’s important not to break the dynamism at the start. This is starting to take off.”

He anticipated that the Millennium Foundation would be fully active within a year, and that he would step down as chairman “from the moment the money arrives”.

In the meantime the Spanish football team is still supporting the project – recording the following words on a promotional before flying off to take part (and perhaps win?) the World Cup:
Spanish Soccer Team Supports MASSIVEGOOD SEE VIDEO
 

Translation:

We wear the colors of Spain’s football team but for MASSIVEGOOD we’ll change our jerseys
Help fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis
Score a goal for solidarity in your life
With two euros you can put a stop to many diseases
Do not let a child die from AIDS
Do not let it happen, because with just a little we can change the world
Many mothers can be helped with our aid
Join MASSIVEGOOD
When you book travel, “give a click”
A small gesture can do a lot
It is only 2 Euros
Make your trip meaningful
Give a click

Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php