Although billions poorer, Ted Turner will deliver on $1B pledge to UN
From Friday, December 13, 2002
The latest on Ted Turner's 1997 $1B gift which was to have been paid over 10 years and his thoughts on his UN gift (which he spke of with "boyish glee") at a recent UN event according to this New York Times story (registration required):
Even though he has cut back on other philanthropy as a result of the steep decline in his wealth, Mr. Turner said today that he would make good on the $500 million still remaining on his pledge, but that he would spread it out over the next 10 years instead of 5.
...The United Nations Foundation and a sister group, the Better World Fund, are credited by officials here with a major role in cajoling and shaming Congress into releasing funds so the United States could pay its dues, which were more than $1 billion in arrears when Mr. Turner made his pledge.
...The foundation, through $581 million in grants over five years, has supported campaigns to eradicate polio and measles in Africa, protect the white rhinoceros in the Congo Republic and coral reefs worldwide, and set up girls' clubs in Bangladesh to educate young women as a way of slowing population growth, among other programs.