Recently, there have been some confusing and inaccurate stories about ONE’s work.  So we wanted to set the record straight.

ONE does not fundraise from the general public and we do not receive any government funding. 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.

With the exception of our annual ONE Africa Award, which is given to an effective grassroots organization in Africa, ONE does not directly fund charity projects in developing countries, work which is done well by other NGOs.

ONE’s staff of 120 policy experts, media professionals, and campaigners working in 7 countries around the globe carry out ONE’s work by:

1. Educating people, including our 2 million members, about the crisis of extreme poverty and the solutions
2. Encouraging the media to cover these issues
3. Working with leaders and activists in Africa and the west to address structural issues, like trade, debt relief, investment and good governance, that are essential for countries to lift themselves out of poverty, and
4. Pressing political leaders in the US, UK, Germany, Brussels, France and other countries around the world to pass and fund smart policies and programs that help lift people out of poverty.

ONE’s staff is the principle tool through which it fulfills these goals. Reports that have questioned why ONE spends a large percentage of our budget on staff fail to understand how ONE works. ONE’s largest funder, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, put out this statement today to clarify this point:

“ONE is not a fundraising group, but an important advocacy organization whose engagement of its two million supporters has helped to improve the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people,” said Tom Scott – Deputy Director of Communications for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

ONE has been a relentless advocate and we are proud of the role we and our members have played in successfully fighting for smart, effective programs and policies that have saved lives and improved futures in poor countries.

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 to successfully press for debt relief for Haiti after the devastating earthquake there earlier this year and played an important role in securing new US legislation requiring better transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries – an important step to ending backhanded deals between energy companies and corrupt politicians that hurt people in poor countries.

Speaking of ONE and its work, Norm Coleman, CEO of American Action Network and former U.S. Senator (R-MN), said:

“I’ve been familiar with ONE for several years and have the greatest respect for their accomplishments. Their sole mission – for which they receive no tax dollars, nor do they solicit contributions from the public – is to educate about and advocate for smart policies to help some of the poorest people in the world develop their communities and countries in ways that are sustainable — and stable. They have helped millions of people worldwide. To criticize ONE because it does not make direct charitable contributions is a bit like criticizing General Motors for not making iPods.”

The media kits that were mentioned in recent press stories, which were hand delivered by staff and volunteers to reporters in New York, 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. In hindsight, the kits were not the best way to gain attention for the issues and we regret that sending them distracted from the work we are trying to do and the issues we care about.