Make Your Own Contribution
A message from The Nippon Foundation
Click to Donate
The Nippon Foundation is urgently requesting donations to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011. The damage has been devastating. Estimates already place the dead and missing above 25,000 and those rendered homeless number in the hundreds of thousands.
The Nippon Foundation’s Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund aims to provide both immediate and medium-to-long-term support to ensure a full recovery to the affected areas.
Historically, The Nippon Foundation has financed its outreach operations using only proprietary funds, but given the extensiveness of the current disaster, the Foundation is seeking outside donations.
Three compelling reasons to support The Nippon Foundation’s Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund:
(1) Full Accountability and Transparency
The Nippon Foundation has pledged to make regular public reports on their website with full accountability of how the fund is being spent.
(2) 100% of Donations to be Spent on Aid
All administrative costs and staffing are provided by The Nippon Foundation to allow 100% of donations to be spent directly on aid to those affected by this tragedy.
(3) Experience and a Network of Expert Partners
The Nippon Foundation has had extensive experience working with local partners to provide support in previous disaster areas such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, and more recently the Mid Niigata Earthquake and the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. By working with qualified NPO partners, many of whom have received grants from The Nippon Foundation over the past 20 years, The Nippon Foundation can quickly mobilize volunteers and provide assistance to those most in need.
The headquarters for the Northeastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund is located within The Nippon Foundation building itself and currently there are five satellite support centres in the Tohoku area to coordinate volunteers, supplies and operations.
The immediate goals are to deliver food, water and other aid supplies to those affected by the disaster. Medical supplies are being sourced and a wide range of specialists including doctors, nurses, psychotherapists and language interpreters are being assembled to support the people of the disaster-stricken areas. The medium-to-long-term plans will focus particularly on children, the disabled, the elderly, immigrants and others whose particular needs are often neglected in difficult circumstances.
The total donated to this fund as of 26 April 2011 is approximately $16.5 million. Your support and generous donations are gratefully appreciated.
Please visit The Nippon Foundation’s website and follow the link to donate.
www.nippon-foundation.or.jp/eng
Past projects and campaigns of The Nippon Foundation have included:
Kobe Earthquake Relief (1995)
In response to the Kobe Earthquake in 1995, The Nippon Foundation spent a total of 7.2 billion yen (USD 90 million; Euro 62 million) for the relief of the disaster affected areas. The Foundation’s efforts included the support of 286 emergency and community projects (950 million yen; USD 12 million; Euro 8 million) implemented by partner NGOs. Since 1995, The Nippon Foundation has organized and mobilized volunteers in 28 disaster relief operations.
Small Pox and Leprosy Elimination (1975 – )
The Nippon Foundation is by far the biggest private sector donor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and was instrumental in the eradication of small pox. It has also been involved for over 40 years in the global campaign to eliminate leprosy, working in close co-operation with the WHO, governments, international organizations, and NGOs. The Nippon Foundation has so far spent 16.4 billion yen (USD 200 million; Euro 140million) on leprosy control projects all over the world, which has resulted in the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem except for the last few countries for which the elimination efforts continue. In order to address the social aspect of human rights violations against people affected by leprosy, The Nippon Foundation has implemented an advocacy project “Global Appeal to End Stigma and Discrimination Against People Affected by Leprosy” with support from five Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Mr. Oscar Arias, Mr. Jimmy Carter, The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Ms. Elie Wiesel; and former presidents Mr. Vaclav Havel (Czech Republic), Mr. Luiz Lula (Brazil), Ms. Mary Robinson (Ireland), Mr. R. Venkataraman, and Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria). Mr. Yohei Sasakawa, Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, now serves as the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.
Food security in Africa (1985-)
Triggered by the major famine in Africa in mid-1980’s, The Nippon Foundation launched, together with former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug (“the father of the Green Revolution”), the Sasakawa Global 2000 project aiming to increase food production by introducing improved agricultural methods. The project has been being implemented in 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the governments of those countries as counterparts and has doubled or tripled food production in many of the project catchment areas. More than 2,000 agricultural specialists have been trained through the project. The fund mobilized thus far for the project is 1.3billion yen (USD 162 million; Euro 114 million).
Medical fellowship for Chinese doctors (1986 -)
In partnership with the Ministry of Health of China, The Nippon Foundation has been implementing a program whereby Chinese medical doctors and researchers study in Japan for one year in fields of medicine and health care. The total of 2,100 Chinese medical personnel who have benefited from the program now form a central core of the medical sector in China and have played a pivotal role in controlling the SARS endemic in Guangdong of 2002 and the disaster relief of Great Sichuan Earthquake of 2008.
Chernobyl medical cooperation (1991-2001)
In response to the request made by the Government of the USSR, The Nippon Foundation implemented a project to examine health effects of radiation on children in the Republics of Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia affected by the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. During the 10-year period, a total of 200,000 children were examined, and a total of 225 Soviet doctors received special training in the USSR and Japan through this project.
Fellowship for future leaders (1987- )
The Nippon Foundation has established fellowship funds for graduate studies in the humanities and social sciences at 69 leading universities in 44 countries with an endowment of USD 1 million to each university. Participating universities include the University of Leipzig, Ruhr University Bochum, Columbia University and Yale University. More than 12,000 students have benefited from this competitive fellowship.
