“In a gentle way, you can shake the world”
-Mahatma Gandhi
Richard Blum has been committed for a half-century to putting his accident of geography to work to reduce extreme poverty and help millions of people living in poverty improve their lives. Richard founded The American Himalayan Foundation and the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and has partnered with The Brookings Institution among others. If you are interested in ways that you can put your accident of geography to work, these organizations and their projects offer great opportunities to begin or continue making your impact.
Supported Organizations
The American Himalayan Foundation
Founded and chaired by Richard Blum, this humanitarian group works in Nepal and throughout the Himalaya to improve education and health, preserve Tibetan culture, and prevent girl trafficking. Foundation projects touch the lives of 300,000 people annually, including nearly 15,000 girls whose fully-funded education from primary grades through high school helps keep them safe from traffickers.
The Blum Center for Developing Economies
With programs on each of the University of California’s ten campuses, the Blum Center has educated more than 15,000 students. The center provides an interdisciplinary hub for students, researchers, and scholars focused on global poverty and income inequality. Young people are encouraged to see themselves as global citizens who understand the complicated ethics of development work.
The Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Brookings’ mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at local, national and global levels. Richard Blum has collaborated with Brookings for the past 13 years through the Brookings Blum Roundtable, an annual conference bringing together experts from government, business, philanthropy, academia, and think tanks. The forum examines issues in global poverty, with an emphasis on how technology and innovation can be used to tackle urgent development challenges.