Washington, D.C. — For most of the 10 months that have followed last February's National Summit on Africa, uncertainty about the future has hovered over the body that grew out of the 5-day meeting.
"Raising funds has proven to be an uphill challenge," says Summit President and CEO Leonard H. Robinson.
The Summit brought 5,000 participants into Washington D.C. for intense discussion on Africa and produced a "National Policy Plan of Action." After that success, the Summit decided to become a permanent organization and changed its name to The National Summit on Africa -- Africa Society
Robinson says: "In trying to transform the Summit we used the model of the Asia Society, established in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller the 3rd, to build understanding between Americans and Asians. Unfortunately there is no such visionary and philanthropist in our corner."
The Summit has reduced its staff to just three persons and is now housed in the office of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace led by Timothy Bork, one of the early supporters and fundraisers for the Summit.
After the Summit, Robinson had hoped to raise about $3.5m for operations. But "post-Summit euphoria did not translate into those dollars." So now his more modest goal is to raise $1m for operations by the end of 2001. "I am optimistic," says Robinson. "I see light at the end of this very long tunnel."
The "lions share" of the money, he expects, will come from corporations: "The foundations told us they don't want to fund core costs; but once we have started, they say, they will consider funding programs."
The Ford Foundation's lack of interest in further funding, after making a major input into the Summit, was a major disappointment. "I don't know if it played a decisive role in other foundation's decisions about us, but it certainly was a contributing factor."
Robinson is putting together a more modest program, emphasizing education and building a membership base. "We decided to concentrate on a few education programs such as our 'Africa Speakers' dialogue at Howard University and move from there to affiliate consolidation," he says. He intends to collaborate with other Africa-focused groups.
The "Africa Society" will be officially launched in late February or early March of 2001. The group's plan of action has already been given to President-elect George Bush's transition team.
