history of meals for millions, soy, and freedom from ... - SoyInfo Center

finishing his career as a high-ranking executive. He was an
activist on and chair of many boards (including the
Minnesota Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota
Public Radio, FFH, etc.). Tom was an outstanding chair of
the FFH board. He always allowed for plenty of discussion
and then would cut it off at just the right moment, stay on
time for topic. The meetings always started and ended right
on time, yet everyone felt included in the discussion by the
time the votes were taken. He was a visionary, and, like
Christopher, was deeply committed to the intellectual
dimension and to proving impact. He visited many of FFH’s
programs worldwide, always paid his own way, and was
often deeply moved by the what he saw as a result of FFH’s
programs. He had a huge heart (everyone could feel that)
with unusual wisdom and business acumen–a rare
combination. Tom and Christopher worked very well
together; they made a superb team.
FFH moved to Davis, California, from Santa Monica in
about 1982 and on 20 March 1983 their newly constructed
international center was dedicated. Davis was chosen for its
agricultural university and its leadership in agriculture. In
those days FFH’s main activity was still applied nutrition,
which involved applied technology, using bamboo for
irrigation pipes, and much more crop-related resources. In
addition, FFH wanted to be near an international airport and
to the general resources of the university from libraries to
experts. Throughout its long history, MFM / FFH has
discussed moving from the “wrong coast” to the east coast
(which would aid in recruiting staff, communicating with
major organizations in the field) but sunny, innovative
California has always won out in the end–and its distance
from the center of action (“the thick of it”) does have
definite advantages. Address: Manager, Donor
Communications, Freedom from Hunger, 1644 DaVinci
Court, Davis, California 95616.
371. Dodson, Chris. 2011. Recent history of Freedom from
Hunger: The story behind the annual reports (Continued–
Part III). SoyaScan Notes. Jan. 9. Conducted by William
Shurtleff of Soyinfo Center.
• Summary: Continued: Question: What has been the effect
on FFH and its programs of the large grant received from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation?
CD: Gates was the foundation that funded the Microfinance
and Health Protection (MAHP) program. FFH proposed the
program to Gates and Gates said, “yes,” that they were
interested. It was a 5-year grant. Gates had never been in
microfinance at that time, so on the recommendation of Sam
Daley-Harris at the Microcredit Summit Campaign, who
had worked with Christopher to keep microfinance focused
on the poorest of the poor, to a meeting. In March 2005 they
met in San Francisco; the Gates people didn’t want to talk
about Freedom from Hunger at all; they just wanted to talk
about the microfinance community and the potential. In
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 172
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2011
June the Gates foundation called to say they were putting
out a request for proposals in the field of microfinance to
six organizations and FFH was one of them. The proposal
was due Sept. 2. FFH took a big breath, let out a loud
“whoop,” and then settled down to try to craft a proposal. It
had to be filled with new ideas, because Gates likes to fund
only innovative projects. In about the 2nd week in July
Gates called to ask: “Is FFH planning to submit a
proposal?” FFH said “Yes.” And they said, “How come we
haven’t heard from you? We’ll help you with the details of
the proposal and its submission. Why don’t you talk to us?”
So that’s how the world of Gates works! What a relief. But
they didn’t direct or shape the proposal in any way. FFH
had always been focused on “integrated services of
microfinance”–its long-time specialty and innovation–and
more specifically “integrating health with microfinance.”
FFH got the proposal in on time and was one of four
organizations that was awarded a major grant on the first
round; they also got the largest grant.
Now, the five years have passed and FFH has just this
summer reported everything that it has learned from MAHP.
It was “blockbuster.” They thought they would reach 30,000
people; they ended up reaching 300,000. As the 2010
annual report states: “The average annual cost of adding
health protection services to microfinance programs is only
29¢ per person... and some services can be expected to more
than break even generating modest profits at larger scale.”
Each of the program highlights is bulleted.
Counting the number of women who get loans plus
integrated services is a big, complex job. Part of the
complexity is that FFH is working with 112 partners around
the world; it asks each of those partners to submit the
number of women served twice a year. It’s a very big
project. While FFH has less connection with the lowincome
women in the field than they did, say, ten years ago,
that also means that FFH is reaching many, many more
women. In the early 2000s FFH decided that, since they
have this proven Credit with Education program that
they’ve been working on for ten years (all the lessons,
techniques for loan repayments, loan disbursements, etc.)
they will offer their services, their programs, to partner
organizations and to train them to do the program that FFH
has designed, tested and evaluated. It’s a dissemination
strategy, working through these existing partner
organizations to deliver the services that FFH has perfected.
FFH’s programs team (staff) goes regularly into the field (to
Africa, etc.) to work with both the partners and the women
to teach them how to do the program, then FFH staff returns
to ensure that the partner organizations are still doing it.
“Our programs team is out in the field a great deal of the
time. They will be out there for 2-3 weeks at a time, visiting
2-3 programs, then they come back to Davis, have several
weeks here, then back out to the field again. I’d guess they
spent 40-50% of their time overseas, in the field, and 60-