The World Children's Prize is a Swedish Foundation formed ten years ago to encourage education on children's rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
A jury of sixteen children who have all had their rights abused in the past (including ex child soldiers, prostitutes, slaves, bonded labourers and more) choose three or four potential winners of the Prize. They have included Somaly Mam, who rescues girls from brothels in Cambodia, Agnes Stevens who teaches children from the street in the US and Craig Keilburger, who set up the Free the Children charity when he was twelve.
The life stories of the potential winners are featured in a magazine which is then distributed across the World. Last year it was distributed to over 50,000 schools in more than one hundred countries and is translated into nine languages. The teachers in those schools use the magazine in their classes and the children then organise a vote on who should win the Prize that year.
Last year 7.3 million children across the World voted and more than 20 million children are aware of its work. In September Queen Sylvia of Sweden gave the Prize away. It was a special year as it was the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Prize, and the winner was Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel. Graca travelled to Stockholm to accept.
It is a global charity and we have been asked to establish a UK registered charity to support this work. As a law firm we do a lot of work advising international charities that want to set up UK registered support charities. In addition to our work for the World Children's Prize (www. childrensworld.org) we have helped the Jordan River Foundation and the Welfare Association set up UK registrations here.
Having a UK charity in a global charitable structure can expand the database of contacts and donors to the international charity, and give access to private and institutional funds that are often not available to charities from outside the UK or outside Europe.
David Freeman, a consultant with Thomas Eggar LLP, is on the Advisory Board of the World Children's Prize. In addition to working with the Prize the firm has helped charities in the Middle East to set up UK supported charities which have gone on to become very successful and a key part of an international charity network. Our connections, including membership of the Clinton Global Initiative, gives us access to interesting contacts in the not for profit world and our clients benefit from that.
Global charities need to be structured in the same way as global corporations. Issues about protecting the brand and reputation and ensuring that appropriate controls are put in place need to be considered as carefully in the charity context as they are in the corporate sector.
In fact, in many situations the emotions and issues that impact on charity structuring are more complex than they are in the corporate sector. Whilst a global business has many stakeholders, the focus tends to be on the bottom line. In the world of charity the focus is on the potential beneficiaries; different people see a benefit and the needs of the beneficiaries in a different way. Those differences can lead to disputes which can be far more complicated than those in a corporation where ultimately the mathematics will play a major role in deciding the course of action that should be followed.
The Thomas Eggar charity department can help international charities wishing to establish a UK registered charity and help in the structuring of both local and global charitable organisations. We can also help with the creation of charities in the United States (501(c)3) and in the Middle East though our network of connections there.
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