The Nike Foundation has partnered with the NoVo Foundation to jointly fund a $100 million grant aimed at supporting and educating girls in impoverished communities. Peter Buffett, the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and his wife, Jennifer, run the non-profit NoVo foundation. Warren Buffett, in 2006, said he would give each of his three children $1 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock for their foundations.
The Nike Foundation will add a $55 million investment through fiscal 2011. That is in addition to the $36 million already invested in the Nike Foundation to date for programs supporting girls in countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Liberia and India.
The NoVo Foundation will contribute $45 million over three years, its largest grant since it first received the stock donation from Buffett. The funds will be managed by the Nike Foundation.
According to a statement, a lack of resources in impoverished communities drives girls out of school and into early marriage, childbirth, and HIV infection at rates dramatically higher than boys.
“Today less than half a cent of every dollar spent on international assistance programs is invested directly in girls. We believe the girl effect deserves more attention,” said Maria Eitel, president of the Nike Foundation. “We are extremely excited that Peter and Jennifer Buffett recognize the potential of the girl effect and have chosen to collaborate with us to invest in girls, identify and scale best practices and champion the global girl effect.”
