New initiative will allow corporate donors to bypass restrictions on contributions to faith-based NGOs.
A new aviation-based humanitarian charity, which wants to “build a bridge” between industry donors and faith-based organisations providing aid services in the field, is seeking five companies to become launch partners.
Unveiling Aviation for Good during a presentation at the Farnborough air show on 23 July, chair Rachel Gardner-Poole said the UK-based charity would not operate its own aircraft or aid missions, but rather raise awareness through industry ambassadors and channel funds to outfits such as Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and Mercy Air for specific humanitarian projects.
The first two initiatives – which it hopes to partly fund with £100,000 ($135,000) raised from its five founding partners, each giving £20,000 – will provide flights to patients requiring cataract operations in a remote part of southern Africa’s Limpopo river region, and rebuild a bridge over a crocodile-infested river in Mozambique that was destroyed in floods, allowing children to walk to school.
Gardner-Poole says that because “90%” of aviation-based humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have a religious ethos, the corporate social responsibility policies of many corporations prevent them from making direct donations.
“That can be a blocker, but we can bridge the gap by raising money for purely humanitarian campaigns,” she says.
Aircraft play a vital role in providing access to medical services, humanitarian aid, and disaster relief in many parts of the world. NGOs such as MAF and Mercy Air are crucial to these efforts.
“Sometimes people are walking for three days, with a child on their back, to get essential medical attention,” says Gardner-Poole. “With an aircraft that trip becomes 30 minutes.”
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