September 27, 2013

　　Mr. Feng, Mr. Shi, all of the friends and leaders with Shanghai Charity Foundation, Mr. Wang from China Charity Foundation, all the government officials here in Shanghai and Beijing. Thank you for being here and it’s a pleasure to be here today at this great place.

　　A special thank-you to our corporate partners who are here to help launch Shanghai Charity Foundation–United Way Fund today, as well as all the United Way leaders that have both traveled from both Europe and North America to be with us in China this week.

　　If you live to be 126 years old, there should be some things that you learned in those 126 years. And if you get that wisdom, you should be willing to share it.

　　Probably the biggest lesson we learned in United Way is the way to get big is to think small, and to be very focused on the needs of every human being in every community.

　　Last year, 1,800 local United Way affiliates across 41 countries in the world generated over 5.3 billion US dollar.

　　According to Forbes magazine, United Way is the most valuable nonprofit brand in the world. And because I would say we try not to get big but instead to find great partners in local communities to make the network even stronger.

　　As Mr. Feng said, we have very similar purposes. Shanghai Charity Foundation and United Way Worldwide, we exist to try to advance the common good for everybody in the community; to try to create opportunities for everybody to have a better life. And we do that by focusing with SCF on what we think of building blocks of life: education training, support for income and livelihood.

　　Sometimes the issues that communities and countries have to deal with anywhere in the world are so big that you have to do it together: governments, corporations, non-government organizations. And I think the launch of our fund today is a perfect example of that.

　　Just like over 100 years ago in the United States, millions of people were moving from rural areas into cities for jobs and opportunities, and they bring their children with them.

　　In my view, a society shows its greatness by how well it treats those with the least among them. And that’s what makes me most proud of this partnership with Shanghai Charity Foundation that our first project will focus on the needs of the youngest children of migrant workers who moved to Shanghai.

　　When we, as communities invest on youngest children, their brains develop faster; they develop socially and emotionally faster; they learn faster; they are more prepared for school -- it’s a good social investment and it’s a good economic investment.

　　Shanghai Charity Foundation has focused on most important issues in your community for many years now–health issues for women, early childhood learning programs, poverty programs, now with a launch of this fund focusing on early childhood development for the youngest citizens in Shanghai, you have shown that you are ready to make an investment for your future.

　　The last point I would like to make is to very sincerely share with you why we are here and why we think this is so important.

　　The fact is the healthiest community that I know have good government, good companies, a good market place, and good nonprofit organizations working together. And if we believe that if our community is becoming a global community, then I think it is important that we, government leaders, nonprofit leaders, corporate leaders can act across these boarders to make sure we have a strong, stable, global community.

　　So our pledge is to respect you as an equal partner to work with you to create a common vision for the future, to build the capacity of our partners, nonprofit partners and your partners here in Shanghai. And most importantly, I think to always have an eye toward the future. This is a very historical day from my perspective. I think the opportunity to define framework of how we work together to serve and provide service to those with least among us. Congratulations on your leadership. We are incredibly proud to be partners with you, and I am honored to be with you today. Thank you very much.