ETC report: Clarification on CGIAR Financing

On 16 January the ETC Group published a report by the title The Greed Revolution. Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle In On Public Goods

This letter from Gordon MacNeil,  Director of Finance and Corporate Services of the CGIAR Consortium to Mr. Pat Mooney, Executive Director of the ETC Group corrects some of the information that was presented in the paper with respect to CGIAR financing.

Dear Mr. Mooney,

I write in regard to the ETC paper entitled The Greed Revolution, Mega Foundations, Agribusiness Muscle in on Public Goods, which was published on the ETC website on January 16, 2012.  I wish to clarify and correct information that was presented in the paper.  With respect to CGIAR financing, the article states that in the CGIAR’s 2010 annual report, “…the biggest funding category is ‘miscellaneous’ – more than $89 million committed in 2010 by presumably a large number of unidentified sources.”  The article goes on to say that  “… funding is coming from private companies and this money falls into the CG’s miscellaneous category….” It concludes that “The CGIAR’s inability to provide a breakdown of this figure – as a matter of public responsibility and transparency – is an issue of immediate concern.”

What ETC refers to as “miscellaneous” is actually referred to as “non-Members” in the 2010 CGIAR report.  Members provided 87% of donor funding in 2010.  Details of this category may be found in Table A2.2.  The ‘non-Member’ funding, referred to incorrectly as ‘miscellaneous’ in the ETC report, accounted for 13% of donor funding.  (Following recent institutional reforms, the CGIAR no longer has “Members” and therefore this category does not exist in 2011 and will not be reported on in the future).

The following table provides the breakdown of the above-referenced $89 million by organization type and amount of grant.

As the table shows, only about 5% of the value and number of the total non-member funding is from the private sector, so the assertion that the CGIAR is hiding critical data concerning private companies obviously is not correct.  The category of “Others” represents mostly very small organizations and grants, which are often combined for presentation purposes.   Finally there is a small level of unrestricted funding provided in the former non-Member category.

The CGIAR is committed to transparency and is pleased to receive constructive feedback that can be used to ensure we communicate effectively, particularly on our funding.   We will provide details on all categories of funding in the future, beginning with the 2011 finance report, which will be published by mid-year 2012.

Given the corrections and clarifications that I have provided, I would kindly ask you to amend your paper to reflect the facts.  Thank you for your consideration.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon MacNeil
Director,Finance and Corporate Services
CGIAR Consortium