ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. (ELMA) is a company based in New York City that manages partnerships, investments, and strategies for the ELMA Group of Foundations, a collection of philanthropic foundations focused on the health and education of children. The company manages a portfolio of global health and education philanthropies with a concentration on young people in Africa. CEO Tom MacPartland and executive director Robyn Calder Harawi are its principal leaders. ^{1 2}

Background

ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. (ELMA) “develops program strategies, identifies and explores grant and other investing opportunities, monitors investment performance, and establishes philanthropic relationships” for the ELMA Group of Foundations, an eight-member coalition of grant-giving foundations. ³

Each foundation has a specialized giving emphasis consistent with improving the health and education of children. Although funding is concentrated in eastern and southern Africa, ELMA’s geographic reach is global through support for international organizations active on nearly every continent and for nonprofits in the Middle East and the Americas. In addition to grants, ELMA makes direct investments in health and education for-profit companies predominantly based in or affecting Africa. ^{4 5}

ELMA’s headquarters are on Park Avenue in New York City. ⁶ It is a subsidiary of its parent company, the ELMA Philanthropies Services (Africa) (Pty) Ltd., located in Cape Town, South Africa, and classified under “miscellaneous retail stores.” ⁷

It manages both nonprofit and for-profit entities. The ELMA Music Foundation is registered as a 501(c)(3) private foundation in the United States. ⁸ The ELMA Foundation (UK) is registered in Britain as a “grant-making charity.” ⁹ Another organization, the ELMA Foundation, is registered in the Cayman Islands as a for-profit under the Cayman Islands Registry of Companies. ¹⁰ A fourth, the ELMA Philanthropies Services East Africa Limited, is registered in Uganda as a private company. ¹¹ The ELMA South Africa Foundation NPC, is registered as a tax-exempt organization in South Africa. ¹²

ELMA describes its philanthropic activities as “investments.” It seeks organizations that “have a culture of performance management and data-driven decision-making” and values quantitative evaluation directed toward “return on […] investments” and transformation of policy. ¹³

Activities

ELMA is a partner in collaborative funding initiatives. These include  Co-Impact, which pools the resources of 30+ participants including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to deliver “large-scale…change to…populations across the Global South”; ¹⁴ a $200M United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) project to combat severe child malnutrition co-funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and left-of-center foundations such as the CRI Foundation; ¹⁵ and the Clinton Health Access Initiative ¹⁶ to which ELMA donated COVID-19 test kits for use in Zimbabwe which it had purchased for $1.1M from the Cayman Islands government. ¹⁷

ELMA’s 2019-2020 Progress Report lists 150+ grants and for-profit investments directed to international organizations, medical centers, universities, governments, and companies as well as community-based organizations. ELMA’s website and its 2019-2020 Progress Report do not report funding amounts. ^{18 19}

ELMA makes investments in health and education equity funds and for-profit companies predominantly based in, or affecting, Africa. It states that its “impact investment portfolio currently includes LP positions in a variety of private equity funds focused on health in Africa as well as a handful of direct investments.” It also manages what it describes as “non-traditional philanthropic investments” for nonprofit grantees. ²⁰

For example, it contributed to the left-of-center New Venture Fund’s $1B Outcomes Fund which permits investors to purchase “development impact bonds” to fund education in Africa and the Middle East, as well as CureVac, a biotechnology company, and the Mwabu Group, an education technology company. ²¹

Controversies

ELMA applies business metrics to philanthropy accompanied by large capital flows. ²² Critics charge that this blueprint has shown little benefit and has significant downsides. According to two left-of-center publications, the Guardian and The Nation, such practices shift control over provision of public goods, like healthcare and education, from governments and the general public to powerful outside investors accountable to no one but themselves. There is no feedback mechanism by which communities affected by donors’ actions can influence donor decisions and there is a troubling lack of transparency in donor operations, particularly around possible conflicts of interest. ^{23 24 25}

A related concern is bias in favor of large, well-capitalized organizations to the detriment of small, local African ones with fewer resources. Quartz, a publication covering international business, reports that such funding neglects smaller organizations and inhibits the long-term sustainability and innovation of social change efforts in the poorest regions. ²⁶

Professor Mairi MacLean of the University of Bath has documented that philanthropy like ELMA’s sustains, and may even increase, social inequality. She notes that “elite philanthropy may actually be perpetuating inequality by favoring elite causes, by increasing the influence and power of the super-rich, and by increasing tolerance of inequalities by ordinary people.” ²⁷

People

Tom McPartland serves as CEO and member of the board of the ELMA Philanthropies Services (Africa) (Pty), Ltd., The ELMA Philanthropies Services (East Africa), Ltd., and The ELMA Music Foundation (U.S.). He has occupied senior leadership positions with the Redwood Capital Group, Liberty Digital, the Zomba Group of Companies, and the Bertelsmann Entertainment Group and has sat on the boards of the New York State Association of Independent Schools, the Cloud Forest School Foundation, the Russian Gift of Life, the Green Vale School, and the Russian Children’s Welfare Society. ²⁸

Robyn Calder Harawi is the executive director of ELMA Philanthropies Services. Harawi is on the board of The END Fund and is a member of the Last Mile Health Advisory Council and the Royal Bank of Canada Philanthropy Council. She has a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies from University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in Political Sociology from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. ²⁹

1. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
2. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Progress Report 2019 & 2020. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/progress-reports
3. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
4. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
5. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Progress Report 2019 & 2020. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/progress-reports
6. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
7. Mergent Intellect. 53-841-7798. The ELMA Philanthropies Services (Africa) (PTY) Ltd.
8. ^[1] ProPublica. ELMA US Music Foundation. Accessed February 8, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/273622277
9. Charity Commission for England and Wales. The ELMA Foundation (UK). Accessed February 8, 2023. https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/5107165
10. Opencorpdata. The ELMA Foundation. Accessed February 8, 2023. https://opencorpdata.com/lei/213800HMWQFWCTT3ZJ94
11. Opencorporates. The ELMA Philanthropies Services East Africa Limited. Accessed February 8, 2023.  https://opencorporates.com/companies/ug/80010003890656
12. South African Revenue Service. Section 18A PBO’s. Accessed February 11, 2023. https://www.sars.gov.za/businesses-and-employers/tax-exempt-institutions/approved-section18a-pbos/
13. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
14. Co-Impact. Systems Change Approach. Accessed February 11, 2023. https://co-impact.org/our-systems-change-approach/
15. PRNewswire. USAID Announces $200 Million Commitment to Tackle Child Wasting, the Largest Single Investment in Malnutrition Treatment in History. July 18, 2022. Accessed February 9, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/usaid-announces-200-million-commitment-to-tackle-child-wasting-the-largest-single-investment-in-malnutrition-treatment-in-history-301588509.html
16. Clinton Health Access Initiative. About Us. Accessed February 8, 2023. https://www.clintonhealthaccess.org/20years/
17. Ragoonath, Reshma. “Topic: ELMA Relief Foundation. 50,000 of Cayman’s COVID test kits heading to Zimbabwe.” Cayman Compass. August 3, 2020. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.caymancompass.com/tag/elma-relief-foundation/
18. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
19. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Progress Report 2019 & 2020. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/progress-reports
20. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
21. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Progress Report 2017 & 2018. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/progress-reports
22. The ELMA Philanthropies Services US Inc. Our Approach. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.elmaphilanthropies.org/about-us
23. Rhodes, Carl and Bloom, Peter. “The trouble with charitable billionaires.” The Guardian. May 24, 2018. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/24/the-trouble-with-charitable-billionaires-philanthrocapitalism
24. Schwab, Tim. “Bill Gates’ Charity Paradox.” The Nation. August 17, 2020. Accessed February 7, 2023. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2020/08/bill-gates-charity-paradox/
25. Stuckler, David, Sanjay Basu, and Martin McKee. “Global health philanthropy and institutional relationships: how should conflicts of interest be addressed?” PLoS Medicine 8, no. 4 (2011): e1001020. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3075225/
26. Sippy, Priya. “African civil society organizations are being locked out of conservation funding.” Quartz. August 2, 2022. Accessed February 5, 2023. https://qz.com/african-civil-society-organizations-are-being-locked-ou-1849358855
27. University of Bath. “Elite philanthropy does little to solve problems caused by rising social inequalities.” PhysOrg. March 11, 2021. Accessed February 6, 2023. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-elite-philanthropy-problems-social-inequalities.html
28. Do One Better Podcast. Guest Profile. Tom MacPartland, CEO, ELMA Philanthropies. https://www.lidji.org/tom-mcpartland-elma-philanthropies
29. Co-Impact. Robyn Calder Harawi. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://co-impact.org/foundational-fund-advisory-board/