Jewelry Ethics
The www.idexonline.com portal informed that the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) held its first major fundraiser, Dallas Rocks 2008. Celebrity dresses, summer concert tickets and a Safari trip to South Africa and Botswana will be donated to raise money for CIDA City Campus. According to the portal, hosted by Russell Simmons and football great Emmitt Smith and his wife Pat, Dallas Rocks 2008 honored basketball star Earvin «Magic» Johnson and actress Eva Longoria Parker for their philanthropic works. Sponsors for Dallas Rocks 2008 included Zale Corporation, NI7, Simmons Jewelry Co., Grey Goose Vodka, Rose's Mojito Cocktail Mix, Terlato Wines International, Blake Distributing Company, Lush & Luxe PR and The Fashionistas. DEF announced the launch of an online auction, Diamonds Give 2008, to benefit DEF's mission of providing funds for education programs in diamond producing nations in Africa. Bidders were invited for a chance to win diamond jewelry or other luxury items. The auction includes garments and jewelry donated by Kim Kardashian, Erykah Badu and Eva Longoria Parker; a Safari trip to Southern Africa; a Hamptons A-List summer weekend; a special 90-minute yoga class with Russell Simmons; and Good Charlotte concert tickets. The Diamond Empowerment Fund is a non-profit international organization with the mission to raise money to support education initiatives that develop and empower economically disadvantaged people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource. Its first beneficiary is CIDA City Campus, a model for higher education in Johannesburg, South Africa. Every student at this higher education institution is on scholarship and comes from a background of economic disadvantage. The deeply felt mission behind its founding organization, Community and Individual Development Association (C.I.D.A.) is to provide mass-scale, quality higher education and to provide an effective human development strategy for South Africa. C.I.D.A. is expanding with two new educational institutions: the Maharishi Institute and the Eco-Campus for Africa, to help more students gain educational opportunities for themselves and their communities. Dallas Rocks 2008 raised $320,000. The portal said a similar event was to take place in New York on November 19.
According to the report posted on www.nationaljewelernetwork.com, the World Gold Council (WGC) is asking A-list celebrities to design a gold jewelry item that will be auctioned off to charity. The initiative, titled “Leaves of Change,” will culminate at a May 2009 gala event in Los Angeles featuring both a live and online auction. Participating celebrities are being asked to design a gold pendant necklace incorporating a leaf motif. The WGC will find a suitable gold jewelry designer to make the pendant necklace, and the designer will actually create three versions: one to be gifted to the celebrity, one to be auctioned off and another that will travel on a tour to various cities in the top 10 jewelry markets. The impetus of the latter is to further raise awareness for multiple charities, as proceeds from the designs will benefit either the celebrity's favorite charity or Jewelers for Children. The first confirmed celebrity participant is Debra Messing. Messing will collaborate with jewelry designer Robert Lee Morris, and their pendant will benefit Messing's preferred charity, Youth AIDS. All celebrity leaf designs will eventually be accessible to the public on the site, LeavesOfChange.org.
The Tiffany & Co. Foundation donated $2 million to the Botswana-UPenn Partnership to join with the Botswana Ministry of Health in building a facility for HIV/AIDS treatment in Botswana and to support the University of Pennsylvania's health-care initiative through clinical care, education and research, www.idexonline.com says. The facility, planned to be constructed on the grounds of the Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone, will help people who are affected by the HIV virus as well as improve HIV-related research and medical education. According to Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief executive of Tiffany & Co., the foundation supports the social and economic development of communities in which mining takes place and there is no better example of this than the Foundation’s support of the Botswana-UPenn Partnership. The Partnership is also involved in helping Botswana establish the curriculum for internship and internal-medicine residency training at its own medical school, which enrolled its first students this fall at the University of Botswana, Tiffany said in a release. Established in 2000, The Tiffany & Co. Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations working in two main program areas: the environment and the arts.
Five women entrepreneurs were recognized for achievement during the second annual Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards held in Deauville, France, according to www.diamonds.net. None of the women selected this round were jewelers. From an applicant pool of 400, one winner from each region (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America) received a Cartier trophy, a $20,000 cash award, and will benefit from a full year of coaching from Cartier, McKinsey & Co., and INSEAD Business School.
As is reported by www.jckonline.com, Nelson Mandela 46664 bracelets were put on sale in the United States. On October 21, the 46664 Global Bangle Initiative was held at the Montblanc store on Madison Ave in New York. The Initiative employs South African craftsmen affected by HIV/AIDS and fair-trade metals to create the unique jewelry brand, 46664 (Nelson Mandela’s Robben Island prison number). The Nelson Mandela Fund benefits from the Bangle Initiative because it receives 60 percent of bracelet sale proceeds, and the Montblanc event marked the launch of U.S. bracelet sales (Montblanc is one of the retailers selling the pieces, and it kicked off the Initiative officially at its Bond Street store in London in June).
