Our Model
By 1985, Ethiopia was in the grips of a famine that would claim the lives of more than a million people.
Images of starving children were beamed around the world via television and the outpouring of support from the international community was unprecedented. They were led by the efforts of Irish rocker Bob Geldof (pictured) who spearheaded the Live Aid campaign.
Live Aid raised more than $100 million for victims of the famine and made many more people aware of the crisis. One person already well aware of the situation was Donna Berber.
Then living in London, she attended the original Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium and it was a day that would eventually change her life forever.
Fifteen years later, Donna was living in Austin, Texas when she had a chance meeting with a woman who had recently adopted from Ethiopia. She learned that hunger, war and disease were ever-present features of Ethiopian life and that the country remained one of the poorest on Earth.
Donna visited the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington D.C. to make inquiries about how she could help. Then, in March 2000, her husband Philip sold his online trading company CyBerCorp in a multi-million dollar deal.
By that November, the Berber’s new foundation A Glimmer of Hope had agreed to finance its first project - a new school for more than 500 children. Since then, A Glimmer of Hope has invested more than $20 million in Ethiopia funding more than 2,500 projects in the process.
Recognizing that poverty comes in many forms, Donna and Philip have also set up separate A Glimmer of Hope operations in their original hometown of London, England and their current hometown of Austin, Texas. Both fund programs designed to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth and seniors.
