An institution, not a charity drive
This proposal describes the founding of a global multi-faith institution that treats philanthropy as one of several forms of capital for good. It is built on two jurisdictions with distinct mandates: a New York not-for-profit corporation seeking federal 501(c)(3) recognition serves as the global philanthropic gateway to the American donor market, while a Luxembourg foundation serves as the permanent global institutional hub — housing the endowment, international grantmaking, institutional partnerships and, once commitments justify it, a regulated impact-investment platform under a supervised Luxembourg alternative investment fund manager.
The institution's distinctive mechanism is catalytic capital. Rather than every donated dollar being granted away, philanthropic capital is deployed across five pools — grants, permanent endowment, catalytic first-loss capital, program-related investments and venture philanthropy — so that a portion of every major gift works to make good investable, drawing development institutions and private investors into projects philanthropy alone could never fund to scale.
Faith traditions participate without surrendering their identity. Designated capital accounts — a universal fund, segregated faith funds for Zakat, Waqf and other traditions, and special-purpose humanitarian pools — respect each tradition's rules rather than pretending all faiths have identical requirements. And one constitutional principle binds every entity in the architecture:
Capital shall be deployed according to human need, measurable impact and responsible stewardship, without discrimination based upon the faith, nationality, ethnicity, gender or beliefs of the beneficiary.
The founding ask is deliberately staged. A $1 million Founders Capitalization establishes both entities, the governance and compliance architecture, and the transparency platform — so that the first conversation with an anchor donor begins from an institution that already exists. A $25 million Founding Round of ten to twenty Founding Patrons then seeds the permanent endowment, funds the first flagship programs and provides a three-year operating runway. The path beyond runs through $100 million under stewardship to a billion-dollar capital-for-good ecosystem.
All figures in this proposal are illustrative planning numbers, subject to review by New York and Luxembourg counsel. See the Important Notices at the end of this document.