News: Just Married and Already Making a Difference

Forget dishes and bedding. William and Christie Robinson are requesting a different kind of wedding gift.

“Essentially, we wanted our wedding gifts to symbolize what we wanted our marriage to be—about helping each other reach our potential and making a difference,” William says. “What better way to start that than help spread generosity through the Clinton Foundation?”

William and Christie, who got married August 15, are asking friends and family to make a donation to the Clinton Foundation on a customized web page in lieu of buying them a toaster or chinaware.

It’s their first donation to the Foundation—and an easy and rewarding way to make an impact. “Treating every donation as important is another way the Clinton Foundation demonstrates its excellence,” William says.

William and Christie started paying close attention to the Clinton Foundation when they worked in industrial supplies distribution just after college. They were impressed with the distribution improvements and cost reductions in HIV/AIDS medicines negotiated by the Foundation’s Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative.

“It was inspiring to see the millions of people thriving who had never dreamed just a few years earlier of being able to live,” William says. “It made us both want to learn about the Clinton Foundation, before we even knew each other.”

William is now in his second year at Harvard Business School, and Christie is entering a PhD program in Religion at the University of Virginia next year.

Their interest in the Foundation has deepened as they explored the body of work of the Foundation. The Clinton Climate Initiative’s approach to solving climate change stands out from other organizations, they say, by bringing together members of the political, nonprofit, and business communities.

“That’s desperately needed,” William says. “If you can get leaders involved, then you can truly start to make a sustainable impact now.”

William’s confidence in the Clinton Foundation even made it into one of his business school essays. He wrote about the Foundation’s flexibility in pursuing its goals while looking for cutting-edge and effective solutions.

William is not the first in his family to support President Clinton’s efforts. He grew up several hours from Hope, Arkansas, President Clinton’s hometown. His father, who helped run a funeral home, was involved in local politics and chauffeured Bill Clinton around southern Arkansas when he was campaigning for governor.

William still has a signed photograph of Bill Clinton that he received back in 1984 when he was 3 years old.

President Clinton “enjoys the world, it seems, through serving others,” William says. “We feel the same way, and we hope to do that with our lives.”

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