USA FOR AFRICA DECIDES TO DISBURSE $17 MILLION

Six months after the anti-famine anthem “We Are the World” first hit the No. 1 spot on the nation’s record charts, the organization that it spawned has decided to disburse $17 million it has earned from record sales to eight drought-ravaged African nations.

As of Tuesday, CBS Records Inc. had delivered $23.4 million in royalty payments to the USA for Africa Foundation. Contributions and sales of T-shirts, videos and other merchandise marketed under the USA for Africa name have brought the neophyte anti-hunger group’s current Security Pacific Bank balance to more than $30 million.

By the time all the CBS royalties have come in, foundation officials expect to collect a total of more than $50 million. The CBS payments are for the single and LP album sold under the name of USA for Africa--a coalition of 45 singers who gathered for an all-night recording session last January that inaugurated the U.S. version of the British Band Aid movement to aid famine-stricken Africa.

The recent Live Aid concerts have given a psychological boost to USA for Africa and spurred donations to all three pop-music anti-famine organizations: London’s Band Aid Foundation, the Marina del Rey-based Live Aid Foundation and Hollywood’s USA for Africa. A Live Aid spokesman said this week that due to the volume of response, contributions are still being tallied. Forty volunteers met in Temple City over the weekend to help speed the process. A final audit is not expected to be complete until later this month, but conservative estimates place total worldwide contributions to Live Aid at about $55 million.

USA for Africa Foundation President Ken Kragen said that all three organizations will probably participate in one or more joint fund-raising events before the end of the year.

USA for Africa Foundation officials also announced Tuesday that:

--Its third mercy airlift of supplies to Africa is scheduled for late October. The countries scheduled to receive food and supplies in the upcoming airlift are Chad, Niger and Mali. Mozambique may also be included in the October itinerary but might also be scheduled for an earlier airlift.

(The foundation’s first major airlift in June brought food and medical supplies to Ethiopia and Sudan. Last month, USA for Africa also sponsored a mercy flight of anti-diarrheal nutrient to Sudan.)

--A broad-based national advertising campaign designed to encourage increased charitable contributions to USA for Africa is to begin this month. The campaign, revolving around a portrait of the 45 who sang “We Are the World,” features the catch line: “We’re still 200 million voices short.” It will appear in a total of 140 magazines (such as Time, Life, Town & Country, Sports Illustrated, etc.) that have contributed ad space.

--A permanent revolving emergency-relief fund of $2 million has been established to provide immediate assistance to nations with specific emergency needs.

The eight countries afflicted by the 13-year-old African drought earmarked for immediate aid are Ethiopia, Sudan, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Mozambique, Chad and Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). In addition, Senegal is also on the list of recipients of long-term development funding from the foundation.

Trustees of the fledgling African relief agency headed by music manager Kragen, producer Quincy Jones and singer Harry Belafonte developed a three-tier distribution plan that will allot 35% of the group’s money for emergency relief, 35% for short-term recovery projects and 20% for long-term development. The final 10% is to be allotted to U.S. hunger projects.

The recovery and development money will be disbursed in grants to agencies with project proposals, much the same way other foundations issue grants. Last week, the board approved a 10-part set of guidelines, specifying the kinds of projects it will consider. Foundation Executive Director Marty Rogol said priority will be given to project proposals emphasizing agriculture and food production, reforestation, water resource development and primary health care, including family planning.

“We’re still receiving contributions averaging about $25,000 a day,” said foundation President Kragen.

Later this month, the foundation will move from Kragen’s Sunset Boulevard headquarters into new offices in a Century City high rise. In addition, the organization’s annual operating budget that was originally estimated to be about $400,000 is now closer to $1 million.

Nevertheless, the overhead remains proportionately less than many other charitable organizations because much of the foundation’s resources continue to be donated, Kragen said. The 2,100 square feet of USA for Africa Century City office space, for example, is being contributed. The phone system and photocopying equipment are also being donated.