New York City-based Human Rights Watch has announced a five-year, $15 million challenge grant from Herbert and Marion Sandler, co-CEOs of Oakland-based Golden West Financial Corporation.

The grant, the largest in the organization's twenty-six years, will strengthen its ability to respond to urgent crises worldwide. The Sandlers and their children will donate $3 million a year for five years through the Sandler Family Supporting Foundation as long as Human Rights Watch raises $6 million annually in matching funds from first-time donors or existing donors who increase their contributions.

As co-CEOs of what Forbes.com has described as one of the best run and most profitable financial companies in the United States, Herb and Marion Sandler have a reputation for making careful business decisions and for bringing a similar philosophy to their philanthropy. "We want the leadership of Human Rights Watch to do today what it would otherwise have to wait five, six, or seven years to do," said Herb Sandler. "Human Rights Watch desperately needs to grow now at a moment of intense demand for its work."

"From Darfur to Abu Ghraib, the human rights movement is facing profound, fundamental challenges," said Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth. "Herb's and Marion's challenge grant allows us to meet these challenges far more effectively."