Weekly News Recap: January 25, 2019

Minister of Advanced Education Marlin Schmidt and Simone Saunders, student association director of leadership and governance at ACAD, unveil the new name and logo for the Alberta University of the Arts. (Government of Alberta)

Happiness is an inside job. Don’t assign anyone else that much power over your life. -- Mandy Hale

Challenging the status quo

  • Five Questions with Ceci Dadisman (AFP) I love this woman! "Marketing and fundraising are the same thing. Both marketers and fundraisers are endeavoring to communicate an organization's mission and/or programs in a compelling way so as to create relationships with patrons that become so strong that they will take action." 1/22/19

  • Why nonprofit staff should not be asked to donate to the organizations they work for (Nonprofit AF) Kudos and thanks to Derek Bechthold for sharing this post with us "This week’s topic may be polarizing and possibly rile you up, so please stare at the nearest houseplant for a few minutes (apparently, they are scientifically proven to reduce stress). Once a while our community gets into a discussion about whether nonprofits should ask their staff to donate some amount of money to the organization. There are passionate arguments from both the 'absolutely' side and the 'hell no!' side. (It is very similar to the Oxford Comma debate, although it really isn’t, because obviously the Oxford Comma is beautiful, practical, and magical, and there is clearly no point debating this because #OxfordCommaForever.)" Undated

News

  • Women led Alberta's economic recovery in 2018 (CBC) ALBERTA STORY "Female employment in Alberta is rapidly rising, as are average earnings. Today, more Alberta women in their prime working years are participating in the labour market than ever before." 1/23/19

  • Fort McMurray family credits home makeover with saving their daughter (CBC) FORT MCMURRAY STORY This is a follow-up story to one we shared in the November 10, 2017 recap. "A Fort McMurray family credits a generous home makeover with improving the health of their four-year-old daughter, who has a serious heart condition. Lily Morgan was born premature with congenital heart failure. Lily has holes in her heart and a blocked aorta. She and her two sisters lived in a trailer that her parents suspected was making her sick. Last year Fort McMurray volunteers tore apart the 1984 mobile home – a drafty, damp trailer, laced with mould." 1/22/19

  • WATCH: Red Deer College unveils the BMO Financial Group Wellness Studio (Red Deer Express) RED DEER STORY Congrats! Thank you BMO. "Red Deer College unveiled the BMO Financial Group Wellness Studio on Monday, acknowledging a $300,000 donation from BMO during a special event at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre." 1/21/19

  • After 92 years, Alberta College of Arts and Design gets new name (CBC) CALGARY STORY Congrats ACAD...er...sorry, I mean AUArts. "The Alberta College of Art and Design, known by its acronym, ACAD, is officially being renamed. As of Feb. 1, the school will be called the Alberta University of the Arts and will be the province's first university dedicated to arts and design." 1/19/19

  • Massive Edmonton Opera Centre opens in an unlikely spot (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "The company, now in its 55th season, has spent the last six years and $2 million converting a linoleum warehouse into a one-stop shop for all things opera, but you wouldn't know it from the outside." 1/19/19

  • Airdrie man behind Canadian non-profit that has built 3,000 homes in El Salvador (CBC) AIRDRIE STORY "In 2001, an earthquake in El Salvador killed more than 900 people and destroyed over 100,000 homes. In the aftermath, Airdrie, Alta. resident Jim Noble enlisted the help of a few friends and members of his church to help the people of El Salvador put their lives back together again." 1/19/19

  • Millarville, Alta., woman giving away $1.6M home in letter-writing contest (CBC) MILLARVILLE STORY "Alla Wagner's $1.6-million property in Millarville, Alta., could be yours — for a small entry fee and some creative pencraft." 1/19/19

  • A 10-year-old boy had an idea to help poor people. Fourteen years and 8,000 bikes later, he’s still at it. (Washington Post) "In 2005, Winston Duncan was traveling with his mother in southern Africa when he saw an old lady and a young boy walking down a road together. He thought of his own grandmother, who used an oxygen tank, and wondered how he could help the old lady and others he had seen enduring long walks in Africa. Duncan, who lived in Arlington, was 10 at the time, and his solution was to give them bikes [...]. With his mom, he started Wheels to Africa, an organization that for the past 14 years has taken bicycles donated from residents of the Washington metropolitan area and shipped them across the world to people in need." 1/18/19

  • Dressers to dining tables: Edmonton charity needs your unwanted furniture (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "You could say the cupboards are bare at Homeward Trust's Find donation store, but in reality it's cupboards and other furniture that are needed. 'We're basically a furniture bank and we get free furniture to people moving out of homelessness through the Housing First program,' Find general manager David Lopez told CBC News on Friday." 1/17/19

  • Buddhist poker player donates $600,000 win to charity (BBC) CANADIAN CONTENT I love this guy! "The Canadian poker player came in third at a poker tournament in the Bahamas, taking away $671,240 (£518,868). As usual, he is donating all his winnings to charity, earning him the nickname 'the people's hero.'" 1/17/19

  • Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan Becomes A Reality (CJWW) SASKATOON STORY Congrats! ViTreo is proud to have played a role in helping the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency develop this important new organization. "For the first time in the province’s history, Saskatchewan has a Cancer Foundation. The Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan officially launched this Wednesday morning as an independent fundraising partner for the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency." 1/16/19

First Peoples of Canada

  • Blood Tribe reaches historic $150M settlement with Ottawa over cattle mismanagement (CBC) ALBERTA STORY "The Blood Tribe says it reached a $150-million settlement with Ottawa over a historic claim that federal officials devastated the band's cattle industry in the early 20th century." 1/21/19

  • New Indigenous atlas will be in every junior high and high school in Alberta (CBC) ALBERTA STORY This is awesome! "Every junior high and high school in Alberta is receiving a copy of the new Canadian Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. The atlas is being touted as a comprehensive education tool written from the perspective of Indigenous Canadians." 1/18/19

  • Oilpatch CEOs support Indigenous bid for Trans Mountain (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "The Indian Resources Council (IRC) is behind the potential bid and said the majority of its 134 member First Nations are interested in an ownership stake. Some executives in the oil and gas industry like the idea of Indigenous people owning the pipeline, in part because it would change the perception that all First Nations oppose the project." 1/17/19

Life and career hacks

  • Five strategies for motivating supporters (nfpSynergy) "One of the things that always fascinates me about US elections is how people make a donation to candidates who stand little chance of winning. To give an example, Beto O’Rourke, who ran against Ted Cruz in Texas was given just a 2 in 9 chance of winning by the respected US consultancy Five Thirty Eight. Yet he raised a total of $78 million dollars with the typical donation being under $200. The amazing thing is that all those hundreds of thousands of donors have seen their money wasted – their candidate wasn’t elected. Imagine if a UK charity said give us a donation but there was a 7 in 9 it would be wasted. This would go against all the rules. The impact gurus at NPC would be tearing their hair out." Thanks to Mick Mulloy for sharing this excellent article. 1/16/19

  • Why we still need paper maps (PBS) Not to mention, when Skynet takes over and shuts down the Internet, how will we find our way around? 1/9/19

  • Happiness is Being Responsible For Your Own Experience (Personal Growth) I love the tagline of this post: "Happiness is not a destination, it's a habit". Be happy. Happy Friday! 12/29/18

  • How To Achieve More In A Single Year Than Most Achieve In A Lifetime (Live Your Life On Purpose) January is not over yet...if you have not set your plan for 2019, this might help. If you have, it's still a good read. 12/28/18

  • The 5 Most Valuable Skills You Can Develop For Free (For The Interested) We sometimes forget that personal development can be...personal. 9/29/18

  • Ban These Words From Your Vocabulary To Sound More Confident (The Post-Grad Survival Guide) Good advice. For speaking and for writing. 9/26/18

  • Three Tendencies that are Ruining Your Life (The Post-Grad Survival Guide) Yes, actually, they are subtle and...insidious. I have been the victim and perpetrator of all three but especially #2. 9/24/18

  • 9 Powerful Email Productivity Practices to Adopt Right Now (The Startup) #4 is awesome and the second point on how to receive fewer emails is funny...and, ironically, true. 7/26/18

Philanthropic personalities

  • Fortnite Creator is Buying Entire Forests to Prevent Them From Being Chopped Down (Health Food House) "Fortnite is a game created by Tim Sweeney, and has become one of the biggest games of this decade [...]. Tim soon became a billionaire, but this made him a bigger philanthropist, who tried his best to protect the beautiful western Carolina mountains. In the last decade, he spent millions of dollars to support conservation projects in North Carolina, in order to save its forest." 1/12/19

Philanthropic controversy

  • A Second President Falls at Michigan State (The Atlantic) "John Engler was supposed to be a safe choice. He was a former Michigan governor and an alum of Michigan State University, and last January he was brought in to replace Lou Anna K. Simon, who had resigned following the Larry Nassar scandal. He was a Republican, and his board-appointed senior adviser was a Democrat; the board thought that would quell fears of overt partisanship. On Wednesday, Engler, not yet 365 days on the job, tendered his resignation." 1/17/19

Trends and shifts

  • Does Journalism Have a Future? (The New Yorker) I sure hope so. "Most newspapers [...] haven’t lasted. Between 1970 and 2016, the year the American Society of News Editors quit counting, five hundred or so dailies went out of business; the rest cut news coverage, or shrank the paper’s size, or stopped producing a print edition, or did all of that, and it still wasn’t enough." 1/24/19

  • With 4 generations in the workplace, employers expected to juggle vastly different expectations (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "For the first time in contemporary history, there are four generations in the workforce — baby boomers, Generation X, millennials and the first of generation Z — human resources experts say. With employees ranging in age from their late teens to their 70s, businesses must tailor management styles to the multi-generational workforce." 1/23/19

  • The fourth cycle of the hive mind (and what to do about it) (Seth's Blog) "If you’re a mediocre lawyer or doctor, your job is now in serious jeopardy. The combination of all four of these cycles means that the hive computer is going to do your job better than you can, soon." Thank you to Michelle Bergsma for sharing this post. 1/20/19

  • Microsoft’s Leap Into Housing Illuminates Government’s Retreat (New York Times) "With its $500 million pledge to address affordable housing in the Seattle area, Microsoft isn’t primarily cutting checks to local charities. Private companies have done that before. Nor is it proposing to create housing for its own employees, as corporations have done in the past, too. Rather, Microsoft is trying to help fix a market failure — a job government typically does." 1/18/19

  • A bit of meat, a lot of veg - the flexitarian diet to feed 10bn (BBC) Are you ready for the planetary health diet? "Scientists have been trying to figure out how we are going to feed billions more people in the decades to come. Their answer - 'the planetary health diet' - does not completely banish meat and dairy. But it is recommending we get most of our protein from nuts and legumes (such as beans and lentils) instead. Their diet needs an enormous shift in what we pile on to our plates and for us to turn to foods that we barely eat." 1/17/19

  • Children's hospitals brace for tax reform's unintended consequence: fewer donors (Modern Healthcare) "The change isn't likely to affect the behavior of smaller donors who give a couple hundred dollars per year. Nor will it affect those who give hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars per year. Rather, it's the middle-tier donors hospitals are worried about losing." Thanks to Scott Decksheimer for sharing this post. 1/12/19

  • WORKER MOBILITY 4.0 (Future of Good) CANADIAN CONTENT "'We are witnessing a renegotiation of the social contract between employers and employees,' Hunter notes, 'and with it, the potential erosion of the social safety net that supports healthy, economically stable societies.'" 1/10/19

  • Charities scramble to attract younger generation as their donor base ages (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "30% of donor base could be lost as donors age, younger generations fail to pick up where parents left off." 12/24/18

  • How getting employees involved in giving can produce big dividends (Globe and Mail) "Studies have shown that when employees are working for an organization that they see is contributing to society, they tend to feel their jobs are more meaningful, because even if their work isn’t directly tied to [Corporate Social Responsibility] initiatives, it is helping to fuel that greater good. It also helps drive what we call the norm of reciprocity: when employees see their company going above and beyond, they are more likely to follow suit." 12/18/18

  • Emerging “Social Deficit” May Force Charities to Cut Essential Services (Imagine Canada) "Canada faces a slowly intensifying crisis. Demand for the essential services provided by charities and nonprofits will rise dramatically over the next decade, but the sector’s revenue streams are not likely to keep up with demand." 7/5/18

  • The Marketization of the Nonprofit Sector) (Imagine Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT Important observations about the risks to 'marketization' in the nonprofit sector. "Charities and nonprofits are caught in a feedback loop. Their claim to resources is based on their moral commitments, but as they incorporate market methods and values into their operations and ethos, their claims to resources may weaken in the eyes of the public. This can in turn lead to fewer donations and grants from the public and the institutions that represent them, further increasing their reliance on marketization. Breaking this feedback loop is important to preserving the public’s trust. If charities become accustomed to articulating their value through a market lens, they may lose the battle of public opinion. Organizations must continue to emphasize their moral commitments and the intangible contributions they make to the fabric of society." 4/3/18

Large gifts

  • Chan family donates $40M to Vancouver Art Gallery (CBC) VANCOUVER STORY Fantastic gift from one of Canada's most philanthropic families. "Vancouver's Chan family has given a gift of $40 million toward the Vancouver Art Gallery's new building. The gallery says the donation is the largest ever single private donation to an arts and culture organization in B.C. In honour of the 'unprecedented' gift, the gallery's new building will be named the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts." 1/23/19

  • Whopping donation: $120 million funds UVA’s new School of Data Science (c-ville) Even donors are coming around to the importance of data. Nice gift. "Jaffray Woodriff, who made a fortune using data science in the investment world, has bestowed upon his alma mater its largest donation ever to create a School of Data Science. It will build on the university’s existing Institute of Data Science, which was created with a $10 million donation from Woodriff in 2014." 1/21/19

  • Foster moms get million-dollar donation after Republic story (AZ Central) A beautiful gift to support fostering from Randy and Leslie Hanson. Their gift was sparked by a poignant and timely media story. There is a lesson here and it's not "let's put our story in the local paper" but rather: focus on telling important and meaningful stories. 1/20/19

  • Donation helping make Madison Youth Arts Center a reality (NBC) With a name like Pleasant, you have to be a great person! If you ever purchased an "American Girl" doll, you helped make this gift happen. Great gift. "Plans for a Madison Youth Arts Center have been in the works for years, but a $20 million donation from Pleasant Rowland means that center will soon be a reality." 1/19/19

  • UF Health receives $20 million donation from Lauren and Lee Fixel Family Foundation (ABC) "The Lauren and Lee Fixel family foundation has donated $20 million that will be used to establish the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health. That gift was matched by the University of Florida, totaling $40 million of the $100 million dollar campaign." 1/18/19

  • Microsoft Pledges $500 Million for Affordable Housing in Seattle Area (New York Times) " The Seattle area, home to both Microsoft and Amazon, is a potent symbol of the affordable housing crisis that has followed the explosive growth of tech hubs. Now Microsoft, arguing that the industry has an interest and responsibility to help people left behind in communities transformed by the boom, is putting up $500 million to help address the problem." 1/16/19

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