Weekly News Recap: October 5, 2018

Memorial Park Library is now a designated historical site. It was built thanks to the efforts of a group of dedicated readers, the Calgary Women's Literary Club. (CBC)

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second is by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest -- Confucius

Photography

News

  • University of Alberta asks province for $20M to build South Campus arena (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "The fate of a pair of new ice rinks for the University of Alberta's South Campus rests on investment from the provincial government, says a dean at the school. Staff at the university have secured about $45 million of the $65 million required to build two ice rinks southwest of the Saville Community Sports Centre and they hope the provincial government will chip in the rest." 10/1/18

  • Calgary-based Husky Energy makes $6.4B bid to acquire MEG Energy (CBC) CALGARY STORY If successful, they will join Suncor, Imperial Oil, Canadian Natural Resources and Cenovus as the fifth large player in Canada's oilsands. "A major merger could be in the works in Canada's oil patch. Husky Energy Inc. is making a hostile bid to acquire MEG Energy Corp. in a transaction valued at $6.4 billion. [Husky] says the proposed merger 'will create a stronger Canadian energy company.'" 9/30/18

  • One of Calgary's historic Centre Street lions has a new perch in Rotary Park (CBC) CALGARY STORY "The lions were removed from the bridge in 1999 when it was closed for renovations, and an assessment found they weren't safe to be reinstalled — so instead, new lions were cast for the bridge." 9/29/18

  • How a 'woman with a dream' and her book-loving friends gave Calgary a library (CBC) CALGARY STORY I just love that Annie Davidson to bits. Whaqt a human! "Just after the dawn of the 20th century, when Calgary was small western city of a few thousand people and dusty roads, a group of women decided their rough-and-tumble community needed some sophistication. So they set about to create something to signal that the prairie community had some culture. With determination and grit [...] they got a library built. It was to be the first public library in Alberta. It still stands today in the heart of Calgary: the Memorial Park Library." 9/29/18

  • Reynolds-Alberta Museum revs up the wow factor (CBC) WETASKIWIN STORY As a matter of little known record, part of this storage collection contains the one of the first hybrid vehicles. Yours truly (and many of others) worked on this revolutionary car. Yep, I used to be a nerd. "Noel Ratch strolls through the Reynolds-Alberta Museum collection storage facility, a place most people rarely get a chance to see. The 110,000-sq.-ft. treasure trove in Wetaskiwin, Alta. is chock full of cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, tractors and the largest aviation collection in Canada, right down to a full-scale model of the Avro Arrow used in the 1997 Dan Aykroyd movie The Arrow." 9/29/18

  • Social Seen: EPL Gala (Edmonton Journal) EDMONTON STORY "Photojournalist Codie McLachlan hits some of Edmonton’s best bashes to snap photos for our weekly Social Seen column. Edmonton Public Library’s annual fundraising gala, with funds going to the revitalization of the Stanley A. Milner Library." 9/29/18

  • Meet the seniors' housing CEO who makes beds and scrubs toilets (CBC) EDMONTON STORY I had the pleasure of working with Raymond and his team on a recent ViTreo engagement with GEF Seniors. Not surprised by this story in the least. "No job is beneath Raymond Swonek. Since he became CEO of GEF Seniors Housing 13 years ago, he has dedicated time every year to working side-by-side with staff in all 10 of the organization's seniors' lodges and some of its apartment buildings." 9/28/18

  • Calgary Zoo celebrates 100,000 members (660 News) CALGARY STORY Can you say pandas?. "The Calgary Zoo is celebrating a milestone Friday. The attraction is welcoming its 100,000 member and says never before in the zoo’s history has the membership base been so strong." 9/28/18

  • Piece of Calgary's aviation history may literally fall apart (CBC) CALGARY STORY "It could be an ignominious end for a Canadian veteran of the Cold War that sits outside an air museum in northeast Calgary. The CF-100 Canuck is among the few artifacts the Hangar Flight Museum stores outside because there isn't enough room indoors. It's calling on the city to help it save the aging former RCAF jet." 9/28/18

  • SCOTT WEBB SELECTED AS LAKELAND’S NEW BOARD CHAIR (My Lloydminster Now) LLOYDMINSTER STORY "Scott Webb has been selected as the new chair of the Board of Governors at Lakeland College [...]. The Vermilion resident was selected after an open recruitment competition. Webb was a former member of the board, student and business partner with the college. He says history is one of the reasons why he is qualified for the position." 9/27/18

Life and career hacks

Uncommon knowledge

Opinion

  • Understanding Trust in the Charitable Sector: An Exploration (Imagine Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT "This summer, I had the privilege of working as the Behavioural Insights Assistant with the Strategic Communications and Research & Evaluation teams at Imagine Canada. We are currently exploring the meaning, influences on, and importance of trust in charities." 10/1/18

  • Is Philanthropy a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card for Nonprofits? The Case of the Great Recession (Nonprofit Quarterly) "Is much of corporate philanthropy just a smokescreen that masks corporate greed? As we have covered at NPQ, it is not uncommon for corporate philanthropy to be strategically charitable—the recent uptick in pharmaceutical company donations in the wake of the opioid epidemic being a case in point." 9/18/18

Philanthropic personalities

Philanthropic controversy

  • Fraud can scuttle nonprofits but the bigger and older ones fare better (The Conversation) "After a director of the Fairmont-Marion County Food Pantry embezzled more than US$50,000, it had to close for two months in 2009 – leaving 1,200 West Virginians who depended on it in a temporary lurch. The effects of this kind of malfeasance may appear straightforward. Charities caught committing fraud become untrustworthy in their donors’ eyes. Without money, they no longer can serve the public. That food pantry overcame that crisis and reopened. But [...] scholars who research nonprofit fraud [want] to discover what long-term consequences befall organizations that are supposed to do good things when some of their staff are caught doing bad things." 9/26/18

  • "Warehousing Wealth" philanthropy draws criticism (San Juan Islander) "Donor-advised funds are the fastest growing recipients of charitable giving, up from $14 billion in 2012 to $23 billion in 2016. Josh Hoxie, project director of the Washington-based think tank Institute for Policy Studies, says because the funds technically never have to be distributed, DAFs are effectively warehousing the nation's charitable wealth. That's a problem, he says, because it prevents money from helping to meet immediate needs at soup kitchens, homeless shelters and other services." 9/16/18

Trends and shifts

  • Charities feeling the pinch (Winnipeg Free Press) WINNIPEG STORY "The Winnipeg Foundation, the country’s first community foundation, has enough money in its endowment fund that it is able to do what it can to help, by making $38 million in grants to more than 900 organizations in the city last year. But the foundation wanted to find out more about how the local charitable sector was doing, beyond the anecdotal things it was hearing in the community. So it decided to do a study and put together a report. Called Stressed, Stretched and Still Standing, the 27-page report is intended to shine a light on the local charitable sector to see how it’s faring." Thanks to Ron Bailey for sharing this story. 9/29/18

Large gifts

  • Wharton School receives $50 million gift — its largest single donation in history (The Daily Pennsylvanian) "The Wharton School received a gift of $50 million from 1984 Wharton graduate Marc J. Rowan and wife Carolyn Rowan — the largest single contribution in the school's history." Monroe Community College is a two-year college of the State University of New York, located in Monroe County, New York. 10/2/18

  • MCC gets largest donation in school history, launches scholarship campaign (Democrat & Chronicle) "Monroe Community College [...] announced a $50 million scholarship fund campaign, the most ambitious in its history, as well as a $4 million lead gift to launch it. The $4 million from Robin and Timothy Wentworth, MCC alumni now living in St. Louis is the largest single donation in the college's history." 10/1/18

  • $30M ASU donation renames public-service college, targets change in Maryvale (AZ Central) "Arizona State University's public-service college bears a new name after the university received one of its largest-ever donations, part of which will strive to improve the future for kids and families in Maryvale. The Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions is named for the founders of Sunstate Equipment, Mike and Cindy Watts." 10/1/18

  • Kahauiki Village Gets 3 Million Dollar Donation and Wins Award (Honolulu) "Kahauiki Village, the plantation-style community that has been home [...] to 30 formerly homeless families gained more support [...] both in a big cash donation and an award. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation is donating $3 million to support the groundbreaking initiative to create an affordable plantation-style community as long-term housing for Hawai‘i’s homeless families." 9/27/18

  • Donation From Champ Bubba Watson Helps Travelers Championship Raise $2 Million For Charity (Hartford Courant) "This year’s Travelers Championship raised $2 million for charity — the largest amount raised in the tournament’s history [...]. Travelers was just short of the $2 million-mark before reigning Travelers champion Bubba Watson donated $200,000 of his winnings to help push the total to that benchmark. Watson asked that his donation be given to the tournament’s primary beneficiary this year, the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp." 9/27/18

  • Notre Dame Hospitality Club Name Reflects $13M Donation (Inside Indiana Business) "The University of Notre Dame has received a $13 million donation from a longtime medical technology and venture capital executive and his wife. The school will name fourth-floor hospitality club in O'Neill Hall for Mark and Dana Foley as a result of the gift. Mark Foley is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, a company that developed the CoolSculpting fat-reduction process and was sold last year for $2.5 billion to Ireland-based Allergan plc [...]." 9/27/18

  • Donation Allows Perot Museum to Reduce Fees (ParksCitiesPeople) "Following a $5 million donation from Margot and Ross Perot, the Perot Museum has reduced the price of admission for first responders, active-duty and veteran military members, and underserved families and schoolchildren." 9/26/18

  • $5 Million Donation to Harvard Business School Will Fund Case Studies in Artificial Intelligence (The Harvard Crimson) "A recent multi-million dollar donation from a Harvard Business School alumnus will fund the development of case studies examining the intersections of artificial intelligence and business[.] Stephen A. Schwarzman, who received his MBA from the Business School in 1972, donated $5 million to support the efforts of HBS faculty members producing case studies in the field [...]." 9/26/18

  • Big Donation to Fund Career and Technical Education Center (U.S. News) "A school district in north-central Idaho got a big donation this week to go toward a new career and technical education center. [The] DeAtley family, which owns the DeAtley Crushing Company, donated $2 million to the Lewiston School District [...]." 9/25/18

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