Weekly News Recap: December 1, 2017

Fort McKay First Nation Chief Jim Boucher, left, Mark Little, Suncor's president of upstream operations, and Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Archie Waquan finalize the $503 million acquisition of interest in a Suncor oilsands project. (CBC)

Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get -- W.P. Kinsella

News

  • Donation spurs call for uplifting art for Manitoba health centres (CBC) WINNIPEG STORY A great way to get art that is languishing in back rooms up onto walls where it can be appreciated. "A new program that sees uplifting art hung on hospital walls hopes to see more donations after a Winnipeg gallery owner donated more than 200 professional pieces. The Art in Hospitals donation program has launched following the donation of hundreds of pieces to Artists in Healthcare by Gary Scherbain of the Wah-sa Gallery." 11/28/17

  • Queen's principal announces he will not seek third term (The Whig) KINGSTON STORY "Daniel Woolf announced Tuesday that he will not seek a third term as principal of Queen’s University. Woolf’s current five-year term ends on June 30, 2019. He was appointed principal of the university in January 2009 and took up the position on Sept. 1, 2009." 11/28/17

  • Teaching your kids to be generous can be complicated (CBC) CANADIAN CONTENT "The best thing you can do is to be a role model. 'Kids pay attention to what parents are doing as opposed to what they're saying, [let] them know why you choose to be generous, how great it makes you feel.'" 11/27/17

  • Data nerds rally to create new bank of expertise for non-profits (Edmonton Journal) EDMONTON STORY Nice work Data for Good Edmonton! Can't wait to dig into your trove. "More than 100 data scientists gathered for a 24-hour marathon of volunteer analysis this weekend, pulling together massive never-before-available data sets from Canadian Mental Health Association 211 calls for help and government grants. 'It’s the big bang explosion of data and information,' said Bryan Jackson, Data For Good Edmonton director who helped organize the event with the Edmonton Community Foundation [...]. By the end of the datathon, the group had four gigabytes of data stored in a common place on a Government of Alberta server [...]." 11/26/17

  • Ferris wheel, saunas, a gondola? The Edmonton Project weighs options for river valley (CBC) EDMONTON STORY The Edmonton Project is a partnership of five companies looking to create a distinct landmark in the city. The Edmonton Project is funded by business and by donation." 11/26/17

  • TRU receives $500,000 donation from Kinder Morgan (KamloopsBCNow) KAMLOOPS STORY "Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Expansion Project has gifted TRU $500,000 to go toward bursaries for students in trades, social work, human service, research and environmental science." 11/24/17

  • Mikisew Cree and Fort McKay First Nations close $503M deal on oilsands project (CBC) ALBERTA STORY What a tremendous investment for all parties. More please. "Two northern Alberta First Nations have closed the deal on the purchase of a 49 per cent interest in a Suncor Energy oilsands storage facility for $503 million. The acquisition by the Mikisew Cree and Fort McKay First Nations was first announced a year ago but was conditional on the First Nations securing funding." 11/23/17

  • Kamloops Big Brothers Big Sisters to cease operations, Okanagan branch will take over (CBC) KAMLOOPS STORY "The Big Brothers Big Sisters branch in Kamloops will close at the end of December 2017, and the Okanagan branch will take over in the new year, in an effort to minimize costs [...]. [The] branch has had trouble maintaining stable funding. That, coupled with high administrative costs, has made it difficult to keep the enterprise profitable [...]. [Small] agencies, like the Kamloops branch, across the country have experienced similar struggles." 11/23/17

  • 'It's still not what it used to be': Alberta economy rebounds but unemployment remains sticky (CBC) ALBERTA STORY "Retail sales continue to climb in Alberta while EI payouts continue to decline but the province's unemployment rate remains notably higher than the national average." 11/23/17

    • This month marks 50 years for Red Deer College (Red Deer Express) RED DEER STORY Congrats and happy birthday! "This month marks an important milestone in our community’s history. It was 50 years ago, in November 1967, that the Red Deer College campus was officially opened by Governor General Roland Michener." 11/22/17

Life and career hacks

Philanthropic personalities

  • Philanthropy in Philly: The Decade’s 10 Largest Gifts (Philadelphia Magazine) Lots of familiar Philly names here. 11/25/17

  • Telecom tycoon Mittal pledges over $1bn for philanthropy (Nikkei Asia Review) "India's telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal has pledged 10% of his family wealth, which corresponds to 70 billion rupees ($1.08 billion), toward education for the underprivileged. A substantial part of the amount will go into setting up and running a 'new-age' science and technology university on the lines of MIT, Stanford and Berkeley." 11/25/17

  • Philanthropy at the Core of Scooter Braun’s Business (Variety) "Scooter Braun helps steer the careers of some of today’s top stars as manager to Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Kanye West, Tori Kelly and more, but despite the glamour his celebrity clientele carries, philanthropy is a cornerstone of his company SB Projects’ philosophy: 'One of our core values is doing well by doing good,' the founder’s mission states. 'Some wait until the end of their careers to give back to the world. We make it a part of everything that we do.'" 11/23/17

  • Chinese Philanthropist Mei Hing Chak brings Chinese philanthropy to the world stage (Tass) "The 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy awards ceremony was recently held in New York. The Carnegie institutions presented the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy to nine philanthropists in recognition of their outstanding and innovative leadership in philanthropy. One of the honorees was Chairman of Heungkong Charitable Foundation, Mei Hing Chak, who became the first Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy recipient in mainland China and the second Chinese recipient following Li Ka-shing." (11/23/17)

  • Billionaire Uber Cofounder Pledges Half Of His Fortune To Charity (Forbes) Congrats Garrett."A trip to Paris in 2008—where he and friend Travis Kalanick had trouble hailing a cab in the snow—inspired Garrett Camp to cofound Uber, the ride-hailing giant that has made him a billionaire. Now, nearly a decade later, Camp has again found inspiration while traveling—this time to give half of his billions away. Fresh off an 'eye-opening' two weeks in Kenya, where he went on Safari and visited rural areas and small towns, Camp announced on Monday via his Medium blog that he’s joining the Giving Pledge, a campaign created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to spur billionaires to give at least half of their fortune to philanthropic causes." 11/22/17

Philanthropic controversy

  • Charity Fundraisers Can Get 17 Times Your Donation In Commission (Huffington Post Australia) "The Research into the Commission-based Charity Fundraising Industry in Australia report, compiled by business consulting firm Frost and Sullivan for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), looked at how charities raise money for their activities through employees working on commission. Focusing on charity workers who attempt to elicit donations on the street or in public locations like shopping malls or railway stations, the report outlined the conditions for these workers as well as revealing how large parts of your donation go to employee wages rather than to activities of the charity." 11/27/17

Trends and shifts

  • Charities struggle to find enough volunteers in Metro Vancouver (CBC) VANCOUVER STORY "As winter approaches, some Metro Vancouver non-profits say they're struggling to find enough volunteers to meet the needs of the people they serve. [Many] former volunteers have moved away from Metro Vancouver because of the high cost of living [...]. According to Statistics Canada, the percentage of Canadians who volunteer has fallen from a high of 47 per cent of people over the age of 15 in 2010, to 44 per cent in 2013." 11/23/17

  • Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: A Canadian Insurance Brokerage Fires Warning Shots to Competition (Canadian Underwriter) ALBERTA STORY It's coming for all of us. One industry at a time. "Already a technology trailblazer in the Canadian Insurance Industry, as evidence by their back-to-back finalist nominations for the KEAL Technology Award for Digital Innovation at the 2017 & 2016 Insurance Business Awards, Surex Direct has hired a Director of Data Science to propel their artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives forward, in an effort to flip the traditionally stale insurance industry on its head." 11/22/17

Large gifts

  • Wells Fargo Launches Holiday Food Bank Program with $5 Million donation to United Way (United Way) Nice work Wells Fargo! "Wells Fargo & Company today announced the launch of the Wells Fargo Holiday Food Bank program to make more meals possible in communities this holiday season. Working with United Way Worldwide to create a long-term, high impact program that will support hunger-related causes in our local communities, Wells Fargo donated an additional $5 million grant to the United Way in support of this effort." 11/28/17

  • Abbott announces $1M donation in funds and equipment to Aransas County, surrounding areas (Caller Times) "Aransas County and the surrounding areas are getting some much-needed help from a heavy equipment operator, $1 million worth in fact. Gov. Greg Abbott [...] announced that Kubota USA was donating $1 million in funding and equipment to to help with Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. That equipment includes skid steer units meant to help with brush and debris cleanup that will be given to Aransas County, as well as the cities of Rockport and Fulton." Aransas County is a county located along the coast of Texas. 11/28/17

  • Holocaust survivor: I'm giving $1 million to help wounded American veterans, to express my thanks (Fox News) Moving. An 83-year-old Holocaust survivor says thank you to American soldiers of the 1940s by donating $1 million to organizations serving wounded American veterans today. "Even though more than 70 years have passed since my rescue, it’s not too late to give back. That’s a lesson I hope the next generation recognizes, because it’s all too easy to let procrastination give way to inaction. But action is what brings hope to those who need it." 11/25/17

  • TD Bank Group provides JGH Foundation with a million- dollar donation for nursing and research (The Surburban) MONTREAL STORY Congrats and thank you TD! "The Jewish General Hospital Foundation recently announced the donation of one million dollars from TD Bank Group for Nursing care and Research. This $1 million donation will allow the JGH Department of Nursing to grant scholarships for excellence in Nursing as well as to the Lady Davis Institute (LDI) to grant scholarships to their Master and Ph.D. students." 11/25/17

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