Weekly News Recap: January 29, 2016
YMCA Calgary, Crowfoot Branch (credit: CTV News Calgary)
News
Smaller Alberta businesses will slash investment 27% in 2016, survey finds It's not just big oil that is hurting. CALGARY STORY (1/28/16)
Calgary: a 'nice' city full of 'nice' people. Myth or reality? It's always fun to read about ourselves. CALGARY STORY (1/26/16)
TD launches book drive with Calgary Public Library Nice partnership. Am curious to see how this plays out financially and in terms of overall awareness. CALGARY STORY (1/23/16)
Seattle Foundation Celebrates Record Year of Community Philanthropy I have always respected this Foundation. So glad it continues to do well well. (1/21/16)
Name change for Talisman Centre on the horizon? Something for folks to think about, especially with corporate naming. CALGARY STORY (1/6/16)
Philanthropic controversy
Wounded Warrior Project accused of wasting donation money A cautionary tale. Too much management, not enough mission. (1/26/16)
Koch brother resigns from museum board after calls from scientists Values alignment. So critical. Thanks to Naomi Grattan for pointing this at us. (1/21/16)
Philanthropic personalities
Ron Southern, a 'giant of a man,' remembered at Spruce Meadows funeral A fitting tribute to a great Canadian. Rest in peace Mr. Southern. CALGARY STORY (1/28/16)
Netflix Billionaire Hopes to Avoid Zuckerberg Donation Mess by Focusing on Charter Schools Follow on story from previous post. Reed Hastings, CEO and founder of Netflix, previously announced that he was giving $100 million to education. Now we are hearing more of the details. (1/28/16)
As Leo's Giving Grows, Can We Expect More Climate Funding? I guess if you start making gifts in the $15 million range, writers will start referring to you by only your first name. This article is, of course, a deeper look at Leonardo DiCaprio's giving. I did find it interesting that his most recent gift of $15 million came from the 'Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation' which is actually a donor advised fund within the California Community Foundation. (1/25/16)
Reports, research, studies, stats, facts
Corporate philanthropy can have a positive impact on employees This study has some very interesting findings. Of note: employees care more about impact and less about whether their pet project gets funding. In short, employees are more positively influenced by their employer's philanthropy when it is focused on a few strategic causes. (1/27/16)
First relationship fundraising research conducted in 25 years sheds light on philanthropic best practices New research from Adrian Sargeant and Ian MacQuillin. "Sargeant and team found that rather than blindly applying relationship fundraising to every individual donor, fundraisers should critically evaluate each fundraising situation to determine whether a “relationship” is the best approach." - thanks to APF eWire for sharing this with us. (1/21/15)
Special Report on Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns PDF: Timely and comprehensive information on the state of campaigns (mainly U.S. but 88/1071 respondents were Canadian institutions). "Canadian charities indicated that a downturn in the economy, primarily gas and oil industries, has negatively affected their growth. Though not statistically significant, only 67 percent of responding Canadian charities feel they are on track to meet their fiscal year 2015 goals, compared to an average of 72 percent for responding U.S. charities." (December 2015)
Trends, opinions, voices from the sector
Is There a Philanthropy Establishment? And, If So, Who’s In It? For students of the history of philanthropy, this is an interesting piece. (1/28/16)
Heron Calls for A New Model Of Philanthropy Essay from the Heron Foundation that challenges the status quo in foundation thinking. (1/27/16)
The Faces Of China's New Philanthropy China's arc of philanthropic development shares some key characteristics with philanthropic evolutions in eastern Europe ten years ago and the U.S.A. in the 19th century. (1/27/16)
Impact/React: A Debate About Philanthrocapitalism Nice debate on the Zuckerberg 'gift' and others via blog post at Imagine Canada. Thanks to Andrea for sharing this one with us. CANADIAN CONTENT (1/26/16)
Which Funders Are Targeting Chronic Absenteeism in America's Schools? Without a doubt, the value of an education is worthless if there is no one in the classroom. I love donors who care to think about the less 'sexy' issues. (1/26/16)
Hoosiers Can Make Donation to Public Education on Tax Forms Innovation from Indiana. This is actually a really cool idea - integrating giving on your tax form. Now we just need someone to run with this in Canada... (1/25/16)
Can philanthropy cure the NHS? This is a question being asked in many sectors, across the world. What do you think about this? (1/25/16)
The Failures of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and How Philanthropy Can Fix Them I could not agree more. I think environmental philanthropy is one of the largest and most important trends in the third sector. (1/22/16)
Opportunities and deeper reading
Fellowship in Inclusion and Philanthropy This is a great opportunity funded via the AFP Canada Foundation. Apply today. Deadline is March 4, 2015. Thanks AFP eWire for sharing this one with us. CANADIAN STORY (1/26/16)
Philanthropy Leaders Share Lessons & Call for Increased Openness These lessons are geared mostly to Foundations but they are just as viable for nonprofits. Good content in well-produced packages. I recommend taking a look. (1/25/16)
Life and career hacks
- What Phrases in Job Ads Turn You Off the Most? A little job-seeker humour. Also, close to home. (1/27/16)
Large Gifts
A Media Mogul Creates STEM Education's Richest Foreign Exchange Program $100 million from Mort Zuckerman. Mr. Zuckerman was born in Canada (Montreal) and is now a U.S. citizen. He owns the Daily News and the U.S. News and World Report (1/28/16)
Tisch Gets $10 million Donation for Performance Space Another jewel in NYU's crown. The donor, Iris Cantor, is a member of the Tisch Dean's Council. (1/29/16)
Mayor hopes BHP Billiton's donation creates awareness of miner's Broken Hill origins This is a $5.7 million gift from mining giant BHP to celebrate and recognize its origins in New South Wales, Australia. Seeing a bit a trend towards these legacy gifts to support legacy awareness. (1/28/16)
Snacks Company Creates Foundation to Promote Kindness How great is this! (1/28/16)
Florida Rep gets $1 million donation, builds new rehearsal space This story has an interesting take on when and whether to announce big gifts, "He worried that, among other things, the news would affect people’s willingness to donate more." (1/28/16)
Chinese woman tycoon tops list of country’s most generous givers with 2.92billion yuan donation Chinese philanthropy just keeps getting more interesting. This gift was directed to support environmental protection. (1/29/16)
Walmart makes large donation to Kosair Children's Hospital This is Walmart's second $1 million gift to this hospital. Nice. (1/28/16)
$3.15M donation, ranch sale to help BLM open up landlocked ‘jewel’ in northeastern N.M. Now get this, the Wyss Foundation made this gift to the Wilderness Land Trust to purchase land that will then be donated to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to then create public access to previously landlocked public space. Whew, a head scratcher to follow but a lovely gift all the same. (1/28/16)
Family of deceased volleyball player makes $1.2 million donation For the love of a daughter. A touching tribute. (1/27/16)
General Mills Foundation Gives $3 Million Donation For Minneapolis Parks General Mills was founded 150 years ago in the Mills District of Minneapolis. Nice way to honour that history. (1/27/16)
Art Institute receives largest cash gift in its history Quote: "Thirty-five million dollars-plus can go a very long way." - no kidding. This gift, a bequest from a long-time donor, is ear-marked for new acquisitions. BTW, the Art Institute of Chicago, in my opinion, is one of the top art galleries in the world. (1/27/16)
St. Amant moves ahead with $1-M donation The Winnipeg Foundation is one of Canada's leading community foundations (and also Canada's first community foundation). This is one of the many reasons why. CANADIAN STORY (1/26/16)
YMCA in N.W. Calgary renamed after getting $1 million donation Very happy to see this come to fruition. I am proud to have been campaign counsel to YMCA Calgary during the early deliberations of this gift. CALGARY STORY (1/26/16)
AmeriCares Announces Major Donation to Help Americans with Thyroid Disease Interesting gift-in-kind trend with drug and health companies - $2.4 million worth of thyroid meds. (1/25/15)
Viterra donation funds scholarships for Sask. Polytechnic students Scholarships are always a great gift. CANADIAN STORY (1/25/16)
Large Donation Supports Three U of M Programs Nice scholarship gift to University of Manitoba. Thanks RBC! CANADIAN STORY (1/25/16)
Cal Poly receives $1.2 million donation toward planned Center for Wine and Viticulture Donation will help fund a viticulture lab that will be part of the multimillion-dollar center Now this! A gift to support a centre for wine. Perfect! (1/25/16)
$2 Million Donation to Fund Geriatric Program at IU Med School The first endowed chair at the Indiana School of Medicine-Evansville. This gift came from a trust established over 40 years ago. (1/25/16)
Artist donation largest in Mattress Factory history Ya, I did a double take too. The Mattress Factory is a contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh. (1/25/16)
Google donates $5.3 million in Chromebooks for refugees If everybody contributed what they are good at, what a world we would have. Good job Google. (1/25/16)
North Face's Douglas Tompkins: Chile offered land by widow Mr. Tompkins bought 150,000 hectares of land on the border between Chile and Brasil. Now his widow wants to donate it to Chile. Another environmental story I predict we will see more and more of. (1/23/16)
Don Meyer cancer center gets $3.4M donation Lovely legacy for legendary college basketball coach, Don Meyer. (1/22/16)
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