Weekly News Recap: February 5, 2016
Streets Alive Mission, Lethbridge (credit: Lethbridge Herald)
Inspiring
- Homeless Inuk man's selfless act inspires donation from Alberta entrepreneur Great story to end the week. Philanthropy is all around us. Some of it involves money but a lot of it does not. CANADIAN STORY (2/4/16)
News
Successful Calgary youth homeless project sets example for North America I love this story. We are making a dent here. CALGARY STORY (2/4/16)
Non-Profit Management Certificate Starting Soon at RDC We can use a few more of these programs across the country. Good for you Red Deer College. ALBERTA STORY (2/3/16)
20 for '16 in the Year of Music: Andrew Mosker It's going to be an exciting year for music in Calgary. Can't wait! CALGARY STORY (2/3/16)
Alberta’s new Cabinet focused on jobs, economic growth and diversification For our Alberta-based colleagues, this is pertinent. Thanks to CCVO for this link. ALBERTA STORY (2/2/16)
Coldest Night of the Year walk puts focus on help for homeless Streets Alive Mission in Lethbridge is a ViTrēo client. We wish them great success with their February 20 event. ALBERTA STORY (2/1/16)
Homelessness down just 1% as 2018 goal to eradicate it looms "We had an audacious goal. We've learned from over the last eight years how audacious that goal really is and are now faced with the reality that by 2018 we have a long way to go to achieve the outcome." It takes guts and it takes leadership to set audacious goals. It also takes leadership to admit when these goals need to be re-stated. CALGARY STORY (1/29/16)
Innovative, creative, and cool ideas
EscapeX celebrates 3 million downloads of the Bob Marley music app, pledges donation to the Bob Marley Foundation ExcapeX is a developer of advanced mobile solutions to connect celebrities and content creators directly with their audiences. We all know who Bob Marley was. One love. (2/4/16)
What Makes a Helpful Reporting & Evaluation System? Learning from an Outlier Some great stuff here on how to make reporting less onorous and more effective. (2/4/16)
DUMP YOUR EX’S STUFF THIS VALENTINE’S DAY WITH GOODWILL’S FEBRUARY DONATION DRIVE Interesting take on "love" and philanthropy. Happy Valentine's Day?. (2/2/16)
YouTube adds video donation option in US This is a great feature. Not available in Canada yet but when it does we will let you know. (1/31/16)
Attorney Steven Schwartz Named Distinguished Advisor in Philanthropy This is an innovative idea for those involved in promoting planned giving - reward and acknowledge the advisors. Fantastic. (1/29/16)
Studies, reports, stats, and facts
Study Says Tax Rates Have Little Effect on Philanthropy "How much people give to charity is not influenced by whether they live in a country with high or low tax rates..." The factors that matter more include the religiosity of the country and the health of its charitable sector. (2/3/16)
Growth in Rate of Giving Slows, Report Says This is a Blackbaud report with some Canadian information (growth rate in U.S. has slowed to 1.6%, in Canada, to 1.%). Link to the full downloadable report in the article. (2/2/16)
Fidelity Charitable Grants Topped $3 Billion in 2015 Donor advised funds are part of big philanthropy. (1/29/16)
Life and career hacks
- Ask For Feedback Before You Commit to Specifics For Better Ideas Yep, been there. (2/4/16)
Philanthropic controversy
UBC divestment controversy grows after alternate low carbon fund announced Tough one. Stakeholders say no to fossil fuels. Endowment managers view it differently. Who is right? (2/3/16)
Politically Prominent Philadelphian Accused of Charity Fraud Yes, this has happened in Calgary. A clarion call to boards to ensure they are diligent in their financial oversight. (1/29/16)
Wounded Warriors: An Opportunity to Talk about Investment and Trust AFP's own Andrew Watt, CEO, speaks to this issue. Thank you to AFP eWire for this link. (1/28/16)
Opinion
Edward A. Cunningham on China’s emerging role in philanthropy [VIDEO] Very interesting analysis and opinion on China's recent ascendancy in philanthropy. Edward A. Cunningham is Director of Harvard’s Kennedy School and their Ash Center’s China Program. (2/4/16)
Philanthropy is ‘deeper than your pockets’ Lovely story and a great reminder. (2/3/16)
The Moral Imperative for Policy Advocacy Ka-boom! This, the first of three articles by Max Bell Foundation Senior Fellow, Dr. Roger Gibbons on the idea that Canadian Charities are morally obligated to engage in policy advocacy. "In short, picking up the government cheque for service delivery creates an obligation to also pick up the policy sword." Thank you to Andrea for sharing this link with us. CANADIAN STORY (2/1/16)
Why Funding Overhead Is Not the Real Issue: The Case to Cover Full Costs This is such a complex issue. Would welcome your comments here. Thank you to AFP eWire for this link. (1/25/16)
Um...
- ‘Being homeless is my business,’ says panhandler who accepts credit cards Head scratcher. (1/31/16)
Large Gifts
UBC Botanical Garden blooms with $1-million donation Lovely gift from the Belgium based Franklinia Foundation. This foundation is "...active in defense of nature, especially the conservation of threatened trees worldwide." How cool is that. BTW, the Franklinia is the name of an extinct tree. CANADIAN STORY (2/4/16)
Goodwill lands $2.5 million donation from Columbus family Goodwill stores are closing in Ontario and just south of the border, this is happening. Interesting world. (2/4/16)
Turf-field bid gets $1M Nike cushion: Donation marks company’s second effort in Freeport This is a donation to build an all weather track and field in Joan Benoit Samuelson's name at Freeport High School. Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. (2/3/16)
RxArt Receives Record $1 Million Donation Cool. RxArt is a nonprofit organization that strives to transform healthcare facilities and bring comfort to hospitalized children through art. This gift is from the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation. (2/2/16)
AVTEC gets $5M donation from oilfield co. Nice gift-in-kind to Alaska's primary vocational school from Superior Energy Services. (2/2/16)
BMO Makes Major Donation to The Rooms The Rooms is a museum and gallery in St. John's Newfoundland. BMO's $1 million gift was made to support the First World War education program. Thanks BMO! CANADIAN STORY (2/1/16)
$14.7 million towards suicide prevention Such an important cause. This gift, made to the Black Dog Institute in Australia, was made by The Paul Ramsay Foundation. Paul Ramsey was an Australian businessman and philanthropist who made much of his wealth through private psychiatric hospitals and a television media empire. Never married and with no children, much of his $3.2 billion wealth went into his foundation. (2/1/16)
Washoe County School District to receive $13 million donation for youth recovery Nice gift to support at risk youth. $1 million per year for the next 13 years from the Stacie Mathewson Foundation. (2/1/16)
Foley announces $2 million donation to the School of Music This couple has donated a total of $15 million towards music composition at the University of Missouri. Wow! (2/1/16)
Zoo fields $1 million donation Interestingly, a few years back, I worked with the Calgary Zoo on philanthropic naming and the highest value items for philanthropic naming were the entryways. Modern zoos have a significant number of sponsorship opportunities but, typically, a small number of philanthropic naming opportunities. (1/31/16)
Frosts give $100 million to UM for science, engineering Nice media punch to save the gift announcement for the inauguration of the new president. (1/29/16)
Marvel CEO's $1M donation to #Trump4Vets prompts reaction Politics and charity, often a volatile combination. (1/29/16)
UM Business School Gets $2 Million Donation This pair of $1 million gifts will be directed to support an endowed deanship in the Business School. Nice. (1/29/16)
Welcome to our recap of the week's news, articles, and information of note. ViTreo Group Inc. provides this information for the benefit of our clients, associates, staff, partners, and stakeholders. The content is collected and curated by ViTreo partner Vincent Duckworth. If you would like to submit a link for consideration, please send an email to info@vitreogroup.ca
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by ViTreo Group Inc. of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein. ViTreo Group does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. All links are provided with the intent of meeting the mission of the ViTreo Group Inc. Please let us know about existing external links which you believe are inappropriate.