Conrad Sauve, president and CEO of the Canadian Red Cross, joined Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at a news conference announcing how donations will be dispersed to Fort McMurray evacuees. (photo credit: CBC)

Philanthropic personalities

• Oracle founder donates $200 million to create USC cancer research center Famously fickle with his giving (he cancelled a $115 million gift to Harvard because the president stepped down), Larry Ellison has made a $200 million commitment to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Larry Ellison was listed by Forbes as the world's second richest man last year trailing Bill Gates. (5/11/16)

• How Michael Douglas and His Parents Turned Their Celebrity Into Serious Philanthropy The Douglas Foundation has given away approximately $118 million since 1964. Thank you Spartacus. Thank you you Gordon Gekko. (5/11/16)

• Buffetts Call Philanthropy a 'Product of Power' Interesting piece of self-awareness. (5/6/16)

• Fresh Start: The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the New Era of K-12 Philanthropy Hard lesson ($100 million) but at least he appears to have learned it. (5/5/16)

News

• 'Most important cash transfer' in Red Cross history: $600 per adult, $300 per child I like efficiency. $50 million of the $67 million donated by Canadians will be disbursed in the next few weeks. This is the fastest and most important cash transfer in Red Cross history. ALBERTA STORY (5/11/16)

• $15.5M plans to revitalize Vancouver Public Library include rooftop garden and theatre The plans include revitalizing the top two floors of its central branch including an expanded rooftop garden, a silent reading gallery and a theatre. The City of Vancouver is contributing $9 million towards the project, with the remainder of the funding coming from the VPL Foundation. CANADIAN STORY (5/11/16)

• Calgary recognizes program that funds not-for-profits Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) has been providing funding to overcome challenges like poverty, homelessness, violence, addictions and mental health issues. FCSS is a great program. Thank you FCSS, thank you City of Calgary. CALGARY STORY (5/9/16)

• Nova Scotia government making donation to Fort McMurray efforts Joining other provincial governments, Nova Scotia is making a commitment to Fort McMurray. Atlantic provinces have contributed $250,000 in total towards Fort McMurray. Thank you Atlantic Canada! CANADIAN STORY (5/9/16)

• Red Cross matching program in Fort McMurray questioned by charity watchdog Charity Intelligence is a charity rating service. They lack the moral authority and the expertise to speak on this issue. They are neither equipped nor credible to speak about disaster funding. ALBERTA STORY (5/6/16)

• University of Alberta Senate elects new chancellor Congrats to the UofA. Doug has a been a tireless community champion and the UofA has made an excellent choice for chancellor. ALBERTA STORY (5/6/16)

• NHL, CFL teams donate to relief efforts for evacuees of Alberta wildfire Nice! $100,000 each from the Flames, the Oilers and the League. Thanks folks! CANADIAN STORY (5/5/16)

• CTA kicks off Fort McMurray donation drive with $12K pledge The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is asking its membership of 4,500 Canadian motor carriers to help Canadians in Fort McMurray affected by record wildfires. To kick-off the donation drive, CTA is contributing $12,000 to the Red Cross Alberta Fires donation appeal. Thanks CTA! CANADIAN STORY (5/5/16)

Philanthropic controversy

• Livestrong Shifts to Lower Gear Without Armstrong A cautionary tale about what happens when you can't dissociate yourself from your celebrity founder. (5/6/16)

Life and career hacks

• Design, Illustrated in 3 Charts The "Holy Grail" of design, the ambition hierarchy of designers, and thinking about what you do. (5/5/16)

• (How to Deal With) Difficult People The adult of equivalent of "everything you need to know, you learned in kindergarten." Good stuff. Very good stuff. (5/4/16)

• Whatever Happens, I Win Using systems thinking instead of goal thinking. Better overall outcomes and less feeling like a failure for not reaching a binary goal. Interesting take on competing. (5/1/16)

Large gifts

• Debiopharm Donates To IMD To Promote Best Practice In Family Business Philanthropy Debiopharm, a Swiss pharmaceutical firm, is donating "several million" Swiss francs to establish the Debiopharm Chair for Family Philanthropy at IMD. IMC is a business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland. (5/11/16)

• WGCU gets $3M donation, largest gift in its history Myra Daniels, founder of The Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, is giving WGCU Public Media $3 million. WGCU is a public radio and television broadcaster. The station is located on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus in Fort Myers, Florida. (5/10/16)

• SC State to receive $1 million donation if they keep accreditation Incentive! South Carolina State University, located in Orangeburg, South Carolina has been offered $1 million from the City of Orangburg. But there is a catch. SC State needs to keep its accreditation. Sounds fair to me. (5/10/16)

• JoJo's Jungle gets $1M donation An all-inclusive playground in Wausau, Wisconsin just received a gift from the B.A. & Esther Greenheck Foundation. The $2.4 million playground is named for Josiah "JoJo" Hoerter, who passed away just over a year ago from complication of a rare genetic condition. (5/10/16)

• $1 million donation brings new Shepparton Art Museum gallery a step closer The Sir Andrew Fairley Foundation and the Gantner family have made this gift towards the $34.5 million needed to build a new art gallery in Shepparton, Australia. (5/10/16)

• $20 million donation will be used to fund research space at Cal Poly This gift, from biochemistry alumnus William Frost and his wife Linda, will be put toward construction of the Science & Agriculture Teaching and Research Complex. (5/9/16)

• $2 million donation funds new research chair at Western A new endowed chair at Western University will be a training ground for central bankers. The chair is being made possible by a gift from Montreal’s Jarislowsky Foundation. The Foundation was established by Stephen Jarislowsky, one of Canada's preeminent fund managers. The foundation has helped establish 29 chairs at Canadian schools, in areas ranging from art history to studies in democracy. CANADIAN STORY (5/9/16)

• BMO Announces $2 Million to Support Customers, Colleagues and Communities Affected by Wildfires and Economic Challenges in Alberta Wow! Just wow! Thank you BMO. ALBERTA STORY (5/7/16)

• Museum of American Finance founder donates $5 million to cause This gift from John E. Herzog was to be a gift from his estate. Instead, he has decided to make the gift during his lifetime. Oh yes, and apparently there is a Museum dedicated to American finance. (5/7/16)

• Youngstown State gets $1 million donation for student success center Youngstown State University has received a commitment of $1 million from Frank and Norma Watson. The Watsons’ gift will support a new student success center on campus. Youngstown State University is located in Youngstown, Ohio. (5/6/16)

• NCH honors co-founder of Jabil Circuit for $8.5 million donation NCH Healthcare System has named two floors of its hospitals to recognize $8.5 million in philanthropy from the co-founder of Jabil Circuit, a global medical computing and storage company. (5/6/18)

• CEID receives $20 million donation The Center for Engineering Innovation and Design at Yale has received a $20 million gift from James S. Tyler Jr. The funding will be used to establish and endow a director’s resource fund to help “sustain the activities of the center in perpetuity,” (5/5/16)

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