Weekly News Recap: March 22, 2019

Left to right, on Friday at the park space: Gian-Carlo Carra, Ward 9 Councillor and deputy mayor; Joe Ceci, Minister of Finance and MLA, Calgary-Fort; Sheila Taylor, CEO of Parks Foundation Calgary; Ali McMillan, planning director of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association; Brian Beck, president of the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association. CALGARY

When one makes sculptures of horses, one remembers all of that great relationship that humans had with them.....Even today one raises horses only for dressage, the races, for the pleasure of horseback riding. It has become an animal of romance, an animal of pleasure which has lost its utility in the West. -- Joe Fafard

Of note

  • Building healthy communities together (Alberta Health Services) ALBERTA STORY This is a cool site. "The Healthy Communities Hub is a place where Albertans can connect, share and learn as they plan and build healthy communities." March 2019

News

  • 'A twinkle in his eye': Renowned Prairie sculptor Joe Fafard dies at home in Sask. (CBC) CANADIAN STORY We loved and will continue to love you and your work. RIP Mr. Fafard. We will not see your like again. "An acclaimed Saskatchewan artist, well known for sculptures displayed across Canada, has died. Joe Fafard's family has confirmed his death at his home in Lumsden, Sask., on Saturday." 3/16/19

  • STARS begins fleet replacement in Alberta with $13M in funding from province (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Nice work! And thank you to the Province of Alberta. "STARS Air Ambulance is set to begin the process of replacing its aging fleet of helicopters in Alberta thanks to $13 million in funding from the province announced Saturday." 3/16/19

  • Calgary kids will see their 'Flyover Park' become reality with $2M boost (CBC) CALGARY STORY ViTreo is proud to be working with Parks Foundation Calgary who, along with the community, the Province of Alberta, and the City of Calgary, have moved the idea of this park forward. The community needs to raise an additional $400,000 to ensure it happens. "Kids in northeast Calgary will soon have a new place to play. The Bridgeland Riverside Community Association has secured $2 million to put toward building a park in an unusual spot." 3/15/19

  • University of Alberta president will not seek reappointment in 2020 (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "The president of the University of Alberta says he will not seek reappointment when his first term ends in June 2020. During a news conference on Friday, David Turpin said the announcement will give the university's board of governors time to find a successor. He said the search will take roughly a year." 3/15/19

  • Campaign tells Albertans to 'vote with their gut' by offering free doughnuts at polls (CBC) ALBERTA STORY Alberta goes to the polls on April 16, 2019. "A new campaign is raising money to help Albertans 'vote with their gut' in the upcoming spring election by giving out free doughnuts at advance polling stations." 3/14/19

  • Families of Brentwood massacre victims launch legacy project at South Glenmore Park (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY "In the grassy, tree-filled, scenic spaces of South Glenmore Park — the parents of five young people taken too early are building a legacy in their memory through a unique garden with five permanent chairs in their children’s names. Almost five years ago, Calgary was shaken by the sudden loss of Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Lawrence Hong, 27, Joshua Hunter, 23, Kaitlin Perras, 23, and Jordan Segura, 22 — all violently stabbed to death at a house party in Brentwood in 2014 while celebrating the end of university classes." 3/12/19

  • Canadian women earn 25% less in pay, bonuses and profit sharing, study says (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Canadian women are paid 25 per cent less than men, and the gap widens further when it comes to bonuses and profit sharing, according to a new study. The research, commissioned by payroll services provider ADP Canada, concluded that based on self-reported figures, Canadian women say they earn on average $49,721 a year compared with $66,504 for men." 3/9/19

First Peoples of Canada

  • Guaranteed supply of clean, safe water puts better future on tap for Enoch Cree Nation (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "Until the new pump house connecting the reserve to the City of Edmonton's water supply opened early this year, Enoch Cree Nation had off-and-on boil water advisories for 25 years. Enoch borders Edmonton to the west. The River Cree Resort and Casino sits across the street from a Costco to the east and from the city's Rosenthal neighbourhood to the north, where new homes sell for around $500,000." 3/17/19

  • Habs, Canes to play in historic Plains Cree language broadcast of NHL game (CBC) CANADIAN STORY This is super cool. "History could be made later this month with the broadcast of what's believed to be the first NHL game called in the Plains Cree language. The game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes is to air on Rogers Hometown Hockey on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network on March 24." 3/14/19

Life and career hacks

  • INFOGRAPHIC: What does the charitable sector want from Federal Budget 2019? (Imagine Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT "We reviewed the pre-budget briefs submitted by Canadian charities as part of the pre-budget consultation process launched in June 2018. This year, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance invited Canadians to submit testimonies on the topic of Economic Growth: Ensuring Canada’s Competitiveness. Here is a look at what the charitable sector brought forward." 3/15/19

  • Five Ways Prospect Research Can Boost Fundraising Events (AFP Global) "Your next fundraising event presents the perfect opportunity to meet new potential donors, reconnect with your most dedicated supporters, and remind everyone of the great work that your organization does in your community [...]. To ensure that your organization benefits from your fundraising event, consider conducting prospect research on your event attendees. Prospect research—the process of gathering information on current and potential donors to determine their willingness and capacity to give—and subsequent prospect development has the potential to transform your fundraising." 3/13/19

  • WHY IN MEMORIAM DONORS DON’T GIVE AGAIN (Burk's Blog) Penelope Burk has published some very interesting research. Turn's out, we might be ignoring a very good resource. March 2019

  • How to Do 1,000 Push-ups in a Single Day (Better Humans) Hmmm...makes my 25 look, well, paltry. Need to up my game. Clearly. 1/30/19

  • Escape the tyranny of the to-do list: how to schedule your priorities, not your time (The Startup) Ya ya. Show me the hack...c'mon. Oh! right. 1/21/19

  • The Vital Art of Making Space (Noteworthy) Honestly, I don't fully understand the terms 'expressive writing' or 'self-distancing' but...I sense there is really something here. I am going to crack this nut. 1/28/19

  • Five Hidden Cognitive Biases That Keep Us From Our Best Creative Work (The Book Mechanic) Oh man! I am so a follower of the narrative fallacy. I LOVE a good story. 1/8/19

Uncommon knowledge

Philanthropic personalities

  • David Foster on his charitable work and collaborations with Céline Dion, Whitney Houston and Neil Young (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Congrats and well deserved. "Music icon receives Junos 2019 Humanitarian Award for work helping children in need. Renowned music producer and composer David Foster has worked with superstars like Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Michael Bublé and Andrea Bocelli, but he says some of his most rewarding work has been with the families of sick children." 3/17/19

  • Hollywood Star Keanu Reeves Secretly Finances Children’s Hospitals (Epoch Times) I'm a fan. "Few people are as acquainted with loss as Hollywood superstar Keanu Reeves. Despite all of his success on the big screen in films such as 'The Matrix,' 'Speed,' and 'John Wick,' the 54-year-old actor’s off-screen life can aptly be described as tragic. However, he’s made it his life mission not to let these tragedies deter him from giving back and helping others as much as possible." 2/17/19

Philanthropic controversy

Trends and shifts

  • Embrace digital techologies or die, GoFundMe chief warns charities (Third Sector) "Large charities that do not embrace digital technologies will not survive the next decade, the chief executive of the US-based online fundraising platform GoFundMe has warned. Speaking to Third Sector, Rob Solomon said he did not believe any large charities had yet found a way to make the most of the opportunities offered to fundraising by digital." Thanks to Ron Bailey for sharing this article. 3/19/19

  • How Podcasts Learned to Speak The once useless-seeming medium that became essential. (The Vulture) For me, it all started with the Daily Source Code. Man, it was good. Now, they even let me podcast. "There are now an estimated 660,000 podcasts in production (that’s a real number, not some comically inflated figure I invented to communicate “a lot”), offering up roughly 28 million individual episodes for your listening enjoyment (again, a real number; yes, someone counted). The first two seasons of the most popular podcast of all time, Serial, have been downloaded 340 million times. " 3/18/19

  • Prince George museum hopes to go digital with northern B.C. archival collection (CBC) Prince George STORY "Prince George museum the Exploration Place hopes to modernize its archives by digitizing around 900,000 items so that more people can access the information. 'Online access to the [materials] is so important, particularly in a part of the world where geography and weather can prevent people from physically coming to the archives to do their research,' museum CEO Tracy Calogheros told Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk." 3/17/19

Stats and facts

  • Business intelligence technologies are the most commonly used advanced technology (Statistics Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT "Advanced technologies are new technologies (equipment and software) that perform a new function or significantly improve some functions compared with other commonly used technologies in the industry or by competitors, allowing businesses to function more efficiently and competitively. Advanced technologies can either be developed in-house or purchased from outside." 3/13/19

Reports and studies

  • Fundraising around the world: learning from charity sectors in other countries (nfpSynergy) "Last year nfpSynergy and the Australian consultancy More Strategic carried out a quantitative survey in Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with representative samples in each country. The resulting report looks at levels of trust, fundraising and volunteering habits, attitudes to charities and their importance in society, as well as favourite causes in the respective countries." 2/20/19

Large gifts

  • Haskayne's Mathison Hall project receives $5M gift to support student space (UToday) CALGARY STORY Congrats and thank you Mr. Peters! "UCalgary alumnus Rob Peters, co-founder of Peters & Co. Limited, invests in next generation of business students. Calgary-based investment firm Peters & Co. Limited has been instrumental in the growth of Canada’s energy industry since the company opened its doors in downtown Calgary in 1971. With a strong belief in Calgary’s potential, a knack for building strong relationships, and a dedicated effort to help finance emerging junior producers, Peters & Co. Limited was a foundation to the success of many people." 3/18/19

  • Jewish Couple’s Generous Donation to Christian Missionaries (Vision Christian Radio) "A Jewish couple has promised to donate millions of dollars to support Christian missionary doctors in Africa. Mark Gerson and his wife Rabbi Erica Gerson say they will be giving $5 million over the next 10 years to fund Christian mission teaching hospitals across the nation." 3/17/19

  • In What May Be its Largest Ever Gift to Charity, Businessman in India Donates $7.5 Billion (Good News Network) Boom! "A 73-year-old billionaire may have just made the single largest donation to charity in Indian history. Azim Premji is the chairman of Wipro Ltd., the fourth-largest IT service company in the country." 3/16/19

  • Michael Bloomberg is giving Michigan $10M to fight opioid crisis (Detroit Free Press) "Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will travel to Michigan [...] to announce a $10 million contribution to the state’s efforts to fight the opioid crisis. The money will come from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which will partner with up to 10 states over the next three years and invest $50 million to support state programs to develop treatment and prevention programs." 3/14/19

  • University Receives $10 Million Donation For Scholarships, Ministry (Georgetown Voice) "The university announced a $10 million donation from Arthur (COL ’54) and Nancy Calcagnini to be used for undergraduate scholarships and for the Office of Mission and Ministry. Scholarships will account for $7.5 million, and the Office of Mission and Ministry will receive the [rest]." 3/13/19

  • FIU announces $5M donation to build an interfaith chapel (Community Newspapers) "Philanthropists Trish and Dan Bell have made a $5 million gift to the Next Horizon campaign at Florida International University to help build a non-denominational chapel on campus [...]." 3/12/19

  • UA Center for Integrative Medicine receives $20M donation (NBC) "A doctor known for his philanthropy and being a pioneer for integrative medicine is donating millions of dollars to the University of Arizona. [Dr.] Andrew Weil announced his $15 million donation to the school." 3/12/19

  • With $25M donation, Sanford to help VA bring precision medicine to veterans (Duluth News Tribune) "Sanford Health is launching an initiative with the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide free genetic testing to veterans, with a focus on avoiding adverse reactions to medications. The effort, which will begin this year as a pilot project in Durham, N.C., is supported by a $25 million donation by T. Denny Sanford, the namesake benefactor of Sanford Health, as well as matching fundraising from Sanford Health." 3/12/19

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