Weekly News Recap: March 9, 2018

A pit band plays at TeleMiracle 42 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina on March 3, 2018. BRANDON HARDER / REGWP

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If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. -- Jeff Bezos, CEO at Amazon.com

Jobs at ViTreo

  • We're Looking For YOU! (ViTreo Human Resources) Financial and Operations Manager. Candidates are asked to apply by March 15, 2018. 3/1/18

Photography

  • The 2018 Sony World Photography Awards (The Atlantic) Wow! "The Sony World Photography Awards, an annual competition hosted by the World Photography Organisation, just announced its shortlist of winners for 2018. This year's contest attracted nearly 320,000 entries from more than 200 countries." 3/5/18

News

  • Council committee votes to create agency to run $100M Economic Development Investment Fund (CBC) CALGARY STORY "Nearly nine months after city council first voted to create a new and nimble economic development fund to help boost Calgary's economy, the fund is on the verge of getting a board and terms of reference. Council has put $100 million into the fund to help create jobs and fill vacant downtown office space." 3/6/18

  • Arts patron Peter Boyd left large legacy in Calgary's fine arts community (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY RIP Mr. Boyd. "The tag line on Peter Boyd’s email, the place where people often put a funny quip or inspirational message, read “stay hungry, stay foolish.” This was life advice from a seasoned entrepreneur, businessman, art collector, arts patron, vintner and board member." 3/5/18

  • Telemiracle smashes record with more than $7.1 million in donations (Regina Leader-Post) SASKATCHEWAN STORY Nice! Love this telethon. "For the first time ever, Saskatchewan’s Telemiracle fundraising marathon cracked the “incredible milestone” of $6 million. There was another million-dollar milestone to come. By the end of the 20-hour telethon, donors had contributed a total of $7,151,256. The proceeds will go to fund special-needs equipment and medical trips for Saskatchewan people." 3/4/18

  • Canadian scholar first non-Briton to lead Cambridge University in 800 years (CTC) CANADIAN STORY "For 30 years, Stephen Toope enjoyed a distinguished career in law and academia that included high-profile leadership positions at some of Canada's top universities. But when the Montreal-born scholar learned that Britain's University of Cambridge was considering him for the vice-chancellor role, his first thought was: 'That's just not possible' [...]. Last October, he was installed as the University of Cambridge's 346th vice-chancellor -- the first non-Briton to take the role in the university's 800-year history." 3/4/18

  • A trail-blazing campaign to defeat homelessness in Calgary enters final lap (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY Congrats to RESOLVE. We have been with you from the beginning. We are proud to be with you in this final lap. "The battle to build affordable housing isn’t an easy fight, but the challenges faced and victories achieved in the past six years have tested and proven Calgary’s grit, determination and values, say those in its trenches. Inspired by Calgary’s campaign to end homelessness in a decade, a group of nine social agencies decided six years ago there was strength in numbers and collaboration when it came to defeating a common enemy. They formed a unique partnership under the banner of the Resolve Campaign to raise tens of millions of dollars and create affordable housing for 3,000 homeless and vulnerable Calgarians." 3/2/18

  • Aspers make $500K donation to family resource centres (Winnipeg Sun) WINNIPEG STORY "A $500,000 donation from the Asper Foundation will go a long way to supporting 24 family resource centres around Winnipeg. The large donation is a gift to the For Every Family initiative and will be used to increase hours and programming for children and families through the United Way-supported FRCs." 3/2/18

  • VIDEO: Take a sneak peek at Calgary's new library (CBC) CALGARY STORY It's an exciting video. Enjoy the watch. "It's still a busy construction zone inside the new library, and it's nothing like the current downtown library. The new $245-million Calgary Central Library is significantly bigger, with plenty of windows — and an open feel throughout much of the building." 2/28/18

  • Alberta economy has 'healthy pulse' as Calgary's office space glut finally stabilizes, reports say (CBC) CALGARY STORY "There were two pieces of welcome news for Alberta in a pair of reports [...] — a prediction of strong economic growth across the province and a forecast that Calgary's sky-high office vacancy rate is finally stabilizing." 2/28/18

Technology

  • The Great Awakening (Thrive Global) Sobering look at technology and its impact on our lives, our society, and our relationships. 2/28/18

Books to read

Lists of lists

Life and career hacks

Studies and reports

Stats and facts

  • Economic importance of culture and sport in Canada (Statistics Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT Some useful information if you work in culture or sport. And, even if you don't. "The Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators are timely estimates of the economic contribution of culture and sport in Canada. In 2016, culture gross domestic product (GDP) and sport GDP combined for a total of $60.3 billion and equated to over 765,000 jobs in Canada." 2/27/18

Uncommon knowledge

Philanthropic personalities

Philanthropic controversy

  • Calgary Drop-In Centre's executive director quits amid allegations of workplace harassment at shelter (CBC) CALGARY STORY "Debbie Newman, the executive director of the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre, has announced her immediate resignation amid controversy after CBC News first reported allegations of workplace bullying, harassment and abuse involving a former senior manager." 3/6/18

  • Pearsons, Who Pledged $100 Million to UChicago, Want Their Money Back (The Chicago Maroon) "In the fall of 2015, University of Chicago president Robert Zimmer made a surprise announcement to a packed audience at a formal event in Mandel Hall. Flanked by sleek graphics and illuminated by camera flashes, Zimmer said that the University had received a $100 million gift—then the second-largest donation in its history [...]. On February 20, however, the much-hyped Institute’s status and future were publicly put into doubt as the Pearson Family Foundation sued the University of Chicago for $22.9 million—the total value of the installments of the gift it had given to the University thus far—in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, making it one of the largest lawsuits of its kind in recent memory. The suit was a culmination of a year-long conflict, according to sensitive documents obtained by The Maroon last summer." 3/5/18

  • T.K. Wetherell ends multi-million dollar FSU donation agreement with sale of plantation (USA Today) "In 2003, then Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell and his wife, Ginger, made headlines. They were donating their 1,000-acre Jefferson County home site – valued at $7.5 million to the university – upon their deaths. A decade and a half later, plans have changed. This week, the Wetherells put their Oak Hill Plantation in Lloyd on the market for $10.7 million." 3/1/18

Trends and shifts

  • Overlooked No More: A Foundation's Push to Elevate Chicago Art (Inside Philanthropy) "New York has long been considered the center of American visual art, home to the Met, the MoMA, and the incredible, cylindrical viewing galleries of the Guggenheim [...]. More recently, Los Angeles has entered the collective art consciousness [...]. What city is missing from the conversation? Chicago." 3/6/18

  • Trump-Inspired Rage Philanthropy May Be Burning Out (Fast Company) "Democrats sustained a huge burst of giving to causes they felt were threatened by the Trump administration–but that level of giving might be proving unsustainable." 3/5/18

  • Tap-and-go donations replacing charity tins and street collection buckets (Stuff) "New Zealand charities are leaping on the electronic payment band wagon so donors no longer have to scrabble in their wallets for cash. In little over a month, Australian company Quest Payment Systems has sold 130 of its Paywave donation devices to almost a dozen charities, including Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) which estimates the units will raise up to $50,000 annually." 3/4/18

  • Big Problem, Limited Funds: Can Philanthropy Make Headway on Housing? (Inside Philanthropy) "America's housing crunch is imposing severe stress on low-income households, but it's hitting lots of other groups, too, and in some regions is increasingly seen as an obstacle to job creation and economic growth. There's also growing research on the critical role housing plays on issues like family stability, health, and education. A wider array of funders have gotten interested in this area—drawn by the realization that safe and affordable housing is an important key to achieving any number of goals." 3/3/18

  • Science and social media (Northwest Jammin) In a world where half the world's population is on the Internet and 2.7 billion people are active on social media, the methods by which a science and scientific ideas spread has changed. Dramatically. And the metrics for measuring these methods have to change as well. 3/3/18

  • How Cryptocurrency and Blockchain are Changing Philanthropy: Expert Take (Cryptocurrency Investing) "Over the last few years, a number of charities and foundations have been trialing Bitcoin donations. These include such well-known organizations as the Red Cross, Save the Children, United Way and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Cryptocurrency donations to charity are clearly on the rise. Fidelity Charitable, which houses the nation’s largest donor-advised fund, received $69 mln in cryptocurrency donations in 2017, up from $7 mln received in 2015 and 2016 combined." 3/3/18

  • Attention hacking is the epidemic of our generation… (Hackernoon) This week's recap has taken me twice as long to pull together because of attention hacking. What? What was that...? Is that a squirrel? 3/1/18

  • Giving by Canadians: A 30 Year Retrospective…and What It Means for the Way Forward (AFP Greater Toronto Area) CANADIAN CONTENT "Who’s giving to charity in Canada today? How do we give? Are we as generous today as we were 30 years ago? Why do we give? And what stops us from giving? Thanks to a deep dive that was recently undertaken by Imagine Canada into the giving patterns of Canadians, we now have a more in-depth understanding of the answers to those questions than ever before." 3/1/18

  • Self-driving cars offer huge benefits—but have a dark side (Economist) Is the loss of privacy and freedom worth it? "A NEW kind of vehicle is taking to the roads, and people are not sure what to make of it. Is it safe? How will it get along with other road users? Will it really shake up the way we travel [...]. Yet the same tolling schemes that will let city planners minimise congestion or subsidise robotaxi services in underserved “transport deserts” have a darker side—and one to which too little attention has been paid." 3/1/18

  • Five ways charities are using virtual reality (Charity Digital News) "Virtual reality (VR) has been a hyped technology since the 1980s, but it’s only really in the last few years that it has been brought down to earth to become an accessible and affordable tool [...]. Now virtual reality and 360 or ‘spherical’ video are fast becoming popular tools in the charity sector, as they explore it as a medium for immersive storytelling experiences." 3/1/18

  • Chinese take away: reinventing fundraising in the People's Republic of China (sofii) "For his contribution to this year's IWITOT (I Wish I'd Thought of That), fundraising expert Daryl Upsall looked to China, a rapidly emerging market in so many ways, including fundraising, and shared his thoughts of what all fundraisers could learn from such a unique environment." 3/1/18

  • Donor-Advised Fund Giving Reflects Larger Philanthropy Patterns—Mostly (Nonprofit Quarterly) "Giving USA has released 'The Data on Donor-Advised Funds: New Insights You Need to Know,' a report that analyzes giving patterns of almost 30,000 donor-advised funds (DAFs) and their millions of donor-advisors against the giving patterns reflected in IUPUI’s annual Giving USA reports." 2/28/18

  • How philanthropy could change higher education funding (The Conversation) "Donations from wealthy individuals and organisations have sustained universities since the Middle Ages. Today, the ambitions of universities extend well beyond governments’ preparedness to pay for them. Philanthropy – the donation of wealth towards the welfare of others – can provide an important contribution to the scientific and social advances universities aim to deliver." 2/28/18

  • Two-thirds of charities subsidising public sector contracts to survive (The Guardian) "Nearly two-thirds of charities say they have used money from public donations to prop up key health and social services they have been hired to provide, according to new research [...]." 5/19/17

Large gifts

  • School of medicine receives $1.2M donation toward bowel disease research (Daily Bruin) "A division in the David Geffen School of Medicine received a $1.2 million donation to research inflammatory bowel diseases. The Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases received a gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on education, research and the arts [...]." 3/6/18

  • Mega-donation breaks new ground in German higher education (Times Higher Education) You don't hear about a lot of large gifts being made in Germany. Good to see. "Celebrating its 150th anniversary, the Technical University of Munich has received a spectacular birthday gift – a new campus. Funded by a donation from the German supermarket tycoon Dieter Schwarz thought to be worth more than €100 million (£88.5 million), TUM’s new campus marks several firsts in German higher education [...]." 3/6/18

  • Mennello Museum of American Art receives largest ever donation of $8.75 million (Orlando Weekly) "[The] Mennello Museum of American Art in Loch Haven Park received its largest donation ever from co-founder Michael A. Mennello. The gift of 14 paintings and five sculptures at an appraised value of $8.75 million dollars was announced by Orlando's Mayor Buddy Dyer at the museum’s annual gala [...]." 3/5/18

  • Bascom Palmer receives $12 million donation to establish research center (Healio) "Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has received a $12 million donation from Lois Pope to establish a collaborative center for research on macular degeneration and retinal diseases [...]." 3/5/18

  • Illinois football facility receives $1 million donation (Pekin Daily Times) "Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman just got a step closer to his financial goal for the Illinois Football Performance Center. It was announced through a press release Monday afternoon that Illinois received an anonymous $1 million donation towards the project." 3/5/18

  • #WriteHerFuture: Lancôme announces €2 million pledge to tackle female illiteracy (Moodie Davitt Report) I heart this. "L’Oréal-owned beauty brand Lancôme has unveiled a new global commitment to combat illiteracy among women. The #WriteHerFuture project aims to raise at least €2 million over the next five years to fund international literacy programmes and develop local support communities for this cause. The initiative will also mobilise change and raise awareness about the still relatively unknown global illiteracy situation." 3/5/18

  • UNO receives $1 million donation for chemistry lab upgrades (Fox News) "The University of New Orleans has received a donation of $1 million to help upgrade the school’s chemistry labs. School officials say the donation came from an anonymous donor." 3/4/18

  • SE Sask Family makes $1 Million Donation to Children's Hospital (Discover Weyburn) SASKATCHEWAN STORY "A major donation from a southeast Saskatchewan couple will support the province's future children's hospital. Ron and Shirley Carson of Lampman, founders of Carson Energy Services, have recently donated $1 million dollars to the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital." 3/2/18

  • Western Carolina University receives $5 million donation (ABC) "Western Carolina University receives a $5 million donation to provide scholarships to local students. The gift came from a man who made the donation in honor of his mother, a Graham County school teacher." 3/2/18

  • Meisler Donates $5 Million for Trauma Center (University of South Alabama) "Longtime University of South Alabama supporter Herbert A. Meisler has donated $5 million to expand the USA Medical Center’s Trauma Center, which will be renamed the Fanny R. Meisler Trauma Center, in honor of Meisler’s late wife." 3/2/18

  • Alumna gives Bryn Mawr College $25 million, largest donation in its history (The Inquirer) "Bryn Mawr College has received a $25 million gift, the largest in the school’s history, from an alumna and longtime supporter, the school announced. Officials at the women’s college said the gift — from a donor who asked not to be publicly identified — is believed to be the largest ever from an individual woman to a women’s college." Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. 3/1/18

  • Flathead Valley Community College receives $4 million donation (NBC) "The Flathead Valley Community College received its biggest donation yet for the school’s ONE campaign, which is setting out to raise money for a new library and student center. Local businessman and philanthropist Paul Wachholz gave $4 million toward a new 50,000-square-foot college center." 3/1/18

  • $1M donation means Churchill will get polar bear centre (CBC) MANITOBA STORY Thank you Canada Goose! "Churchill will soon see a new polar bear centre thanks to a generous gift from a single donor. Polar Bears International made the announcement [...] after Dani Reiss, president of Canada Goose, donated $1 million toward the group's conservation efforts at their annual Polar Bears gala in Toronto [...]." 2/28/18

  • Shell Point to build new arts center after historic $10 million donation (USA Today) "Shell Point is getting a new $15 million arts center to bring more concerts, art exhibits and other activities to the Lee County retirement community [...]. The arts center kicked off a fundraising campaign last year with a $10 million donation from Shell Point resident Maggie Tribby [...]." 2/28/18

  • Record $25 Million Donation to Divinity School to Fund Renovations (Harvard Crimson) "A $25 million donation to the Divinity School will enable a complete renovation of the main campus building, administrators announced last week. Artist and philanthropist Susan S. Swartz and her husband, investor James R. Swartz '64, have donated the largest gift in the school’s 200-year history." 2/22/18

  • $1 million donation brings business school closer to new building complex (Wichita State News) "Plans to build a new, state-of-the-art building for the Barton School of Business got a boost with a $1 million donation. The donation comes from members of the local Bastian family, owners of Fidelity Bank and Fidelity Bank Foundation." 2/21/18

  • BC3 gets $1 million donation (Butler Eagle) "Former state Sen. Tim Shaffer has donated $1 million for Butler County's Community College's 'premier' registered nursing program." 2/21/18

  • ASO Foundation Receives $1.8M Donation (Arkansas Matters) "The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announced it has received the largest individual gift in the history of the organization, a $1.8 million donation to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Foundation from the estate of the late Linda Garner Riggs." 2/21/18

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

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