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Weekly News Recap: April 20, 2018

Vincent Duckworth

From 2009: Health Trust board member Sherrold Moore enjoys the hilarious evening with his wife Pat. CALGARY HERALD ARCHIVES / CALGARY HERALD

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few. — Shunryu Suzuki

Books to read

Nonprofit tools

  • CRA adds interesting feature to website A-Z index of topics (Blumbergs) CANADIAN CONTENT Mark Blumberg shared this useful change to the Canada Revenue Agency website. Thanks for this Mark. Mark says, "I had commented on how helpful this list is in the past and having it be searchable is even more helpful. Hopefully, CRA will continue working on the searchable list to make it more relevant and easier for people to find information." 4/14/18

News

  • Oil closes above $68 US a barrel, highest price since 2014 (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "The price of the North American oil benchmark closed above $68 a barrel on Wednesday, the highest level since 2014 as U.S. data showed inventories plunged by more than one million barrels last week." 4/18/18

  • Muttart Conservatory expected to close next year for renovations (CBC) EDMONTON STORY "The Muttart Conservatory is planning to close for up to 18 months next year as it undergoes extensive renovations. The city has flagged the botanical garden as a priority for rehabilitation. Some of the mechanical, electrical and structural systems are over 30 years old and in dire need of replacement and upgrading [...]." 4/18/18

  • Janice G. Rennie named EPCOR Utilities Inc. Board Chair (GlobalNewsWire) EDMONTON STORY Congrats. Great choice. "Janice G. Rennie, FCA, F.ICD, has been appointed Board Chair of EPCOR Utilities Inc. (EPCOR), effective May 2, 2018. Ms. Rennie is currently a member of EPCOR’s Board of Directors, who has over the past 20 years, served on the Boards of leading Canadian companies across a range of industries. She succeeds Hugh J. Bolton, who will be retiring as EPCOR Board Chair, after leading the company since 2000 through a significant period of growth." 4/17/18

  • Barbara Bush, Wife of 41st President and Mother of 43rd, Dies at 92 (New York Times) RIP First Lady Bush. Our thoughts are with your friends and family. "Barbara Bush, the widely admired wife of one president and the fiercely loyal mother of another, died Tuesday evening at her home in Houston. She was 92." 4/17/18

  • CADTH Honours Dr. Tony Fields, "Father" of Cancer-Related Health Technology Assessment in Canada (Newswire) EDMONTON STORY Congrats Tony. So well deserved. "CADTH [Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health] is pleased to announce that Edmonton's Dr. Anthony (Tony) Fields is the recipient of the 2018 Dr. Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in Health Technology Assessment, which honours individuals whose outstanding achievements have significantly advanced the field of health technology assessment in Canada." 4/17/18

  • Airdrie Food Bank usage continues to rise (CBC) AIRDRIE STORY "Staff at the Airdrie Food Bank say they've seen a recent increase in people accessing their Bread and Extras drop-in program. Sue Methuen, executive assistant at the food bank, says they've seen about 1,000 additional people coming in for supplies like bread, milk and produce since late last year, and that trend could be connected to factors like rising rents and cuts to employment hours — and even the weather." 4/17/18

  • Leadership college to face $10.5 million shortage from Alberta government (The Gateway) EDMONTON STORY "Representatives of students and staff at the University of Alberta are concerned about how funding will be found for the Peter Lougheed Leadership College (PLLC) following the government’s announcement that it will temporarily suspend funds for the program." 4/16/18

  • President's Gala another roaring success for student funding (Meridian Booster) LLOYDMINSTER STORY Congrats! ViTreo is proud to be working with Lakeland College."'This President’s Gala is just an amazing opportunity not only for our students to take the lead, but it’s also an opportunity for the community to see what Lakeland College can offer students and how they can support our students,' said Lakeland president and CEO Alice Wainwright-Stewart." 4/16/18

  • LAKELAND COLLEGE RECEIVES FUNDING FOR TRADES CENTRE (My Lloydminster Now) LLOYDMINSTER STORY Nice! "The Vermilion campus of Lakeland College will see updates coming to its Trade Centre exterior with funding from the Alberta Government. The Capital Maintenance and Renewal budget will give $6 million to complete repairs on the facility, that has experienced water damage on the roof and side exteriors over the years." 4/13/18

  • Good bye Kits, hello Coal Harbour! Vancouver Maritime Museum on the move (CBC) VANCOUVER STORY "The Vancouver Maritime Museum outgrew its triangular confines in Kitsilano years ago, but, finally, the search for a new location is over with news that the English Bay fixture will likely be swapping shores for Coal Harbour. The site is being pitched by Concord Pacific, which is in the midst of redeveloping the area around the Westin Bayshore hotel." 4/12/18

  • ‘It is so stark’ : Young men aren’t participating in Alberta’s recovery amid ‘male-dominated recession’ (Financial Post) ALBERTA STORY "Mornings for recent chemical engineering graduate Stephen Situ consist of a bowl of cereal and a search through job boards before he starts driving for Uber Technologies Inc. at lunch. Situ, like many in his under-25 age bracket, hasn’t found regular, full-time employment since graduating from the University of Calgary two years ago, except for a few months doing door-to-door internet sales for Telus Corp. and some construction labour in various parts of northern Alberta." 4/12/18

  • Leading Calgary Booster Sherrold Moore Dies In Hospital (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY RIP Mr. Moore. You and your entire family have given so much to Calgary. Our thoughts are with your friends and family. "Sherrold Moore, one of Calgary’s most respected philanthropists and city supporters, has died in hospital aged 88. The longtime Calgarian, who first arrived in the city at age 10 when his parents moved here from Winnipeg, spent his entire working career with the oil company Amoco Canada before retiring as senior vice-president in 1994." 4/11/18

  • David Suzuki one of 13 people to receive honorary degree from U of A (Edmonton Sun) EDMONTON STORY "Environmentalist David Suzuki will be one of 13 people given an honorary degree from the University of Alberta this spring, a news release said Tuesday." 4/10/18

  • How bad is Canada's food waste problem? Among the world's worst, report finds (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Canada wastes so much food that a researcher likens it to tossing a quarter of your groceries away when you leave the supermarket. In fact, Canada is among the worst globally in wasting food, according to a recent report on the state of food loss and waste in Canada, U.S. and Mexico." 4/5/18

Canada's First Peoples

  • 'We want to be owners': Fort McMurray First Nations and Métis unite on pipelines (CBC) ALBERTA STORY "First Nations and Métis communities in the Fort McMurray region are expressing interest in becoming business partners in the pipeline industry. The indigenous communities want to either buy a stake in the Trans Mountain pipeline or partner and build another future line. 'We want to be owners of a pipeline,' Allan Adam, chief of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said in an interview. 'We think that a pipeline is a critical component to the oil and gas sector, especially in this region.'" 4/15/18

  • Native Land - Territory Acknowledgement (Nativeland.ca) CANADIAN CONTENT A beautiful tool for properly identifying and acknowledging Indigenous territory by typing in your postal code. Thanks to Naomi Grattan for sharing this link. April 2018

Humboldt

  • Town puts 'giant hockey stick on our porch' in Humboldt tribute (CBC) TRURO STORY "At six metres tall, the giant hockey stick outside the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro, N.S., catches the eye, but it's what that piece of metal represents that makes people tear up." 4/18/18

  • Humboldt Broncos GoFundMe that's raised millions will accept funds for 2 more days (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY "The Humboldt Broncos organization will soon be closing a GoFundMe that raised $12 million to support players and families affected by a crash that left 16 people dead and 13 injured." 4/16/18

  • Why the heartbreak of Humboldt is touching teenagers in Uganda (CBC) SASKATCHEWAN STORY "When word of the Humboldt Broncos bus accident reached Jinja, Uganda, there was profound sadness at the St. James Orthopedic Clinic and among the hundreds of young patients it has helped over the past five years. The clinic is a partner with One4Another International, a Canadian-based charity that helps children with birth defects or injuries get on their feet, sometimes for the first time. The charity is supported almost entirely by young Canadian hockey players through about 25 hockey programs, primarily in Ontario." Thanks to Ron Bailey for sharing this story. In Ron's words: "Storytelling and engagement, keeping it simple and connecting the donor to the cause...beautiful..." We agree. 4/14/18

Humour

Life and career hacks

Uncommon knowledge

  • Probability concepts explained: Maximum likelihood estimation (Towards Data Science) NOTE: Nerdy (I know right!). "Maximum likelihood estimation is a method that determines values for the parameters of a model. The parameter values are found such that they maximize the likelihood that the process described by the model produced the data that were actually observed." 1/3/18

Philanthropic controversy

  • Freemasons' symbol will appear on fire engines after controversial donation (The Telegraph) "The London Fire Brigade has been criticised for accepting a donation from the Freemasons with the condition that new trucks purchased with the money carry their symbol. The society gave £2.5 million to the fire service to purchase two vehicles with high aerial ladders, which would be capable of reaching the top of a building as high as Grenfell Tower. But the new vehicles will be emblazoned with the symbol of Freemasonry, the square and compass." 4/13/18

  • Why Are This Giant Community Foundation and its Leader So Controversial? (Inside Philanthropy) "[The Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)] defies easy explication. It’s no ordinary community foundation; rather, it seems intent on re-imagining how such entities operate. Many of its grants go to nonprofits outside its home region—to national organizations, to local groups in other cities, and to dozens of different countries. The philanthropists who have funds at SVCF are also geographically widespread, in contrast to the norm of most other community foundations. SVCF now has significant money under management from donors on the East Coast, and makes so many grants in this region that it hired a staffer in New York City in 2016 to handle all this activity. You know when the last time was that a community foundation set up an office 2,700 miles away from its headquarters? Never." 4/12/18

  • Charitable Giving by Corporations Is Also About Getting, a New Study Finds (New York Times) "Corporate philanthropy, business leaders would have us believe, is the ringing voice of a company’s social conscience. Exxon Mobil may stand accused of misleading investors and shareholders about what it knew about climate change, but the ExxonMobil Foundation’s multimillion-dollar contributions to end deaths from malaria and to train women in developing countries should, executives hope, balance the ethical ledger." Thanks to Ken Kempcke for sharing this story. 4/4/18

Trends and shifts

  • Charities not yet feeling predicted donation pinch due to tax law changes (Trib Live) "Predictions that changes to federal tax laws would discourage people from making charitable donations so far appear to be off the mark, local and national charities report. 'Our traffic is up and, in fact, donations through our website are up,' said Larry Lieberman, chief operating officer of Charity Navigator." 4/14/18

  • New park restrooms would come with naming rights (Green Valley News) Oh my! "[County Administrator Chuck] Huckelberry's memo noted concerns from Green Valley residents over plans to demolish three non-functioning restrooms. He said the county parks department has begun planning for the addition of two new restrooms [...]. He said the county will seek community and corporate donations to build the restrooms and offer 'appropriate naming rights for a corporate beneficiary' who would back the restroom construction. He estimates each restroom will cost $150,000." 4/14/18

  • Trouble ahead for charities depending on clothes donations (Philanthropy Today) "It’s a form of recycling that’s over a century old [...]. But Adam Minter, a Bloomberg columnist, thinks that clothes recycling is a business that is on a steady decline. His editor decided to put this scary headline on his piece: 'No One Wants Your Used Clothes Anymore.'" 4/11/18

  • How do certified charity campaigns work? (GoFundMe.com) I hope they do this in Canada with the Canada Revenue Agency. It would mean that GoFundMe could "offer" charitable tax receipts for gifts to certified Canadian charities. "GoFundMe has partnered with PayPal Giving Fund to deliver donations for certified charity campaigns. GoFundMe's platform and payment processing fees total 7.9% + $0.30 and are deducted from each donation. Donors receive receipts indicating that their donations are tax-deductible. PayPal Giving Fund does not charge a fee for its services." April 2018

Large gifts

  • £10m donation - largest EVER given to Exeter University - offered up by one of Britain's richest women (Devon Live) "One of the richest women in Britain has given the single largest donation received by the University of Exeter - a whopping £10m which could benefit dementia patients worldwide. The generous gift from the Dennis and Mireille Gillings Foundation will transform dementia research and diagnosis by the building of the Mireille Gillings Neuroimaging Centre within the grounds of the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital." 4/18/18

  • $50 million donation will help create new quantum science center in Haifa (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) "A San Francisco-based foundation has given the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology a $50 million contribution, which will support a new quantum science center at the Haifa university. The gift from the Helen Diller Family Foundation 'will strengthen the Technion’s position as a world leader in quantum science and engineering by providing the means for new faculty recruitment, establishing new infrastructure, seed funding for research and development, and educating a new generation of engineers with a mastery of quantum mechanics,' according to the university." 4/17/18

  • FAU High gets $1 million donation for new science facility (My Palm Beach Post) "Florida Atlantic University High School and A.D. Henderson University School were the recipients of a sizable gift Thursday — $1 million from Daniel Cane, CEO and co-founder of a Healthcare technology company, and his wife, Debra Cane." 4/17/18

  • Seattle Radio Station KEXP Celebrates a $10 Million Gift (New York Times) Wow! This is cool. I love listening to KEXP. Great publicly supported radio station. "[The] 46-year-old station announced a bequest of just under $10 million from an anonymous donor known as Suzanne. The station’s executive director, Thomas Mara, believes it is the largest-ever gift to a single U.S. public radio station." 4/17/18

  • Art Institute lands largest cash donation, $70 million in total (Chicago Tribune)Boom! An awesome gift to one of the world's greatest art museums. "The Art Institute of Chicago announced the largest monetary gift in its history [...] an unrestricted $50 million donation from trustee Janet Duchossois and her husband, Craig Duchossois [...]. In addition, trustees at [a recent] board meeting received news that board Chairman Robert Levy and his wife, Diane v.S. Levy, had ponied up another $20 million for operations and acquisitions at the not-for-profit institution." 4/17/18

  • Lipscomb University receives record-setting $23 million donation for College of Business (Tennessean) "Lipscomb University announced [that] it [has] received the largest financial gift in the history of the institution, a $23 million donation that will help build a new College of Business. The gift, from donors who wish to remain anonymous, will be used for new facilities for the College of Business and to support business programs, faculty and students and global learning facilities in Florence, Italy." 4/17/18

  • $2M donation to help fund construction between CU Boulder engineering, business schools (Daily Camera CU News) "Zayo Group CEO Dan Caruso and his wife, Cindy Caruso, have pledged $2 million to the University of Colorado, half of which will fund construction of a physical connection between the business and engineering buildings." 4/17/18

  • Blue Cross N.C. makes $1 million donation to WSSU's nursing program (Winston-Salem Journal) "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina announced [...] it is investing $1 million in Winston Salem State University’s nursing program to go toward scholarships and educational technology." 4/16/18

  • $1.2M donation for Macon County recycling center (Effingham Daily News) "Macon County Sheriff Howard Buffett's private foundation is donating $1.2 million to purchase land for a new recycling center and compost facility." 4/15/18

  • KeyBank donates $10 million to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, largest donation in museum's history (Cleveland.com) "The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced Saturday night the largest single donation in its history, $10 million from the KeyBank Foundation, which will be used to build upon an ongoing and expanding series of improvements at the museum." 4/14/18

  • Goshen Theater renovations get big lift with big donation (NBC) "The Community Foundation of Elkhart County presented a $1 million check to the theater. The Community Foundation had challenged the theater to raise $2 million from private individuals – which the theater accomplished – and the community foundation responded with its contribution." 4/13/18

  • Berkshire Schools gets $2M donation from Great Lakes Cheese, Epprecht family (News-Herald) "The Epprecht family, along with the Great Lakes Cheese Co. that the family has owned since 1958, made a $2 million donation to Berkshire Schools [...] in a special ceremony held in the Berkshire High School Gymnasium." 4/13/18

  • Here’s who just gave $1 million toward a 10-acre park next to Lexington’s Rupp Arena (Kentucky.com) "The E.E. Murry Family Foundation has donated $1 million to the Town Branch Park, a proposed 10-acre park adjacent to Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington." 4/12/18

  • Augustana receives $1 million donation (ABC) "Augustana University in Sioux Falls has received a major donation that will boost the university's archaeology program. The David B. Jones Foundation [has given] the university a $1 million gift [...]." 4/11/18

  • Alaqua receives $1 million donation (News Herald) "Alaqua Animal Refuge is $1 million closer to a new home. The animal rescue organization announced [...] that it received a $1 million gift for its new facility[.] The gift was made by Ryan Jumonville, chairman of United Networks of America, and his wife, Raven [...]." The Alaqua Animal Refuge is located in Freeport, Florida. 4/11/18

  • Hospice donation announced at Waterloo mayor's State of the City address (570 News) WATERLOO STORY "Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky delivered his annual State of the City address on Wednesday morning at RIM Park and received a standing ovation at the end. He announced a $2.5-million donation for Hospice Waterloo from the Gies family." 4/11/18

  • Boca Raton hospital receives $25M donation for new patient tower (South Florida Business Journal) "Boca Raton Regional Hospital received a $25 million donation for its expansion program from Elaine J. Wold and her Bay Branch Foundation." 4/11/18

  • Crime-fighting technology in Chicago gets $10 million boost from billionaire Ken Griffin (Chicago Tribune) "Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin is pledging $10 million to support the Chicago Police Department's use of technology in high-crime areas." 4/11/18

  • $18 million donation will enable Stetson University to build science facility (American School & University) "An $18 million donation to Stetson University will enable the school to build a new science building on its DeLand, Fla., campus. The university says the gift from Hyatt and Cici Brown, longtime university trustees, is the largest donation in the university’s history." 4/10/18

  • Anonymous $14M donation to help homeless women in Chicago (WGNTV) "Sarah's Circle, an Uptown nonprofit that helps homeless women, received an anonymous $14 million donation." 4/10/18

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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