Weekly News Recap: June 26, 2020

Weekly News Recap: June 26, 2020

Charlie Fischer, president and CEO of Nexen Inc. in his Calgary head office on Nov. 3, 2003. Fischer died on June 17, 2020 at the age of 70. TODD KOROL/NATIONAL POST

We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark. -- Whoopi Goldberg

VITREO FUNDRAISING ASK ANYTHING ZOOM CHATS

We hosted eight Ask Anything* Zoom chats over the last few months. The feedback on these sessions was tremendous. Thank you to our speakers and our guests. We are working on our plans for our next iteration of these chats. Stay tuned!

FUNDRAISING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

+ We are here to help. We are all in this together. If you would like to chat, reach out and schedule some time to talk. You can also call us at 403.210.3157 or, if this is still your thing, you can send us an e-mail. Stay safe. Stay sane.

+ Here is ViTreo's most recent blog post: WHY FUNDRAISING IS THE BEST OPTION RIGHT NOW Understanding donor responses during a crisis

+ And a freshly updated (as at June 26, 2020) set of resources: Fundraising In The Time Of COVID-19

EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS

  • Executive Director (indeed) FORT SASKATCHEWAN STORY One of ViTreo's former clients is seeking an executive director. They are accepting applications until July 15. "The Fort Saskatchewan Food Gatherers Society is a registered charitable organization operating The Fort Saskatchewan Food Bank, the only food bank within Fort Saskatchewan. We are a community-focused non-profit run by caring volunteers and with the support of our loyal community. 2020 is our 35th year of operation."

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • This B.C. theatre company will perform outside your home during the pandemic (CBC) VICTORIA STORY How wonderful is this! "A theatre company in the province's capital city is taking its shows on the road. Literally. Theatre SKAM, based in Victoria, is now offering pop-up plays for people who want to see a play staged right outside their home. Upon request, the troupe will pull up in a flatbed truck that doubles as a stage."

  • Local detailing business receiving attention from all over North America (CBC) CALGARY STORY I have put myself into the queue. No surprise, it might take a while for Carter to start detailing my truck -- he is now an international sensation. "The sticker on the back of his van says it all: Handicapped & Hustling. Carter Jones started his automotive cleaning business called Detail Lab in February. The plan saw him travelling to customers' vehicles in Calgary and cleaning them on the spot. The 20-year-old has always loved cars and thought this kind of work was a good way to continue that passion. But just as the business got going, the pandemic put a halt to it."

FIRST NATION NEWS

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. Oilpatch giant Charlie Fischer had strong community spirit, 'big heart' (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY *"My heart is sad. RIP Charlie. I learned a ton from him. I have known him professionally since the Canadian Occidental Petroleum days before and after he was CEO and onto the Nexen days. I also worked with Charlie when he chaired the building committee for the National Music Centre. We had many conversations and board presentations together during that time but my favourite memory is when we did the groundbreaking ceremony for NMC. Charlie and I were standing alone at the light, about to cross the street to the open-air event. We could see Anne Murray and many of the other luminaries. Charlie talked about what it was like to work on a project being led by a major patron (Ron Mannix) and that he had never done that before. He loved some aspects of this and did not so much love others -- we commiserated and then the light changed...Charlie was a giant in every way including physically. He was a builder, a leader, a philanthropist, a blusterer. I was reliably told that his bark was worse than his bite. I always found this to be true. He will be tremendously missed by Calgary, by Calgarians, by Canadians, and by me. We will not see his like again.

  2. Transportation Minister Ric McIver to shave 45-year-old moustache for charity (Calgary Sun) CALGARY STORY Woot! Can't wait to see it. "Transportation Minister Ric McIver’s upper lip hasn’t seen sunlight since 1975. His well-documented moustache has survived through the leadership of nine Alberta premiers and 10 prime ministers. But its term of office is over. On Canada Day, after nearly 45 years, McIver is shaving off his facial fur for charity."

  3. Rogers, University of Calgary, establish IoT chair (Cable and Telecom) CALGARY STORY Nice work everybody. And a pretty cool new area of research. "Rogers Communications and the University of Calgary today announced they have established the Rogers Internet of Things Chair with research led by Dr. Steven Liang, PhD, a renowned researcher at the Schulich School of Engineering."

  4. The general public is completely clueless about nonprofit and philanthropy, and that’s a problem (Nonprofit AF) Vu Le calls it like it is. And he is not wrong. "The uncalled-for backlash [...] is a case study of what happens to individual organizations when our entire sector sucks at communicating with the general public. We’ve been really nice people, so we keep putting up with crap, like near the holidays when memes float around about which nonprofits have the highest 'overhead' rate."

  5. How COVID-19 has changed Canada's economy for the worse — but also for the better (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "Every facet of Canadian life has been changed by the current pandemic, from how and where we live, to how we shop, eat and work. While not all changes have been for the better, COVID-19 could bring about some positive changes to Canada's economy."

  6. UBC's board chair is gone. But the issues that led to his departure won't go away (CBC) VANCOUVER STORY "'Yeah, people were completely aware of Korenberg's politics,' said Charles Menzies, who sat on UBC's board from 2017 to 2020 as a faculty representative. In other words, before Korenberg went on a recent weeks-long spree of liking tweets from far-right figures in the United States — and subsequently apologized and resigned as UBC's chair — people internally knew about his ideology."

  7. Canadian Museum for Human Rights employees say they were told to censor gay content for certain guests (CBC) WINNIPEG STORY "Current and former employees of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg say its management would sometimes ask staff not to show any gay content on tours at the request of certain guests, including religious school groups."

  8. Open letter calls on Persephone Theatre to take anti-racist action (CBC) SASKATOON STORY "A group of theatre workers and artists is calling on Saskatoon's Persephone Theatre to address what they describe as a long-standing culture of racism and intimidation in the company. In an open letter sent to the theatre's board of directors earlier this week, more than 150 signatories called on Persephone to make changes to their hiring, casting, training and education."

  9. Systemic Racism And Philanthropy: From Naming To Action (Philanthropic Foundations Canada) CANADIAN CONTENT "The COVID-19 pandemic, the massive economic shocks, the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality, and disturbing recent deaths of indigenous peoples involving the RCMP have uncorked challenging and much-needed conversations on systemic racism and longstanding disparities in our society. Canada is not immune – inequities experienced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) have existed since first contact and persist in today’s Canadian institutions and organizations, including in philanthropy."

  10. Zombie philanthropy: The rich have stashed billions in donor-advised charities — but it’s not reaching those in need (Washington Post) "[Two] and a half years later, it’s unclear if any of that money funded any charitable works, or if it’s all still sitting in accounts mostly controlled by [the donor], collecting interest and earning investment income. That’s because the organizations on the receiving end of [his] donations were not working charities — such as the American Red Cross or the United Way — but donor-advised funds, a controversial and booming form of philanthropy attracting increasing scrutiny and criticism amid the coronavirus pandemic, as charities face a historic crisis."

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. How to Write a Successful Email Pitch (The Startup) We can always hone this essential skill. I know I am always looking at how to do this better.

  2. Welcome To Work In The Next Normal (Forbes) As we all slowly move back into our offices, this is a timely set of steps to look at.

  3. How Walking Changes Us (New York Times) I love walking. We need to do more of it. I am adding this book to my list (maybe an audio version so I can listen whilst walking...).

  4. 'Civilization is a very thin veneer': What the plague of Athens can teach us about dealing with COVID-19 (CBC) Fighting over toilet paper much? "Katherine Kelaidis, resident scholar at the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, said, 'The Greeks very much had this sense … that civilization is a very thin veneer and that under even slight amounts of pressure, that social contract starts to break down, and [when] people lose that veneer … that can be very dangerous.'"

  5. COVID-19: Seven mental health coping tips for life during a pandemic (The Conversation) CANADIAN CONTENT All great tips but, for me, #2 and #7 stand out. "Half of Canadians reported a worsening of their mental health due to the COVID-19 pandemic in an April poll [...]. These stats are not surprising, because a pandemic is a perfect 'anxiety stew.'"

  6. More Than a Meal (New York Times) As someone who worked in and loved working in restaurants for almost a decade, this story resonated strongly with me. I hope it does for you too! Thanks to Christine Fraser for sharing this story. "When we lost restaurants this spring — when their doors closed and many of their workers were sent home — we didn’t just lose places to be fed. We lost a theater of experience. Here, several renowned writers recount some of their most memorable meals out."

  7. The Word Nerd Reckoning (Slate) Good work scrabblers (is that a word?). Thanks to Christine Fraser for sharing this great and timely story. NOTE: Strong language warning on this article. Not joking. "[The] nationwide protests over racism and police violence have prompted a rethinking of the conventional wisdom about the role of words in Scrabble. What started with a call [...] for the Scrabble community to support Black Lives Matter led to a proposal by leadership of the North American Scrabble Players Association to eliminate slurs—about 80 in all, plus alternate spellings and inflections, for a total of 238 words—from the master list of words that are permissible in club and tournament play."

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. Historically Black colleges get a $120 million gift. They need it. (Marketplace) Great gift! "The scholarship funds at historically Black Spelman and Morehouse colleges — and the United Negro College Fund — are $120 million better off, thanks to donations from Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patty Quillin."

  2. DONATION OF $5 MILLION TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE PEDIATRIC CENTRE PROJECT INITIATED BY INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY (BMO) KUUJJUARAAPIK STORY Good move BMO and thank you Hewitt Foundation. "BMO, in partnership with the Hewitt Foundation, has announced a donation to Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation to support social pediatric services in Northern Quebec Indigenous communities, with a first of its kind project. The Minnie’s Hope Social Pediatric Centre was established more than five years ago by and for members of the Cree community of Whapmagoostui and the Inuit community of Kuujjuaraapik, both located on the southern shore of Hudson’s Bay.

  3. Queen’s receives largest donation ever to revitalize Agnes Etherington Arts Centre (Global News) KINGSTON STORY Wow! "An American philanthropic organization has announced a multi-million dollar donation to Queen’s University, slated to revitalize the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Bader Philanthropies will be giving roughly $54 million to the university for a new and improved museum that will house the Bader Collection."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

  1. Graduation in the time of COVID-19: Celebrating the Class of 2020 (CBC)

  2. Tales from the Field: Tips for Making Major Gift Asks Using Zoom (Wastyn & Associates)

  3. 10 Tips for Using Zoom for Successful Donor Visits (sgEngage)

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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