Weekly News Recap: September 22, 2017

Peter Munk, the founder of Barrick Gold, has donated more than $175 million to fund the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre through his foundation since 1993. (CBC)

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be. ― Abraham Lincoln

News

  • MacArthur Foundation narrows down finalists for $100M philanthropy grant (Money Watch) What are you doing on December 11th? Watching the live streaming of the presentations by these four finalists I hope. One of them is getting a $100 million grant. I have two favourites but they are all very clearly deserving. "The MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday announced the four finalists for its colossal new philanthropy grant, 100&Change, a global competition that will award $100 million in funding for the winning cause. Sponsored by the same foundation renowned for the MacArthur "genius" grants, 100&Change has promised $100 million over up to six years to a group that comes up with the "best idea to improve humanity. The four finalists are: Catholic Relief Services; HarvestPlus; Rice 360° Institute for Global Health (Rice University); and Sesame Workshop and International Rescue Committee." 9/20/17
  • Children’s Discovery Museum receives Federal Donation (CKRM) REGINA STORY Nice work! "The Children’s Discovery Museum in Saskatoon is 3 million dollars closer to construction. The Canadian government has announced a 3 million dollar donation through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund that will go towards renovating the Mendel Art Gallery to be the future home of the museum." 9/17/17

Life and career hacks

  • Why Anxiety is the Handmaiden of Creativity (ART + marketing) Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, who suffered deeply from anxiety, wrote this in his diary: “[my] fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art.” 9/14/17

Philanthropic personalities

  • Making Up for Lost Time: As Apple Ramps Up Its Philanthropy, Will Its Executives Follow Suit? (Inside Philanthropy) We sure hope so. "Give Cook credit—he's made up for lost time. One of his first moves upon assuming power was launching the company's innovative employee matching program, which has raised over $50 million in its inception. This is in addition to a litany of other diverse and well-funded philanthropic efforts, including, most recently, donations to anti-hate groups in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville and Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. And while not much is known about Cook's personal giving, in 2015, he pledged to give all of his Apple stock, valued in the hundreds of millions, to charity." 9/18/17

Philanthropic controversy

  • A $200 million gift promotes alternative therapies at a California medical school — and critics recoil (Stat News) We list the gift announcement below. "When billionaires Susan and Henry Samueli this week announced a $200 million donation to the University of California, Irvine to launch a new health program dedicated to integrative medicine, they drew a standing ovation and glowing coverage. But for those who have been watching the steady creep of unproven therapies into mainstream medicine, the announcement didn’t go over quite as well." 9/20/17
  • Follow up: USU president clarifies Koch donation remarks (HJ News) "The Koch brothers have garnered criticism over the years for their support of conservative politicians and contributions to higher education. Critics claim that the Kochs donate to institutions, like USU, to stoke a conservative or libertarian line of thought. It has been reported by other news outlets that the Charles Koch Foundation has sought influence in the hiring of faculty of some of the schools it has donated to — something Cockett mentioned Monday at Faculty Senate, and she said that was true for the USU gift agreement." 9/14/17

Trends and shifts

  • Thinking Differently: Adaptive Capacity in the Nonprofit Sector (CCVO) CALGARY STORY "Calgary’s nonprofit sector is at a crossroads. It operates in a complex and rapidly changing environment, where maintaining the status quo is not an option if thriving is the goal. New capacities will need to be developed to respond effectively to the challenges that lie before us." Calgary's Chamber of Voluntary Organizations' has just released a report that address exactly this issue... 9/20/17

Large gifts

  • $1 million donation to help start Purdue music program at Fort Wayne campus (News Sentinel) "The English Bonter Mitchell Foundation in Fort Wayne has donated $1 million to help create a Purdue School of Music here after IPFW splits into separately governed Purdue and Indiana University programs, which is expected to take place next July. The donation will help the Purdue School of Music offer new degrees in music technology and jazz performance studies, a graduate program in music therapy and music education [...]." 9/20/17
  • TheMuseum gets $1M donation from sale of Marskell family church (CBC) KITCHENER STORY "TheMuseum in Kitchener will finally have some financial stability, thanks to a donation from its CEO's family trust. The $1,000,000 donation comes from the sale of a church, built 'literally and spiritually' by David Marskell's parents." 9/20/17
  • The University of Michigan gets another $50 million from Stephen Ross (MLive) "The University of Michigan's biggest donor, billionaire real estate mogul Stephen M. Ross, has made another hefty donation to his alma mater, pushing it over its $1 billion campaign goal for student support. UM announced that [...] Ross has made a $50 million donation, bringing his lifetime giving total to $378 million." 9/20/17
  • Historic $100-million donation given to Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (Globe and Mail) Boom! And the bar has been set for the naming of a hospital in Canada. "The colourful philanthropist and mining magnate Peter Munk gave another $100-million to the Toronto cardiac-care centre that bears his name, making it the single largest donation ever made to a Canadian hospital and paving the way for the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC) to become a world leader in using artificial intelligence to revolutionize cardiovascular health care." 9/20/17
  • NYPL Gets $55M Donation for Renovation Work & New Name (Jewish Voice) "The Stavros Niarchos Foundation has announced that it will be gifting $55 million to the New York Public Library’s largest circulating branch in midtown Manhattan. The donation will help fund the branch’s long-awaited $200 million renovation, as reported by Forbes. The library will obtain the remainder of the funding from a $151 million commitment from the city’s capital funds. The library, which typically has about 1.7 million visitors a year, will be renamed The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library." 9/21/17
  • Thirty Meter Telescope Completes $1M Donation to THINK Fund (Big Island Now) "The Thirty Meter Telescope recently made the second half of its $1 million annual payment to the THINK Fund, supporting educational opportunities for Hawai‘i Island students and teachers. Administered by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and Pauahi Foundation, the THINK Fund launched in October 2014." 9/18/17
  • Multi-Million Dollar Donation Could Add Donor's Name to Rose Bowl Field (NBC) "The Rose Bowl stadium is no stranger to some branding. The proposed naming rights of the field selling for a one-time $10 million donation. The deal will last 25 years. The donor Tod Spieker is a Silicon Valley real estate investor, UCLA alum and Rose Bowl game fan. But Spieker’s name isn’t actually even going on the field. 'We are going to put his [Tod Spieker’s] name and his family’s name on the hedges on sideline level' Dedan Brozino of the Rose Bowl’s Legacy Foundation said." 9/18/17
  • Jewish General Hospital unveils new heart centre funded by largest donation in its history (Montreal Gazette) MONTREAL STORY "The Jewish General Hospital inaugurated a multidisciplinary heart centre that [...] is expected to make pioneering advances in the field of cardiac imaging after receiving the largest single donation in its history. The Azrieli Foundation has donated $26 million to the centre named in honour of the late Montreal philanthropist David Azrieli." 9/18/17
  • Mines athletics gets $1M donation from alumnus (Rapid City Journal) "The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology announced Monday that it has received a $1.1 million donation to the athletic department from an unnamed alumnus." 9/18/17
  • UC Irvine aims to transform public health with record-breaking $200-million donation (Los Angeles Times) “The human body is a very complex and highly interconnected system. Therefore our healthcare needs to be looked at through a more holistic lens,” Henry Samueli, who also owns the Anaheim Ducks, said in remarks at UC Irvine. “Our genetics, our surrounding environment, our nutrition, our physical activity and our mental state all play critical roles in our well-being.” Earmarked in the gift, the seventh largest ever made to a U.S. public university, is about $50 million for a new building to house the College of Health Sciences, which will bear the Samueli name. An additional $5 million will go toward new labs and technology. 9/18/17
  • Alum, Vistex CEO Sanjay Shah grants CBE $5 million gift (The Brown and White) "Lehigh’s College of Business and Economics received a $5 million gift from alumnus Sanjay Shah, ’89, the founder and CEO of Vistex, Inc. The gift is for the advancement of the executive education program at Lehigh." 9/17/17
  • No ‘shushing’ kids at new Calgary Public Library’s Early Learning Centre (Global News) CALGARY STORY Lovely gift. Congrats to all. "A $1 million dollar gift was announced at [...] the official opening of the Saddletowne Library’s new Early Learning Centre, to help create more of its kind in Calgary Public Libraries. The investment from The Calgary Foundation and an anonymous donor will help establish Calgary Foundation Early Learning Centres at Saddletowne, Signal Hill, Forest Lawn and Crowfoot Libraries in Calgary Public Libraries." 9/16/17
  • MU alumnus announces $21.6 million donation to leadership institute (Missourian) "University leaders welcomed David Novak at [...] the Reynolds Alumni Center. Novak announced that his family is donating $21.6 million to fund the new leadership institute under the family name. The Novak Leadership Institute stresses leadership through strategic communication." 9/15/17
  • Union College receives $3.8 million donation to expand admissions office (Albany Business Review) "Union College is seeking Schenectady County approval for a 3,670-square-foot addition to its admissions office in Grant Hall. The addition, which will consist of a large presentation space, meeting rooms, videoconferencing and a lobby, will cost $3.8 million. It will be completely funded by an anonymous donation to the college. Turner Construction and Envision Architects in Albany will be the construction manager and architect, respectively." 9/15/17
  • Anonymous donor gives Kenyon College $75 million (Columbus Dispatch) "Kenyon College has received a whopping $75 million gift, the largest in the school’s nearly 200-year history. The gift, from an anonymous donor, will support the development of a new library and academic quad at the liberal arts college of about 1,600 students in Knox County, the school announced Friday." 9/15/17
  • $21 Million Gift from BMO to Fund Upgrades for Seven Hospitals (UrbanToronto.ca) TORONTO STORY Wow! This is the biggest philanthropic commitment by BMO in its 200 year history. "Banking titan BMO announced the donation of a $21 million gift to fund upgrades for seven Toronto academic medical institutions associated with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine. To be granted over the next decade, these funds will help maintain Toronto's position as a global leader in medical research and patient care through improvements to the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH), The Hospital for Sick Children, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, St. Michael's Hospital, the Sinai Health System, and Toronto Western Hospital." 9/15/17
  • $50 million donation is Boston Foundation’s biggest ever (Boston Globe) "The Boston Foundation will soon be the recipient of the largest charitable donation in its 102-year history — even more valuable than the cruise ship it was once given. The philanthropic organization said that [...] it is in line to receive a $50 million gift from the sale of majority shares of Curriculum Associates, a private Billerica educational technology company." 9/14/17
  • Minnesota law school gets $2M donation for child abuse prevention training (Grand Forks Herald) "A new program launched by St. Paul's Mitchell Hamline School of Law will help train professionals in child-abuse response and prevention. The 'Zero Abuse Project', funded by a $2 million donation from St. Paul lawyer Jeff Anderson, will teach future attorneys and professionals to respond to child abuse through 'trauma-informed care' and training." 9/14/17

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