Google Philanthropy vs. Gates Philanthropy
Just as Google is seen as more dashing than Microsoft in the world of software, so too does Google’s new corporate charity, Google.org, seem more innovative than the Microsoft chairman’s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, says Daniel Gross, a columnist for Slate. Google.org is a corporate charity…
New Money and Old Money Build a California Concert Hall
The financing of the $200-million Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Orange County, Calif., represents a unique confluence of old- and new-economy money, reports the Los Angeles Times. One of the hall’s namesakes, Henry Segerstrom, made his fortune in real estate, especially shopping malls,…
British Company to Start Giving in the U.S.
The Virgin Group plans to announce today that it will begin giving money in the United States, reports The New York Times The philanthropic arm of the company, called Virgin Unite, plans to focus on global warming and homeless youth, among other issues. The Virgin Group is the umbrella organization…
Charities Remain on Sidelines of Estate-Tax Fight
Charities remain on sidelines of estate-tax fight
Entrepreneur Gives $3.5-Million for Anti-Aging Research
Peter A. Thiel, co-founder and former chief executive of the Internet payment system PayPal, said he will give $3.5-million to the Methuselah Foundation, in Springfield, Va., to support controversial scientific research that seeks to help postpone the effects of aging, reports the San Francisco…
New Orleans Faces Decline in Volunteers
Nonprofit groups that provide free house-gutting services to New Orleans residents are unable to meet all the requests for aid because of a lack of volunteers, reports The Times-Picayune, in New Orleans. While more than 500,000 Americans have donated their time to help the Gulf Coast, charities in…
More Aid Needed to Help Children in Poor Nations
Health experts say billions of more dollars are needed from governments and other donors to provide vaccines, antibiotics, and other drugs to improve child survival in 60 poor African and Asian countries, reports Reuters. A special issue of the Lancet medical journal, whose publication coincides…
Hospital Leaders’ Political Donations Raise Questions
A New York hospital’s trustees and executives have recently channeled gifts to Democratic politicians, leading The New York Sun to suggest that they are seeking to oust a Republican senator who has been raising tough questions about the operations of nonprofit health-care institutions. Almost all…