Gateses Seek to Show U.S. Aid’s Success
Bill and Melinda Gates have started an unusual advocacy campaign to show the success of American foreign assistance, saying continued support for such programs could drastically reduce the number of child deaths in poor nations. While intended to primarily influence policy makers, the Bill &…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Physician’s $41-Million Gift to Museum Includes Butterflies
How much: Approximately $41-million Who gave it: William W. McGuire, a physician and former chief executive of the health insurer UnitedHealth Group, and his wife, Nadine. Who got it: Florida Museum of Natural History, in Gainesville. The museum is affiliated with the University of Florida.…
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Arts Group Boosts Patronage With Cellphone Tool
Memphis residents have a new source for information about the latest performances, exhibits, and other cultural events — their iPhones. ArtsMemphis has created an application that brings its calendar of cultural events to the popular cellphone. From individual listings — which provide dates, ticket…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
(Photograph by Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman) When a friend came into Steven Isenberg’s hospital in Indianapolis one day to be treated for cancer, Dr. Isenberg realized there was nothing more he could do. Overwhelmed by his friend’s courage, the doctor bestowed on him a medal he had just…
By Caroline Preston
Contributor
New Exchange Seeks to Help Charities Expand
Many nonprofit groups with demonstrated results still struggle to raise money to spread their programs, despite plenty of talk in the philanthropic world over the past decade about focusing dollars on what works. That mixed record has prompted interest in a capital marketplace — not unlike the…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Men and Women Make Bequests at Equal Rates, Study Finds
Men and women who support charities during their lifetime are about equally likely to provide for charities in their wills, according to new research by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, in Indianapolis. Among donors who have a will, 17.2 percent of men and 15.1 percent of women…
By Heather Joslyn
Contributor
Grants for Emergency Needs: a Sampling
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JACKSON HOLE To alleviate the costs of a rising patient load: $20,000 to the Teton Free Clinic (Jackson, Wyo.) BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION To help 17 public libraries across the state offer new or improved services to help people looking for work and others affected by…
Ford Foundation Commits $100-Million to Change Public Education
Ford Foundation pledges $100-million to change public education
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Advice From Veteran Grant Makers on the Charity-Donor Relationship: Book Excerpt
Following are excerpts from The Art of Giving, a new book by Charles Bronfman, founder of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies and Jeffrey R. Solomon, the organization’s president. No man is a hero to his valet, as the saying goes. And no donor is a pure unadulterated blessing to his…
Soros Pledges $100-Million For Climate-Change Advocacy
The billionaire George Soros has pledged $100-million to support a new advocacy effort to push politicians to fight climate change, and in addition said he will invest $1-billion in clean-energy technology. The latest move is part of a string of philanthropic gifts the Hungarian financier has made…
By Ian Wilhelm
Contributor
Gift to N.Y. Philharmonic Provides for Composer
How much: $10-million Who got it: New York Philharmonic Who gave it: Henry R. Kravis, a founding partner of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, a private-equity firm in New York. Purpose: The gift will endow the orchestra’s new composer-in-residence post, and will establish a prize for new music,…
Giving Makes the Rich Richer  — and Happier
Giving away money to good causes helps the wealthy get richer — and live happier lives, new research finds. Thomas J. Stanley, an author who specializes in writing about rich people, based his latest findings on a survey of 944 millionaires with net investment assets of $1-million or more (in…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
How The Chronicle Compiled Its Survey of America’s Biggest Charities
The Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s annual Philanthropy 400 list, now in its 19th year, ranks charities by their ability to attract donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Charities may count cash and other gifts — such as stock, real estate, food, medicine, and art — in calculating…
By Noelle Barton
Contributor
Promoting Good Health at Barbershops and Buses
The St. Louis affiliate of 100 Black Men decided last year it needed a new way to increase awareness about prostate cancer, a disease that disproportionately affects black men. The charity had been spreading its message in churches, but that did not work so well because the worshipers were…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Calvert Giving Fund Invests Gifts in Promoting Good
The Calvert Giving Fund works much like other donor-advised funds but with a twist — the assets that donors contribute to set up their funds are invested in companies and other efforts that promote the social good. Most other funds simply invest in traditional stocks, bonds, and other ways to…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Age at death: 81 How he made his fortune: Founded the clothing chain Gap Inc. with his wife, Doris, in 1969. Major philanthropy: Along with his wife, Doris, who survives him, Mr. Fisher gave about $200-million to education and organizations benefiting children during his lifetime. Of that total,…
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor