Vanderbilt U. to Get $300-Million in Stocks
Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, has announced that it will receive an estimated $300-million in computer-company stock, the largest gift in the university’s history. Martha R. Ingram, chairman of the consumer-products company Ingram Industries, in Nashville, and a director of the technology…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
$100-million grant to immunize kids reflects desire to bridge rich-poor gap Microsoft founder Bill Gates has stepped up his philanthropy in recent weeks, providing the clearest window yet into how he will fulfill his longstanding pledge to give away the vast majority of his immense fortune. ALSO…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor
Fund Seeks to Aid Russian Scientists
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, has announced a $6-million grant to try to reinvigorate scientific research by young Russian scholars. The grant is a part of what the foundation and the Russian government hope will become a $60-million project to help stem, over the…
$53-Million Fund Started in Massachusetts
A $53-million foundation devoted to improving the health of people in central Massachusetts has been created as part of the sale of a non-profit health-maintenance organization to a for-profit company. The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, based in Worcester, will begin to distribute…
Ohio Giving Trends Reported in Study
Ohio residents appear to be among the least philanthropic in the nation, says a new report by the Donors Forum of Ohio, a membership group of grant makers in the Buckeye State. Ohio households that filed itemized federal tax returns in 1996, the most recent year for which data are available,…
$1.5-Billion Fund Aims to Deter Smoking
The multistate tobacco settlement that became final last week will create a $1.5-billion fund to finance anti-smoking efforts. But many health-care leaders worry that conditions placed on the fund will keep it from being effective. According to terms of the settlement, signed by five tobacco…
Donor Augments Pledge to Arizona Law School by $50-Million; Other Gifts
Several non-profit organizations have received big gifts. * James E. Rogers, owner of Sunbelt Communications, in Las Vegas, has promised an additional $50-million to the University of Arizona’s College of Law. The gift brings his total commitment to the college to $100-million. Mr. Rogers increased…
White House Names 6 ‘Points of Light’ Recipients
Following are the people and organizations that have most recently been named to receive President Clinton’s Daily Points of Light Award. The awards, which are given to those who have done exemplary volunteer work, take their name from President Bush’s description of people who do community service…
Giving by Rich Rises to 8% of Income
The wealthiest Americans gave, on average, 8 per cent of their after-tax income to charity last year, according to a new study. That’s up from an average of 5 per cent in 1993, the study found. ALSO SEE:Giving and Volunteering by the Nation’s Wealthy Most of the people surveyed for the study said…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Big Companies Increase Gifts of Cash and Products by 20%, Study Finds
Many of the nation’s biggest companies increased their charitable donations by an average of 20 per cent last year, according to a new study by the Conference Board. ALSO SEE:Corporate Philanthropy, 1997 But they expect increases to slow down significantly in coming years. Gifts are expected to…
By Susan Gray
Contributor
At a Glance: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
History: Originally established as the Johnson Foundation in 1936 by Robert Wood Johnson, who was the son and nephew of the three men who founded Johnson & Johnson. Mr. Johnson built the company into the world’s largest health- and medical-care-products conglomerate. Mr. Johnson, who died in 1968,…
3 ‘Core Commitments’ Guide Robert Wood Johnson Fund
In 1943, Robert Wood Johnson, creator of the foundation that bears his name, wrote a one-page document for Johnson & Johnson saying how he ranked the importance of the company’s constituencies. ALSO SEE:Instilling Health CompetitionCare at School Health Clinics Flourishes, but Foundation Support…
Care at School Health Clinics Flourishes, but Foundation Support Dwindles
Scott Ramsey is leading the typical life of a freshman at North Carolina State University: He’s studying hard and making sure to leave plenty of time for his favorite athletic activity -- roller hockey. But that doesn’t mean he or his family have forgotten that he nearly died when he was a junior…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
Instilling Healthy Competition
Overhaul at Robert Wood Johnson designed to freshen its programs Throughout the eight years that Steven A. Schroeder has been president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation here, he has kept on his desk a framed quotation that reads: “Nothing so gives the illusion of intelligence as personal…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor