A Majority of Wealthy Americans Increase Gifts to Charity as Stocks Keep Soaring
More than three-quarters of the wealthiest Americans, most of whom have scored big gains in the roaring U.S. stock market of the 1990s, say they have become more inclined to give to charity as a result, according to a new report. About 70 per cent of the people surveyed said they would continue to…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
Carnegie’s ‘Wealth’: Passages That Inspired William Simon
William Simon, former U. S. Treasury Secretary, says his philanthropy has been significantly influenced by Andrew Carnegie’s “Wealth” essay, published in 1889. Following are some excerpts that Mr. Simon says hold importance for him: On Avoiding Extravagances This, then, is held to be the duty of…
New Era Founder Took Comfort-and Cash-From Former Treasury Secretary
When the Foundation for New Era Philanthropy collapsed in 1995, former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, who lost $3-million in the scheme, wasn’t bitter. Instead, the multimillionaire businessman says his first impulse was to figure out why New Era founder John G. Bennett, Jr., had gone…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
At a Glance: The William E. Simon Foundation
History: Established in 1967 by the businessman and former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon to support programs that are intended to strengthen the free-enterprise system and the moral and spiritual values on which it rests. Purpose and areas of support: To assist those in need by providing…
Simon Said to Help Others, and His 7 Children Have Done So
As his seven children grew up, the philanthropist and former Treasury Secretary William E. Simon worked hard to teach them how to do good works. Now he is giving his two sons and five daughters the same task on a larger scale: helping him distribute more than $350-million to charity in the coming…
Another Soros Plans to Give It All Away
When Paul Soros came to the United States from Hungary in 1948, he had $1,500 and little else. Though he had been accepted into engineering programs at Columbia and Harvard Universities, among others, he couldn’t figure out how to pay tuition and still have enough left over to get by. So he ended…
By MARINA DUNDJERSKI
Contributor
For students at AileyCamp, learning how to dance is but one goal. The free six-week day camp, which is operated by the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Company of New York, gives disadvantaged children ages 11 to 14 the opportunity to learn self-discipline and build their self-esteem by immersing…
Giving Away a Personal Treasury
William Simon works to insure quick disbursement of his fortune William E. Simon, the former Treasury Secretary and a long-time apostle of conservative politics, approaches the AIDS patient in the small room at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center in East Harlem. Mr. Simon quietly prays,…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
FOUNDATION FOR THE CAROLINAS 1043 East Morehead Street, Suite 100 Charlotte, N.C. 28204 (704) 376-9541 World-Wide Web: http://www.fftc.org Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997. Finances (in millions) 1996 1997 Assets $164.9 $195.2 Net contributions 24.4 36.4 Other revenue 17.0 22.3…
‘Giving USA’ Revises Donation Figures Downward to Correct Past Flaws
Americans are not necessarily as generous as they have been previously portrayed in Giving USA, the widely cited annual report on charitable giving. This year’s edition, released last week by the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel Trust for Philanthropy, says that in each year of the past…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Legal Fight Imperils $450-Million in Bequests
A legal battle over an Omaha woman’s will could cost non-profit groups in New York and Nebraska about $450-million in bequests. Mildred Topp Othmer, who died in April, pledged almost all of her estate to charity in a 1988 will. But a niece who served as Ms. Othmer’s caretaker, Mary D. Seina, has…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
Leukemia Fund Raiser Among 16 Honored as ‘Points of Light’
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…
Family Pledges $20-Million to Jacksonville U.; Other Gifts
Two universities and a college will receive big gifts. * The family of the late J. E. Davis, co-founder of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain, has pledged $20-million to Jacksonville University, in Florida, for a new business school and to convert the current business school into a student union. The…
Giving by Millionaires Explored in Study
A vast majority of Midwest millionaires make regular donations to charity, but most of them give away far less than 1 per cent of their total assets annually, according to a survey conducted for the Mercantile Trust Company in St. Louis. Among the 312 people surveyed in nine states -- Arkansas,…
$15-Million Fund Created at Harvard
Five women have helped to establish a $15-million fund at Harvard University to encourage other women to make substantial gifts. Women who donate $25,000 or more to Harvard’s current $2.1-billion capital campaign will be eligible to have their gifts matched by the new fund. Each gift will be…