$20 Million Gift Aids Cancer Care at New Orleans Hospital
Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans received the donation Tuesday from Tom Benson, owner of the Saints football team and Pelicans basketball team, and his wife, Gayle, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate write.
Walton Foundation Grants $50 Million to Teach for America
The gift will go toward sustaining the work of the teacher-training nonprofit in Southern California and expand nationwide, the Los Angeles Times reports. The funds will support 4,000 instructors over the next three years, 20 percent of whom will work in the foundation’s home state of Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta region.
David Rubenstein Gives $20 Million to N.J. Academic Center
The billionaire financier’s donation will support construction of a new building at the Institute for Advanced Study, a research and academic center in Princeton, N.J., reports The Princeton Packet.
Gifts Roundup: President Obama’s Prep School Gets $10 Million
Other gifts include a $125 million bequest to Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and $50 million to Brown University.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Oxford Draws Fire Over Big 2010 Gift From Putin Ally
As the University of Oxford prepares to move its Blavatnik School of Government into a new home, a group of academics, Russian opposition figures, and former Soviet dissidents are calling on the institution to distance itself from the school’s namesake donor, Russian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik, The Guardian reports.
$20 Million Gift Boosts Mental-Health Studies at University of Calif.
The University of California, San Francisco announced a $20 million donation Wednesday from the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund for research on the neural and genetic underpinnings of mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disease, reports the San Francisco Business Times.
Cultivating Former Donors Helps Small Charities Raise Major Gifts
Fundraising also benefits when staff members get access to more professional development, a new study says.
By HEATHER JOSLYN
Contributor
Blindness Charity Unravels Enigma Behind $125 Million Gift
A San Francisco charity for the vision-impaired will be transformed by a $125 million bequest it received last year from a businessman who was a complete stranger to the organization, Bay Area public radio station KQED reports.
$50-Million Donation Boosts Brown U. Public-Affairs Program
The gift from a consortium of donors will go toward expanding the university’s Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International and Public Affairs, the Providence Journal reports.
Gifts Roundup: Homebuilders, Pizza Makers, and PepsiCo Executive Give Millions
The Ilitch family, who founded Little Caesars, donated $40 million to Wayne State University. Developers Dominic and Frances Moceri gave $10 million to Beaumont Health System.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Saudi Businessman Advocates Nonprofit Entrepreneurship
Amr Al-Dabbagh has donated a large portion of his wealth to charity, and he’s working to pass on what he and others have learned about philanthropy.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Harvard Raises $1 Billion for 2nd Consecutive Year
The university’s fundraising has reached the 10-figure mark in each of the two fiscal years since the public launch of its $6.5-billion capital campaign, Bloomberg writes.
Belo Foundation Commits $30 Million for Dallas Parks
The Belo Foundation announced a $70-million plan Thursday to expand green space in downtown Dallas, with the philanthropy pledging $30 million and retooling to focus on the project, The Dallas Morning News and WFAA television report.
Detroit Foundation Leader Tapped to Head Ralph Wilson Fund
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, which grew into a $1.2-billion fund last year with a bequest from its late namesake, has named veteran Detroit nonprofit executive David O. Egner as its president, The Detroit News reports.
America’s Largest Charities Raised 5% More Last Year; Donor-Advised Funds Won Big
United Way remains No. 1 among U.S. nonprofits that raise the most from private sources, but Fidelity Charitable is just a sliver behind.
By Heather Joslyn
Contributor
Big Nonprofits Capture Increasing Share of Charitable Dollar
The Chronicle’s exclusive annual ranking of the organizations that raised the most private support, which turns 25 this year, shows that upstarts have a hard time breaking into the top tier.
By Drew Lindsay
Senior Editor, Special Projects