Big Gifts Top $4 Billion So Far This Year
Donors have given $700 million more than at this time last year, according to a Chronicle tally; the wealthiest people have been especially generous.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Philanthropist Backs Effort to Train Fundraisers Like Salespeople
Some are put off by the approach, but Denny Sanford says the world of sales offers valuable lessons in how to treat donors.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Dallas Hospital Gets $25 Million to Link Research and Care
Businesswoman Lyda Hill’s gift to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center will establish a Department of Bioinformatics to analyze large data sets and apply the findings to developing new treatments, the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Business Journal write.
Case Study: How One Food Bank Gives Wealthy Donors Just Enough Information
From its annual report to short and simple “Mission Moments,” Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida keeps its donors up-to-date in the ways they prefer.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Car-Rental Mogul Gives $92.5 Million to St. Louis Groups
Enterprise founder Jack Taylor and his family have announced $92.5 million in gifts Wednesday to 13 mostly St. Louis-based cultural institutions and charities, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, including donations of $30 million and $25 million to support St. Louis’s biggest park and most iconic monument.
What Could $400 Million Harvard Gift Accomplish Elsewhere?
In the wake of John Paulson’s $400 million donation last week to endow Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at the impact such a gift could have at other institutions.
Watch the recording of a live video discussion with the official who led the research, a top executive at the Giving USA Foundation, and other fundraising authorities.
Alumni Couple Gives Holy Cross $32.5 for Sports Facilities
The donation from John Luth and Joanne Chouinard-Luth, who dated while studying at the College of Holy Cross but did not marry until 40 years later, will support renovation of the Worcester, Mass., campus’s aging athletics facilities, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Gallup Owners Donate $30-Million to U. of Nebraska-Lincoln
The pledge from the family that heads research and management-consulting company Gallup will establish an institute devoted to the field of “strengths psychology” pioneered by their late patriarch, Don Clifton, reports the Lincoln Journal Star.
Gifts Roundup: $400 Million to Harvard University for Engineering School
Also included is a $23 million gift to the Higley Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Cleveland Foundation.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Harvard Draws Megagifts With Move Into Naming Rights
Long an exception to the higher-education trend of big donors’ names adorning academic departments, Harvard is attracting unprecedented donations after reversing course, writes Boston.com.
How Much Have the Estates of Giving Pledge Signers Actually Given?
As 10 more billionaire families join the Giving Pledge to devote at least half their fortunes to philanthropy, Bloomberg examines how much has gone to charity from signers who have died.
$50 Million Gift to Build Mental-Health Center in San Francisco
The University of California at San Francisco’s recently opened hospital in the city’s Mission Bay district has received the anonymous $50 million contribution, reports San Francisco Business Times.
Football-Coach Endowment Part of $35 Million Notre Dame Gift
Ten million dollars from the donation by alumnus and rea- estate investor Richard Corbett will endow the post of Corbett Family Head Football Coach, with $25 million going toward a new academic building, the South Bend Tribune writes.
Gates Foundation Commits $776 Million for Work on Hunger
The six-year spending plan announced Thursday by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation doubles the philanthropy’s commitment on tacking hunger and will focus on improving nutrition for women and children, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reports.
IKEA to Give $445 Million-Plus to Combat Climate Change
The furniture giant and its foundation announced a commitment Thursday to give to efforts that help poor countries cope with the effects of global warming, Reuters reports.