Is the Giving Pledge Living Up to Its Potential?
Only 13 percent of U.S. billionaires have signed the Giving Pledge, and almost 80 percent of the original signers’ gifts have gone toward their foundations.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
8 Things a Mega-Donor Did Right to Engineer a ‘Miracle’
How $160 million from Netscape pioneer Jim Barksdale — a newcomer to social-change philanthropy — helped make schools in his native Mississippi a source of pride, not shame.
By Drew Lindsay
Senior Editor, Special Projects
Abigail Disney: The Philanthropist
The philanthropist is using her “weird voice and weird position” as an heir to the Disney fortune to challenge rich Americans who are afraid to step up.
By Sara Herschander
Contributor
Depression Research Gets Big Boost From Steel Magnate’s $40 Million Gift
Plus, Amway heirs gave $20 million to Northwood University, medical students in Ellsworth, Kan., will benefit from a $15 million donation, and a $10 million gift will support budding lawyers pursuing public service careers.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Why Elon Musk’s $34 Billion Loss Wasn’t Really That
What it tells us about the philanthropy of the ultra-wealthy.
By Tobias Jung
Contributor
Leonard Lauder, Philanthropist Who Globalized Family Cosmetic Business, Dies at Age 92
His giving centered on the arts, education, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and breast cancer.
By Anne D'Innocenzio
AP Retail Writer
Lurie Family Gives $50 Million to Back Autism Research
Plus, Vassar College received $28 million for its music programs, a Chicago art collector sold her collection to back quantum science, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center got $50 million.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
In Praise of ‘Old Philanthropy’
A Chronicle op-ed wrongly dismisses the contributions of Carnegie and others, a reader writes.
Colgate U. Lands $105 Million for Student Housing Campus
Plus, the widow of the founder of Cintas gave the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra $60 million, and the Heinz History Center and two universities received big gifts.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
MIT and Other Institutions to Share $90 Million Gift
Plus, construction projects at three universities attracted more than $35 million from private donors, and nursing students at an HBCU will benefit from a $1 million windfall.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Don’t Shut It Down, Bill! Why the Gates Foundation Should Outlive Its Endowment.
Bill Gates is right to accelerate giving but wrong to close one of the most effective private funding institutions on the planet.
By Buzz Schmidt
Contributor
Abigail Disney Urges Donors to Be Braver About Giving
Donors and the leaders of major foundations and nonprofits should be willing to shoulder more risk, she says, especially at a time when more are fearful about speaking their minds.
By Glenn Gamboa
AP Business Writer
Houston Couple Gives $150 Million to Launch Pediatric Cancer Center
Plus, Georgetown University received $25 million for its nursing school, and the National Constitution Center got a $15 million donation to celebrate the founding of the United States, and the donor is loaning a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution and a document that led to the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
Readers Respond to Gates Wind-Down With Calls for Change
Two philanthropy leaders weigh in on the foundation’s announcement that it will close.
Is Bill Gates’s Long Goodbye a Win for Trust-Based Philanthropy?
The foundation’s planned closure marks the end of the once-celebrated era of expert-driven giving.
By Leslie Lenkowsky
Contributor
N.Y. Couple Gives $125 Million to Help Israeli Medical Students
Plus, USC Shoah Foundation landed $30 million to endow the Holocaust remembrance organization’s efforts to collect and preserve thousands of Holocaust survivor testimonies from around the world, and the Library of Congress received $20 million to purchase a rare 17th century viola for its collection.
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor