Weekly News Recap: June 10, 2016

This little cutie stepped up to sell Hospitals' Lottery tickets for the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. (RDRH Foundation Hospitals’ Lottery)

Required reading

Demanding That Nonprofits Not Pay For Overhead Is Preventing Them From Doing Good This is a terrific article. Should be required reading by every nonprofit leader and every major donor."...the idea that overhead is 'a proxy for effectiveness or efficiency and it’s neither.'" Thanks to Andrea McManus for sharing this link. (6/1/16)

Philanthropic personalities

Financier Named Carnegie Hall’s First Black Board Chair Love it. Robert Smith, a private-equity billionaire who has recently begun raising his philanthropic profile, was recently elected as chairman of the board of Carnegie Hall. (6/3/16)

Mazumdar-Shaw Joins ‘Giving Pledge,’ Commits Majority of Wealth to Philanthropy I am so pleased to see the 'Giving Pledge' being further extended out into the world. The Giving Pledge, a global initiative created by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates to encourage billionaires to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes, now has a total of 154 signatories from 16 countries. (6/3/16)

Studies and stats

The impact of philanthropic donations by high net worth individuals is often not assessed "86 percent...of high net worth donors say that the impact of philanthropic donations is important but only 50 percent are currently measuring their effectiveness." Like many things we don't do but should do, more rigour is needed here. (6/6/16)

News

Alberta charities struggling as donations flow to Fort McMurray This is the inevitable tension when a disaster happens and funds start (as they must) to be directed to the area of greatest need. Fort McMurray still needs our help but, in terms of wildfire disaster support, it likely has enough money ALBERTA STORY (6/9/16)

University of Calgary paid $20K in ransomware attack Unbelievable. "Ransomware attacks are becoming an increasing problem in what the university called 'a disturbing global trend of highly sophisticated and malicious malware attacks against organizations including NASA, law enforcement agencies and large health-care institutions.'" CALGARY STORY (6/7/16)

Andrew Watt Abruptly Leaves Fundraisers’ Group Andrew Watt has been a tremendous leader for AFP. We will miss him and we wish him all the best. (6/7/16)

Baby boomers under 75 set to inherit $750B in next decade, CIBC says This is important to note but, before we get excited, we have heard this before... CANADIAN STORY (6/6/16)

The City’s philanthropic heritage is a powerful draw for values-led millennials This is an article by the Lord Mayor of London, Jeffrey Mountevans, who is promoting a major philanthropic initiative for London called City Philanthropy. In case you were as confused as I was about this guy being the Mayor of London, the elected Mayor of London (the greater metropolitan area) is actually Sadiq Khan (recently elected as London's first muslim mayor). Jeffrey Montevans, in contrast, has been appointed Lord Mayor of London, the city and county within greater London. Still confused? Me too. But, the article is interesting anyway. (6/6/16)

Portland Architect Brad Cloepfil Normally Designs Museums – Now He's Featured In One Nice to see our National Music Centre showcased as part of Brad's exhibit in Portland. CALGARY CONNECTION (6/4/16)

The Ultimate in Contest Philanthropy: MacArthur Foundation’s $100 Million Jackpot $100 million for the best proposal to measurably solve a problem facing people, places or the planet. The competition is called 100&change. Would love to hear your thoughts on prizes in philanthropy. (6/3/16)

Fort McMurray food bank usage expected to double Well now. Not surprised. Glad we gave to them and to the Red Cross. ALBERTA STORY (6/3/16)

Traditional Charities Dip Into Digital to Draw Millennials We're inching closer and closer to the tipping point where online solicitation strategies will rival mainstream approaches. United Way and the American Red Cross are already making the switch. (6/2/16)

University of Montreal to present honorary doctorates to Brian Mulroney, Elizabeth Cannon, and Calvin Carl Gotlieb UofC President Elizabeth Cannon received an honourary degree from the University of Montreal on June 3. Congratulations Elizabeth. CANADIAN STORY (6/1/16)

Trends and shifts

Email Design Trends of 2016 (so far) Who knew? Who cares? I didn't and, as it turns out, now I do. Great ideas for jazzing up your email marketing. (6/1/16)

Life and career hacks

24 things all extremely self-aware people know and do Terrific list. I found the difference between "very" and "too" enlightening. How self-aware are you? (6/9/16)

There’s only one way to guarantee success “Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.” This is an eight minute read. Worth all 480 seconds. (5/10/16)

A Short Guide To Feedback This is a great guide. Tact, as Winston Churchill said, "...is the ability to tell someone to go to Hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip." (4/30/16)

The Orange Juice Test This is fantastic. Such a simple but important concept you can apply to choosing any service. (3/6/16)

Large gifts

Conexus proposes move to U of R College Avenue campus As part of this proposal, Conexus will contribute $8.25 million to a renewal fund. Conexus Credit Union is based in Regina and was the largest credit union in Saskatchewan at the end of 2015. CANADIAN STORY (6/8/16)

The Walt Disney Company Announces $3 Million (RMB 20 Million) Donation to Create Play Spaces in Children's Hospitals Across China To celebrate the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort, The Walt Disney Company is making a $3.1 million gift to China's children's hospitals. Nice touch Disney. Walt would be proud. (6/8/16)

Anonymous donation sparks $4.5 million NDSU entrepreneurship endowment A $3 million anonymous gift has been matched by a $1.5 million gift from the State of North Dakota. These funds will be used to establish a chair in entrepreneurship at North Dakota State University in Fargo. (6/8/16)

Carnival Foundation's $2.5 Million Donation Helps The Nature Conservancy Launch Online Atlas, Protect and Manage Conservation Efforts in the Caribbean Yes, this is the cruise line company. They are making a commitment to protecting our planet's seas and oceans. Makes perfect sense to me. Congratulations Carnival! (6/7/16)

Youngstown State receives $1 million donation to help create new multimedia center Don Constantini is donating $1 million to help create a multimedia center at Youngstown State University in Ohio. Mr. Constantini is a board member on the Youngstown State Univeristy Foundation (6/7/16)

ODU gets largest donation in school history — $35 million — for new art museum Richard and Carolyn Barry have made this gift to Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia to help build 24,000-square-foot art museum. (6/7/16)

Community Foundation for Marquette County receives $1.1 million donation Every gift has a donor and every donor has a story. This gift, from the estate of recently deceased Colonel Bernadette Reider, is directed to scholarships in to graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue a nursing degree. Col. Reider was a U.S. Army combat nurse in three wars: World War II, The Korean War, and The Vietnam War. I would have loved to have met her. (6/3/16)

Temple Receives $5 Million Donation Trustee Leonard Barrack and his wife Lynne have donated $5 million to support scholarships at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University in Philadelphia. (6/2/16)

Welcome to our recap of the week's news, articles, and information of note. ViTreo Group Inc. provides this information for the benefit of our clients, associates, staff, partners, and stakeholders. The content is collected and curated by ViTreo partner Vincent Duckworth. If you would like to submit a link for consideration, please send an email to info@vitreogroup.ca

The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by ViTreo Group Inc. of the linked web sites, or the information, products or services contained therein. ViTreo Group does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. All links are provided with the intent of meeting the mission of the ViTreo Group Inc. Please let us know about existing external links which you believe are inappropriate.

Vincent DuckworthJune 10, 2016Red Deer Regional Health Foundation, Red Deer, Alberta, Fort McMurray, Overhead, Carnegie Hall, Robert Smith, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Giving Pledge, Biocon, Healthcare, Billionaires, Ransomware, Andrew Watt, AFP, Baby boomers, CIBC, CBC, London, Jeffrey Mountevans, England, Brad Cloepfil, National Music Centre, Portland, Oregan, MacArthur Foundation, 100&change, Fort McMurray Food Bank, Red Cross, American Red Cross, Millennials, millennial philanthropy, Brian Mulroney, Elizabeth Cannon, Calvin Carl Gotlieb, Email Design, Design trends, design, Email Marketing, Feedback, Conexus, Regina, Disney, China, North Dakota, North Dakota State University, Carnival Foundation, Caribbean, Don Constantini, Richard Barry, Carolyn Barry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Community Foundation for Marquette County, Colonel Bernadette Reider, Korean War, Nurse, Leonard Barrack, Lynne Barrack, Beasley School of Law, PhiladelphiaComment