Weekly News Recap: August 18, 2017

The 1,500 riders taking part in this year's event gather at Winsport in Calgary's northwest prior to the start of the ride. (Ride to Conquer Cancer)

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. — Will Durant

News

  • Charlottesville (AFP) AFP's interim president, Jason Lee, with AFP's message about Charlottesville. "I want to be clear that individuals who preach hate and intolerance, like those seen in Charlottesville, will never be welcome at AFP. That repulsive stance has no place here." Amen. 8/16/17
  • A New Narrative for Canadian Fundraising (AFP) CANADIAN STORY "During the recent Canadian Leadership Retreat, Ian MacQuillin, director of Rogare, the fundraising think tank at the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University, presented a paper prepared for AFP about developing a new way to talk about fundraising." AFP Canada Board Chair Scott Decksheimer shares his thoughts on this narrative, our emerging role, and how we are not immune to the changing times. 8/15/17
  • Ride to Conquer Cancer raises $6.7M in Alberta (CBC) ALBERTA STORY "The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, underway this weekend in and around Calgary, says it raised $6.7 million for the Alberta Cancer Foundation this year. According to organizers, 1,500 riders are participating in the annual fundraiser, now in its ninth year." Great event. Great cause. Great work folks! 8/12/17

Family philanthropy

Life and career hacks

  • Hyperbolic discounting: Why you make terrible life choices (Psychology of Stuff) "Hyperbolic discounting is a cognitive bias, where people choose smaller, immediate rewards rather than larger, later rewards — and this occurs more when the delay is closer to the present than the future." You know...that thing almost all of us do especially when a big deadline is looming. Some good tips on how to resist this bias. 8/2/17
  • Visual sugar (uxdesign.cc) Like the food industry, the design industry has its own version of sugar. We need to stop using sugar, in our food and also, in our design. 7/26/17
  • 43 Bulletpoints On Personal Productivity (Medium) I have read hundreds of these lists. It takes a really special approach to surprise me with some new thinking. Mike's list is pretty special #14 is very intriguing and, of course, #36 goes without saying. 7/22/17

Uncommon knowledge

Philanthropic personalities

  • Gates Makes Largest Donation Since 2000 With $5 Billion Gift (Bloomberg) "Bill Gates made his largest single gift since the turn of the century, giving away Microsoft Corp. shares that accounted for 5 percent of his fortune, the world’s biggest. The billionaire donated 64 million of the software maker’s shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [The] shares were valued at $4.6 billion at the time." Nice one Bill. Again. 8/14/17

Trends and shifts

  • People less likely to open charity marketing emails (Third Sector) Along with emails related to publishing and finance, emails from charities in the UK have a very low open rate. The report identifies that "there may be too many irrelevant or poorly targeted emails from these categories". Thanks to Ron Bailey for sharing this post. 8/15/17
  • Inside a Funder Collaborative Seeking Social Justice Through Pop Culture (Inside Philanthropy) Popular culture has a role to play in social change. A $25 million fund, the Pop Culture Collaborative, has been established by a cadre of funders including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, the General Service Foundation, and the JPB Foundation. The goal: to achieve culture change through the entertainment field. 8/10/17
  • Trends and Challenges in Global Civil Society - An Interview with CIVICUS (Imagine Canada) This is a recent interview with the Secretary General of CIVICUS, a global NGO. "There’s been a particular reliance on charities in the Anglo-Saxon world, ever since Britain’s Charitable Uses Act of 1601, there’s been this notion that the registered charity has this special status. And that’s been this amazing model used around the world especially in Britain’s former colonies, but what’s being increasingly realized is that charities don’t have the monopoly on social change and never did." 7/28/17

Large gifts

  • Shelter gets $1M donation (Illinois Homepage.net) It is not too often that we see gifts of this size to shelters. Nice work Mr. Buffet. "Dove Inc. now has $1 million more in the bank thanks to the Howard Buffett Foundation. The foundation gives millions to different organizations every year. Buffett Heard Dove had been struggling, so he stepped in to help." 8/15/17

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