Weekly News Recap: August 5, 2016

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Paul McIntyre Royston, president and CEO of the Calgary Public Library Foundation, shows off some new Arts + Culture Passes at Calgary Central Library in Calgary, Alta., on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The pass, available to qualified low-income Calgarians, is "like a library card to the city, except you don't have to return anything," said McIntyre Royston. (Elizabeth Cameron/Postmedia)

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Big ideas

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• The Contradiction at the Heart of Philanthropy Responses and articles on the idea that "the wealth that funds efforts to find solutions to the world’s problems is created and sustained by inequality." These are big ideas and ones that we, as leaders in philanthropy, need to be thinking about. BTW, one of the major funders for research in this area is the Gates Foundation. Refreshingly introspective. (8/1/16)

• How The $50 Billion Dollar Wedding Industry Could Be A Platform For Philanthropy Beats the heck out of getting six toasters. Great idea. I hope it takes off. (7/30/16)

• Rockefeller Fund Takes First Green Stake in Pivot From Oil Funds and foundations like this are taking a stand. It is interesting that the Rockefeller Fund, founded by the family that gave rise to the North American energy industry, is now divesting itself from these investments and is now investing in green energy. (7/28/16)

• A Quick Dive Into the State of Arts-Related Venture Philanthropy Feels a little anti-art to me. "Metrics-crazed millennials aren't particularly jazzed (pun intended) about the arts." (7/28/16)

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News

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• Mel Hurtig — Edmonton bookseller, publisher and activist — dead at 84 I met Mel many times. He is a great Canadian and was an inspiration for me as a young fundraiser. This is a sad day for Mel's family and friends and for Canadian Nationalism. RIP Mr. Hurtig. (8/3/16)

• Red Cross raises $299 million for Fort McMurray wildfire recovery effort This is an update to previous stories. $165 million from individual Canadians, $104 million in matching from the Province of Alberta, $30 million in matching from the Government of Canada. ALBERTA STORY (8/3/16)

• Arts and Culture Pass program expands to all libraries We all deserve access to culture. This program, after several years as a successful pilot, has now been expanded to all Calgary Public Library branches. The unique partnership provides thousands of free tickets at public libraries, allowing low-income Calgarians to attend shows offered by Alberta Ballet, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Theatre Calgary and dozens of other arts groups. This program is made possible by contributions from Sun Life Financial and more than 40 community arts partners who have invested $1 million combined. ViTrēo is proud to be working with the Calgary Public Library. CALGARY STORY (8/2/16)

• Pierre Arpin, CEO of Contemporary Calgary, talks about the future of new organization Welcome to Calgary Pierre. CALGARY STORY (7/30/16)

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Transparency

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• Blumbergs launches charitydata.ca beta website to enhance transparency of Canadian charities Blumbergs has just released a new website with over 10 years T3010 information for each Canadian registered charity. And it's free. (7/27/16)

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Life and career hacks

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• To-Do Lists Are Not the Answer to Getting Things Done I am so tired of spending so much time writing and prioritizing to-do lists. Put it on your calendar. If you can't put it on your calendar, it is likely not going to get done. (7/24/16)

• 15 Tricks to Appear Smart in Emails NOTE: This is humour. Embarrassingly, very embarrassingly, I do some of these . (10/23/14)

• Alibaba Group’s Ant Financial Creates Blockchain Solution for Philanthropy Sector NERD WARNING: Blockchain is the security technlology that makes Bitcoin work. Now thanks to Asia's "Amazon.com", Alibaba, this technology is being used for philanthropic and charitable transactions too. (7/31/16)

• Drowning in a Sea of Information Lots of us will likely identify with many aspects of this article. Some practical solutions too. (6/19/16)

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Philanthropic personalities

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• Veteran Banker, Veteran Philanthropist: A Profile of Henry Arnhold Makes one wonder how many foundations like this one there are in the U.S. Arnhold, who's in his nineties now, has been engaged in philanthropy for years and established the Arnhold Foundation in 1988. The foundation held some $353 million in assets and gave away around $15 million in a recent year. Unfortunately for grantseekers, the Arnhold Foundation doesn't have much of a web presence, or a clear way to get in touch. (8/1/16)

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Philanthropic controversy

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• Appalachian Bible College sues Foremost Industries for not making promised donation I will be watching the outcome of this case with keen interest. Appalachian Bible College is suing Foremost Industries Inc. after it claims the company failed to give a $4 million donation it promised the school. Appalachian claims Foremost is legally obligated to pay the money, since it made the gift agreement. (8/1/16)

• 'Philanthropy' Was $11 Million Scam, Jury Says You have heard it before: If it sounds too good to be true... (7/28/16)

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Large gifts

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• Calgary businessman inspired by Wellspring to help cancer patients Randy O’Dell is giving Wellspring Calgary $4 million to help build a second residence in southeast Calgary. (8/3/16)

• Massive donation helps rid Fort McMurray households of potentially affected smoke and carbon monoxide alarms Now this is targeted giving. Kidde Canada, our largest manufacturer of alarms, has sent $100,000 worth of smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to residents of Fort McMurray. (8/4/16)

• Interlochen Receives $2M Donation For New Waterfront Park The Interlochen Center for the Arts has received a $2 million estate gift from the Dorthy S. Corson, Thomas H. Corson, Jim and Claire (Corson) Skinner, and the Corson Family Foundation to honour the memory of the recently deceased Dorthy S. “Dot” Corson. The Centre is located in Interlochen, Michigan. (8/4/16)

• $11M donation to Hyde Collection adds art, exhibit space This is a lovely story on every level. The gift, which more than doubles the Hyde's holdings of modern art, is from Werner Feibes, 86, who last year gave the Hyde 55 artworks from a collection he assembled over more than half a century with his partner in work and life, the late James Schmitt. The couple of 65 years, were the principals of a Schenectady architectural firm that designed many public buildings, including the city's police headquarters and the main branch of the county public library. They were married in March 2013, two months before Schmitt died at age 87 and have no children or heirs. (8/3/16)

• Rice University lands major donation for Jewish studies, music school Goldye Marian Spain has given $4.1 million to Rice University in her estate. $3.6 million will go to the Jewish studies program with $500,000 going to Rice's Shepherd School of Music. Rice University is in Houston, Texas. (8/2/16)

• $15 million donation to Arkansas Children's Northwest The Tyson family and Tyson Family Foods Inc. have announced a $15 million donation for construction of the new Arkansas Children's Hospital campus in northwestern Arkansas. The money will be used to construct what will be known as the Tyson Family Tower at Arkansas Children's Northwest in Springdale. (8/2/16)

• ‘Jump’ Receives $10 Million Donation The Shepard Endowment for Healthcare Engineering at the Jump Trading and Simulation Center has been given $10 million from founder William Shepard. Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center is a collaboration of OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. (8/1/16)

• Walkers donate $1 million for new institute George “Bert” Walker and his wife Carol have donated $1 million to fund the launch of the new Walker Leadership Institute at Eden Theological Seminary. Their gift will help to bring together business, faith-based and leadership educators to offer a certificate courses, executive-level classes and educational programs, including a Master of Arts in community leadership. (8/1/16)

• Barton College receives record donation Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina, has received a $7.8 million donation from the estate of Emerson Clarence “E.C.” Winstead. The gift will be used for student financial aid. (8/1/16)

• Texas Planned Parenthood Receives Big Donation To Help Cover Birth Control, STD Tests Texas Planned Parenthood has received $2 million from the Boone Family Foundation and the Harold Simmons Foundation. (8/1/16)

• Brownsville Scholars Program kicks off with $1M donation Mike Hernandez III and his wife Kelly donated $1,070,000 to the Texas A&M Foundation. to kick-start this scholars program that will see 10 Brownsville area students annually attend Texas A&M. (7/28/16)

• Unprecedented $70M donation to cut Kalamazoo property taxes by a third Canada and the U.S. share many philanthropic values. That said, can you even imagine this type of gift being given to a Canadian municipality to cut property taxes? Kalamazoo is located in Michigan. (7/28/16)

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