Weekly News Recap: September 15, 2017

Shoeshine guy Pat Dardano sits with longtime customer Randy Haatvedt, who in 2012 donated a kidney to Dardano. (Kidney Foundation of Canada)

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. -- Bruce Lee

Canada, eh.

  • Lost in translation: Study on Canadian slang draws strange dividing lines (CBC) CANADIAN STORY Bunnyhugs, sneakers, soccer baseball, pop; the list goes on. These regional differences are what make our country great. I love each and every one of them. And, when I visit my relatives in Saskatchewan, I don't ask what's for dinner when I really mean what's for supper. 9/12/17

AFP Canada News

  • AFP Canada Board of Directors 2018 Nominations (AFP Canada News) CANADIAN CONTENT Want to make a difference in the fundraising profession in Canada? Consider nominating yourself or someone you know to the AFP Canada Board of Directors. Nominations are open through November 3, 2017. 9/12/17

Inspiring

Harvey and Now Irma - Week 3

  • Panthers, Lightning pitch in on NHL's $2.7M donation to Hurricane Irma relief (Sporting News) "The NHL and NHLPA on Tuesday announced a joint donation of $2.7 million to be distributed to various unspecified organizations across the state, including the affected NHL communities of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa Bay. George Richards of the Miami Herald reported the Panthers accounted for $1 million of that donation." 9/12/17
  • Humana Foundation donates $1M to Hurricane Irma relief (Courier Journal) "The Humana Foundation announced Monday that it is donating $1 million to the American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Irma relief efforts." The Humana Foundation was established in 1981 as the philanthropic arm of Humana Inc. 9/11/17
  • Qulacomm announces $1M donation to Irma relief (CBS) "The San Diego-based Qualcomm Foundation announced a $1 million donation for disaster relief associated with Hurricane Irma, the massive storm approaching Florida. The donation is going to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy of Washington, D.C., for long-term recovery [efforts]." 9/8/17
  • H-E-B CEO Gives $5 Million to JJ Watt’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund (Wide Open Country) "H-E-B CEO Charles Butt has been going above and beyond to help out the people of Texas when they need it most. In a real show of Texan hospitality, his latest act of kindness is personally donating a whopping $5 million to the JJ Watt hurricane relief fund." 9/7/17

News

  • 'I will not sign:' Nenshi against Creative Calgary's funding ask (Metro) CALGARY STORY "I'm very pleased with their initiative, I'm very pleased with what they're doing, I will not sign the pledge in its current form," said Nenshi. "As I've said from the very beginning, I don't believe in input-based measures." 9/11/17

Canadian History

Life and career hacks

  • Look elsewhere (Signal v. Noise) Some simple but effective suggestions on where to look for inspiration. 9/8/17
  • How to Avoid Focus-Stealing Traps (Taking Note) A great primer on how attention and concentration work. Now, if I could just put more of this into practice... 8/27/17

Sports philanthropy

  • Sports Team Philanthropy: A Closer Look in One City (Inside Philanthropy) An interesting look at the emerging trend of sports philanthropy (i.e. giving by athletes and sports franchises) with a focus on the Philadelphia Eagles. Worth a read for any of us who receive (or want to receive) funding from our local sports teams. 9/7/17

Philanthropic personalities

  • Data Sheet—Talking With Tim Cook About Apple as a Force for Good (Fortune) "'We’re here to put a dent in the universe,' Steve Jobs once famously said. 'Otherwise why else even be here?' If ever a company was self-consciously focused on making an impact on the world — changing the world, in the argot of the annual list FORTUNE has just published — it is Apple." 9/11/17

Opinion

  • The NonProfit Sector Must Move From Transaction to Collaboration (NewCo Shift) We don’t see enough writing on the nonprofit sector on Medium (hmmm...maybe I should write something). The erosion of mission to focus on justifying the spend has been a disturbing trend in recent years. We need to do both of course but mission and money can co-exist...if both parties focus on what needs to be accomplished vs. metrics that detail arbitrary or artificial outcomes. 9/12/17
  • Op Ed: Research and critical thinking (Hillborn: Charity eNews) Great reminder from Cathy Mann about how important it is, especially today, that we back up our fundraising practice with solid research. 9/6/17

Trends and shifts

  • International Survey Reveals Trends, Preferences and Habits behind Philanthropic Giving Worldwide (AFP eWire) I find these results extremely surprising but perhaps I am missing something. I know that online giving is on the rise but "overwhelmingly prefer"? "Donors around the world overwhelmingly prefer to give online, according to the 2017 Global Trends in Giving Report, published by Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit operator of the .org, .ngo and .ong domains, and Nonprofit Tech for Good." 9/13/17

Large gifts

  • Four Generations of Philanthropy behind BU’s Largest Gift (BU Today) "When Rajen Kilachand came to Boston University in September 1971, he was impressed by the quality of US higher education. He was equally impressed, he recalls, by how much that quality appeared to depend on gifts from wealthy donors. Four-and-a-half decades later, with his latest gift to Boston University, a $115 million commitment to research at the intersection of the life sciences and engineering, Kilachand approaches the ranks of those historic architects of higher education." 9/14/17
  • GU Press Release, $373 million donation from Siemens PLM Software (Your Erie) "Gannon University has received an in-kind product life-cycle management software grant with an estimated commercial value of $373 million from Siemens, a global technology company. The grant will make it possible for Gannon engineering students to use the same technology in its classrooms that companies worldwide depend on to design some of today’s most sophisticated products." Gannon University is a private, co-educational Catholic university located in Erie, Pennsylvania. 9/13/17
  • UNC performing arts receives largest art donation with $12M (WRAL.com) "The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received its largest single donation for the performing arts, with a $12 million endowment to the university's PlayMakers Repertory Company and Department of Dramatic Art. [The] university announced the gift from Chapel Hill philanthropist Joan H. Gillings [...]." 9/12/17
  • ProAssurance donates $1.5M to UAB School of Medicine (Idaho Statesman) "One of Birmingham's corporate giants has given a $1.5 million donation to the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Medicine. ProAssurance, in a news release, says it is giving the money to establish the ProAssurance Endowed Chair for Physician Wellness, an academic chair that will support a research team that will address stress and pressure issues that doctors face." 9/9/17
  • IBM commits $240 million to fund an MIT A.I. lab (CNBC) "IBM on Wednesday said it will spend $240 million to open a Watson-branded artificial intelligence research lab in collaboration with a long-time partner, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology." 9/7/17
  • School of Social Work receives historic donation (The Daily Texan) This is a terrific gift. Social work is a critical piece of our civil infrastructure yet it is often relegated to the 'back of the philanthropy bus'. "The School of Social Work [at the University of Texas at Austin] was renamed the Steve Hicks School of Social Work on Wednesday, celebrating the $25 million donation from the UT System Board of Regents Vice Chairman R. Steven Hicks. The donation will provide a total of $15 million for social work student scholarships and $10 million for education in fields like addiction recovery [...]." 9/6/17

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