Weekly News Recap: September 30, 2022

Weekly News Recap: September 30, 2022

Kim Ruse, CEO with the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter, announced the domestic violence agency is being renamed FearIsNotLove during a press conference at the Central Library on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. Gavin Young/Postmedia

The road we travel is equal in importance to the destination we seek. There are no shortcuts. When it comes to truth and reconciliation we are forced to go the distance. -- Justice Murray Sinclair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

SOME GOOD NEWS

  • US installs record solar capacity as prices keep falling (arsTechnica) This is terrific news! "[The] US Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab released its annual analysis of solar energy in the US. It found that nearly half the generating capacity was installed in the US during 2021 and is poised to dominate future installs. That's in part because costs have dropped by more than 75 percent since 2010; it's now often cheaper to build and operate a solar plant than it is to simply buy fuel for an existing natural gas plant."

  • Cancer-killing virus shows promise in patients (BBC) #TheHumbleColdSore "A new type of cancer therapy that uses a common virus to infect and destroy harmful cells is showing big promise in early human trials, say UK scientists. One patient's cancer vanished, while others saw their tumours shrink. The drug is a weakened form of the cold sore virus - herpes simplex - that has been modified to kill tumours."

  • A boy with cancer hoped to see monsters. Hundreds of strangers showed up in costume. (Washington Post) HAMILTON STORY #GrabATissue "Alexandros Hurdakis was less than a year old when his parents received a devastating diagnosis: Their baby had brain cancer. It was the most harrowing news they could have imagined, until two weeks ago, when the Hurdakises were told there was nothing more doctors could do to save their son, now 5. The treatments that kept him alive for the past four years were failing, doctors explained, and Alexandros — who goes by Alex — had only a few weeks, or perhaps even days, to live. Alex still wanted to fight the disease. [...] Alex’s parents wanted to make his remaining time as meaningful as possible. They asked him if there was anything that he still wished to experience. His response: Halloween. Specifically, he wanted to see monsters. [...] Tzouanakis Anderson expected 300 people to attend, at most. But as the evening progressed, 'probably close to 1,000 people showed up,' she said."

  • Toronto Blue Jays' Alek Manoah awarded $100K 'sportsmanship sponsorship' for defending teammate online (CTV)TORONTO STORY #Brilliant "After standing up for his teammate following a bout of online bullying, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah has been awarded Dove Men+Care’s first ‘sponsorship for sportsmanship.' The sponsorship, which will be officially awarded to Manoah before Tuesday's game against the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre, comes with proceeds of $100,000 to be donated to charity."

  • Calgary's recovery rate for stolen bikes improving, police say (CBC) CALGARY STORY Maybe there is hope for my three bikes stolen during Covid. #Hopeful "When Tom Brodrovics's $10,000 mountain bike disappeared from his Calgary garage, he thought it was gone for good. Stories about stolen bikes don't usually have a happy ending, and his had been taken without a trace. 'It doesn't feel good … when you see something that you use every day, and there's a lot of feeling attached to it, and it's gone,' he said. Brodrovics called the police, but he was already resigned to the bike's fate, and remembers thinking: 'We're not going to ever see it again.' But on Monday, about a month after it was taken, Brodrovics received a call from a constable who described a bike they'd found — and it was his. [...] Back in 2019, for example, police were returning only 12 per cent of stolen bikes to owners. Now they say the recovery rate for stolen bikes has more than doubled to 30 per cent, and they're using proactive investigations to find them."

  • 'We have impact!' NASA slams spacecraft into asteroid in unprecedented test (CBC) Glad to see this happening. "A NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid at blistering speed [...] in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic grand slam happened 11.3 million kilometres away, with the spacecraft — the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) — plowing into the rock at 22,500 km/h. Scientists expected the impact to carve out a crater, hurl streams of rocks and dirt into space and, most importantly, alter the asteroid's orbit."

  • Royal Canadian Mint unveils keepsake to honour residential school survivors and victims, foster reconciliation (CBC) CANADIAN STORY #GoodMove "A special coin-sized keepsake has been minted in Winnipeg to honour residential school survivors and victims, and ensure Canadians never forget the intergenerational impacts of the schools. The Royal Canadian Mint launched the new keepsake during a news conference Thursday, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30. The keepsake 'invites reflection and conversation about the impacts of those schools, the conditions that created them, and how people living in Canada can turn reflection into acts of reconciliation,' a news release from the mint says."

  • The Queen's charitable legacy (nfp Research) "Following the passing of the Queen on 8th September, the outpouring of gratitude and condolences from charities has proven just how great of an impact she made on the sector. Having been patron to 510 charities, and a continuous supporter of over 800, there can be no doubt that she was one of the greatest advocates for philanthropy that the country has had. In fact, during her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, it was revealed that she had raised £1.43 billion for the causes she was patron or president of."

TOP TEN STORIES OF THE WEEK

  1. City of Saskatoon adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (CBC) SASKATOON STORY Nice work Saskatoon! "Saskatoon city council voted unanimously Monday to adopt the United Nations Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). 'It's a historic day for the city and good timing given the week we are in,' Mayor Charlie Clark said Monday. 'Our goal is to create a city that is better for everyone.' According to the UN, the declaration establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world, and elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of Indigenous peoples."

  2. Domestic violence agency rebrands as FearIsNotLove to evolve with changing demand (Calgary Herald) CALGARY STORY Congratulations on your leadership and courage. #TheMovementBegins "'FearIsNotLove, that is the new name. It’s a call to action and a standard that everyone, especially young people, can use to assess the health of their relationship,' Ruse said during a news conference at the Calgary Central Library. 'FearIsNotLove will enable us to tackle the stigma and assumptions, help people reach out to support earlier and help more people in our local community as a whole. Everyone deserves dignity and respect in a relationship. Fear is not love.' Ruse said the rebranding will help the organization connect with more demographics that may not have known support was available. Domestic violence is an issue in any intimate relationship, she said, not only between a man and a woman."

  3. Ex-NFL QB Favre sought welfare money for football facility, texts reveal (CBC) #Ugh "After Mississippi spent millions of dollars in welfare money on Brett Favre's pet project, a university volleyball arena, the retired NFL quarterback tried two years later to get additional cash from the state's welfare agency for another sports facility, new court documents show. The governor at the time, Republican Phil Bryant, texted in 2019 with Favre, who wanted to build an indoor practice facility for the University of Southern Mississippi's football team. Bryant told him federal money for children and low-income adults is 'tightly controlled' and 'improper use could result in violation of Federal Law.'"

  4. Refusing donations: The legal lessons to learn from Prince Charles accepting Bin Laden family money (Alliance Magazine) "While members of the British royal family have long had a close interest in charity, there is no such thing as a ‘royal charity’ at law. Basic charity law rules apply to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, just as they would to any other charitable organisation. If rather than acting independently, the trustees had passively followed the wishes of their founder, they would have been in breach of their duty to act in the best interests of the charity. The trustees of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund made a bad choice. After negative media coverage around the world, it is clear that their decision to accept the gift risked, and ultimately caused, very serious reputational damage to the organisation."

  5. What Adults Don't Get About Teens and Digital Life (Wired) As a father of a 17-year-old, I found this very helpful. "Today’s teens need more than broad principles and panicked warnings. So what do they need? To be sure, schools that create space for digital literacy education. Tech designers who reprioritize for youth well-being (and policies that ensure it). Caring adults who stay alert to digital dilemmas, set useful boundaries, and offer empathy, connection, and validation. All of this is crucial, but it’s still not enough. We also need to find ways to support their very sense of agency."

  6. Is Mackenzie Scott’s ‘hands off’ approach paving a new way for rich donors’? (Financial Times) What do you think? "[Scott’s] generosity over the past three years — disbursing some $12bn — has been both striking and unusual not only for its speed and scale, but also for its style and subjects. She has focused on less popular causes, including racial justice, gay and female and reproductive rights, refugees and food banks — which she identified with the help of intermediaries such as the non-profit consultancy Bridgespan. And she has taken a more hands-off approach with recipients, allowing them greater freedom to spend her money. In some ways Scott has been as radical a philanthropist as Bill Gates and his former wife Melinda French were at the start of the century, with their strategic focus and high volume of giving."

  7. Alberta government investing $15 million in apprenticeship programs (Chat News Today) ALBERTA STORY Excellent! "Alberta Minister for Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides announced $15-million in funding to bolster apprenticeship programs in the province. The funding will be administered over the next three years, with $1.37 million of those funds being used to add an additional 300 seats at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), the Southern Alberta Insitute of Technology (SAIT), and Portage College in the following programs."

  8. Canada's tipping culture is flawed and there's no clear fix in sight: experts (CBC) CANADIAN STORY "From oil changes to take-out food, the 'tip nudge' has quickly become a 'well-established societal norm' in Canada, according to food economist Mike von Massow. Card payment machines have made it simple for businesses to prompt a gratuity option, even in industries where tipping previously wasn't part of the cost or conversation. And data from Canadian trade associations show the average percentage tip for restaurant dining has gone up since the pandemic began. Von Massow, who's also a professor at the University of Guelph, says the expectation for Canadians to increase the amount of their gratuities is getting out of control, and has become a hot-button issue across the country."

  9. Inspirational Global Architecture at the Aga Khan Garden (Yahoo Finance) EDMONTON STORY Congratulations. ViTreo is proud to have earlier worked with the UofA and the Ismaili community in seeing the Islamic Gardens become a reality. "The University of Alberta [...] is inaugurating the Diwan Pavilion at the Aga Khan Garden, Alberta, part of the University's Botanic Garden in Edmonton. Presiding over the ceremony [was] Lieutenant Governor Salma Lakhani, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, University of Alberta President Bill Flanagan and Princess Zahra Aga Khan, on behalf of her father, His Highness the Aga Khan. The completion of the project marks another landmark in a history of shared partnership between the Ismaili community and the university, during a milestone year celebrating 50 years of Ismaili history in Canada."

  10. Shakespeare Meets Virtual Reality in U of G-Created Hamlet Experience (University of Guelph) GUELPH STORY This is amazing. Would love to see it. "Hamlet may be a play centred on death, but the birth of this virtual reality project from Dr. Peter Kuling, professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies in the College of Arts, is keeping the story alive for a contemporary audience. If, as Shakespeare wrote, 'brevity is the soul of wit,' is technology the future of theatre?"

SEVEN LIFE AND CAREER HACKS

  1. Six tips to stay motivated throughout the school year (Folio) CANADIAN CONTENT It really is a marathon, not a sprint.

  2. The Art of Communication: Communication Is the Ask (AFP Global) I have always experienced this. In a great relationship with authentic conversations, the ask is a natural, not forced, outcome.

  3. How to Persuade New Donors to Join Your Nonprofit Mission (ClairIfication) Cases for support are critical but they are only really effective if you have 'strategic, consistent messaging' to support its ongoing use.

  4. New Leaders Face a Daunting Foe: Themselves (Inside Higher Ed) I like #2 quite a lot.

  5. A Baker’s Dozen Of Direct Response Fundraisers’ Habits (The NonProfit Times) These really good but #7 is the dividing line between average and exceptional fundraisers.

  6. Top Tips for Bringing Gamification to Social Fundraising (NonProfit Pro) I am not anywhere near proficient in this space but I am very curious.

  7. DIGITAL | QR Codes for Nonprofit Fundraising and Awareness (Hilborn Charity e-News) CANADIAN CONTENT Remember what QR codes were almost never used and were very ineffective? Ha. The pandemic changed all that. Now, we all use them. All the time. And fundraising should as well. My friend and colleague Joanne Toller penned this excellent article. Well worth the read.

TOP THREE GIFTS OF THE WEEK

  1. $15-million donation from the Slaight Family Foundation to 22 theatre companies hailed as ‘transformative’ (The Globe and Mail) CANADIAN STORY Congrats to all and a special kudos to Banff Centre. Thank you Slaight Family! "Amid a perilous recovery period for the performing arts, the Slaight Family Foundation announced on Wednesday a donation of $15-million to 22 Canadian theatre companies that’s being called 'transformative' and an 'answered prayer' by artistic leaders. The money – gifted in sums from $125,000 to $1.5-million, to both big institutions and smaller independent theatre, mostly based in Toronto, all but one in Ontario – is earmarked for a pair of broad purposes over the next two years: theatre production and marketing." RELATED: Banff Centre Receives $750,000 Donation in Support of the Recovering Theatre Sector

  2. IKEA Foundation Donates $25M To Transform Cooling Sector and Improve Billions of Lives (Yahoo Finance) Nice move IKEA. #PleaseTellMeWeDontHaveToAssembleOurOwnAirConditioners "As the mercury soared right across Europe to more than 40 degrees for the first time ever in some countries, it was evidential that climate change is a stark reality and collectively, the world needs to take immediate action to produce sustainable and scalable solutions. IKEA's charitable arm has given a $25million grant to the Clean Cooling Collaborative, which improves cooling solutions for the vulnerable global communities facing the risk of extreme heat. Demand has rocketed for cooling systems as the planet continues to warm and it has been estimated that 10 air conditioners will be sold every second for the next 30 years."

  3. ‘Historic day’: Kinder Foundation announces $100M gift donated toward eastward expansion of Buffalo Bayou Park (Click2Houston) #Wow "The Buffalo Bayou Partnership has announced what Mayor Sylvester Turner calls the 'largest single donation in Houston Parks history.' A $100 million dollar gift was donated to the nonprofit from the Kinder Foundation, according to representatives during a news conference. The funds will help fast-track plans to expand Buffalo Bayou for the East End and Fifth Ward neighborhoods. Renderings that revealed the master plan for Buffalo Bayou East showed biking and walking trails, entertainment venues and housing. The project is estimated to cost $310 million and will take about 10 years to complete."

LAST WEEK'S MOST POPULAR STORIES

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