Tag: Philanthropy

The Menu That Has Made One José Andrés Restaurant Endure

One afternoon this January, I watched the celebrity chef José Andrés flip through the page proofs of his newest cookbook, “Zaytinya.” He had the pages spread out over the glass top of a custom-made foosball table inside the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the sprawling food group that bears his name. Here Andrés was like a […]

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Worth Magazine Survey: Blending Profit and Purpose

Worth, as a brand, is focused on embracing worth beyond wealth. Therefore, in an era where the intersection of wealth, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship is increasingly paramount, we look to further our understanding of high net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) individuals in the realms of impact investing and philanthropy.  Thus we have created a […]

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Will $1 Billion Given to a Bronx Medical School Improve the Borough’s Health?

For Trevor Barker, a first-year student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, the $1 billion gift from a longtime former professor that will eliminate tuition at the medical school could well be life-changing. Mr. Barker works two campus jobs and sends money home to his mother in California. He had expected to […]

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Patagonia Spends $71 Million on Wildlife Conservation and Politics

A little more than $3 million to block a proposed mine in Alaska. Another $3 million to conserve land in Chile and Argentina. And $1 million to help elect Democrats around the country, including $200,000 to a super PAC this month. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel brand, is funneling its profits to an array of groups […]

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GoFundMe Is Remaking Disaster Aid. It Largely Helps the Wealthy.

As climate-fueled disasters destroy more American homes, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe has exploded in popularity. Its appeal is simple: People can provide cash directly to survivors, which is quicker than insurance and often more generous than government aid. But new research suggests that cash sent through GoFundMe disproportionately benefits the wealthy rather than those who […]

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Met Opera Taps Its Endowment Again to Weather Downturn

But the Met faces acute challenges. Mounting live opera is expensive, requiring lavish sets, star singers and a much larger orchestra and chorus than the biggest Broadway shows can boast. Inflation has added to the opera company’s burden, with the costs of shipping and materials increasing sharply. And ticket revenues last season from in-person performances […]

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Institutions Are (Quietly) Taking Sackler Money

When arts organizations began shunning the Sackler family over its role in the U.S. opioid crisis, it wasn’t just American institutions that cut ties. Museums in Britain that had accepted Sackler largess were among the first to take action. After the National Portrait Gallery in London canceled a $1.3 million Sackler donation in 2019, the […]

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Spelman, a Historically Black Women’s College, Receives $100 Million Gift

Spelman College, the women’s school in Atlanta, announced on Thursday that it had received a $100 million donation, which its officials called the largest-ever single gift to a historically Black college. The gift comes from Ronda E. Stryker, a trustee of Spelman, and her husband, William D. Johnston, chairman of the wealth management company Greenleaf […]

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Bloomberg Initiative Will Prepare Boston High Schoolers to Start Hospital Jobs

Public school students in Boston will have a direct route to guaranteed jobs with the city’s largest employer, the Mass General Brigham health system, via a new initiative that will pair high schools eager to expand career training with hospitals desperate for workers. A $38 million investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies — the largest gift in […]

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Swim Lessons for N.Y.C. Children Were at Risk. A Billionaire Helped Out.

With New York City making deep budget cuts to key programs, two City Council members persuaded a philanthropist to help finance a city initiative to provide swim lessons to young children. Last September, the City Council approved a bill requiring the Parks Department to provide free swim lessons to second-grade students at public schools, subject […]

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Gov. Kathy Hochul to Propose $25 Million in State Funding for A.L.S. Research

Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to propose an appropriation on Tuesday that would provide one of the largest sums ever invested by a state into research of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative disease known as A.L.S. The appropriation, part of Ms. Hochul’s overall budget proposal, would commit $25 million to A.L.S. research, creating a program […]

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A Frugal Opera Superfan’s Surprise Gift: $1.7 Million for the Arts

When Lois Kirschenbaum, a cultural aficionado who was a fixture in the standing room section of the Metropolitan Opera for more than half a century, died in 2021 at 88, star singers gave tributes and fellow fans offered remembrances. But that was not the end of Kirschenbaum’s relationship with the arts. Though even her closest […]

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NYC’s Wealthy Donors Pull Back From City’s Escalating Problems

At first glance, this might seem like just the right moment for New York City’s deep-pocketed philanthropists to flex some muscle. To hear Mayor Eric Adams tell it, the city is teetering on the edge of fiscal calamity, prompted largely by the costs of sheltering and feeding soaring numbers of migrants coming into the city. […]

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A New Playbook for College Donors: Power Politics

Major college donors used to expect their name on a building or the ability to call in a favor with the admissions office. They often gave money toward the end of their life, as a bookend to a successful career. And if they wanted to sway school policy, they typically worked behind the scenes to […]

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‘Are You Going to Be the One to Get Rid of Santa?’

On a winding country road, four miles from the nearest traffic light in rural Dutchess County, N.Y., the holiday lights appear like a carnival fun house shattering the darkness. Every year, roughly 60,000 visitors stream into Union Vale, dwarfing the population of the town of 4,600, their cars crawling up the wooded, unlit roads to […]

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A Timeline Of Giving: Black Philanthropists’ Long History Of Donations In Education

NewsOne Featured Video UPDATED: 9:30 a.m. ET, Nov. 28, 2023 Originally published Feb. 4, 2020 Considering all the barriers that have been put into place over time to prevent Black people from attaining an education, it was no wonder why such a philanthropic effort has been made to donate money to assist with schooling. Statistics […]

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Terminal Cancer Patient Helps Erase More Than $20 Million in Medical Debt for Others

A 38-year-old woman with ovarian cancer who started a campaign to help people pay off their medical debt has raised more than $200,000 in the week since she died. Two days after the woman, Casey McIntyre, died on Nov. 12, a post appeared on her social media accounts, saying: “A note to my friends: if […]

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Gifts That Change Lives

You can donate easily to the three nonprofits through the Kristof Holiday Impact Prize website, which I’ve used for five years now to support the nonprofits in my giving guide. Here’s what your contributions will accomplish: Help girls in Africa attend school. That’s the work of Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education: For just $150, […]

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Billionaire Philanthropy Is a Scam

Fortunately, in some quarters, wage theft is being treated with the seriousness it deserves. Just this week, ProPublica produced a blockbuster report on wage theft in New York City, finding that from 2017 to 2021, “more than $203 million in wages had been stolen from about 127,000 workers in New York.” And Documented, which partnered […]

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Environmental Groups Cut Programs as Funding Shifts to Climate Change

A significant shift in donor contributions to nonprofits fighting climate change in recent years has left some of the nation’s biggest environmental organizations facing critical shortfalls in programs on toxic chemicals, radioactive contamination and wildlife protection. The Natural Resources Defense Council is shutting down its nuclear mission and has laid off its top lawyer in […]

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Why Has the Morris-Jumel Mansion Been Left to Fall Apart?

The initial money raised was insufficient, but by the time an additional $1.5 million was found — seven years later in 2021 — the scope of the project only got bigger and inflation had driven up the costs. Since then, millions more have been needed from elected officials to complete the work. Even with more […]

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Behind the Donor Revolt at Penn

Since then, some of Penn’s most influential alumni and benefactors — including Mr. Lauder, the former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and the “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf — have joined Mr. Rowan in pulling funding. Even before the conference, though, tensions had been simmering at Penn over what some donors viewed as the university’s […]

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How Much Influence Should Universities Give Their Donors?

Some of the most powerful people in business have taken aim at universities over their responses to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and to accusations of antisemitism. Marc Rowan, the chief executive of Apollo Global Management and a major donor to the University of Pennsylvania, has called for the resignation of the school’s president […]

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Israelis Rush to Volunteer and Donate After Hamas Attacks

The message popped up at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday: “Looking for volunteers to help unload a truck of equipment for soldiers. We are at the Museum of Tolerance. Come, there is nobody here.” Barely four minutes after the note appeared in the 1,000-member WhatsApp group for volunteers in the Jerusalem area, Hadas Duchan showed up […]

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Mary Lou Retton Crowdfunded Her Medical Debt, Like Many Thousands of Others

When Mary Lou Retton, the decorated Olympic gymnast, accrued medical debt from a lengthy hospital stay, her family did what countless Americans have done before them: turned to crowdfunding to cover the bills. On Tuesday, Ms. Retton’s daughter started a fund-raising campaign on social media for her mother, who she said was hospitalized with a […]

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Charles Feeney, Who Made a Fortune and Then Gave It Away, Dies at 92

Charles F. Feeney, a pioneer of duty-free shops and a shrewd investor in technology start-ups who gave away nearly all of his $8 billion fortune to charity, much of it as quietly as he had made it, died on Monday in San Francisco. He was 92. His death was announced by the Atlantic Philanthropies, a […]

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Charles Feeney, Who Made a Fortune and Then Gave It Away, Dies at 92

Charles F. Feeney, a pioneer of duty-free shops and a shrewd investor in technology start-ups who gave away nearly all of his $8 billion fortune to charity, much of it as quietly as he had made it, died on Monday in San Francisco. He was 92. His death was announced by the Atlantic Philanthropies, a […]

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America’s Black Cemeteries and Three Women Trying to Save Them

The child’s headstone is inscribed simply “Nannie,” marking the grave of a 7-year-old girl who died on May 18, 1856. She is buried in one of Washington’s oldest Black cemeteries, in a neglected corner of Georgetown. For years she has touched visitors who have left toys, dolls and birthday cards at her grave. This year […]

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Clarence Thomas Twice Attended Koch Network Donor Summits

Justice Clarence Thomas twice attended an annual donor summit organized by the conservative political network established by the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, a spokeswoman for the group confirmed on Friday. The justice’s presence at the summit was earlier reported by ProPublica. The spokeswoman, Gretchen Reiter, said that Justice Thomas had only attended on […]

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