Prince Charles has recently focused his efforts beyond Buckingham Palace to communities throughout the UK and as far reaching as Rose Town, Jamaica and Freetown, Sierra Leone. He's done so as part of his efforts to promote "sustainable urbanism" (the same concept known as New Urbanism in the U.S.), a model developed in the early '80s to encourage ecologically sound development that would create diverse, walkable neighborhoods.
His Foundation for the Built Environment is the charity through which he's able to spread this message and attempt to teach others the values of sustainable design, which he believes will lead to affordable housing -- in ever higher demand in the UK -- and improvements in public health.
The foundation is one of several the Prince of Wales oversees and which receives some of the estimated £110 million he raises annually for his charities.
A group of 13 highly covetable artists including John Baldessari, Frank Gehry, Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns and Richard Serra have donated print editions of their work to raise funds for Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Los Angeles-based print publisher Gemini G.E.L. commissioned the group of artists to create what they're calling the "Artists for Obama" portfolio, a set of prints in a limited edition of 150 (not including Jasper Johns's iconic Flag, at right). Art lovers looking to acquire the rare set of prints must donate a minimum of $20,000 to the campaign.
anThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been the recipient of some big gifts lately by people eager to get their name on the door. First we had the Eli Broad's new building now comes the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion. The Resnicks, who own both the Fiji Water and Pom Wonderful brands will give $45 million for new LACMA pavilion designed by architect Renzo Piano. They will also give about $10 million more in artwork. The LA Times notes that Lynda Resnick has a long history with the museum, she has served on LACMA's board of trustees since 1992 and is chair of the museum's acquisitions committee. The new pavilion is expected to open in mid-2010.
A recent survey concluded that, among millionaires, GenX'ers aged 28 to 42 gave twice as much to charity as their parents last year. The survey found that, on average, members of Generation X donated $20,000 each to charity, while Baby Boomers donated closer to $10,000 per person. The younger generation was also more likely to make donations during their lifetimes, donate globally and choose foundations that would focus on family-related goals. Not surprisingly, they were also found to be more likely to make financial contributions online.
Each year a list of the top thirty celebrity donors is compiled through public records and released. No big surprise as to the top donor -- Oprah Winfrey -- who last year donated over $50 million largely in support of health care and education. The list includes such giving regulars as Paul Newman, Angelina and Brad, and Lance Armstrong and other lesser-known philanthropists including David and Valerie Robinson, Isabel Allende, and Hugh Hefner?! The amount of dollars donated ranges from $50,200,000 to $724,825. Its good to see where some of those big earners spend their money and which causes are getting the celebrity attention.
Despite donating millions each year, very few of the respondents chose to identify themselves as "philanthropists," preferring more modest terms like "community supporter."
The study found that wealthy donors are most likely to determine a gift based on personal experience or recommendations from within their social networks. Due to the difficulties of tracking major gifts, many recipients cited greater willingness to give something tangible -- a new library or a specific scholarship. Donors also stated that it was often difficult to obtain information on an organization's progress without seeming "high-maintenance."
You can read more about the study's findings at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, a resource center founded by Wharton alums that helps high net worth individuals maximize their charitable giving impact.
The philanthropic philatelist is at it again. Wall Street money manager, Bill Gross is selling off another portion of his extensive stamp collection in a public auction estimated to bring over $1.25 million. All proceeds from the sale of his British Empire stamps will be donated by Sue and Bill Gross to the Millennium Villages Project at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Spink Shreves Galleries is holding the sale in New York City on October 3, 2008 and pre-auction displays of the historic stamps are planned in London and New York.
This is the third time Gross has offered portions of his collection to raise millions of dollars for charity, and the second time the Millennium Villages Project has been selected as the recipient of the proceeds. This part of the collection has 138 items; rare and one-of-a-kind stamps and covers (envelopes with canceled stamps) from across the globe of the 19th and early 20th century British Empire. There are rarities from such places as Australia, the British West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, Cyprus, Gibraltar, India, Malta, and Mauritius. Shown above is a trial printing "square pair" of 1863 Cape of Good Hope triangular-shaped, carmine red, mint condition, one-penny denomination stamps with a pre-sale estimate of $80,000 or more. The auction has its own website with more details here.
Robert Wells, heir to the Fiesta Dinnerware collection (so embedded in the American consciousness it even became the topic of a recently produced off-Broadway play), has bequeathed $9 million to The Nature Conservancy. His attorney cited Wells's respect for the Conservancy's "wide footprint" after traveling to places like the Chilean coasts, New Zealand and Alaska.
Twenty percent of the gift is earmarked for local conservation efforts in Wells's home state of West Virgina, specifically in the Central Appalachian Mountains. The bulk of the bequest will go towards global programs on behalf of the nature-loving recreational fisherman. The first date he took his wife on in the early 1950s? A 4:30 am catfishing expedition. Carolyn Wells also left a significant gift to the Conservancy following her death in 2005.
Google.org recently announced its investment of over $10 million in "breakthrough geothermal energy" to further its goal to develop clean energy alternatives to coal. Functioning as the philanthropic arm of Google (effectively the 1% co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially pledged toward global concerns), Google.org has already donated or invested over $85 million across five focus areas which include renewable energy and the improvement of public services.
If you're into videos about geothermal energy, check out this one. It's all about drilling for energy in the Australian outback. You'll learn words and phrases such as "exajoules" and "distributed indigenous nature" -- just in time for your Labor Day cocktail parties!
Travel + Leisure has announced its collaboration with 18 prominent artists including Maya Lin, Manolo Blahnik and April Gornik, to create specially-commissioned pieces to be auctioned as part of its second annual Project Globe event. Following the auction, the magazine will donate all proceeds to Future Generations, a non-profit conservation and community development organization. The online auction starts today at tlprojectglobe.com, where bidders are swiftly staking their claims.
The diverse group of photographs, sculptures and jewelry, all of which aim to celebrate travel's positive impact, will be shown at GlassHouses in New York City on September 19 and 20. Photographs from the auctioned items will be featured in Travel + Leisure's October Style + Culture issue, on newsstands September 23. See the gallery for a selection of items at auction.
The Clinton Foundation has recently concluded its philanthropy tour of Africa, where the former President worked tirelessly to reduce treatment costs for malaria and spoke in support of public health efforts to reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS among children. He also helped celebrate the opening of a $1 million, 180-bed hospital in Rwanda. The foundation's Travel to Africa Blog followed Clinton on his multiple stops throughout the continent between the end of July and August 6 and includes video of some of Clinton's speeches during his visit.
Bill Clinton established his eponymous foundation during his second term as President. The foundation has grown to support programs focused on combating climate change, HIV/AIDS and other health concerns and childhood obesity.
Saks Fifth Avenue along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation recently announced that Gwyneth Paltrow will act as the new ambassador for the 2008 Key to the Cure, a women's cancer initiative. Karl Lagerfeld has designed the exclusive tee for the cause, with all proceeds going to cancer research.
The weekend-long shopping event is slated for October 16 through October 19 at Saks stores nationwide and online at saks.com. Two percent of proceeds from the weekend's totals will be donated to the Women's Cancer Research Fund. Now in its 10th year, the annual Key to the Cure event has raised over $28 million for cancer research and treatment programs.
The Patterson Foundation in Sarasota, Florida has just announced it has received a bequest of $225 million from the estate of Dorothy Clarke Patterson, who died last year. The significant gift makes the Patterson Foundation the 19th largest grant-maker in the state of Florida and the largest in Sarasota.
In addition to the major gift, the former Longboat Key resident left no instructions for how she wanted the bequest managed, providing a unique opportunity for the foundation to chart its own course. In the past, the foundation Patterson founded with $3 million following her husband's death in 1997 has donated to Sarasota groups including Habitat for Humanity and a local high school and food bank. Newly appointed foundation head Debra Jacobs (at right) will certainly be hard at work defining the mission of one woman's unrestricted largesse.
Minnesota Mom Jill Youse started sending her own breast milk to Africa in 2006, soon after which she began helping other moms around the country do the same through her organization, the International Breast Milk Project (IBMP). In just the past couple of years IBMP has successfully shipped over 85,000 pounds of milk to infants in Africa, primarily babies fighting illnesses that often abate when breast milk is introduced. Youse set up a program for women who have suffered the loss of an infant through the Madison Cassady Program , so that grieving mothers who still had milk stored in their freezers didn't have to throw it all away. Also distributed in the U.S. to children born prematurely or whose mothers cannot produce milk, donations are made easy for moms. Coolers and the necessary equipment arrive shipped to their doors and are later picked up and sent to babies in need. Even FedEx has chipped in to provide transport for the mothers' milk. Recognized as one of "Earth's Mothers" by Oprah Winfrey a little over a year ago, Youse and IBMP are revolutionizing how new moms think about breastfeeding, convincing them to add a few more mouths along the way.
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Prince Charles has recently focused his efforts beyond Buckingham Palace to communities throughout the UK and as far reaching as Rose Town, Jamaica and Freetown, Sierra Leone. He's done so as part of his efforts to promote "sustainable urbanism" (the same concept known as New Urbanism in the U.S.), a model developed in the early '80s to encourage ecologically sound development that would create diverse, walkable neighborhoods.
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Saks Fifth Avenue along with the Entertainment Industry Foundation recently announced that 
The Patterson Foundation in Sarasota, Florida has just announced 
