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Tag: Philanthropy

  • DonorsChoose sees banner donation year with help from Gates Foundation and millions of small gifts

    DonorsChoose sees banner donation year with help from Gates Foundation and millions of small gifts

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    NEW YORK — Kerry Richardson likes that some of her fellow teachers at Richmond Public Schools in Virginia nicknamed her “Walmart.” Others call the second grade teacher “Boy Scout.”

    Yes, Richardson says with a laugh, she is always prepared to lend fellow teachers whatever they may need. She says that’s only possible because of supplies she gets from DonorsChoose, the online platform that connects teachers seeking materials for their students and classrooms with contributors looking to support their efforts.

    And Richardson is not alone.

    DonorsChoose has seen a banner year for donations in 2023, setting records by collecting nearly $10 million during Teacher Appreciation Week in May. Earlier this month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $2 million to match 50% of all DonorsChoose pledges for one day – a marked departure from the way the largest U.S. philanthropy normally makes donations, based on its own meticulous research and big-picture priorities.

    DonorsChoose is also seeing plenty of engagement from donors in a time when overall giving is generally down, especially among young people.

    Alix Guerrier, DonorsChoose CEO, says families with school-age children use the platform to teach their kids about generosity because the kids understand what getting sports equipment or school supplies means to students who don’t have any. He said the platform’s appeal to slightly older donors is even stronger.

    “Among young adults — whether that’s Gen Z or maybe even into millennials — there is a distrust of larger institutions and a high premium placed on directness,” Guerrier said. “They actually have an interaction with the teacher right through the platform and can give a word of support. The teacher sends their thanks and gives evidence of what happened. So that kind of directness really appeals to them.”

    The model — created in 2000 by Charles Best, who was teaching at a public high school in The Bronx – actually appeals to plenty of philanthropists, both big and small. Teachers go on the platform to ask for supplies that their districts do not provide. When donors fully fund the campaign, DonorsChoose sends the teachers the supplies.

    On any given day, philanthropist Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, will likely boost a handful of DonorsChoose campaigns from his personal account on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter. Actress and SAG-AFTRA board member Yvette Nicole Brown does the same. As does stand-up comic and talk show host W. Kamau Bell.

    “It’s one of the best days of the year: @DonorsChoose match day,” Bill Gates wrote on X, earlier this month, announcing the Gates Foundation’s match. That day, DonorsChoose raised $8 million between the Gates Foundation match and nearly 40,000 donations for 24,000 teachers.

    Bob Hughes, director of K-12 Education for the Gates Foundation’s United States Program, said he considered the donation a privilege to help support teachers, especially with the current shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “We’re a strategic philanthropy and our goal is to change big levers in the world,” said Hughes. “We happen to do big things. We’re looking at math curriculum and we’re looking at assessment and we’re looking at professional learning and those are big, hairy, systemic problems. But DonorsChoose is just an opportunity to lead a little bit more with your heart.”

    In 2022, the Gates Foundation donated $290 million to K-12 education in the United States to address large issues in the sector, especially around improving students’ understanding of math. However, Hughes said reaching small goals also makes a difference.

    “Every bit counts and every single day in the life of a student and teacher is important,” he said. “If we can change the trajectory of those days in ways that benefit them, that’s super exciting.”

    These small donations mean Richardson’s students in Richmond get to learn earth science by making “edible dirt” – a mixture of butterscotch chips, crushed Oreos and other treats representing the layers of soil – with some gummy worms on top for good measure. It’s a relatively low-cost science activity, but in a district where more than 34% of the students live in poverty, those expenses have to be subsidized by somebody.

    “DonorsChoose taught me to create, that I could bring ideas in my mind to fruition,” Richardson said. “And it’s also helped me create an equitable classroom, equal when compared to classrooms in Northern Virginia or even private school classrooms that tend to be better supplied.”

    Erick Odom, social studies teacher at the East Bronx Academy for the Future in New York, said DonorsChoose has helped him turn his classroom into a place where his students can feel comfortable. He is excited about getting a combination air fryer and microwave for his classroom this coming school year, so his students can make healthier meals.

    “When the students see the boxes coming in, they really appreciate it,” Odom said. “Even if it’s only small things, I want them to understand that this comes from other people — doing it for them. It means a lot.”

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Maui residents fill philanthropic gaps while aid makes the long journey to the fire-stricken island

    Maui residents fill philanthropic gaps while aid makes the long journey to the fire-stricken island

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    After learning that 100 pounds of insulin was stuck, grounded last week at Kona International Airport on the big island, volunteers at Maui Brewing Company, Hawaii’s largest craft brewery, got to work. They spent several hours trying to link health officials with a general aviation pilot who could complete the medical delivery to their community.

    Kami Irwin, who runs a military nonprofit, was frustrated that it fell to volunteers like her to secure such a vital resource.

    “The fact that I’m just a normal civilian that is trying to help the community along with everyone else here and we were able to make that happen?” Irwin said. “It doesn’t look good.”

    Irwin has been coordinating donation pickup out of the brewery’s tasting room, taking advantage of what the tight community calls “coconut wireless,” informal communication chains that spread information like a game of “telephone.”

    “We will be OK if us residents keep building together,” she added.

    Volunteers on Maui have cobbled together countless improvised, urgent solutions like the insulin shipment in response to the country’s deadliest wildfire in over a century, which has killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands. Nonprofit groups struggle to deliver aid to the second-farthest state from the U.S. mainland, while mutual aid groups and local businesses help fill the cracks.

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency opened its first disaster recovery center on Maui on Wednesday, the same day traffic resumed on a major road. In the initial days following the fire, officials scrambled to house thousands of displaced residents. Transportation and communications remained limited for days in impacted areas, which likely contributed to uncertainty for some residents about where to get assistance. Meanwhile, relief groups based on the U.S. mainland have contended with a major airport hamstrung by a deluge of departing tourists and arrivals toting assistance from afar.

    But nonprofits and volunteers are ready to help.

    The Salvation Army has been supplying meals and offering counseling to survivors and people impacted, serving food to 12,000 people on Tuesday, said Maj. Troy Timmer, divisional commander of The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands. The Salvation Army’s Lahaina Corps location, was destroyed in the fire, but their staff all safely evacuated and continue to track the losses among the people they served. Trimmer acknowledged possible frustration as the community and officials scramble to meet urgent needs, saying that major tragedies take a significant toll.

    “From my experience, what we’ve seen is that people are doing their best, including the officials. They’re doing the best. Could there be something missed in the process? Absolutely,” he said.

    International relief groups like CityServe said that the primary airport in wildfire-ravaged Maui has been so full the group decided to truck a quarter-of-a-million meals from Florida to California and then load them onto ships to cross over 2,500 nautical miles. Officials from the faith-based nonprofit hope the packages of apple cinnamon oatmeal and vegetable rice arrive next Monday at the earliest.

    “It’s almost impossible to fly them in now,” said Todd Lamphere, the vice president of government relations for CityServe. His prior experience with emergency response tells him the meals will arrive just as that first wave of external support begins to wane.

    Edward Graham, chief operating officer of Samaritan’s Purse, said the nondenominational evangelical Christian organization landed its cargo plane Tuesday with 17 tons of equipment. Most of their work will involve helping homeowners identify family heirlooms and other valuables.

    Even finding a timeframe at the airport to drop off tools like sifting instruments, vital to helping people get closure by finding lost personal treasures, required coordination, Graham said. Even though there are several airfields on the island, Kahului Airport “has been overloaded just because of all the disaster relief flights coming in,” he said.

    Challenges don’t end once assistance reaches the island. Many evacuees fled to a more remote area west of the nearly incinerated historic town of Lahaina. It wasn’t until Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time that the two-lane Lahaina bypass road reopened to residents, first responders and employees of West Maui.

    Laurence Balter, the owner of Maui Flight Academy, said his “small armada” of roughly a dozen pilots have used West Maui Airport to meet the survivors’ immediate needs. The airfield is designed for smaller aircrafts and located near some of the hardest hit areas. He estimates they have flown over 100,000 pounds of supplies ranging from diapers and flashlights to Costco chicken and oil. He counted 57 flights on their second day in action and 36 on day three.

    “Even if the run is 200 pounds they’re still doing it because they know it’s impacting someone’s life,” Balter said.

    The group Maui Mutual Aid has raised $1.6 million through its PayPal account, said Tina Ramirez, executive director of Grants Central Station. Her organization is acting as a fiscal sponsor for the mutual aid group, which is also coordinating the sourcing and delivering of supplies, transportation, housing and other needs, in part through an online form.

    The group, which formed in response to COVID-19, has around 100 volunteers trying to handle logistics and gather information about people’s needs, Ramirez said. Her group will eventually distribute the funds raised to pay directly for expenses, but have not yet released the money.

    “In many cases, a lot of these people have lost their ID. They’re unable to go to the bank. They’re unable to get their bank cards,” Ramirez said. “So we’re still trying to work through all of that, as well as collecting all the information.”

    Water, supplies for babies and children, medication and personal toiletries were still needed, but that local groups were inundated with clothing donations, she said, adding that, in the past two days, more government support has reached the worst-hit areas.

    “It takes a while. We are out in the middle of nowhere,” Ramirez said. “It’s a little different than on the mainland where you can drive things in, so everyone is doing the best they can.”

    Distribution centers flush with donations have not always been able to efficiently distribute the overwhelming amounts of aid that does arrive.

    The Rev. Jay Haynes, a pastor at Kahului Baptist Church, said his congregation started bringing resources straight to homes after they noticed them piling up at major supply drops. He said the community’s strong “word-of-mouth game” allows his team to gather needs lists directly from people seeking items like hygiene products, water and propane.

    A Tuesday meeting of local pastors sought to build a more cohesive network. Haynes soon anticipates having to address long-term concerns of people torn from their communities. He expects the Central Maui public school system will be overpopulated with children lacking school supplies.

    He preached patience for people compelled to help by visiting Maui. The need for volunteers will persist.

    “We’re all tired. My people have been working nonstop since Wednesday,” Haynes said. “But we’re also overwhelmed by what this is going to be for the next months and years.”

    —-

    Pollard is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Washington Plastic Surgeon Javad Sajan, MD, Donates to Homeless Women After Successful Mother’s Day Drive at Allure Esthetic

    Washington Plastic Surgeon Javad Sajan, MD, Donates to Homeless Women After Successful Mother’s Day Drive at Allure Esthetic

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    Press Release
    •

    Aug 15, 2023 15:00 EDT

    Allure Esthetic’s Mother’s Day Drive in Seattle Donates Diapers, Supplies to Mary’s Place


    SEATTLE, August 15, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    In the lead-up to Mother’s Day 2023, Seattle plastic surgeon Dr. Javad Sajan’s practice, Allure Esthetic Plastic Surgery, collected donations for mothers experiencing homelessness in the community. This included physical donations in the office and monetary donations directly to the Zera Foundation, the partnering nonprofit organization.

    With collection boxes at all three locations, Dr. Sajan offered five free units of Botox to anyone who donated two or more items to the drive. Allure Esthetic frequently works with the 501c3 nonprofit, the Zera Foundation to make a difference in the lives of families in transition and underprivileged populations.

    In a video about the fundraiser, Javad Sajan, MD says, “We’re so excited to partner with our community to help people who are going through a difficult transition in life.” Allure Esthetic also hosts other fundraising events throughout the year such as a Thanksgiving Food Drive and School Supplies Drive.

    On July 22nd, Dr. Sajan hand-delivered the donations to Mary’s Place, a shelter and organization that supports women and families, in Seattle. The donations consisted of diapers, wipes, and other items necessary for mothers and children of all ages. All donations stay within the community and uplift women and children in need.

    About Javad Sajan, MD: Javad Sajan, MD is a plastic surgeon in Seattle, Washington. His practice Allure Esthetic Plastic Surgery provides plastic surgery and life-saving gender affirming surgery to patients from all around the world. Allure Esthetic and Javad Sajan, MD regularly participate in the community through item collection drives and fundraisers that benefit families and children in the Great Seattle area. Find Dr. Sajan, Allure Esthetic, and their community service efforts on Instagram @realdrseattle.

    Source: Allure Esthetic Plastic Surgery

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  • University presidents elevate free speech under new partnership

    University presidents elevate free speech under new partnership

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    The presidents of a wide-ranging group of 13 universities are elevating free speech on their campuses this academic year, as part of a new nonprofit initiative announced Tuesday to combat what organizers call dire threats to U.S. democracy.

    The Campus Call for Free Expression will take different forms on different campuses. The campaign, created by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars with funding from the Knight Foundation is designed to cultivate the freedom of expression on campuses and help students work together to find solutions to complicated, divisive problems.

    “The national context of the deep political polarization, the inability of people to speak across difference in constructive and civil ways, it seems to me that colleges and universities need to be the institutions at the forefront of showing a better way to do that,” said Jonathan Alger, president of James Madison University, which is participating in the initiative.

    The Institute for Citizens & Scholars first convened a group of college presidents in March 2022 to discuss how to prepare students to actively participate in democracy. Eventually, the presidents and schools committed to five principles of free expression along with new, on-campus programs that each school designed themselves. Those include new training at freshman orientations, faculty seminars and convocation remarks.

    While not new, controversies around free speech at universities abound, from students protesting invited speakers to state legislatures targeting faculty tenure, and also reflect an increase in restrictions on freedom of speech more generally.

    The participating schools include the University of Notre Dame, a private Catholic research school, Benedict College, a historically Black school in South Carolina, Rollins College, a small liberal arts school in Florida, and Ivy League member Cornell University, which in April announced that freedom of expression would be the theme for its 2023 school year.

    Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers University in New Jersey and a historian of African American history, said he was motivated to join the initiative in part by what he called a growing deep disregard for American institutions.

    “If I don’t speak up now on what I see that’s so concerning, if I don’t do this now, then when?” he asked, adding, “When I saw the Confederate battle flag marched through the Capitol Rotunda in January 2020, that’s when things shifted for me.”

    This September, Holloway will lead a freshman course that will examine the meaning of democracy and ask students to help design a program for the university to improve civic education.

    For Rajiv Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, there are two main reasons to focus civic education on college students. For many, their colleges will be the most diverse community that they’ve ever experienced and students have the potential to shift social norms as they enter public forums and start to participate in politics. He hopes that the collective commitment of these schools to fostering critical thinking and the exchange of ideas around contentious issues will encourage other institutions to join them.

    “Are we able to get above the cacophony of these issues of free expression to be able to get people in general (and) leaders to be able to see that higher ed can and should play a leading and proactive and positive role in civic preparedness?” Vinnakota asked.

    The Knight Foundation provided a $250,000 grant to the institute to convene the presidents and eventually other university staff in a series of conversations over a year and a half.

    “We believe in the free exchange of ideas. We believe in an informed citizenry so that the people may determine their true interest,” said Alberto Ibarguen, president of the foundation.

    The nonprofit PEN America offers training to colleges and universities around cultivating an exchange of ideas as part of its work advocating for human rights and free speech. In general, Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager of its Free Expression and Education program, said that showing students why protections for free speech matter is an effective way to win over them to hearing about opposing views.

    “When students learn about how writers and artists around the world have been persecuted for their free expression, they understand the ramifications of squashing another’s speech,” she said in response to emailed questions.

    James Madison University is partnering with the Bipartisan Policy Center to host a training for more than 4,000 incoming students this year to prepare them for free expression on campus. The training will ask the students to participate in real time through a survey application and the school will also use their responses to help design future trainings. JMU already surveys new students about their civic engagement and repeats the assessment in their third year to measure student learning.

    Lucas Morel, a professor of politics at Washington and Lee University and chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance, said more universities and colleges should embrace a mission of cultivating the pursuit of knowledge through the airing of different ideas and arguments based on evidence. A college education is not just meant to help students get a job or gain knowledge, but also to help make them engaged citizens, he said.

    “If we don’t do a good job of helping them be careful readers and careful listeners, it stands to reason that as citizens they won’t be careful listeners and careful expressors of their own thought,” he said. “And it will be difficult for us to function as a self-governing society.”

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • How — and when — is best to donate to those affected by the Maui wildfires?

    How — and when — is best to donate to those affected by the Maui wildfires?

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    NEW YORK — The destruction and suffering caused by the Maui wildfires in Hawaii prompted many to immediately look for ways to help.

    However, experts say immediate donations may not be the most useful following a natural disaster like the Maui wildfires. They suggest standing by a week or two until needs are assessed and support lines have been established. But they know that some people will not be able to wait.

    Here’s what you need to know about getting your donations to the people you are trying to help.

    There are so many solicitations to help the people of Hawaii. What groups should get priority right now?

    Experts recommend donating to nonprofits based on Hawaii that have provided rapid response services in the past.

    Hawai’i Community Foundation has raised more than $17 million as of Friday for its Maui Strong Fund, which is “providing financial resources that can be deployed quickly.” Though the foundation says its support will evolve, initially, it will focus on providing food, shelter and immediate financial assistance.

    The Maui United Way says all donations will “provide direct relief to families and nonprofits directly affected” by the wildfires, offering a place to donate and apply for help on its website.

    How can you guarantee donations reach those affected by the Maui wildfires?

    Regine Webster, vice president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, generally recommended giving to organizations with deep local ties and knowledge of the affected communities.

    “Wait a week, wait two weeks, to understand where the greatest needs are,” Webster said. “Then, look toward organizations that are really meeting those needs, again, prioritizing organizations with specific disaster expertise and organizations that are local in nature.”

    Many national and international organizations have already deployed to Maui to help. So if you already donate to a group like World Central Kitchen or the American Red Cross, you can simply continue to donate to them.

    I want to donate to a specific person or family through a crowdfunding campaign. How can I make sure their campaign is legitimate?

    The crowdfunding site GoFundMe has vetted hundreds of fundraisers for individuals and families who lost property or were injured in the fires, verifying the identities of the organizers and pledging to take additional verification steps before releasing the funds to the organizer and collecting its transaction fees.

    As of Monday afternoon, GoFundMe said it had collected more than $22 million for those impacted by the Maui wildfires, from more than 175,000 people across all 50 U.S. states and 100 countries.

    Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez warns donors to stay away from people rushing you to make a donation, asking you to donate with cash, gift card or on Cash App or Venmo. She also says to look for specifics about how your donation will be used.

    Can donations arrive too quickly?

    Yes. The needs of those in an emergency situation are different from those rebuilding after a natural disaster.

    The Most Reverend Larry Silva, the Catholic bishop of Honolulu, said many offered resources to those affected by the wildfires. “The problem at this point is getting supplies to those in need, since many evacuated to the West of Lahaina, where access from the rest of the island is extremely limited,” he said in an email.

    Donating home furnishings, for example, is very useful once families have been permanently relocated. However, at this point, when people are living in shelters, they are not useful and storing them creates costs and issues for nonprofits, especially on an island where storage space is limited.

    Why is giving two weeks or a month after a disaster so important?

    Experts say donations tend to drop off after the initial burst of media attention ends, even though many of the needs of those affected haven’t been met yet.

    Waiting a few weeks also allows the government and nonprofits to figure out what rebuilding priorities have been funded and which haven’t. Later donations can be used to fund programs addressing pressing needs.

    TV icon Oprah Winfrey, a part-time Maui resident, said she will be there “for the long haul, doing what I can” to rebuild after the wildfires.

    “My biggest concern is how do you get the resources to the people who actually need it,” Winfrey told Hawaii News Now.

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    AP reporters Thalia Beaty and Giovanna Dell’Orto contributed reporting from New York.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Foundations seek to advance AI for good — and also protect the world from its threats

    Foundations seek to advance AI for good — and also protect the world from its threats

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    While technology experts sound the alarm on the pace of artificial-intelligence development, philanthropists — including long-established foundations and tech billionaires — have been responding with an uptick in grants.

    Much of the philanthropy is focused on what is known as technology for good or “ethical AI,” which explores how to solve or mitigate the harmful effects of artificial-intelligence systems. Some scientists believe AI can be used to predict climate disasters and discover new drugs to save lives. Others are warning that the large language models could soon upend white-collar professions, fuel misinformation, and threaten national security.

    What philanthropy can do to influence the trajectory of AI is starting to emerge. Billionaires who earned their fortunes in technology are more likely to support projects and institutions that emphasize the positive outcomes of AI, while foundations not endowed with tech money have tended to focus more on AI’s dangers.

    For example, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and wife, Wendy Schmidt, have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to artificial-intelligence grantmaking programs housed at Schmidt Futures to “accelerate the next global scientific revolution.” In addition to committing $125 million to advance research into AI, last year the philanthropic venture announced a $148 million program to help postdoctoral fellows apply AI to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

    Also in the AI enthusiast camp is the Patrick McGovern Foundation, named after the late billionaire who founded the International Data Group and one of a few philanthropies that has made artificial intelligence and data science an explicit grantmaking priority. In 2021, the foundation committed $40 million to help nonprofits use artificial intelligence and data to advance “their work to protect the planet, foster economic prosperity, ensure healthy communities,” according to a news release from the foundation. McGovern also has an internal team of AI experts who work to help nonprofits use the technology to improve their programs.

    “I am an incredible optimist about how these tools are going to improve our capacity to deliver on human welfare,” says Vilas Dhar, president of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. “What I think philanthropy needs to do, and civil society writ large, is to make sure we realize that promise and opportunity — to make sure these technologies don’t merely become one more profit-making sector of our economy but rather are invested in furthering human equity.” Salesforce is also interested in helping nonprofits use AI. The software company announced last month that it will award $2 million to education, workforce, and climate organizations “to advance the equitable and ethical use of trusted AI.”

    Billionaire entrepreneur and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is another big donor who believes AI can improve humanity and has funded research centers at Stanford University and the University of Toronto to achieve that goal. He is betting AI can positively transform areas like health care (“giving everyone a medical assistant”) and education (“giving everyone a tutor”), he told the New York Times in May.

    The enthusiasm for AI solutions among tech billionaires is not uniform, however. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar has taken a mixed approach through his Omidyar Network, which is making grants to nonprofits using the technology for scientific innovation as well as those trying to protect data privacy and advocate for regulation.

    “One of the things that we’re trying really hard to think about is how do you have good AI regulation that is both sensitive to the type of innovation that needs to happen in this space but also sensitive to the public accountability systems,” says Anamitra Deb, managing director at the Omidyar Network.

    Grantmakers that hold a more skeptical or negative perspective on AI are also not a uniform group; however, they tend to be foundations unaffiliated with the tech industry.

    The Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations number among several grantmakers funding nonprofits examining the harmful effects of AI.

    For example, computer scientists Timnit Gebru and Joy Buolamwini, who conducted pivotal research on racial and gender bias from facial-recognition tools — which persuaded Amazon, IBM, and other companies to pull back on the technology in 2020 — have received sizable grants from them and other big, established foundations.

    Gebru launched the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in 2021 to research AI’s harmful effects on marginalized groups “free from Big Tech’s pervasive influence.” The institute raised $3.7 million in initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kapor Center, Open Society Foundations, and the Rockefeller Foundation. (The Ford, MacArthur, and Open Society foundations are financial supporters of the Chronicle.)

    Buolamwini is continuing research on and advocacy against artificial-intelligence and facial-recognition technology through her Algorithmic Justice League, which also received at least $1.9 million in support from the Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations as well as from the Alfred P. Sloan and Mozilla foundations.

    “These are all people and organizations that I think have really had a profound impact on the AI field itself but also really caught the attention of policymakers as well,” says Eric Sears, who oversees MacArthur’s grants related to artificial intelligence. The Ford Foundation also launched a Disability x Tech Fund through Borealis Philanthropy, which is supporting efforts to fight bias against people with disabilities in algorithms and artificial intelligence.

    There are also AI skeptics among the tech elite awarding grants. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has warned AI could result in “civilizational destruction.” In 2015, he gave $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that aims to prevent “existential risk” from AI, and spearheaded a recent letter calling for a pause on AI development. Open Philanthropy, a foundation started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, has provided majority support to the Center for AI Safety, which also recently warned about the “risk of extinction” associated with AI.

    A significant portion of foundation giving on AI is also directed at universities studying ethical questions. The Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a joint project of the MIT Media Lab and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, received $26 million from 2017 to 2022 from Luminate (the Omidyar Group), Reid Hoffman, Knight Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (Hewlett is a financial supporter of the Chronicle.)

    The goal, according to a May 2022 report, was “to ensure that technologies of automation and machine learning are researched, developed, and deployed in a way which vindicates social values of fairness, human autonomy, and justice.” One university funding effort comes from the Kavli Foundation, which in 2021 committed $1.5 million a year for five years to two new centers focused on scientific ethics — with artificial intelligence as one priority area — at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. The Knight Foundation announced in May it will spend $30 million to create a new ethical technology institute at Georgetown University to inform policymakers.

    Although hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars have been committed to ethical AI efforts, influencing tech companies and governments remains a massive challenge.

    “Philanthropy is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Goliath-sized tech platforms, the Goliath-sized AI companies, the Goliath-sized regulators and policymakers that can actually take a crack at this,” says Deb of the Omidyar Network.

    Even with those obstacles, foundation leaders, researchers, and advocates largely agree that philanthropy can — and should — shape the future of AI.

    “The industry is so dominant in shaping not only the scope of development of AI systems in the academic space, they’re shaping the field of research,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute. “And as policymakers are looking to really hold these companies accountable, it’s key to have funders step in and provide support to the organizations on the front lines to ensure that the broader public interest is accounted for.”

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    This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Kay Dervishi is a staff writer at the Chronicle. Email: kay.dervishi@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for this content. They receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Foundations seek to advance AI for good — and also protect the world from its threats

    Foundations seek to advance AI for good — and also protect the world from its threats

    [ad_1]

    While technology experts sound the alarm on the pace of artificial-intelligence development, philanthropists — including long-established foundations and tech billionaires — have been responding with an uptick in grants.

    Much of the philanthropy is focused on what is known as technology for good or “ethical AI,” which explores how to solve or mitigate the harmful effects of artificial-intelligence systems. Some scientists believe AI can be used to predict climate disasters and discover new drugs to save lives. Others are warning that the large language models could soon upend white-collar professions, fuel misinformation, and threaten national security.

    What philanthropy can do to influence the trajectory of AI is starting to emerge. Billionaires who earned their fortunes in technology are more likely to support projects and institutions that emphasize the positive outcomes of AI, while foundations not endowed with tech money have tended to focus more on AI’s dangers.

    For example, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and wife, Wendy Schmidt, have committed hundreds of millions of dollars to artificial-intelligence grantmaking programs housed at Schmidt Futures to “accelerate the next global scientific revolution.” In addition to committing $125 million to advance research into AI, last year the philanthropic venture announced a $148 million program to help postdoctoral fellows apply AI to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

    Also in the AI enthusiast camp is the Patrick McGovern Foundation, named after the late billionaire who founded the International Data Group and one of a few philanthropies that has made artificial intelligence and data science an explicit grantmaking priority. In 2021, the foundation committed $40 million to help nonprofits use artificial intelligence and data to advance “their work to protect the planet, foster economic prosperity, ensure healthy communities,” according to a news release from the foundation. McGovern also has an internal team of AI experts who work to help nonprofits use the technology to improve their programs.

    “I am an incredible optimist about how these tools are going to improve our capacity to deliver on human welfare,” says Vilas Dhar, president of Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. “What I think philanthropy needs to do, and civil society writ large, is to make sure we realize that promise and opportunity — to make sure these technologies don’t merely become one more profit-making sector of our economy but rather are invested in furthering human equity.” Salesforce is also interested in helping nonprofits use AI. The software company announced last month that it will award $2 million to education, workforce, and climate organizations “to advance the equitable and ethical use of trusted AI.”

    Billionaire entrepreneur and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is another big donor who believes AI can improve humanity and has funded research centers at Stanford University and the University of Toronto to achieve that goal. He is betting AI can positively transform areas like health care (“giving everyone a medical assistant”) and education (“giving everyone a tutor”), he told the New York Times in May.

    The enthusiasm for AI solutions among tech billionaires is not uniform, however. EBay founder Pierre Omidyar has taken a mixed approach through his Omidyar Network, which is making grants to nonprofits using the technology for scientific innovation as well as those trying to protect data privacy and advocate for regulation.

    “One of the things that we’re trying really hard to think about is how do you have good AI regulation that is both sensitive to the type of innovation that needs to happen in this space but also sensitive to the public accountability systems,” says Anamitra Deb, managing director at the Omidyar Network.

    Grantmakers that hold a more skeptical or negative perspective on AI are also not a uniform group; however, they tend to be foundations unaffiliated with the tech industry.

    The Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations number among several grantmakers funding nonprofits examining the harmful effects of AI.

    For example, computer scientists Timnit Gebru and Joy Buolamwini, who conducted pivotal research on racial and gender bias from facial-recognition tools — which persuaded Amazon, IBM, and other companies to pull back on the technology in 2020 — have received sizable grants from them and other big, established foundations.

    Gebru launched the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in 2021 to research AI’s harmful effects on marginalized groups “free from Big Tech’s pervasive influence.” The institute raised $3.7 million in initial funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kapor Center, Open Society Foundations, and the Rockefeller Foundation. (The Ford, MacArthur, and Open Society foundations are financial supporters of the Chronicle.)

    Buolamwini is continuing research on and advocacy against artificial-intelligence and facial-recognition technology through her Algorithmic Justice League, which also received at least $1.9 million in support from the Ford, MacArthur, and Rockefeller foundations as well as from the Alfred P. Sloan and Mozilla foundations.

    “These are all people and organizations that I think have really had a profound impact on the AI field itself but also really caught the attention of policymakers as well,” says Eric Sears, who oversees MacArthur’s grants related to artificial intelligence. The Ford Foundation also launched a Disability x Tech Fund through Borealis Philanthropy, which is supporting efforts to fight bias against people with disabilities in algorithms and artificial intelligence.

    There are also AI skeptics among the tech elite awarding grants. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has warned AI could result in “civilizational destruction.” In 2015, he gave $10 million to the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit that aims to prevent “existential risk” from AI, and spearheaded a recent letter calling for a pause on AI development. Open Philanthropy, a foundation started by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife, Cari Tuna, has provided majority support to the Center for AI Safety, which also recently warned about the “risk of extinction” associated with AI.

    A significant portion of foundation giving on AI is also directed at universities studying ethical questions. The Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a joint project of the MIT Media Lab and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, received $26 million from 2017 to 2022 from Luminate (the Omidyar Group), Reid Hoffman, Knight Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (Hewlett is a financial supporter of the Chronicle.)

    The goal, according to a May 2022 report, was “to ensure that technologies of automation and machine learning are researched, developed, and deployed in a way which vindicates social values of fairness, human autonomy, and justice.” One university funding effort comes from the Kavli Foundation, which in 2021 committed $1.5 million a year for five years to two new centers focused on scientific ethics — with artificial intelligence as one priority area — at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Cambridge. The Knight Foundation announced in May it will spend $30 million to create a new ethical technology institute at Georgetown University to inform policymakers.

    Although hundreds of millions of philanthropic dollars have been committed to ethical AI efforts, influencing tech companies and governments remains a massive challenge.

    “Philanthropy is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Goliath-sized tech platforms, the Goliath-sized AI companies, the Goliath-sized regulators and policymakers that can actually take a crack at this,” says Deb of the Omidyar Network.

    Even with those obstacles, foundation leaders, researchers, and advocates largely agree that philanthropy can — and should — shape the future of AI.

    “The industry is so dominant in shaping not only the scope of development of AI systems in the academic space, they’re shaping the field of research,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the AI Now Institute. “And as policymakers are looking to really hold these companies accountable, it’s key to have funders step in and provide support to the organizations on the front lines to ensure that the broader public interest is accounted for.”

    _____

    This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Kay Dervishi is a staff writer at the Chronicle. Email: kay.dervishi@philanthropy.com. The AP and the Chronicle are solely responsible for this content. They receive support from the Lilly Endowment for coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Millions struggle to pay AC bills in heat waves. Federal aid reaches only a fraction

    Millions struggle to pay AC bills in heat waves. Federal aid reaches only a fraction

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    DENVER — Bobbie Boyd is in a losing battle against near triple-digit temperatures in northwest Arkansas.

    Her window air conditioner runs nonstop and the ballooning electric bill carves about $240 out of her $882-a-month fixed income. So the 57-year-old cuts other necessities.

    Boyd eats one meal a day so her 15-year-old grandson, who she’s raising alone, can have two. She stopped paying car insurance and skips medical appointments.

    “The rent and the light bill. And I’m broke,” said Boyd, who needs the cooling to stave off her heat-induced asthma attacks.

    As climate change ratchets up temperatures across the U.S., millions of the poorest Americans grapple with the same agonizing decisions as Boyd — between perilous indoor heat or paying costly bills. While President Joe Biden has invested billions into federal programs that subsidize the poorest Americans’ energy costs, the money reaches only a fraction of the most vulnerable during the sweltering summer months.

    Nationwide, nearly 30 million American households struggle to pay their energy bills and qualify for the subsidy, but less than 3% receive it for their summer bills, according to the latest, preliminary federal data.

    Compared to food stamps, which reach over 80% of the eligible population nationwide, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, falls far short even as climate change helped make July Earth’s hottest month on record and air conditioning becomes a means of survival.

    That’s because most states run out of their federal funding every year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.

    “We’re likely to see the energy insecure population grow unless we have some pretty significant and substantial government intervention,” said Michelle Graff, who studies the federal subsidy at Cleveland State University.

    As it stands, many states don’t even offer the assistance for summer months, and those that do often run out of funds before the hottest days roll around. The program was founded decades ago with a focus on winter heating bills and has been slow to adapt to climate change’s hotter summers.

    Biden has promoted LIHEAP as “crucial for low-income families to help with their energy bills,” saying last week that during the sweltering summer, “even when the heat is over, many of our families may see their largest-ever energy bill.”

    On a visit Tuesday, Biden told a crowd north of Phoenix — where residents endured 31 straight days above 110 degrees in which at least 18 people died indoors without air conditioning — that “extreme heat is America’s No. 1 weather-related killer.”

    Still, in Arizona, the nation’s hottest state where roughly 650,000 low-income households qualify for the federal energy help for cooling assistance, only about 11,600 actually received it, according to the federal data.

    Samira Burns, a Health and Human Services official, said in a statement that the Biden administration doubled the LIHEAP budget through the American Rescue Plan and that HHS has updated guidance to help states target support during extreme heat.

    “The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized ensuring that eligible households seek and receive the utility assistance they need,” she said. “We know we must continue to do all that we can.”

    Just outside Phoenix five years ago, the death of 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman on a sweltering day after her electricity was cut off because of a $51 unpaid bill brought attention to the danger heat poses to people who are energy insecure.

    While regulated Arizona power companies are now banned from cutting off customers during periods of extreme heat, last year nearly 3 million Americans had their power disconnected for failing to pay bills — a third within the three hottest summer months, according to data collected by the Energy Justice Lab.

    “In the more extreme, but not at all rare circumstance, the risk is death,” said Sanya Carley, who studies energy policy at the University of Pennsylvania and is co-director of the Energy Justice Lab.

    When Candace Griffin of Houston, Texas, received disconnection notices this summer, she scrambled to keep the electricity flowing by seeking nonprofit assistance to pay monthly bills that surpassed $400. There wasn’t anywhere else to pull extra money from.

    “I have to pay the energy bill, I have to have lights, I have to have AC,” the 51-year-old said. And, “I have to eat.”

    The poorest Americans and minority communities already live in hotter neighborhoods and many suffer without air conditioning at all. While there are tax credits and rebates to help install air conditioning, most remain out of reach for impoverished households.

    But even with air conditioning, those with the lowest incomes face higher costs than their wealthier counterparts — in part because they are more likely to live in older, less insulated and drafty homes.

    Energy insecure households paid 20 cents more per square-foot for energy usage than the national average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    The federal Weatherization Assistance Program helps shore up low-income homes to make them better insulated, less leaky and reduce reliance on air conditioning and heating altogether. Still, while almost 40 million low-income households are eligible, only about 35,000 households get the help each year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

    “It’s because, just, lack of funds,” said Bruce Tonn, who studies the program at a Tennessee research nonprofit. Biden has since infused billions into the program, investments he touted Tuesday.

    The program is critical because it reduces energy bills, which tip roughly a quarter of low-income households into debt, according to Carley of the Energy Justice Lab. And, if electricity is disconnected, costs just add up. The fridge warms and the food goes bad; utility companies charge hefty reconnection fees.

    “It becomes very, very difficult for them to dig out and to be able to … pay their next energy bill,” said Carley, who added that about half of households who are disconnected have been disconnected before.

    National nonprofits, including the The Salvation Army and Catholic Charities, offer emergency financial aid, which thousands rely upon, especially since LIHEAP requires a multi-step application every year.

    Vivian Romero, who is raising two teenage granddaughters outside Phoenix, has used federal LIHEAP money in the past to pay her electric bill, before the family experienced a few months of homelessness.

    But Romero hadn’t reupped her request for LIHEAP this year, so to pay her $314 June power bill she looked to Catholic Charities, which wrote a check.

    Still, nonprofits often can only provide relief once a year, said Romero, adding she will reapply for LIHEAP help. “The Catholic Charities funding was a one-time thing.”

    In Arkansas, Boyd recently got a disconnection notice if she didn’t pay the electric bill after receiving an extension. Last time her power got shut off, she and her grandson slept in the car. This time, The Salvation Army kept Boyd from being disconnected.

    Boyd doesn’t receive LIHEAP; she didn’t even know that the financial aid was available.

    “The only thing between me and the sun is the roof,” she said.

    ___

    This article corrects that only regulated Arizona power companies are banned from disconnections during hot weather.

    ____

    Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed.

    ____

    Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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  • Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

    Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

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    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed live on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter

    FILE – This combo of file images shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday Aug. 6, 2023, on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.” (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, Stephan Savoia, File)

    The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —

    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

    The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year.

    “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.”

    Musk said earlier Sunday he was training for the fight by lifting weights.

    “Don’t have time to work out, so I just bring them to work,” Musk wrote.

    Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring in Las Vegas has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter has gained attention.

    It all started when Musk, who owns X, responded to a tweet about Meta preparing to release a new Twitter rival called Threads. He took a dig about the world becoming “exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options” — but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg’s jiu jitsu training.

    “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk wrote.

    Representatives of X, Meta and Ultimate Fighting Championship, which owns the venue where the fight might take place, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

    Musk’s push to stream the video live on X comes as he aims to turn the platform into a “digital town square.” However, his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event in May with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay.

    Musk had said the problems were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract.

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  • Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

    Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

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    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed live on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter

    FILE – This combo of file images shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday Aug. 6, 2023, on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.” (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, Stephan Savoia, File)

    The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —

    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

    The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the CEO of Facebook’s parent company Meta posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year.

    “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.”

    Musk said earlier Sunday he was training for the fight by lifting weights.

    “Don’t have time to work out, so I just bring them to work,” Musk wrote.

    Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring in Las Vegas has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter has gained attention.

    It all started when Musk, who owns X, responded to a tweet about Meta preparing to release a new Twitter rival called Threads. He took a dig about the world becoming “exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options” — but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg’s jiu jitsu training.

    “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk wrote.

    Representatives of X, Meta and Ultimate Fighting Championship, which owns the venue where the fight might take place, didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

    Musk’s push to stream the video live on X comes as he aims to turn the platform into a “digital town square.” However, his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event in May with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay.

    Musk had said the problems were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract.

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  • Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

    Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

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    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed live on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —

    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

    The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the Facebook founder posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year.

    “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.”

    Musk said earlier Sunday he was training for the fight by lifting weights.

    “Don’t have time to work out, so I just bring them to work,” Musk wrote on X.

    Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter has gained attention.

    It all started when Musk, who owns X, responded to a tweet about Meta preparing to release a new Twitter rival called Threads. He took a dig about the world becoming “exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options” — but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg’s jiu jitsu training.

    “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk wrote late Tuesday.

    Musk’s push to stream the video live on X comes as he’s pushing to turn the platform into a “digital town square.” However, his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event in May with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay.

    Musk had said the problems were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract.

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    Source link

  • Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

    Musk says his cage fight with Zuckerberg will be streamed on X

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    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed live on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) —

    Elon Musk says his potential in-person fight with Mark Zuckerberg would be streamed on his social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

    The two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face-off in late June. Zuckerberg is actually trained in mixed martial arts, and the Facebook founder posted about completing his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year.

    “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X,” Musk wrote in a post Sunday on the platform. “All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.”

    Musk said earlier Sunday he was training for the fight by lifting weights.

    “Don’t have time to work out, so I just bring them to work,” Musk wrote on X.

    Whether or not Musk and Zuckerberg actually make it to the ring has yet to be seen — especially as Musk often tweets about action prematurely or without following through. But even if their cage match agreement is all a joke, the banter has gained attention.

    It all started when Musk, who owns X, responded to a tweet about Meta preparing to release a new Twitter rival called Threads. He took a dig about the world becoming “exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options” — but then one Twitter user jokingly warned Musk of Zuckerberg’s jiu jitsu training.

    “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Musk wrote late Tuesday.

    Musk’s push to stream the video live on X comes as he’s pushing to turn the platform into a “digital town square.” However, his much-publicized Twitter Spaces kickoff event in May with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing his run for president struggled with technical glitches and a near half-hour delay.

    Musk had said the problems were due to “straining” servers because so many people were trying to listen to the audio-only event. But even at their highest, the number of listeners listed topped out at around 420,000, far from the millions of viewers that televised presidential announcements attract.

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  • On Long Island, philanthropists help fuel healthcare forward | Long Island Business News

    On Long Island, philanthropists help fuel healthcare forward | Long Island Business News

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    Kenneth and Elaine Langone’s recent $200 million gift to NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine drew its share of fanfare.

    The gift extends the school’s guarantee of full-tuition scholarships to every student, regardless of need, in perpetuity.

    “By providing our future doctors with an affordable education, we are investing in a brighter and healthier future for all, particularly here on Long Island, where Elaine and I grew up,” Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and chair of NYU Langone Board of Trustees, said at the time.

    Philanthropy plays an important role in healthcare. It comes at a time when donors seek to “take a leading role in helping to solve the biggest issues of our time,” according to a 2023 report from UBS that featured insights of 100 of its philanthropy experts.

    Across Long Island, philanthropists are contributing to causes they are passionate about, especially healthcare. Their contributions fund new buildings, research and innovations. They also fund endowments, address inequities and like the Langones’ generous gift, pay for medical education.

    “This extraordinary gift from Ken and Elaine ensures that … students for generations to come can follow their passion for medicine, regardless of their background and financial status,” Dr. Robert Grossman, CEO of NYU Langone Health and dean of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in Manhattan, said last week.

    While philanthropists with deep pockets help fuel healthcare forward, donors needn’t be at the top of the “wealth spectrum” to have impact, according to UBS.

    Consider Northwell’s current “Outpacing the Impossible” $1.4 billion fundraising campaign. It aims to fund programs, accelerate research, improve outcomes, expand access to care for the underserved and more. Launched in 2018, the campaign generated more than 185,000 donors in its communities, raising $1.14 billion toward its goal.

    BRIAN LALLY
    Courtesy of Northwell Health

    Healthcare “is not a high-margin business,” Brian Lally, senior vice president and chief development officer of Northwell Health, told LIBN. “Everything we make, we push back into the organization.”

    Earlier in July, Scott Rechler, CEO and chairman of RXR, and his wife Debby, gave the health system a $10 million grant to help tackle health disparities. The gift to Northwell, and its research arm, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, funds the launch of the Scott and Debby Rechler Center for Health Outcomes at Feinstein. Through large-scale data models and artificial intelligence, the center aims to identify and address healthcare disparities and patient risk factors to identify problems early and improve care.

    The Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell credits philanthropic support for its ability to attract students.

    “Thanks to Donald and Barbara Zucker’s generous donation in 2017, we have been able to offer substantial scholarships to a vast number of our students,” said Dr. David Battinelli, the medical school’s dean. “This endowment allows us to attract the best and brightest to Long Island and helps us continue educating the physicians of tomorrow, creating a workforce ready to serve a diverse and growing population, not just on Long Island, but around the world.”

    This was a cause that the Zuckers were passionate about, Lally said.

    DR. DAVID BATTINELLI
    Courtesy of Northwell Health

    “For a school as new as ours, welcoming our first class just 12 years ago, an endowment like this is unique and has been transformative to the lives of our students as well as to the evolution of our school,” Battinelli said.

    At Stony Brook Medicine, philanthropy is supporting a number of initiatives. This includes $10 million from various donors for the Presidential Innovation and Excellence Fund, supporting the Center for Healthy Aging.

    It includes a $6.2 million investment from the Baszucki family to develop Neuroblox, a software platform developed by biomedical engineer and neuroscientist Dr. Mujica-Parodi to model brain circuits and treat brain disorders.

    “Philanthropy and community partnerships are fundamental to our ability to deliver care to a range of patient populations, and we are exceptionally grateful for the support of our donors,” Dr. Hal Paz, CEO of Stony Brook University Medicine, said.

    DR. HAL PAZ
    Courtesy of Stony Brook Medicine

    “Through their shared support of our mission, Stony Brook Medicine faculty are changing lives with lifesaving inventions and therapies,” he added.

    Stony Brook received more than $4.5 million from several donors supporting the Pediatric Emergency Department Expansion Fund. It received a $4 million commitment from Kavita and Lalit Bahl to establish the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Endowed Cancer Center Directorship. It received $3 million from The Valerie Fund toward psycho-social support services for pediatric hematology/oncology patients. It received $2.55 million from Lester Kallus supporting emergency medicine residents. And it received a $1.5 million commitment from The Sanguinity Foundation to establish The Lourie Endowed Chair in Women’s Health.

    Over in Oceanside, Mount Sinai South Nassau received $5 million from The Louis Feil Charitable Lead Annuity Trust in February for a four-story, 100,000-square-foot building. Scheduled to open in 2024, the Feil Family Pavilion will double the size of the current emergency department, increase critical and intensive care inpatient capacity and add nine new operating rooms.

    The funding “will have a direct impact on improving patient care on the South Shore,” Dr. Adhi Sharma, Mount Sinai South Nassau president, said at the time.

    In 2021, more than $3.3 million was raised to create the Alan D. Guerci, M.D. Endowment for Cardiovascular Research, honoring Guerci, the former Catholic Health and St. Francis president and CEO. This initiative aims to expand the scope and scale of research at the DeMatteis Cardiovascular Institute. The endowment provides seed funding for initiatives that include new hires and preparing new studies across the hospital’s cardiovascular specialties and more.

    “Research funded through the Guerci Endowment will continue to be a driving force behind St. Francis Hospital’s advanced care options it offers to its patients,” Catholic Health President and CEO Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy said.

    DR. PATRICK O’SHAUGHNESSY
    Courtesy of Catholic Health

    In 2021, the St. Francis Hospital Foundation created the Endowment for Nursing Leadership and Education as a permanent resource for essential funding for training, mentoring and formal education for all nursing staff. Patients and benefactors contributed more than $4 million toward this initiative.

    The need for philanthropy, especially in healthcare, will continue. But those who step up to the plate are helping to make a difference in their communities, and maybe inspire others, with deep pockets or not, to do the same in whatever way they can.

    –

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    Adina Genn

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  • CAN Community Health Names Terry Dyer as Director of Donor Development

    CAN Community Health Names Terry Dyer as Director of Donor Development

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    SARASOTA, Fla., July 24, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Nationally renowned CAN Community Health (CAN) has named Terry Dyer as the Director of Donor Development. In this new role, Dyer will lead the charge to expand donor development and stewardship across CAN’s national markets which include Central and South Florida, Dallas/ Arlington, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, Virginia, South Carolina, and recently Nevada. 

    “We are excited to have Terry join us at this pivotal moment of growth and development across the United States,” said Rogelio Capote, Senior Vice President, Chief Communications Officer. “We welcome his keen ability to establish new partnerships, engage donors who share our mission and to brand our successful model of healthcare.”

    Dyer has a solid history of working with Fortune 100 and 500 companies and nonprofit organizations to help reach their maximum potential and growth. His background consists of talent acquisition management, recruitment, client services and program management. Most recently, Dyer was the Executive Director of the World AIDS Museum and Education Center. During his tenure, he is credited with initiating fundraising efforts that raised more than $400,000. In addition, he established several impactful partnerships that resulted in innovative programming to end the stigma of HIV.

    Additionally, Dyer has volunteered his time to various organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and South Florida communities. For several years, he served as a member of the San Francisco LGBTQ Speakers Bureau, which aimed to dispel homophobic and transphobic violence by educating people about the everyday lives of those in the community. In 2010, while working with STOP AIDS Project, POZ Health magazine named him “African American Person of the Month.”

    In July 2020, Dyer became the bestselling author of “Letters to a GAY BLACK BOY,” a memoir sparking conversations around racism, inequality, homophobia and more. Also in 2020, he was the recipient of the Kujichagulia Award for Self-Determination, presented at the Black Brothers Esteem (San Francisco AIDS Foundation) annual Kwanzaa event.

    In 2021, Dyer was presented the Ujima Men’s Collective Community Leadership Award and named by South Florida Gay News (SFGN) as 2021 Best New LGBT Activist. In 2022, he received SFGN’s nomination for Best LGBT Activist. During Black History Month 2023, Dyer received a proclamation from the City of Wilton Manors naming February 14th “Terry Dyer Day”. In May 2023, he was also recognized by the White House for his advocacy work. Currently, he is a board member of Plays of Wilton (POW) and is a member of the South Florida HRC Steering Committee. He also chairs the Black LGBTQ Planning Council.

    Dyer received his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Chico State University and a second degree in communications with an emphasis in public relations from Sacramento State University. He is a former All ­American collegiate volleyball player, a high school All-American track and field athlete, a competitive tennis player and a former contestant on the acclaimed TV show Star Search. 

    ABOUT CAN COMMUNITY HEALTH 

    CAN Community Health (CAN) is a not-for-profit, community-based organization with clinics in Florida, Arizona, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. CAN provides medical, pharmacy, dental, case management, mental health, and comprehensive prevention and services such as nPEP, PrEP, and education. CAN also provides screening and treatment for Viral Hepatitis, STDs and Gender Affirming Services. For more information about CAN Community Health and its services, please call (844) 922-2777 or visit www.cancommunityhealth.org. 

    Source: CAN Community Health

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  • Charitable giving in 2022 drops for only the fourth time in 40 years: Giving USA report

    Charitable giving in 2022 drops for only the fourth time in 40 years: Giving USA report

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    NEW YORK — Charitable giving in the United States declined in 2022 — only the fourth time in four decades that donations did not increase year over year — according to the Giving USA report released Tuesday.

    Total giving fell 3.4% in 2022 to $499.3 billion in current dollars, a drop of 10.5% when adjusted for inflation. The decline comes at a time when many nonprofits, especially ones providing services to those in need, report an increase in requests for help.

    However, Josh Birkholz, chairman of the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes the report and provides data and insights about donation trends, said the results are actually much better than they could have been considering the tough economic climate of late 2022.

    “I go back and forth on whether it’s encouraging or discouraging,” Birkholz told The Associated Press in an interview. “There was a 20 to 25% decline in the stock market and an 8% inflation rate, but Americans still gave nearly a half trillion dollars.”

    Those 2022 donations came after two record-setting years for charitable giving, driven by the unprecedented needs of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Una Osili, associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and the Giving USA report’s lead researcher. It’s a sign of continued generosity, though there are some areas of concern.

    “At the beginning of the 21st century, two thirds of Americans gave,” Osili said. “Today, that is down to under 50% for the first time. So giving has grown, but fewer people are participating.”

    The downturn in giving has led to issues at Community Help in Park Slope, better known as CHiPS, as it has in many charities across the country. The Brooklyn, New York, nonprofit operates a soup kitchen and food pantry, as well as supporting single mothers and their infants.

    “We saw inflation rise and, with that, we saw more working class individuals on our lines,” said Shanice Brown, CHiPS development director. “Donations declined — and donated food as well — because as the price of things increase, people need more and so they donate less.”

    CHiPS’ issues are compounded by the number of asylum seekers that are currently housed near the charity in Brooklyn. While CHiPS was providing 275 warm meals a day at this time last year, these days it is offering more than 400 meals daily. And sometimes, they simply run out of food.

    “When we run out of hot meals, we still provide sandwiches,” said Brown, who has been collaborating with other nonprofits and food suppliers to try to make ends meet. “Anyone who comes to our door walks away with something.”

    Even large-scale nonprofits have had to come up with new solutions to battle inflation’s effects on their resources.

    Jared Perry, chief revenue officer at Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, said that while donations to the foundation, which grants the wishes of children fighting critical illnesses, were up slightly in 2022, they are currently declining in some areas this year. And those drops come while Make-A-Wish copes with increased costs for travel, which is involved in about 75% of the wishes they grant.

    “I think we’ve seen a 37% increase in rental car prices and that translates to a cost we have to bear,” said Perry, adding that Make-A-Wish has stepped up calls for supporters to donate their airline miles and hotel points in order to help stretch its funding. The foundation has also turned to partners in the travel industry for more help.

    The need, Perry said, is also an opportunity for Make-A-Wish and other nonprofits to engage individual donors and appeal to them for help. “The message we’re going to continue to send out is: There are easy ways for people to get to get involved with Make-A-Wish, whether that be through volunteering or certainly by donating,” he said. “For every wish that we’re granting, there’s another wish waiting.”

    Jon Bergdoll, associate director of data partnerships at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University and the lead analyst for the Giving USA report, said the long-running trend of “dollars up, donors down” in philanthropy offers potential growth for nonprofits who can engage those currently not giving.

    Decision makers for donations are “not mom and pop donors, they’re wealthy individuals,” Bergdoll said. “That is indicative of where the money is coming from now versus 30 or 40 years ago.”

    According to the Giving USA report, 64% of donations in 2022 came from individual donors, 21% from foundations, 9% from bequests, generally through a will or estate plan, and 6% from corporations. In 2022, corporations donated 0.9% of their pre-tax profits in the United States, though Bergdoll said the report does not track whether multi-national corporations donated more in other countries.

    For CHiPS, they are simply hoping for help wherever they can find it. Brown said many foundations have told her they are not accepting new grantees this year because of the economy and other foundations that donated in 2020 and 2021 are saying, “Don’t ask us again until 2024.”

    “People have less, so they’re concerned about themselves and that’s understandable,” Brown said. “But there are so many ways the community can help.”

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • George Soros to pass control of his empire to son Alexander

    George Soros to pass control of his empire to son Alexander

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    Multibillionaire funder of democratic and liberal causes says 37-year-old has ‘earned’ job at helm of $25b empire.

    Billionaire hedge fund manager turned philanthropist George Soros has decided to hand control of his $25bn philanthropic and financial empire to his son, Alexander.

    A spokesperson for Soros, a major backer of liberal and democratic causes, confirmed the plan to the Reuters news agency after it was initially reported by the Wall Street Journal in an interview with Soros published on Sunday.

    Soros, 92, said previously he did not want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by one of his five children.

    But he told the Journal he had had a change of heart.

    “He’s earned it,” the elder Soros said of his 37-year-old son who is known as Alex.

    OSF is active in more than 120 countries and channels about $1.5bn annually towards strengthening civil society, advancing human rights and combating corruption, including Global Witness and the International Crisis Group.

    Also interviewed by the newspaper, Alex described himself as “more political” than his father and said he planned to continue donating family money to left-leaning political candidates in the United States.

    He told the Journal he would also broaden the foundation’s priorities from his father’s “liberal aims” to include voting and abortion rights as well as gender equity.

    “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it too,” Alex said.

    The OSF board elected Alex as its chairman in December and he now directs political activity as president of Soros’s political action committee in the US.

    George Soros was born in Hungary in 1930 and survived the Nazi occupation after his family secured false identity papers and helped other Jewish families to do the same. He has described the occupation as his most “formative experience”.

    Soros went on to build a successful career as a financier and began his philanthropic work in 1979, giving scholarships to Black South Africans living under apartheid.

    He later began working on issues related to freedom of thought and expression by funding academic visits to the West and supporting fledgling independent cultural groups beginning in Hungary.

    After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he created the Central European University in Budapest as a space to foster critical thinking.

    Soros has long been a target of the right-wing and anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists in the United States, his native Hungary and elsewhere. OSF closed its Budapest office in 2018 and moved the CEU to Vienna after a “Stop Soros” campaign led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party.

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  • Lenny Kravitz, Billie Eilish set for Global Citizen’s ‘Power Our Planet’ show for climate financing

    Lenny Kravitz, Billie Eilish set for Global Citizen’s ‘Power Our Planet’ show for climate financing

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    Music superstars Lenny Kravitz, Billie Eilish and H.E.R. will team with advocacy nonprofit Global Citizen for a free concert in front of the Eiffel Tower designed to convince world leaders to take further action against climate change.

    “Power Our Planet: Live in Paris” is set for June 22 to coincide with the Summit for a New Global Financial Pact, a gathering of the world’s political and business leaders to help developing nations finance sustainability projects.

    Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans says the summit is an opportunity for governments and global banks to collaborate to jump start climate projects stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes “Power Our Planet” will encourage leaders to take advantage of that opportunity and provide the $16.7 billion in outstanding climate financing promised in 2009 to lower-income countries. He is also seeking to advance reforms at the World Bank to make up to $1 trillion in additional financing available.

    “Global leaders and democratically elected governments really only respond to the momentum of their people and summits like this can come and go,” Evans told The Associated Press. “If it doesn’t achieve its goal, we’re going to miss the window this year to make the climate negotiations the success, which is even more important after last year’s complete failure in Egypt.”

    The Eiffel Tower event is part of the Global Citizen initiative, announced last month at the Global Citizen NOW conference in New York, supporting Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s call to rewrite the rules of global development banks and relieve the debts of lower-income countries to increase funding for climate adaptation projects.

    Global Citizen has shown for years, especially with its A-list concerts in New York’s Central Park, that it can generate action by having cultural leaders mobilize their supporters. And artists like Kravitz plan to motivate fans to “act today to save tomorrow.”

    “The next generation are inheriting a planet that’s being devastated by climate change,” Kravitz said in a statement. “We have the power to change things with our voices and our actions.”

    French President Emmanuel Macron supports the Global Citizen event, citing the need for “a world with more solidarity.”

    “Crises are multiplying and the number of those who place their hope in peace and multilateralism will only grow if we, as a global community, demonstrate that we are there to help the most vulnerable,” Macron said in a statement. “Because there will be no climate transition worldwide if we don’t fight for more justice and equity.”

    Major philanthropic organizations — including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Rotary International, and Open Society Foundations – as well as the public-private partnership Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, will also support the effort.

    “Power Our Planet: Live in Paris,” which will also include performances from Finneas, Jon Batiste, and Ben Harper, will be livestreamed on Global Citizen’s social media platforms, while Amazon Music will host the livestream on its Twitch channel.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • LOR Foundation Invests Over $500,000 in Innovative Water Projects Led by Western Farmers and Ranchers

    LOR Foundation Invests Over $500,000 in Innovative Water Projects Led by Western Farmers and Ranchers

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    LOR selects 61 projects submitted by farmers and ranchers that explore innovative approaches to using water in agriculture.


    DENVER, May 18, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The LOR Foundation has selected 61 projects for its Field Work initiative, investing $538,802 into water-related agriculture projects led by farmers and ranchers. 

    Earlier this year the foundation launched Field Work, a research initiative to source innovative approaches to using water in agriculture in the West. Through Field Work, farmers and ranchers in rural parts of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming were eligible for up to $10,000 to implement innovative water projects on their land (think: improved water efficiency, water reliability, water quality, crop yield or crop diversification, and labor efficiency). The goal: Get money quickly into the hands of the people in the field and on the ranch who have the potential solutions.

    LOR received more than 250 proposals from producers across all five states. Their innovative projects revealed some important trends among Western farmers and ranchers: the need for more and better pipes, nozzles, and gates to move water efficiently; investment in technology-enabled methods of supplying—and monitoring—remote or hard-to-access areas with water; a growing interest in how soil amendments like wool, fungi, and biochar can improve water retention and soil health; a return to holistic and Indigenous methods of catching, retaining, and spreading water (e.g., earthworks, water planting, underground greenhouses), and more. 

    “We believe that those closest to the problem often have the best solutions,” says Alex Dunlop, LOR’s chief business development officer. “Farmers and ranchers in places like Monte Vista, Colorado, and Questa, New Mexico, have creative solutions to water challenges. Field Work is a chance to help them put those ideas into practice and learn from them.”

    Ultimately, LOR selected 61 projects, which will get underway this spring and summer. These projects are led by the experimenters, tinkerers, innovators, and iterators who—while Western states agonize over how to resolve antiquated water compacts—have been finding ways to eke out a living from the land. They’re people who have a vested interest in finding ways to use water more effectively, for their own operations and for the good of the West. 

    They’re people like Michael Lobato, a Colorado School of Mines engineer-turned-farmer, who for the past three years has been rehabbing a five-acre farm outside of Fruita, Colorado. Lobato thinks injecting biochar—which is extremely porous—deep into the soil, rather than using it on the surface level, will improve the drought tolerance of hay and grasses and significantly reduce agricultural water consumption across the West. Interestingly, he’s planning to inject it using a piece of machinery previously used for sports turf.

    Ultimately, LOR hopes research projects like these—led by the people who best understand the challenge—reveal solutions for using water efficiently to grow food and sustain thriving communities in the West while in the grip of desperate drought.

    Learn about the 61 selected Field Work projects at lorfoundation.org/field-work.

    Source: LOR Foundation

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  • Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, set to receive Ms. Foundation’s Woman of Vision Award

    Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, set to receive Ms. Foundation’s Woman of Vision Award

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    Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will be in New York Tuesday night, along with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown, to receive the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award, as the nation’s oldest women’s foundation marks its 50th anniversary

    FILE – Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, arrives at the Invictus Games venue in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, April 15, 2022. Meghan will be in New York Tuesday, May 16, 2023, along with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown, to receive the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award, as the nation’s oldest women’s foundation marks its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

    The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will be in New York Tuesday night, along with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown, to receive the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award, as the nation’s oldest women’s foundation marks its 50th anniversary.

    The appearance is set to be her first public event since she opted to skip the coronation of her father-in-law King Charles III earlier this month in order to stay at home in California for her son Prince Archie’s sixth birthday. Her husband Prince Harry attended the coronation in London and then rushed back to California.

    Funds raised at the foundation’s annual gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan will be used to further the organization’s equity-centered initiatives and its mission of advancing women’s collective power.

    The foundation will also honor Wanda Irving, co-founder of Dr. Shalon’s Maternal Action Project, and Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of URGE, as well as abortion rights activist Olivia Julianna and LGBTQ+ advocate Rebekah Bruesehoff.

    Teresa C. Younger, Ms. Foundation president and CEO, said in a statement that the honorees will be celebrate for “their many accomplishments and tireless work on behalf of gender and racial equity across the country and the world.”

    Gloria Steinem, Ms. Foundation co-founder, will present Meghan the award for “her global advocacy to empower and advocate on behalf of women and girls.” Meghan and Prince Harry direct their philanthropy through their Archewell Foundation, which provided nearly 13 million COVID-19 vaccines with partner Global Citizen and helped resettle nearly 175,000 refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan in the United States with partner Welcome.US, according to its 2022 annual report.

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Bills’ Hamlin will put the millions raised into his charity

    Bills’ Hamlin will put the millions raised into his charity

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    NEW YORK — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin will use the $10 million given to online fundraising campaigns by well-wishers after his on-field collapse to fund his own nonprofit, the Chasing M’s Foundation.

    The decision, first shared with The Associated Press Monday, begins the 25-year-old’s plan for the unprecedented outpouring of support that he received after his heart stopped following a tackle during a “Monday Night Football” game in January.

    “We have been very deliberate and intentional about taking our time to set my charity up properly,” Hamlin said in a statement. “I’m excited to begin sharing news about programs we are creating to impact a generation of youth and give back to others.”

    That people continue to give weekly, if not daily, to the fundraiser is just one measure of the emotional power and connection that Hamlin has with so many. So far, they’ve given more than $9 million to a GoFundMe campaign and nearly a million to a second online fundraiser set up by The Giving Back Fund, a nonprofit which helps athletes and celebrities manage their charitable giving, according to Kelley Denny, a spokesperson for Hamlin’s charity.

    Hamlin’s marketing representative said in January that his family had arranged for The Giving Back Fund to act as a fiscal sponsor for the funds given to GoFundMe, which allowed Hamlin’s team to fundraise as a charitable entity. At the time, Hamlin’s team said the millions given to the GoFundMe would eventually be transferred to The Giving Back Fund, but they have not been.

    Last week, the news outlet Sportico reported on turmoil within The Giving Back Fund in part sparked by the question of whether gifts to Hamlin’s GoFundMe are charitable donations. Marc Pollick, CEO of The Giving Back Fund, disputed the accuracy of Sportico’s reporting in a statement and said the organization’s leadership “has always operated ethically, appropriately, and legally.”

    “My charity is not connected to the challenges being faced by the leadership of The Giving Back Fund,” Hamlin said in the statement, adding, “Donors will have full tax-exempt status.”

    Hamlin first started Chasing M’s Foundation in May 2020 when he was still a student playing with the University of Pittsburgh and applied last month for retroactive tax-exempt status, according to Denny. It was incorporated as a nonprofit in Pennsylvania.

    Experts say the question of whether the donors can claim a tax deduction for what they gave to the GoFundMe after his injury may depend on decisions by the IRS. Philadelphia attorney Don Kramer, who edits the website Nonprofit Issues, said the IRS has the discretion to retroactively recognize Hamlin’s nonprofit as tax exempt. That’s despite the fact, Kramer said, the cut off for applying for retroactive status is usually 27 months after an organization is founded.

    Few donors to Hamlin’s GoFundMe will likely have a significant interest in claiming a tax deduction for their gift. Because of changes in the tax law made in 2017, only those who itemize their taxes, around 11% of filers, may claim deductions for charitable contributions.

    “I think the public needs to be educated a little bit more on checking whenever they give money and if they really think they’re giving it tax deductible,” said Lisa Delpy Neirotti, director of sport management programs at George Washington University School of Business. She encouraged GoFundMe to distinguish more clearly between fundraisers that are set up by tax exempt organizations and those that are not.

    GoFundMe confirmed that they continue to hold the funds given to Hamlin’s campaign and said that fundraisers specify when they benefit charitable organizations.

    Records filed with the Pennsylvania Secretary of State show that Hamlin applied on May 1 to update Chasing M’s articles of incorporation, including its mission. Chasing M’s Foundation will support “the aspirations of youth and community members through sports, education” and other activities and “promote health and safety in sports through CPR & AED training.”

    Neirotti usually advises athletes to partner with major organizations that are already working on the causes that they care about, instead of starting their own nonprofit. But she said, the windfall of having millions of dollars all at once is unusual.

    “With that amount of money, you really could put it into a endowment that will last forever, long beyond his playing days,” she said of Hamlin.

    Since being released from the hospital, Hamlin has teamed up with the American Heart Association for a campaign to teach a simple version of CPR. He’s also met President Joe Biden at the White House and advocated for access to defibrillators in schools with Congressional leaders. In April, Hamlin announced that he wanted to return to playing and has been cleared to practice with the Bills.

    Lora Golke, who leads donor engagement at the Arizona Community Foundation, said that many athletes and their families often underestimate the amount of work that it takes to run a nonprofit or foundation and the expertise and knowledge that is required.

    “You have to remember, at the same time, he’s an athlete and is supposed to be doing his job. His job is not philanthropy,” Golke said. Her organization started a sport and philanthropy center in order to provide advice to former athletes who settle in the state and to its major teams about how they can make a difference in that community.

    In his first public statements posted in a video to social media on Jan. 28, Hamlin thanked those who had given money to the fundraiser but added that, “I know that it isn’t enough just to be thankful. This is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world and with God’s guidance I will continue to do wonderful and great things.”

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    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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