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Tag: Philanthropy

  • AI is being used to send some households impacted by Helene and Milton $1,000 cash relief payments

    AI is being used to send some households impacted by Helene and Milton $1,000 cash relief payments

    Nearly 1,000 hurricane-impacted households in North Carolina and Florida will benefit this week from a new disaster aid program that employs a model not commonly used by philanthropy in the United States: Giving people rapid, direct cash payments.

    The nonprofit GiveDirectly plans to send payments of $1,000 on Friday to some households impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The organization harnesses a Google-developed artificial intelligence tool to pinpoint areas with high concentrations of poverty and storm damage. On Tuesday, it invited people in those areas to enroll in the program through a smartphone app used to manage SNAP and other government benefits. Donations will then be deposited through the app’s debit card.

    The approach is meant to deliver aid “in as streamlined and dignified a way as possible,” said Laura Keen, a senior program manager at GiveDirectly. It removes much of the burden of applying, and is intended to empower people to decide for themselves what their most pressing needs are.

    It won’t capture everyone who needs help — but GiveDirectly hopes the program can be a model that makes disaster aid faster and more effective. “We’re always trying to grow the share of disaster response that is delivered as cash, whether that is by FEMA or private actors,” said Keen.

    The influx of clothing, blankets, and food that typically arrive after a disaster can fill real needs, but in-kind donations can’t cover getting a hotel room during an evacuation, or childcare while schools are closed.

    “There is an elegance to cash that allows individuals in these types of circumstances to resolve their unique needs, which are sure to be very different from the needs of their neighbors,” said Keen. She added that getting money into people’s hands fast can protect them from predatory lending and curb credit card debt.

    The organization employs direct payments for poverty relief around the world, but it first experimented with cash disaster payments in the U.S. in 2017, when it gave money to households impacted by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Back then, GiveDirectly enrolled people in person and handed out debit cards activated later. The process took a few weeks.

    Now that work is done in days — remotely. A Google team uses its SKAI machine-based learning tool to narrow down the worst-hit areas by comparing pre- and post-disaster aerial imagery. GiveDirectly uses another Google-developed tool to compare those findings with poverty data. It sends the target areas to Propel, an electronic benefits transfers app, which invites users in those places to enroll.

    “They don’t have to find a bunch of documentation that proves their eligibility,” Keen said. “We already know they’re eligible.”

    Still, focusing on areas with lots of damaged buildings won’t pick up all low-income households devastated by a disaster. Nor will reaching out to those already signed up for government benefits, as not all poor people enroll in them, and undocumented residents aren’t eligible for them. People without smartphones can’t access the app. Propel serves only 5 million of the 22 million households enrolled in SNAP benefits.

    In North Carolina, where electricity in some communities has still not been restored after Hurricane Helene, having a smartphone makes no difference without a way to power it and a signal to connect to.

    Keen said GiveDirectly is aware of this model’s shortcomings. She said some can be alleviated with a hybrid model that uses both remote and in-person enrollment. But the limitations also come down to funding. So far, GiveDirectly has raised $1.2 million for this campaign, including a $300,000 donation from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

    Despite the pitfalls, GiveDirectly hopes its model sparks ideas for other direct payment programs.

    FEMA overhauled its own cash relief program, called Serious Needs Assistance, in January. The agency increased the payments from $500 to $750 ($770 with the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1) and eliminated the requirement that states request the aid first.

    Across all Helene- and Milton-impacted states, more than 693,000 households have received Serious Needs Assistance as of Oct. 24 for a total spend of more than $522 million, according to a FEMA spokesperson.

    But the program still requires households to apply, which proved problematic when misinformation about the program ran rampant in the weeks after Helene. In places with high costs of living, the $750 might not go very far.

    Technology could help FEMA improve its system, said Chris Smith, who managed FEMA’s Individual Assistance program from 2015 to 2022 and is now director of individual assistance and disaster housing at the consulting firm IEM. “I think that we have to open up our imaginations that maybe there are other ways to quickly identify need and quickly identify eligibility.”

    But Smith cautions that a publicly funded program doesn’t enjoy the same license to experiment as a philanthropic one. “There has to be ultimately an accountability of how any level of government is providing assistance to individuals. People are going to want to know that, and to have that degree of certainty is very important.”

    The government has experimented with other types of unconditional cash assistance, such as when it expanded the child tax credit into a monthly direct deposit payment in 2021. That program briefly cut the child poverty rate almost by half before it expired.

    Research on guaranteed income programs shows recipients spend the money on their needs, said Stacia West, founding director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research. “There is no one who can budget better than a person in poverty,” she said.

    In a study tracking spending across 9,000 participants in more than 30 guaranteed income programs in the U.S., the Center for Guaranteed Income Research has found that the majority of the money is spent on retail goods, food and groceries, and transportation.

    West said one-time cash payments can be a huge help to families recovering from a disaster, but the money can make a more profound difference if it’s given for a sustained time.

    That has happened in two U.S. disasters. In 2016, Dolly Parton funded a program that gave $1,000 per month for six months to people in Tennessee who lost their homes in the Great Smoky Mountains wildfires. The People’s Fund of Maui, a program sponsored by Oprah and Dwayne Johnson, gave 8,100 adults affected by the 2023 Maui wildfires $1,200 month for six months.

    Keen said GiveDirectly would love to implement such a program if it had the funding, especially because long-term assistance could help people build future resilience. “So you’re not only repairing your home, but also fortifying it to a level that is more protected against the next time.”

    ——

    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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  • GJK Facility Services Propels Community Commitment With GJK Giving Back Program

    GJK Facility Services Propels Community Commitment With GJK Giving Back Program

    The innovative new social initiative strengthens support for vulnerable communities and continues the company’s commitment to philanthropy and making a difference in its community.


    MELBOURNE, Australia, October 24, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    GJK Facility Services, Australia’s renowned provider of facility services, is proud to launch its new “GJK Giving Back” program maintaining its long history of spearheading social change and fostering community welfare by partnering with The Lighthouse Foundation, a charitable organisation dedicated to assisting children and young adults affected by neglect, homelessness, and abuse find safe and nurturing homes and therapeutic care programs.

    GJK Facility Services has over 30 established partnerships across Australia contributing to various causes that impact the lives of individuals and communities. GJK Facility Services has a history of donations, including $20,000 to Kids Cancer Project Australia and an additional $10,000 at the 2022 FMA Gala Award. Founder and managing director George Stamas donated $100,000 towards Australia’s first home for young women as part of giving back and contributing to his community.

    The Lighthouse Foundation relies on donations from individuals and corporate partners to create caring communities for children to feel safe while recovering from traumatic experiences. The Lighthouse Foundation’s impact speaks for itself: eight out of ten children who participate in its program never return to the streets, changing the lives of over 1,000 young people. 

    “We are proud to launch our social impact program, GJK Giving Back, and work alongside Lighthouse Foundation to create caring communities where young people can heal and thrive,” said Elias Stamas, CEO of GJK Facility Services. “Through meaningful partnerships and community support, we aim to make a positive difference in the lives of those in need.”

    The “GJK Giving Back” program helps many organisations such as the Bridge of Hope, Epworth Foundation, Hunger Project, SuperTee, and Kids Cancer Project, which improves the treatment and survival rates for children with high-risk brain cancers that account for 40 percent of pediatric cancer deaths.  

    “Working with charities, not-for-profits, and organisations we already support, like the Lighthouse Foundation, the GJK Giving Back program will build on these relationships to create shared value partnerships,” said Stamas. “Giving back and doing good has always been part of GJK’s DNA… and this program just takes this to the next level, enabling our employees to participate and give back too.” 

    Now employing over 2,500 employees with a large national footprint, GJK Facility Services began as a family commercial cleaning business in 1985. It was the vision of George Stamas to give back to the community and make a difference in people’s lives.  

    GJK Facility Services’ commitment to philanthropy kicked into overdrive in 2003 when the Victorian State Government Office of Housing awarded the company with a cleaning, grounds, maintenance, and wastewater contract at the Collingwood and Atherton Gardens Public Housing Estates in Victoria to help implement the Public Tenant Employment Program (PTEP), which played a critical role in empowering individuals to break the cycle of unemployment as an alternative to welfare dependency (with a mandatory clause to hire a minimum of 35% of employees from the long-term unemployed residents in the estates).  

    GJK Facility Services received several awards over the years, including the H Bruce Russell International Global Innovators Award for innovation and impact on long-term unemployment and the local community in 2006 and the Australian Business Award for the Community Contribution Award in 2011.  

    Another achievement for GJK Facility Services was mentoring Jasmine Newman, an Indigenous entrepreneur, and establishing GJK Indigenous Solutions (GJKIS) in 2017. As a joint venture, GJK provided a support structure for GJKIS to be a competitive Indigenous business. GJKIS has successfully become a successful, female-owned Indigenous company providing Aboriginal people with employment, operating with 51% Indigenous employees, and better opportunities. GJKIS won the Aboriginal Business of the Year award at the 2020 Defence Industry Awards.  

    Passionately devoted to making societal impacts and proud of its efforts as a socially responsible business, GJK Facility Services pledges to continue its mission of setting a stellar precedent in corporate philanthropy with esteemed organizations and making a meaningful impact on the lives of children and people in the community. To learn more about the “GJK Giving Back” program, please visit https://gjkfacilityservices.com.au/gjk-giving-back. 

    For more information about GJK Facility Services and their philanthropic endeavors, please visit www.gjkfacilityservices.com.au. 

    About GJK Facility Services

    GJK Facility Services is a leading provider of facility services committed to delivering exceptional services to clients across various industries. With a comprehensive range of offerings, including cleaning, sanitation, hygiene, waste management, and more, GJK Facility Services prioritizes quality, integrity, and environmental responsibility in all its operations. 

    Source: GJK Facility Services Media

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  • GoFundMe bets social media can unlock Gen Z giving

    GoFundMe bets social media can unlock Gen Z giving

    NEW YORK — New GoFundMe tools will make it easier to circulate causes across online platforms in a push to cater toward younger generations.

    The crowdfunding site hopes to meet digital natives in the online spaces where they frequently advocate, streamlining the donation experience to encourage more charity and connecting traditional nonprofits with a demographic that prefers direct contributions over institutional giving. Among the features rolling out this fall are fundraising widgets for video game streamers, personalized profiles to highlight users’ philanthropic interests and an integrated button on Instagram to donate.

    “We play a really important role helping people ask for help and give help in the world,” GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that people can carry that with them, and communicate and express that, in the places where they spend time.”

    The products reflect the for-profit company’s internal recognition that Gen Z’s habits make social media an untapped source to drive charitable contributions. Gen Z respondents ages 18-26 are much more likely than older people to regularly share causes or fundraisers on their accounts, according to a survey led this summer by GoFundMe. Half reported doing so at least once a week and 41% said social media content compelled them to research or support a cause.

    GoFundMe allows users to create online fundraising pages where both their personal networks and benevolent strangers can help cover large costs with collective gifts. People turn to the platform for help affording basic needs like rent or unexpected emergencies like surgeries. The company collects a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for every donation.

    It’s not the only player in this space. But GoFundMe, already the largest crowdfunding site with $30 billion generated since 2010, has recently moved to increase its influence in the philanthropic sector. It signed a deal in 2022 to acquire Classy, an online fundraising platform that facilitates giving specifically for nonprofits.

    This latest announcement marks GoFundMe’s entrance into a market dominated by competitor Tiltify, which enables fundraising on virtual livestreams. On Monday, GoFundMe released in-video fundraising widgets for live streamers across platforms including Twitch and Instagram Live. A QR code brings viewers to the donation page and a tracker shows how close the campaign is to reaching its goal.

    The moves also signal the continuation of GoFundMe’s attempts to better serve nonprofit partners in addition to everyday organizers.

    A Meta partnership will launch Oct. 31 on Instagram for organizers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. GoFundMe promises a “seamless” integration of fundraisers on Instagram Stories and a “polished look” to help campaigns stand out.

    Nonprofits will be able to nurture donor relationships further with identifying data on contributors who give through Instagram, according to a company spokesperson.

    “It’s equally important for us to support nonprofit organizations who are often working on really big, big, deep structural issues,” Cadogan said.

    The company is also building out user profiles. Starting Nov. 13, individuals and organizations can personalize their own accounts with more details about their giving.

    The customizable pages can be made private. But Cadogan said the goal is to inspire others toward action through more public proclamations of users’ own charitable efforts. Organizers can pin a fundraiser or nonprofit to their page with a brief description about why the cause matters to them. Unique links will track collective impact with reminders of how many people gave money from a link on your profile.

    If LinkedIn is the site where users highlight their professional side, Cadogan said he wants GoFundMe Profiles to be the site where people show “this is me as a person that does good in the world.”

    “We hope that over time that becomes the place on the internet that you express your altruistic side of your identity,” he said.

    Youth-facing organizations must follow young people to the platforms where they find community, according to Fast Forward Executive Director Shannon Farley. Her organization helps nonprofits scale their impact with software and she previously ran an online network of millennial philanthropists.

    Online spaces provide a “real opportunity” for digital-first nonprofits, she said, but it’s harder for a “traditional, brick and mortar organization” to break into them.

    “Social media is where young people and young donors live,” Farley said. “If you’re not going to the places where people are every day, you’re missing out on a whole group of people who could be backing your cause.”

    ___

    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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  • ‘Kindness’ influencers on TikTok give money to strangers. Why is that controversial?

    ‘Kindness’ influencers on TikTok give money to strangers. Why is that controversial?

    Every Christmas growing up in Minnesota, Jimmy Darts’ parents gave him $200 in cash: $100 for himself and $100 for a stranger. Now, with over 12 million followers on TikTok and several million more on other platforms, philanthropy is his full-time job.

    Darts, whose real surname is Kellogg, is one of the biggest creators of “kindness content,” a subset of social media videos devoted to helping strangers in need, often with cash amassed through GoFundMe and other crowdfunding methods. A growing number of creators like Kellogg give away thousands of dollars – sometimes even more – on camera as they also encourage their large followings to donate.

    “The internet is a pretty crazy, pretty nasty place, but there’s still good things happening on there,” Kellogg told The Associated Press.

    Not everyone likes these videos, though, with some viewers deeming them, at their best, performative, and at their worst, exploitative.

    Critics argue that recording a stranger, often unknowingly, and sharing a video of them online to gain social media clout is problematic. Beyond clout, content creators can make money off the views they get on individual videos. When views reach the millions, as they often do for Kellogg and his peers, they make enough to work full-time as content creators.

    Comedian Brad Podray, a content creator formerly known online as “Scumbag Dad,” creates parodies designed to highlight the faults he finds with this content — and its proponents — as one of the most vocal critics of “kindness content.”

    “A lot of young people have a very utilitarian mindset. They think of things only in measurable value: ‘It doesn’t matter what he did, he helped a million people’,” Podray said.

    From the recording devices and methods down to the selection of subjects, “kindness content” — like everything on social media — exists on a spectrum.

    Some creators approach strangers and ask them for advice or for a favor, and if they bite, they receive a prize. Others choose to reward strangers they see doing a good deed. Kellogg performs a “kindness challenge,” asking a stranger for something and returning it in kind.

    Many of these strangers are unaware they’re being filmed. Some creators employ hidden cameras and aim to record subjects in a discreet manner. Kellogg said he wants to be as “secret about it as possible,” but asks for consent to share the video after the interaction. Kellogg said most agree because they look “like a superhero” after his challenge.

    Another charitable content creator, Josh Liljenquist, said he uses a GoPro camera and tries to make recording “extremely noticeable,” adding, “Consent’s the biggest thing.”

    Regardless of the recording method, some see the process as predatory.

    “These guys always find someone with cancer or always find someone who can’t pay their bills because they’re stalking through underserved and poor areas and they’re just sort of waiting,” Podray said. “Looking through the parking lot like, ‘He looks pathetic enough’.”

    Karen Hoekstra, the marketing and communications manager for the Johnson Center for Philanthropy, studies TikTok-based influencer philanthropy and says the videos, at times, take advantage of their subjects.

    “The model of the man on the street walking up and approaching a stranger and handing them money is — we’ve all heard this phrase, terrible as it is — it just strikes me as poverty porn,” Hoekstra said. “It’s exploitation.”

    Calls of exploitation often come when creators feature the same people across multiple videos, especially when they appear to be homeless or have a drug addiction. Liljenquist features some people frequently and maintains that his recurring subjects are like his “best friends.”

    One user commented on an Oct. 5 video that recent content feels like Liljenquist is “playing case worker for views,” as he posted several videos of a woman who followers suspect is struggling with a drug addiction. He records himself bringing her food, giving her a ride in his Tesla, and asking her questions that often get one-word responses.

    Liljenquist said criticism doesn’t bother him because he knows his intentions are good.

    “I love these people,” he said. “They love me.”

    Some criticize the showmanship of “kindness content,” but visibility is crucial to the model that relies heavily on crowdfunding. Kellogg is known to start GoFundMe fundraisers on behalf of his video subjects, usually bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in viewer donations.

    Kellogg, Liljenquist and scores of other creators also use their personal accounts on payment apps like Venmo, CashApp or PayPal to accept donations.

    Tory Martin, also of the Johnson Center as its director of communications and strategic partnerships, said transparency about donations is “not an option if it’s just going to an individual.”

    Although these creators aren’t held to standards and regulations like nonprofits, Liljenquist said he feels donor dollars go much further in his hands than in the hands of traditional organizations, which he said are “designed for failure.”

    “Nonprofits — not all of them, there are some good ones — but I would just suggest you do your homework on the nonprofits that you are giving money to because there’s a good amount of them who take advantage of the system,” he said.

    Some creators have set up nonprofit organizations or foundations to support their work, but that is not a widespread practice.

    Podray said he is “100% sure” some creators “take a rake or that there’s some sort of nonsense going on.” He also maintains that select creators hand out fake money to cash in on the trend.

    Kellogg said seeing fraudulent or exploitative videos is tough for him, worrying, “My gosh, every Facebook mom just fell for this and thinks it’s real.”

    While controversy swirls around these videos in some online circles, they are part of a hugely popular social media trend with millions of supporters and thousands who are compelled to donate after watching.

    Although Hoekstra has concerns about some creators’ methods, she said the introduction to charitable giving these videos make for young people is valuable.

    “Anything that can present philanthropy to them in a new way and make it accessible and make it exciting I think is a good thing,” she said. “Obviously, there’s going to be a learning curve, but I think it’s really exciting to see philanthropy be so accessible and understandable and embraced in these new spaces and in new ways.”

    Some skeptics have become supporters. Kyle Benavidez said he used to see “kindness content” on social media and think it was fake. But after his mother was featured in one of Kellogg’s recent videos and a GoFundMe Kellogg created for her raised over $95,000 to support their family while her husband is in the hospital with cancer, he said Kellogg’s online persona is true to his real-life character.

    “There’s a chapel in the hospital and I always go there every morning just to pray. ‘Hopefully something happens.’ And then Jimmy came to our lives,” Benavidez, 20, said. “It’s like God sent him.”

    Kellogg shows no signs of slowing down his philanthropic work any time soon and rolls out videos across his social platforms almost every day. Still, he says doing good deeds on camera only matters if he and his peers keep it up when the cameras aren’t rolling.

    “You can fool people all day and you can make money and do this and that, but God sees your heart,” he said.

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  • Documents show OpenAI’s long journey from nonprofit to $157B valued company

    Documents show OpenAI’s long journey from nonprofit to $157B valued company

    Back in 2016, a scientific research organization incorporated in Delaware and based in Mountain View, California, applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Services.

    Called OpenAI, the nonprofit told the IRS its goal was to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

    Its assets included a $10 million loan from one of its four founding directors and now CEO, Sam Altman.

    The application, which nonprofits are required to disclose and which OpenAI provided to The Associated Press, offers a view back in time to the origins of the artificial intelligence giant that has since grown to include a for-profit subsidiary recently valued at $157 billion by investors.

    It’s one measure of the vast distance OpenAI — and the technology that it researches and develops — has traveled in under a decade.

    In the application, OpenAI indicated it did not plan to enter into any joint ventures with for-profit organizations, which it has since done. It also said it did “not plan to play any role in developing commercial products or equipment,” and promised to make its research freely available to the public.

    A spokesperson for OpenAI, Liz Bourgeois, said in an email that the organization’s missions and goals have remained constant, though the way it’s carried out its mission has evolved alongside advances in technology. She also said the nonprofit does not carry out any commercial activities.

    Attorneys who specialize in advising nonprofits have been watching OpenAI’s meteoric rise and its changing structure closely. Some wonder if its size and the scale of its current ambitions have reached or exceeded the limits of how nonprofits and for-profits may interact. They also wonder the extent to which its primary activities advance its charitable mission, which it must, and whether some may privately benefit from its work, which is prohibited.

    In general, nonprofit experts agree that OpenAI has gone to great lengths to arrange its corporate structure to comply with the rules that govern nonprofit organizations. OpenAI’s application to the IRS appears typical, said Andrew Steinberg, counsel at Venable LLP and a member of the American Bar Association’s nonprofit organizations committee.

    If the organization’s plans and structure changed, it would need to report that information on its annual tax returns, Steinberg said, which it has.

    “At the time that the IRS reviewed the application, there wasn’t information that that corporate structure that exists today and the investment structure that they pursued was what they had in mind,” he said. “And that’s okay because that may have developed later.”

    Here are some highlights from the application:

    At inception, OpenAI’s research plans look quaint in light of the race to develop AI that was in part set off by its release of ChatGPT in 2022.

    OpenAI told the IRS it planned to train an AI agent to solve a wide variety of games. It aimed to build a robot to perform housework and to develop a technology that could “follow complex instructions in natural language.”

    Today, its products, which include text-to-image generators and chatbots that can detect emotion and write code, far exceed those technical thresholds.

    The nonprofit OpenAI indicated on the application form that it had no plans to enter into joint ventures with for-profit entities.

    It also wrote, “OpenAI does not plan to play any role in developing commercial products or equipment. It intends to make its research freely available to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.”

    OpenAI spokesperson Bourgeois said the organization believes the best way to accomplish its mission is to develop products that help people use AI to solve problems, including many products it offers for free. But they also believe developing commercial partnerships has helped further their mission, she said.

    OpenAI reported to the IRS in 2016 that regularly sharing its research “with the general public is central to the mission of OpenAI. OpenAI will regularly release its research results on its website and share software it has developed with the world under open source software licenses.”

    It also wrote it “intends to retain the ownership of any intellectual property it develops.”

    The value of that intellectual property and whether it belongs to the nonprofit or for-profit subsidiary could become important questions if OpenAI decides to alter its corporate structure, as Altman confirmed in September it was considering.

    ___

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

    ___

    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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  • Changing OpenAI’s nonprofit structure would raise questions about its future

    Changing OpenAI’s nonprofit structure would raise questions about its future

    NEW YORK — The artificial intelligence maker OpenAI may face a costly and inconvenient reckoning with its nonprofit origins even as its valuation recently exploded to $157 billion.

    Nonprofit tax experts have been closely watching OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, since last November when its board ousted and rehired CEO Sam Altman. Now, some believe the company may have reached — or exceeded — the limits of its corporate structure, under which it is organized as a nonprofit whose mission is to develop artificial intelligence to benefit “all of humanity” but with for-profit subsidiaries under its control.

    Jill Horwitz, a professor in law and medicine at UCLA School of Law who has studied OpenAI, said that when two sides of a joint venture between a nonprofit and a for-profit come into conflict, the charitable purpose must always win out.

    “It’s the job of the board first, and then the regulators and the court, to ensure that the promise that was made to the public to pursue the charitable interest is kept,” she said.

    Altman recently confirmed that OpenAI is considering a corporate restructure but did not offer any specifics. A source told The Associated Press, however, that the company is looking at the possibility of turning OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn’t been determined, the source said.

    In the event the nonprofit loses control of its subsidiaries, some experts think OpenAI may have to pay for the interests and assets that had belonged to the nonprofit. So far, most observers agree OpenAI has carefully orchestrated its relationships between its nonprofit and its various other corporate entities to try to avoid that.

    However, they also see OpenAI as ripe for scrutiny from regulators, including the Internal Revenue Service and state attorneys general in Delaware, where its incorporated, and in California, where it operates.

    Bret Taylor, chair of the OpenAI nonprofit’s board, said in a statement that the board was focused on fulfilling its fiduciary obligation.

    “Any potential restructuring would ensure the nonprofit continues to exist and thrive, and receives full value for its current stake in the OpenAI for-profit with an enhanced ability to pursue its mission,” he said.

    Here are the main questions nonprofit experts have:

    Tax-exempt nonprofits sometimes decide to change their status. That requires what the IRS calls a conversion.

    Tax law requires money or assets donated to a tax-exempt organization to remain within the charitable sector. If the initial organization becomes a for-profit, generally, a conversion is needed where the for-profit pays the fair market value of the assets to another charitable organization.

    Even if the nonprofit OpenAI continues to exist in some way, some experts argue it would have to be paid fair market value for any assets that get transferred to its for-profit subsidiaries.

    In OpenAI’s case, there are many questions: What assets belong to its nonprofit? What is the value of those assets? Do they include intellectual property, patents, commercial products and licenses? Also, what is the value of giving up control of the for-profit subsidiaries?

    If OpenAI were to diminish the control that its nonprofit has over its other business entities, a regulator may require answers to those questions. Any change to OpenAI’s structure will require it to navigate the laws governing tax-exempt organizations.

    Andrew Steinberg, counsel at Venable LLP and a member of the American Bar Association’s nonprofit organizations committee, said it would be an “extraordinary” transaction to change the structure of corporate subsidiaries of a tax-exempt nonprofit.

    “It would be a complex, involved process with numerous different legal and regulatory considerations to work through,” he said. “But it’s not impossible.”

    To be granted tax-exempt status, OpenAI had to apply to the IRS and explain its charitable purpose. OpenAI provided The Associated Press a copy of that September 2016 application, which shows how significantly the organization’s plans for its technology and structure have changed.

    OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said in an email that the organization’s missions and goals remained constant, though the way it’s carried out its mission has evolved alongside advances in technology.

    When OpenAI incorporated as a nonprofit in Delaware, it wrote that its purpose was, “to provide funding for research, development and distribution of technology related to artificial intelligence.” In tax filings, it’s also described its mission as building, “general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) that safely benefits humanity, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

    Steinberg said there is no problem with the organization’s plans changing as long as it reported that information on its annual tax returns, which it has.

    But some observers, including Elon Musk, who was a board member and early supporter of OpenAI and has sued the organization, are skeptical that it has been faithful to its mission.

    The “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton, who was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday, has also expressed concern about OpenAI’s evolution, openly boasting that one of his former students, Ilya Sutskever, who went on to co-found the organization, helped oust Altman as CEO before bringing him back.

    “OpenAI was set up with a big emphasis on safety. Its primary objective was to develop artificial general intelligence and ensure that it was safe,” Hinton said, adding that “over time, it turned out that Sam Altman was much less concerned with safety than with profits. And I think that’s unfortunate.”

    Sutskever, who led a team focused on AI safety at OpenAI, left the organization in May and has started his own AI company. OpenAI for its part says it is proud of its safety record.

    Ultimately, this question returns to the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit, and the extent to which it is acting to further the organization’s charitable mission.

    Steinberg said that any regulators looking at a nonprofit board’s decision will be most interested in the process through which it arrived at that decision, not necessarily whether it reached the best decision.

    He said regulators, “will often defer to the business judgment of members of the board as long as the transactions don’t involve conflict of interests for any of the board members. They don’t stand to gain financially from the transaction.”

    Whether any board members were to benefit financially from any change in OpenAI’s structure could also be of interest to nonprofit regulators.

    In response to questions about if Altman might be given equity in the for-profit subsidiary in any potential restructuring, OpenAI board chair Taylor said in a statement, “The board has had discussions about whether it would be beneficial to the company and our mission to have Sam be compensated with equity, but no specific figures have been discussed nor have any decisions been made.”

    ___

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

    ___

    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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  • Melinda French Gates Launches $250 Million Fund—How to Apply | Entrepreneur

    Melinda French Gates Launches $250 Million Fund—How to Apply | Entrepreneur

    In May, Melinda French Gates resigned as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and announced that she was dedicating $1 billion over the next two years to women’s organizations.

    On Wednesday, part of that vision unfolded — French Gates launched Action for Women’s Health, a $250 million fund for non-profits supporting women’s mental and physical health across the globe.

    “Women’s health continues to be an afterthought, and it’s impacting the health of our families, our communities, our economies,” French Gates said in a promotional video for the fund. “Thankfully there are so many amazing organizations around the world working to change that.”

    Melinda French Gates. Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

    Action for Women’s Health will help fund grassroots organizations tackling women’s health issues, French Gates explained. Each awardee will receive between $1 million and $5 million and undergo multiple rounds of review before securing the funding. Winners will be announced by the end of next year.

    Related: Melinda French Gates Reveals Her Next Move After Leaving Gates Foundation: ‘Set Your Own Agenda or Someone Else Will Set It For You’

    Here’s what the fund is looking for and how to apply.

    Who Should Apply

    Applicants must focus on women’s mental or physical health and meet four criteria: Be impactful, scalable, equitable, and feasible.

    Impact, for example, is measured by the non-profit’s demonstrated contributions. A score of 1 would be no contributions and an ineffective, impractical approach while a score of 5 would be earned through examples of contributions, and an approach with proven effectiveness.

    An organizational readiness tool is available to help applicants assess if they meet the requirements. The form goes through criteria like who can apply — individuals, for-profits, LLCs, and B-Corps are not eligible.

    It also asks if the non-profit’s central focus is women’s mental or physical health and if they have at least two years of audited financial records, in addition to other questions.

    How to Apply

    Action for Women’s Health is now accepting applications, due by January 10, 2025. Organizations have to register their intent to apply by December 3, 2024.

    Related: Melinda French Gates Says This Mindset Hack Helped Her Overcome Imposter Syndrome

    Sherin Shibu

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  • Takeaways from AP’s report on affordable housing disappearing across the U.S.

    Takeaways from AP’s report on affordable housing disappearing across the U.S.

    LOS ANGELES — While Americans continue to struggle under unrelentingly high rents, as many as 223,000 affordable housing units across the U.S. could disappear in the next five years alone.

    It leaves low-income tenants facing protracted eviction battles, scrambling to pay a two-fold rent increase or more, or shunted back into a housing market where costs can easily eat half a paycheck.

    Those affordable housing units were built with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, a federal program launched in 1987 that provides tax credits to developers in exchange for keeping rents low.

    It has pumped out 3.6 million units nationwide, and its expansion is now central to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ housing plan to build 3 million new homes.

    The catch? The buildings typically only need to be kept affordable for a minimum of 30 years. For the wave of LIHTC construction in the 1990s, those deadlines are arriving now, threatening to hemorrhage affordable housing supply when Americans need it most.

    Data on LIHTC units that will lose their affordability nationally remains a rough estimate.

    The best nationwide analysis estimated that by 2030 roughly 350,000 LIHTC units are at risk of losing affordability. That’s 1 million units by 2040, according to the National Housing Preservation Database.

    Not all units that lose LIHTC’s affordability protections become market rate. Some are kept affordable by other government subsidies, by merciful landlords or by states, including California, Colorado and New York, that have worked to keep costs low.

    Still, it’s a sizeable loss to a housing market already in dire need of new units.

    “If we are losing the homes that are currently affordable and available to households, then we’re losing ground on the crisis,” said Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

    “It’s sort of like having a boat with a hole at the bottom,” she said.

    Local governments and nonprofits can purchase expiring apartments, new tax credits or other subsidies can be applied that extend the affordability, or tenants can organize to try to force action from landlords and city officials.

    California now requires all new LIHTC properties to be affordable for 55 years. Expiring developments built before that rule are also prioritized for new tax credits, and the state essentially requires that all LIHTC applicants have experience owning and managing affordable housing.

    California and Colorado require landlords to notify local governments and tenants before their building expires. Cities and nonprofits then have first shot at buying the property to keep it affordable.

    However, unlike California many states haven’t extended LIHTC agreements beyond 30 years, let alone taken other measures to keep expiring housing affordable.

    Still, local governments or nonprofits scraping together the funds to buy apartment buildings is far from a guarantee. And while new tax credits can reup a lapsing LIHTC affordability, they are limited, doled out to states by the Internal Revenue Service based on population.

    For more than two decades, the low rent on Marina Maalouf’s LIHTC apartment in Los Angeles’ Chinatown was a saving grace for her family, including a granddaughter who has autism.

    When that grace expired, the landlord, no longer legally obligated to keep the building affordable, hiked rent from $1,100 to $2,660 in 2021 — out of reach for Maalouf and her family. Tenant protests, a rent strike and eviction filings followed.

    The eviction case is ongoing, haunting Maalouf’s nights with fears of her family ending up in sleeping bags on a friend’s floor or worse. Mornings she repeats a mantra: “We still here. We still here.” But fighting day after day to make it true is exhausting.

    Still, Maalouf’s tenant activism has helped move the needle. The City of Los Angeles has offered the landlord $15 million to keep her building affordable through 2034, but that deal wouldn’t get rid of over 30 eviction cases still proceeding, including Maalouf’s, or the $25,000 in back rent she owes.

    On a recent day in the courtyard of Maalouf’s apartment, her granddaughter shuffled up with a glass of water. She is 5 years old, but with special needs, her speech is more disconnected words than sentences.

    “That’s why I’ve been hoping everything becomes normal again, and she can be safe,” said Maalouf, her voice shaking with emotion. She has urged her son to start saving money for the worst.

    “We’ll keep fighting,” she said, “but day by day it’s hard. … I’m tired already.”

    ___

    Bedayn is a corps member of 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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  • As affordable housing disappears, states scramble to shore up the losses

    As affordable housing disappears, states scramble to shore up the losses

    LOS ANGELES — For more than two decades, the low rent on Marina Maalouf’s apartment in a blocky affordable housing development in Los Angeles’ Chinatown was a saving grace for her family, including a granddaughter who has autism.

    But that grace had an expiration date. For Maalouf and her family it arrived in 2020.

    The landlord, no longer legally obligated to keep the building affordable, hiked rent from $1,100 to $2,660 in 2021 — out of reach for Maalouf and her family. Maalouf’s nights are haunted by fears her yearslong eviction battle will end in sleeping bags on a friend’s floor or worse.

    While Americans continue to struggle under unrelentingly high rents, as many as 223,0000 affordable housing units like Maalouf’s across the U.S. could be yanked out from under them in the next five years alone.

    It leaves low-income tenants caught facing protracted eviction battles, scrambling to pay a two-fold rent increase or more, or shunted back into a housing market where costs can easily eat half a paycheck.

    Those affordable housing units were built with the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC, a federal program established in 1986 that provides tax credits to developers in exchange for keeping rents low. It has pumped out 3.6 million units since then and boasts over half of all federally supported low-income housing nationwide.

    “It’s the lifeblood of affordable housing development,” said Brian Rossbert, who runs Housing Colorado, an organization advocating for affordable homes.

    That lifeblood isn’t strictly red or blue. By combining social benefits with tax breaks and private ownership, LIHTC has enjoyed bipartisan support. Its expansion is now central to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ housing plan to build 3 million new homes.

    The catch? The buildings typically only need to be kept affordable for a minimum of 30 years. For the wave of LIHTC construction in the 1990s, those deadlines are arriving now, threatening to hemorrhage affordable housing supply when Americans need it most.

    “If we are losing the homes that are currently affordable and available to households, then we’re losing ground on the crisis,” said Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

    “It’s sort of like having a boat with a hole at the bottom,” she said.

    Not all units that expire out of LIHTC become market rate. Some are kept affordable by other government subsidies, by merciful landlords or by states, including California, Colorado and New York, that have worked to keep them low-cost by relying on several levers.

    Local governments and nonprofits can purchase expiring apartments, new tax credits can be applied that extend the affordability, or, as in Maalouf’s case, tenants can organize to try to force action from landlords and city officials.

    Those options face challenges. While new tax credits can reup a lapsing LIHTC property, they are limited, doled out to states by the Internal Revenue Service based on population. It’s also a tall order for local governments and nonprofits to shell out enough money to purchase and keep expiring developments affordable. And there is little aggregated data on exactly when LIHTC units will lose their affordability, making it difficult for policymakers and activists to fully prepare.

    There also is less of a political incentive to preserve the units.

    “Politically, you’re rewarded for an announcement, a groundbreaking, a ribbon-cutting,” said Vicki Been, a New York University professor who previously was New York City’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development.

    “You’re not rewarded for being a good manager of your assets and keeping track of everything and making sure that you’re not losing a single affordable housing unit,” she said.

    Maalouf stood in her apartment courtyard on a recent warm day, chit-chatting and waving to neighbors, a bracelet with a photo of Che Guevarra dangling from her arm.

    “Friendly,” is how Maalouf described her previous self, but not assertive. That is until the rent hikes pushed her in front of the Los Angeles City Council for the first time, sweat beading as she fought for her home.

    Now an organizer with the LA Tenants’ Union, Maalouf isn’t afraid to speak up, but the angst over her home still keeps her up at night. Mornings she repeats a mantra: “We still here. We still here.” But fighting day after day to make it true is exhausting.

    Maalouf’s apartment was built before California made LIHTC contracts last 55 years instead of 30 in 1996. About 5,700 LIHTC units built around the time of Maalouf’s are expiring in the next decade. In Texas, it’s 21,000 units.

    When California Treasurer Fiona Ma assumed office in 2019, she steered the program toward developers committed to affordable housing and not what she called “churn and burn,” buying up LIHTC properties and flipping them onto the market as soon as possible.

    In California, landlords must notify state and local governments and tenants before their building expires. Housing organizations, nonprofits, and state or local governments then have first shot at buying the property to keep it affordable. Expiring developments also are prioritized for new tax credits, and the state essentially requires that all LIHTC applicants have experience owning and managing affordable housing.

    “It kind of weeded out people who weren’t interested in affordable housing long term,” said Marina Wiant, executive director of California’s tax credit allocation committee.

    But unlike California, some states haven’t extended LIHTC agreements beyond 30 years, let alone taken other measures to keep expiring housing affordable.

    Colorado, which has some 80,000 LIHTC units, passed a law this year giving local governments the right of first refusal in hopes of preserving 4,400 units set to lose affordability protections in the next six years. The law also requires landlords to give local and state governments a two-year heads-up before expiration.

    Still, local governments or nonprofits scraping together the funds to buy sizeable apartment buildings is far from a guarantee.

    Stories like Maalouf’s will keep playing out as LIHTC units turn over, threatening to send families with meager means back into the housing market. The median income of Americans living in these units was just $18,600 in 2021, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

    “This is like a math problem,” said Rossbert of Housing Colorado. “As soon as one of these units expires and converts to market rate and a household is displaced, they become a part of the need that’s driving the need for new construction.”

    “It’s hard to get out of that cycle,” he said.

    Colorado’s housing agency works with groups across the state on preservation and has a fund to help. Still, it’s unclear how many LIHTC units can be saved, in Colorado or across the country.

    It’s even hard to know how many units nationwide are expiring. An accurate accounting would require sorting through the constellation of municipal, state and federal subsidies, each with their own affordability requirements and end dates.

    That can throw a wrench into policymakers’ and advocates’ ability to fully understand where and when many units will lose affordability, and then funnel resources to the right places, said Kelly McElwain, who manages and oversees the National Housing Preservation Database. It’s the most comprehensive aggregation of LIHTC data nationally, but with all the gaps, it remains a rough estimate.

    There also are fears that if states publicize their expiring LIHTC units, for-profit buyers without an interest in keeping them affordable would pounce.

    “It’s sort of this Catch-22 of trying to both understand the problem and not put out a big for-sale sign in front of a property right before its expiration,” Rossbert said.

    Meanwhile, Maalouf’s tenant activism has helped move the needle in Los Angeles. The city has offered the landlord $15 million to keep her building affordable through 2034, but that deal wouldn’t get rid of over 30 eviction cases still proceeding, including Maalouf’s, or the $25,000 in back rent she owes.

    In her courtyard, Maalouf’s granddaughter, Rubie Caceres, shuffled up with a glass of water. She is 5 years old, but with special needs, her speech is more disconnected words than sentences.

    “That’s why I’ve been hoping everything becomes normal again, and she can be safe,” said Maalouf, her voice shaking with emotion. She has urged her son to start saving money for the worst.

    “We’ll keep fighting,” she said, “but day by day it’s hard.”

    “I’m tired already.”

    ___

    Bedayn reported from Denver.

    ___

    Bedayn is a corps member of 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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  • Humanitarians enlist entertainers and creators to reach impassioned youth during United Nations week – The Cannabist

    Humanitarians enlist entertainers and creators to reach impassioned youth during United Nations week – The Cannabist

    By JAMES POLLARD, The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — A lively discussion broke out backstage during Climate Week NYC between a TikTok comedian, a buzzed-about actress, a Latin cuisine entrepreneur and a cooking content creator.

    Convened by World Food Program USA to educate the panel’s audiences — over 1.8 million Instagram followers combined — about hunger, the four weighed best practices for authentically breaking down weighty topics on social media.

    Read the rest of this story on TheKnow.DenverPost.com.

    The Associated Press

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  • ChatGPT maker OpenAI raises $6.6 billion in fresh funding as it moves away from its nonprofit roots

    ChatGPT maker OpenAI raises $6.6 billion in fresh funding as it moves away from its nonprofit roots

    OpenAI said Wednesday it has raised $6.6 billion in venture capital investments as part of a broader shift by the ChatGPT maker away from its nonprofit roots.

    Led by venture capital firm Thrive Capital, the funding round was backed by tech giants Microsoft, Nvidia and SoftBank, according to a source familiar with the funding who was not authorized to speak about it publicly.

    The investment represents one of the biggest fundraising rounds in U.S. history, and ranks as the largest in the past 17 years that doesn’t include money coming from a single deep-pocketed company, according to PitchBook, which tracks venture capital investments.

    Microsoft pumped up OpenAI last year with a $10 billion investment in exchange for a large stake in the company’s future growth, mirroring a strategy that tobacco giant Altria Group deployed in 2018 when it invested $12.8 billion into the now-beleaguered vaping startup Juul.

    OpenAI said the new funding “will allow us to double down on our leadership in frontier AI research, increase compute capacity, and continue building tools that help people solve hard problems.” The company said the funding gives it a market value of $157 billion and will “accelerate progress on our mission.”

    The influx of money comes as OpenAI has been looking to more fully convert itself from a nonprofit research institute into a for-profit corporation accountable to shareholders.

    While San Francisco-based OpenAI already has a rapidly growing for-profit division, where most of its staff works, it is controlled by a nonprofit board of directors whose mission is to help humanity by safely building futuristic forms of artificial intelligence that can perform tasks better than humans.

    That sets certain limits on how much profit it makes and how much shareholders get in return for costly investments into the computing power, specialized AI chips and computer scientists it takes to build generative AI tools. But the governance structure would change if the board follows through with a plan to convert itself to a public-benefit corporation, which is a type of corporate entity that is supposed to help society as well as turn a profit.

    Along with Thrive Capital, the funding backers include Khosla Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Fidelity Management and Research Company, MGX, ARK Invest and Tiger Global Management.

    Microsoft said in a brief statement Wednesday that it looks forward to continuing its OpenAI partnership. Nvidia, a leading designer of the chips needed to build and run AI systems, declined to comment. The amount of each funder’s investment has not been disclosed.

    Not included in the round is Apple, despite speculation it might take a stronger interest in OpenAI’s future after recently teaming up with the company to integrate ChatGPT into its products.

    Brendan Burke, an analyst for PitchBook, said that while OpenAI’s existing close partnership with Microsoft has given it broad access to computing power, it still “needs follow-on funding to expand model training efforts and build proprietary products.”

    Burke said it will also help it keep up with rivals such as Elon Musk’s startup xAI, which recently raised $6 billion and has been working to build custom data centers such as one in Memphis, Tennessee. Musk, who helped bankroll OpenAI’s early years as a nonprofit, has become a sharp critic of the company’s commercialization.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.

    ___

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

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  • Kamali’s sophomore show for Chloé in Paris dazzled with lightness

    Kamali’s sophomore show for Chloé in Paris dazzled with lightness

    PARIS (AP) — Chemena Kamali’s sophomore collection for Chloé was a luminous exploration of femininity, blending the house’s heritage with a fresh, sensual energy for spring. Set against a backdrop of sun-faded apricots, blushes and soft whites, the Paris collection captured Kamali’s vision of a summer that she surmised as: “when you pause, escape, explore and recharge.” It celebrated Chloé’s free-spirited DNA, infused with a lightness that felt both nostalgic and forward-looking.

    Here are some highlights of Thursday’s shows at Paris Fashion Week, including a French honor for Naomi Campbell:

    Kamali’s joyful freedom

    “There’s a liberating expression of total freedom,” Kamali said of her spring display.

    This freedom flowed through silk charmeuse gowns, lingerie-inspired crop tops and peek-a-boo designs.

    Echoes of Karl Lagerfeld’s ‘70s Chloé lingered in exaggerated shoulders and standout pieces, like a loose-fitting, vivid blue coat. “Chloé is not a passing moment; it’s an eternal state of mind,” Kamali noted, grounding her collection in the house’s long-standing ethos of optimism and instinct.

    Layering played a central role, but Kamali kept it light and intuitive, reflecting what she called a “very personal way of dressing.” Sheer fabrics and sun-worn lace mixed effortlessly with ribbed jerseys, creating looks that felt weightless and spontaneous, a signature of Kamali’s debut collection. “What matters to me is the feeling and intuition,” she said.

    A standout moment came in the form of a dramatic trapeze-shaped silk gown, its dynamic silhouette swirling with movement. It epitomized Kamali’s ability to honor Chloé’s romantic roots while infusing a modern sensibility. “The mood is light, weightless, sensual and joyful,” she explained. That joyful freedom was a defining thread from start to finish.

    With her second outing, Kamali proved she is the right designer to lead Chloé. She crafted a spring collection that balanced nostalgia and sensuality while pushing the house toward a bright, optimistic future.

    Mugler’s Cadwallader takes a bite at fashion

    Casey Cadwallader delivered a striking show for Mugler, equal parts theatrical and innovative. The hair, sculpted into harsh fringes like a viper’s fang, set the tone for a collection defined by sharp architectural lines. Curving lapels adorned tight jackets, while tendrils of latticed silk flowed into skirts that bled vibrant yellows, creating a visual spectacle.

    The collection boldly embraced femininity, featuring a bust that echoed the form of seashells and a densely packed bustier resembling a diving whale. This daring aesthetic aligns with Cadwallader’s aim to infuse the brand with a fresh energy, moving away from the extravagance that some original Mugler fans long for.

    Oversized tubular arms complemented a webbed skirt-coat, while a transparent loose trench evoked the look of a sea medusa, reinforcing Cadwallader’s commitment to pushing boundaries.

    Naomi Campbell honored in France amid charity controversy

    Iconic British model Naomi Campbell was awarded a prestigious honor in France, being named a knight in the Order of Arts and Letters at the culture ministry for her significant contributions to French culture.

    However, this recognition comes as Campbell faces scrutiny back home, having been barred from serving as a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years. This decision follows a three-year investigation into the financial activities of her charity, “Fashion for Relief,” which was found to have been “poorly governed” and lacking in “adequate financial management.”

    The Charity Commission, which oversees charities in England and Wales, reported multiple instances of misconduct, revealing that only 8.5% of the charity’s expenditures went to charitable grants over a six-year period from 2016. Notably, the inquiry uncovered that charity funds were misused for Campbell’s luxury hotel stays during events in Cannes, alongside personal expenses such as spa treatments and room service.

    In response to a question from the AP, Campbell said, “I’ve just found out today about the findings and I am extremely concerned. We are investigating on our side. I was not in control of my charity; I put the control in the hands of a legal employer. We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”

    Alongside Campbell, fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich has been disqualified for nine years after receiving unauthorized payments for consultancy services, while trustee Veronica Chou has been barred for four years. The charity, founded in 2005 to unite the fashion industry in addressing global poverty, was dissolved earlier this year, having raised over $15 million for various causes worldwide.

    Despite the controversy, Campbell’s honor in France highlights her lasting impact on the cultural landscape.

    Rick Owens enchants with gothic splendor

    At Thursday’s show at the Palais de Tokyo, Rick Owens unleashed a captivating spectacle that felt like a dramatic descent into a realm inhabited by gothic aliens. The atmosphere was thick with smoke and suspense as an army of biblical figures marched out in impressive diagonal formations, their asymmetrical knee-high leather boots featuring translucent heels, making each step a statement.

    Owens’ trademark angular, alien-like geometric shoulders dominated the runway, capturing the essence of his singular vision—one that merges dark romanticism with avant-garde aesthetics. The collection was a testament to his ability to blend his gothic instincts with a sense of reverent irreverence, reminiscent of the “delicate time” he referenced in previous collections, where beauty and horror coexist.

    As the show unfolded, a billowing coven emerged, clad in oversized black priest-like hoods and flowing tulle cloaks that draped elegantly over their forms. Some models donned discreet headscarves, striking a balance between reverence and defiance, perfectly embodying Owens’ commentary on societal norms. This juxtaposition echoes his commitment to inclusivity, presenting a vision of fashion that celebrates diversity while challenging conventional beauty standards.

    The intricate craftsmanship used in the collection exemplified Owens’ mastery. Each piece, from the cloaks to the striking silhouettes, invited viewers to appreciate humble fabrics. This aligns with his insistence that he presents “the most excellent aesthetics” possible, recognizing the nuanced interplay between the dark and the light in our world.

    While some may find Owens’ aesthetic too avant-garde or even gloomy, this show reaffirmed his position as a provocative force in fashion. The theatricality and elaborate design remind us of his role as one of the last independent designers in Paris, navigating the complexities of the fashion landscape with fierce authenticity.

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Marine Lesprit contributed to this report.

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  • Naomi Campbell barred from being charity trustee in England and Wales

    Naomi Campbell barred from being charity trustee in England and Wales

    LONDON (AP) — British supermodel Naomi Campbell has been barred from being a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years after the poverty charity she founded nearly two decades ago was deemed Thursday to have been “poorly governed” with “inadequate financial management.”

    Following a three-year investigation into the financial activities of “Fashion for Relief,” the Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, said it had found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement,” and that only 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure went on charitable grants in a six-year period from 2016.

    For example, it said that thousands of pounds worth of charity funds were used to pay for a luxury hotel stay in Cannes, France, for Campbell as well as spa treatments, room service and even cigarettes. The regulator sought explanations from the trustees but said no evidence was provided to back up their explanation that hotel costs were typically covered by a donor to the charity, therefore not costing the charity.

    Campbell, 54, said she was “extremely concerned” by the findings of the regulator and that an investigation on her part was underway.

    “I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer,” she said in response to a question from the AP after being named a knight in France’s Order of Arts and Letters at the country’s culture ministry for her contribution to French culture. “We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”

    The commission, which registers and registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, also found that fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich received around 290,000 pounds ($385,000) of unauthorized funds for consultancy services, which was in breach of the charity’s constitution. She has been disqualified as a trustee for nine years. The other trustee, Veronica Chou, was barred for four years.

    “Trustees are legally required to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to comply with their legal duties and responsibilities,” said Tim Hopkins, deputy director for specialist investigations and standards. “Our inquiry has found that the trustees of this charity failed to do so, which has resulted in our action to disqualify them.”

    The charity, which was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, was dissolved and removed from the register of charities earlier this year. On its website, which is still active, the charity said that it presented fashion initiatives and projects in New York, London, Cannes, Moscow, Mumbai and Dar es Salaam, raising more than $15 million for good causes around the world.

    The charity had been set up with the aim of uniting the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organizations and giving resources towards global disasters.

    The commission said that around 344,000 pounds ($460,000) has been recovered and that a further 98,000 pounds of charitable funds have been protected. These funds were used to make donations to two other charities and settle outstanding liabilities.  

    “I am pleased that the inquiry has seen donations made to other charities which this charity has previously supported,” said the regulator’s Hopkins.

    ___

    Lesprit reported from Paris.

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  • OpenAI looks to shift away from nonprofit roots and convert itself to for-profit company

    OpenAI looks to shift away from nonprofit roots and convert itself to for-profit company

    OpenAI’s history as a nonprofit research institute that also sells commercial products like ChatGPT may be coming to an end as the San Francisco company looks to more fully convert itself into a for-profit corporation accountable to shareholders.

    The artificial intelligence company’s board is considering a decision that would change it into a public benefit corporation, according to a source familiar with the discussions who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about them.

    While OpenAI already has a for-profit division, where most of its staff works, it is controlled by a nonprofit board of directors whose mission is to help humanity. That would change if the company converts the core of its structure to a public benefit corporation, which is a type of corporate entity that is supposed to help society as well as turn a profit.

    No final decision has been made by the board and the timing of the shift hasn’t been determined, the source said.

    OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman acknowledged in public remarks Thursday that the company is thinking about restructuring but said the departures of key executives the day before weren’t related.

    Speaking at a tech conference in Italy, Altman mentioned that OpenAI has been considering an overhaul to get to the “next stage.” But he said it was not connected to the Wednesday resignations of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and two other top leaders.

    “OpenAI will be stronger for it as we are for all of our transitions,” Altman told the Italian Tech Week event in Turin. “I saw some stuff that this was, like, related to a restructure. That’s totally not true. Most of the stuff I saw was also just totally wrong,” he said without any more specificity.

    “But we have been thinking about (a restructuring),” he added.

    OpenAI said Thursday that it will still retain a nonprofit arm.

    “We remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone and as we’ve previously shared we’re working with our board to ensure that we’re best positioned to succeed in our mission,” it said in a written statement. “The nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist.”

    The resignations of Murati, Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and another research leader, Barret Zoph, were “just about people being ready for new chapters of their lives and a new generation of leadership,” Altman said.

    The exits were the latest in a string of recent high-profile departures that also include the resignations of OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and safety team leader Jan Leike in May. In a statement, Leike had leveled criticism at OpenAI for letting safety “take a backseat to shiny products.”

    Much of the conflict at OpenAI has been rooted in its unusual governance structure. Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit with a mission to safely build futuristic AI to help humanity, it is now a fast-growing big business still controlled by a nonprofit board bound to its original mission.

    This unique structure made it possible for four OpenAI board members — Sutskever, two outside tech entrepreneurs and an academic — to briefly oust Altman last November in what was later described as a dispute over a “significant breakdown in trust” between the board and top executives. But with help from a powerful backer, Microsoft, Altman was brought back to the CEO role days later and a new board replaced the old one. OpenAI also put Altman back on the board of directors in March.

    It may not be easy to change OpenAI’s corporate structure, even if it’s designed to make investors and employees happy.

    Tax experts have said that OpenAI’s corporate structure appeared to be set up to give the tax-exempt nonprofit entity full control of the for profit entities that the organization created as its growth started to take off.

    In 2016, the goal of OpenAI’s founders — a group that included Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk — was to “advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

    A few years later, the organization realized it needed more computing power to continue to develop AI technologies and to get it, they needed to raise billions of dollars. “We want to increase our ability to raise capital while still serving our mission, and no pre-existing legal structure we know of strikes the right balance,” wrote co-founders Sutskever and Greg Brockman in a 2019 blog post.

    So they set up a new for-profit corporation with a “cap” on the amount of profits that investors or employees could reap and put the nonprofit and its board in charge of the new entity.

    Any “excess” profit would go back to the nonprofit, Brockman and Sutskever explained, though in practice little money has gone back to the nonprofit in recent years. Brockman has been on leave since August, leaving Altman one of the few early leaders still at the helm.

    In research published in February, Ellen P. Aprill, professor emerita of tax law at LMU Loyola Law School, traced OpenAI’s corporate structure, noting that it appeared to be “painstakingly” designed to protect its nonprofit status.

    All of its subsidiary corporations are governed or managed by the nonprofit and its board, and OpenAI says it warns investors that they may never receive a return.

    However, April and her colleagues pointed to Altman’s ouster and reinstatement as evidence that the nonprofit’s board may not be meaningfully in charge. “Unless the members of the board fulfill their fiduciary duties… even the most carefully thought-out structures are for naught,” April and her co-authors wrote.

    ——

    The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

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  • Prince Harry says harms of social media have created an ‘epidemic’ for today’s youth

    Prince Harry says harms of social media have created an ‘epidemic’ for today’s youth

    NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry said today’s youth is in the midst of an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation due to negative experiences online, as he brought his campaign to help children and their parents navigate cyberspace to this week’s Clinton Global Initiative.

    “These platforms are designed to create addiction,” Harry, 40, said in remarks Tuesday in New York City. “Young people are kept there by mindless, endless, numbing scrolling — being force-fed content that no child should ever be exposed to. This is not free will.”

    Beyond supporting parents and youth throughout this advocacy, The Duke of Sussex stressed the need for corporate accountability. He asked why leaders of powerful social media companies are still held to the “lowest ethical standards” — and called on shareholders to demand tangible change.

    “Parenting doesn’t end with the birth of a child. Neither does founding a company,” said Harry, who revealed that his smartphone lock screen is a photo of his children, five-year-old Prince Archie and three-year-old Princess Lilibet. “We have a duty and a responsibility to see our creations through.”

    Harry’s remarks arrive as pressures continue to mount on tech giants like Meta, Snap and TikTok to make their online platforms safer, particularly for younger users. Many children on these platforms are exposed to content that is not age appropriate, such as violence, or misinformation. Others face unrealistic beauty standards, bullying and sexual harassment.

    Companies have made some changes over the years — with Instagram, for example, announcing last week that it would be making teen accounts private by default in a handful of countries. But safety advocates have long-stressed that there’s more work to be done. Many also maintain that companies still put too much responsibility on parents when it comes to keeping children safe on social media.

    Harry’s contribution to this year’s CGI annual meeting was part of the “What’s Working” theme, in a panel that included former President Bill Clinton, Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton and World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres.

    The Archewell Foundation, which Harry founded with his wife, Meghan Markle, to carry out their philanthropic work recently launched an initiative supporting parents whose children have suffered or died due to online harms. Harry highlighted the work of that initiative, called The Parents Network, in his speech Tuesday.

    The foundation has also partnered with the World Health Organization and others to end violence against children, an issue he and Meghan outlined during a recent trip to Colombia. Harry on Tuesday pointed to the inaugural Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, which is set to take place in Bogotá this November. He said that this meeting could result in the first global agreement for prioritizing child safety and protection online.

    His CGI address was part of a string of appearances for Harry in New York at the growing number of humanitarian and philanthropic events that run alongside the United Nations General Assembly Week.

    On Monday, he appeared at an event for The HALO Trust, where he discussed how the work of the landmine clearing charity was influential on his late mother, Princess Diana, as well as at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit, where he spoke with winners of The Diana Award.

    “The HALO Trust’s work in Angola meant a great deal to my mother,” he said. “Carrying on her legacy is a responsibility that I take seriously. And I think we all know how much she would want us to finish this particular job.”

    Harry’s message on Tuesday was generally well-received at the conference.

    Nia Faith, 22, co-founder of the Canadian nonprofit Revolutionnaire, which works to empower youth and uses social media to mobilize members, said she saw his presentation as a “call to action” on an issue that does not get enough attention.

    “I was incredibly moved by Prince Harry’s speech,” she said. “At Revolutionnaire, we use digital advocacy and social media to empower youth to make a positive impact. We also recognized that social media is being used in a way that is harmful and detrimental to the mental health of young people.”

    Faith hopes that Harry’s work will convince companies and governments to take action to protect children while encouraging the use of platforms to drive more positive action.

    Ashley Lashley, 25, whose Ashley Lashley Foundation works to address environmental challenges in her native Barbados by motivating young people to take action in their communities, said she was impressed by his remarks, even though she also worries about the digital divide in her country.

    “His message really hit home that parents, teachers, and students really need to unite to educate each other about the safe usage of digital technology,” she said. “I really believe that there needs to be a multi sectorial approach. That’s what we’re seeing here at CGI where different persons from different sectors — from governments, from private sectors, from philanthropy organizations — can really work together to ensure that there is peace and equity across all social media platforms.”

    ________

    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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  • Tugboat powered by ammonia sails for the first time, showing how to cut emissions from shipping

    Tugboat powered by ammonia sails for the first time, showing how to cut emissions from shipping

    KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP) — On a tributary of the Hudson River, a tugboat powered by ammonia eased away from the shipyard dock and sailed for the first time to show how the maritime industry can slash planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.

    The tugboat used to run on diesel fuel. The New York-based startup company Amogy bought the 67-year-old ship to switch it to cleanly-made ammonia, a new, carbon-free fuel.

    The tugboat’s first sail on Sunday night is a milestone in a race to develop zero-emissions propulsion using renewable fuel. Emissions from shipping have increased over the last decade — to about 3% of the global total according to the United Nations — as vessels have gotten much bigger, delivering more cargo per trip and using immense amounts of fuel oil.

    Abigail Jablansky, head of project management, stands in the captain area of the NH3 Kraken, a tugboat powered by ammonia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    CEO Seonghoon Woo said he launched Amogy with three friends to help the world solve a huge, pressing concern: This backbone of the global economy has not started to transition to clean energy yet.

    “Without solving the problem, it’s not going to be possible to make the planet sustainable,” he said. “I don’t think this is the problem of the next generation. This is a really big problem for our generation.”

    The friends met while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In their free time during the COVID-19 pandemic, they brainstormed how to power heavy industries cleanly. They launched their startup in November 2020 in a small space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The name Amogy comes from combining the words ammonia and energy.

    They looked for a boat and found the tug in the Feeney Shipyard in Kingston, New York, languishing without a mission. It could break ice, but little to no ice has formed on that part of the Hudson River in recent years, so it was available for sale.

    “It represents how serious the problem is when it comes to climate change,” Woo said. The project, he said, is “not just demonstrating our technology, it’s really going to be telling the story to the world that we have to fix this problem sooner than later.”

    Image

    Worker gestures from the NH3 Kraken, a tugboat powered by ammonia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    They named the tugboat NH3 Kraken, after the chemical formula for ammonia and their method of “cracking” it into hydrogen and nitrogen. Amogy’s system uses ammonia to make hydrogen for a fuel cell, making the tug an electric-powered ship. The International Maritime Organization set a target for international shipping to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by, or close to, 2050.

    Shipping needs to cut emissions rapidly and there are no solutions widely available today to fully decarbonize deep-sea shipping, according to the Global Maritime Forum, a nonprofit that works closely with the industry. There is a lot of interest in ammonia as an alternative fuel because the molecule doesn’t contain carbon, said Jesse Fahnestock, who leads the forum’s decarbonization work.

    AP correspondent Julie Walker reports on a tugboat powered by ammonia.

    Ammonia is widely used for fertilizer, so there is already infrastructure in place for handling and transporting it. Ton for ton, it can hold more energy than hydrogen, and it can be stored and distributed more easily.

    “It certainly has the potential to be a main or even the main fuel,” Fahnestock said. “It has a potentially very friendly greenhouse gas footprint.”

    Image

    The tank that will hold ammonia and power the NH3 Kraken sits on the tugboat on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    Image

    The tank that will hold ammonia and power the NH3 Kraken sits on the tugboat on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    Ammonia does have drawbacks. It’s toxic. Nearly all of it currently is made from natural gas in a process that is harmful for the climate. And burning it has to be engineered carefully or it, too, yields traces of a powerful greenhouse gas.

    Amogy’s technology is different.

    The tugboat ran on green ammonia produced by renewable electricity. A 2,000-gallon tank fits in the old fuel tank space, for a 10-to 12-hour day at sea.

    It splits liquid ammonia into its constituents, hydrogen and nitrogen, then funnels the hydrogen into a fuel cell that generates electricity for the vessel without carbon emissions. The process does not burn ammonia like a combustion engine would, so it primarily produces nitrogen in its elemental form and water as emissions. The company says there are trace amounts of nitrogen oxides that it’s working to completely eliminate.

    Image

    Abigail Jablansky, head of project management, walks down the stairs on the NH3 Kraken, a tugboat powered by ammonia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    Amogy first used ammonia to power a drone in 2021, then a tractor in 2022, a semi-truck in 2023, and now the tugboat to prove the technology. Woo said their system is designed to be used on vessels as small as the tugboat and as large as container ships, and could also make electricity on shore to replace diesel generators for data centers, mining and construction, or other heavy industries.

    The company has raised about $220 million. Amazon, an enterprise with immense needs for shipping, is among the investors. Nick Ellis, principal of Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund, said the company is excited and impressed by what Amogy is doing. By investing, Amazon can show ship owners and builders it wants its goods delivered with zero emissions, he added.

    “Many folks will now get a chance to see and understand how real and promising this technology is, and that it could actually be in container ships or tugboats in a matter of a few years,” he said. “If you would’ve asked five years ago, I think a lot of people would have thrown up their hands … And suddenly we have not only a compelling example, but a commercially-viable example. These types of things don’t come by every day.”

    Image

    A worker walks on the NH3 Kraken, a tugboat powered by ammonia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    Other companies are developing ammonia-powered ships that still use some diesel.

    In Singapore in March, Fortescue’s Green Pioneer vessel showed how ammonia could be used in combination with diesel as a marine fuel. An ammonia-powered container ship, the Yara Eyde, will be on water in 2026 with an engine running on green ammonia, according to Yara Clean Ammonia. In Japan, the NYK Group converted the tugboat Sakigake to run on ammonia rather than liquified natural gas.

    Image

    A boat, left, passes by the NH3 Kraken, a tugboat powered by ammonia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Kingston, N.Y. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)

    As a next step, Amogy is working with major shipbuilders to bring ammonia power to the maritime sector. South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean is purchasing its technology. HD Hyundai and Samsung Heavy Industries are working with Amogy on ship designs.

    Sangmin Park said that because Amogy has made significant progress in proving ammonia’s potential as a clean fuel, “we expect the industry to move towards adoption more quickly.” Park is senior vice president at HD Hyundai subsidiary HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering.

    “For the past few years, the industry has recognized the potential of ammonia as a zero-carbon fuel,” Park wrote in an email, “but actually building and sailing the first vessel is a true landmark event.”

    ___

    McDermott reported from Providence, R.I.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Bill Gates Says Billionaires Like Him Should Be Taxed Two-Thirds of Their Fortunes

    Bill Gates Says Billionaires Like Him Should Be Taxed Two-Thirds of Their Fortunes

    The Microsoft co-founder has long been one of the world’s wealthiest people. Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag

    Bernie Sanders, the famously anti-billionaire senator of Vermont, and Bill Gates, the world’s seventh wealthiest person with an estimated net worth of $138.5 billion, make an unlikely pairing—especially when it comes to debating income inequality. Despite their differences, the duo sat down together to discuss wealth and taxation for the latest episode of Gates’ new Netflix series What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates.

    “Several of my friends raised an eyebrow when I told them I was going to meet with him,” said Gates in a blog post on Wednesday (Sept. 18) discussing his meeting with Sanders and the show, which aired the same day. “After all, Sen. Sanders is the first U.S. Senator in history to go on record saying that billionaires shouldn’t exist,” he added.

    Sanders maintained this stance during their discussion, calling the existence of ultra-wealthy individuals “unacceptable” and “obscene.” Gates, meanwhile, suggested that billionaires should voluntarily donate their wealth but disagreed on outlawing them altogether. “But again, I’m biased,” conceded the Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder. Gates, who has given away some $77.6 billion via the Gates Foundation, has long been a champion for billionaire philanthropy and in 2010 helped create the Giving Pledge, a campaign that urges the ultra-wealthy to donate the majority of their wealth.

    How much should the ultra-rich be taxed?

    Despite their different stances on banning billionaires, both Gates and Sanders are advocates for higher taxes on the rich. “I’m amazed that the rich aren’t taxed substantially more than they are,” said Gates during the episode. “If you raise taxes a fair bit, there should be enough to somewhat raise the social safety net, which is not as well-funded as I would make it,” he added. The centibillionaire said his ideal tax system would leave the wealthy with a third of their current fortunes, which would give Gates around $46 billion given his current fortune. Sanders, meanwhile, said he “would go a lot further.”

    Gates’ comments echo statements he made earlier this month in an interview with The Independent, where he voiced his desire for more progressive tax policies. “If I designed the tax system, I would be tens of billions of dollars poorer than I am,” he told the outlet.

    In a 2019 blog post, Gates suggested increasing taxes on large investments by the wealthy and urged the U.S. government to raise the capital gains tax to equal taxes on labor. While those relying on salary and hourly work are taxed at a maximum of 37 percent, “the wealthiest generally only get a tiny percentage of their income from a salary; most of it comes from profits on investments, such as stock or real estate, taxed at 20 percent if they’re held for more than a year,” he said.

    During his discussion with Gates, Sanders pointed to a similar idea proposed by Warren Buffett in 2011 when he criticized the fact that he was taxed less than his employees. “That is not what the American people want to see,” said the senator.

    Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase (JPM)’s Jamie Dimon—estimated to be worth $2.3 billion—said that higher taxes on the rich would help the nation bring its debt down while increasing economic spending and growth. “You would maybe just raise taxes a bit, like the Warren Buffett-type of rule,” Dimon told PBS, referring to a tax rule borne out of Buffett’s comments that dictates no households earning more than $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families.

    Bill Gates Says Billionaires Like Him Should Be Taxed Two-Thirds of Their Fortunes

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Craigslist’s Founder Pledges $100 Million for Cybersecurity | Entrepreneur

    Craigslist’s Founder Pledges $100 Million for Cybersecurity | Entrepreneur

    Craig Newmark, the 71-year-old retired founder of Craigslist, has four focus areas for philanthropy: military families and vets, cybersecurity, journalism, and pigeon rescue.

    On Wednesday, he pledged $100 million to support U.S. cybersecurity, bringing his total giving and pledges to $400 million since 2015.

    Craig Newmark. Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images

    According to the Wall Street Journal, Newmark has already committed over 20% of the $100 million pledge to organizations and projects around cybersecurity. Common Sense Media, for example, received $2 million to support efforts like a cybersecurity awareness campaign for parents and teachers.

    Related: Melinda French Gates Reveals Her Next Move After Leaving Gates Foundation: ‘Set Your Own Agenda or Someone Else Will Set It For You’

    Newmark was worth $1.3 billion in 2020 and pledged to give away almost all his wealth to charitable causes in December 2022. He told the Journal that his giving was inspired by the Judaic concept of tikkun olam, Hebrew for “repairing the world.“

    Newmark’s approach is to find the right people, give them the resources they need, “and then get outta their way,” according to his philanthropy’s website. He doesn’t give organizations who receive grants requirements to hit certain targets.

    Newmark has yet to commit $88 million of his latest $100 million pledge. Applications are open through his foundation’s website where he personally vets the proposals.

    Related: Warren Buffett Just Changed Up His Will and Locked Out the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Sherin Shibu

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  • Gifted Savings Gifting $1,000 in Investment Assets to Every Student in the Class of 2025 at Westbrook Academy

    Gifted Savings Gifting $1,000 in Investment Assets to Every Student in the Class of 2025 at Westbrook Academy


    LOS ANGELES, September 19, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Gifted Savings, an innovative nonprofit in the direct giving space, is thrilled to announce the launch of its inaugural high school investment gifting program at Westbrook Academy, a Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) authorized school, in collaboration with the ASU Learning Transformation Studios. Starting today and underwritten by the generosity of an anonymous donor, every senior at the high school will receive an investment portfolio valued at $1,000 in an online account, offering them a unique and practical introduction to saving and investing. Students will be invited to track the value of their gifted investment portfolio throughout the school year. After the school year and once they turn 18, students will be given complete control over their entire portfolio to do with as they please, no strings attached.

    Gifted Savings aims to prove that the direct gifting of investment assets is the most simple, efficient, and rewarding way to inspire hope and empower individuals to create their own opportunities, while promoting a widespread spirit of generosity and shared prosperity. In this pilot, the donor has chosen to gift students portfolios composed of $500 in the Vanguard Growth ETF, which includes 190 stocks, including Apple, Nvidia, Netflix, Amazon, and Tesla, along with $500 in Bitcoin.

    The Gifted Savings program is facilitated through a custom-built web app, which allows students to track their gifted investment portfolios while delivering bite-sized, interactive lessons on investing education. As students progress through the program, they will document their journey by sharing short video testimonials, offering insights into their personal growth and the impact of their new financial knowledge. The goal is to help students experience generosity and see the long-term power of saving and holding investments while sharing their learning with their peers and communities.

    “Gifted Savings is about more than just giving students money — it’s about empowering generosity while giving young people skin in the game of saving and holding investment assets,” said Farhad Mohit, founder of Gifted Savings. “We’re out to prove that when young people are given a chance of owning investment assets, they’ll naturally pursue financial literacy and be better prepared to make choices about opportunities they find.” 

    Josh Landay, Executive Director at Gifted Savings, adds, “And for donors, we want to show that the direct giving of investment assets can be the most simple, empowering and rewarding way to help people create a positive impact for themselves and our collective future.”

    Students already are dreaming of how they’ll make the most impact with their Gifted Savings. “I would use it towards saving for college in the future,” one student said, “and also possibly investing my own [money] in addition to the $1,000.”

    Principal Zeidy Revolorio of Westbrook Academy expressed her enthusiasm for the program. “Gifted Savings is giving our students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience owning real investments,” Revolorio said. “We’re excited to see how this will fuel their interest in financial literacy and help them to develop a solid foundation in managing their own finances so that they can realize their dreams.”

    The program, launching on Sept. 19, 2024, will run throughout the academic year. Gifted Savings is committed to scaling this transformative initiative by empowering donors to extend the reach of their generosity to schools nationwide, amplifying the impact of financial empowerment to countless more students. 

    About Gifted Savings: Gifted Savings’ mission is to make the direct gifting of investment assets simple and rewarding, empowering people to create their own opportunities. By providing students with gifted investment assets and free educational resources, Gifted Savings enables them to take charge of their financial futures. The program is designed for widespread impact, partnering with donors who believe in the power of infectious generosity through direct giving. By leveraging technology, Gifted Savings aims to reach students nationwide and prove that giving people freedom and responsibility is the best way to invest in our shared future.

    www.giftedsavings.org

    Source: Gifted Savings

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  • MrBeast and Amazon sued by competitors from his $5M reality show over alleged ‘unsafe’ conditions

    MrBeast and Amazon sued by competitors from his $5M reality show over alleged ‘unsafe’ conditions

    NEW YORK — MrBeast is accused of creating “unsafe” employment conditions, including sexual harassment, and misrepresenting contestants’ odds at winning his new Amazon reality show’s $5 million grand prize in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by five unnamed participants.

    The filing alleges that the multimillion-dollar company behind YouTube’s most popular channel failed to provide minimum wages, overtime pay, uninterrupted meal breaks and rest time for competitors — whose “work on the show was the entertainment product” sold by MrBeast.

    A spokesperson for MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, told The Associated Press in an email that he had no comment on the new lawsuit.

    Donaldson’s “Beast Games” was touted as the “biggest reality competition.” It was supposed to put the North Carolina content creator in front of audiences beyond the YouTube platform where his record 316 million subscribers routinely watch his whimsical challenges that often carry lavish gifts of direct cash.

    But its initial Las Vegas shoot began facing criticism before it even wrapped. Donaldson’s companies cast 2,000 people in an initial tryout this July where half could advance to the actual show’s filming in Toronto.

    Contestants only learned upon their arrival that the Las Vegas pool surpassed 1,000 competitors, according to the lawsuit, which significantly reducing their chances of victory. The lawsuit argues the “false advertising” violated California business laws that prohibit sweepstakes operators from “misrepresenting in any manner the odds of winning any prize.”

    The five anonymous competitors also said that “limited sustenance” and “insufficient medical staffing” endangered their health.

    The filing alleges that production staff created a “toxic” work environment for women who faced “sexual harassment” throughout the contest. Those sections are heavily redacted in an effort to comply with “confidentiality provisions” signed by the competitors, according to a press release from their lawyers.

    The lawsuit adds to the complaints — circulated by online influencers in the shoot’s immediate aftermath — that an unorganized set had left some contestants injured and lacking in regular access to food and medication. Other participants have told AP they received two light meals each day and MrBeast branded chocolate bars.

    MrBeast’s team also faces new accusations they “knowingly misclassified” the contestants’ employment status to the Nevada Film Commission in order to receive a state tax credit for more than $2 million.

    Among other forms of relief, the five competitors seek an order that MrBeast institute “workplace reforms” and awards “all wages owed.”

    Last month, amid several public relations crises, Donaldson ordered a full assessment of his YouTube empire’s internal culture and outlined plans to require company-wide sensitivity training.

    No more details have been divulged and no date has been publicized for the reality game show’s release.

    ___

    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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