Stages of Maturity
Nonprofits and NGO’s maturity level can be defined as:

Foundational
Focused on gaining operational stability and sustainability, while transforming its fundraising capabilities via its process, practice, people, perspective, and tools.

Evolving
Focused on operational growth, while integrating fundraising tactics such as peer-to-peer networking, donor analytics, direct marketing, donor segmentation and pipeline building as a means for continued development.

Optimized
Focused on operational and strategic expansion with sophisticated processes and practices for charitable brand-building, while efficiently using its tools and people to achieve the same.

Fundraising Maturity Analysis
A snapshot analysis of fundraising within an organization in relation to specific measurement areas defines the maturity level. An internal view of fundraising can also serve as a diagnostic assessment of the divide between the current and desired state and what’s realistic and attainable.

An organization’s maturity can be delineated using the following measurement areas/factors defined as:

Process – A systematic approach of structuring an organization’s activities as it pertains to fundraising. In short, it relates to an integrated set of activities that manages the life cycle of a donor within an institution.

Practice – Specific activities/events that an organization performs to attract or sustain gift-giving by donors. Examples of activities include a direct solicitation for gifts, donor recognition, events etc.

People – An organization’s talent pool both in terms of skill set and capacity needed to meet fundraising objectives.

Perspective – An organization’s fundraising ideology surrounding key questions such as – What is the approach to fundraising from prime-donors? What is an acceptable condition or source of giving? What is the organization’s charitable impact narrative?

Tools – Systems, standards, and procedures in place that help drive efficiency and proficiency in fundraising activities.

• University of St. Thomas receives $75 million donation
• $50M donation made to honor the late Dr. Paul Farmer, continue his work
• Leonard Lauder, Koch Foundation give $10 million for Cox Science Center expansion
• Oil Tycoon Is Donating $50M to Theodore Roosevelt Library
• Pablo Eisenberg, a fierce critic of nonprofits and philanthropy, died at age 90
• Local philanthropists donate $50 million to Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati
• Sarah and John Lechleiter, former Eli Lilly CEO, pledge $20M gift to Xavier University
• Philanthropist Adrienne Arsht Gives $10 Million to the Met to Boost Live Arts
• Hunt Foundation makes historic gift to UTEP
• United Way Dallas Gets Historic $15 Million Gift From Perot Foundation
• Billionaire Leonard Lauder Gives $52 Million for Nurse-Practitioner Program
• Jeff Bezos announces $123 million donation to help end homelessness
• Warren Buffett donates over $750 million to his family charities
• Lee Caplin makes $10 million naming gift to Journalism & Media at FIU
• Cleveland schools receive $20 million from MacKenzie Scott
• Gates Foundation Pledges $7 Billion for Health, Gender Equality, and Farming in Africa
• MacKenzie Scott announces another $2 billion in donations
• Jeff Bezos says he plans to give away most of his $124 billion fortune
• Dolly Parton receives $100 million award from Jeff Bezos
• $16 Million Donated To Grand Prairie ISD
• MU receives $25 million donation from Kinder Foundation
• Smithsonian Receives $10 Million Donation To Support Research and Education on Climate Resilience
• John and Myrna Daniels Foundation makes historic $52-million gift to transform emergency care for older adults
• Alan McKim, trustee and founder of Clean Harbors, gives $25M to Northeastern in honor of President Joseph Aoun
• MacKenzie Scott, billionaire philanthropist, donates $20M to JCPS
• Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donates $16 million to Escondido Union School District
• $90-million gift to the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research marks new era in cardiac health
• Hansjörg Wyss Makes $350 Million Gift To Harvard University
• Millions of cookies: MacKenzie Scott gives Girl Scouts $85M
• Kimberly Querrey gifts $121 million to NU to support research, biomedical discovery
• T-Mobile to Donate Up to $1 Million to Hurricane Recovery this MLB Postseason
• Nvidia Founders Donate $50 Million to Oregon State University to Support AI Computing
• Fred Hutch Receives $710 Million Gift from the Bezos Family
• Lynda and Stewart Resnick Pledge $50M to UC Davis for Sustainability Research
• University Of Florida Given $100 Million, The Largest Gift In Its History
• Rotary President Jennifer Jones announces US$150 million pledge toward polio eradication
• Fresno Unified gets ‘game-changing’ $20 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott
• Gates, Dalio join forces with Temasek in philanthropic push
• Bard College Receives $50 Million For Indigenous Studies
• Donation of $15 million to 22 Canadian theatre companies by Slaight Family Foundation is a ‘transformational gift,’ theatre leaders say
• $75-million gift from Orlando Corporation for health care, education in Scarborough
• Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donates $20M to Houston nonprofit
• tern receives $20 million donation to create new real estate institute – Washington Square News
• $20-million donation changes cancer care in Nova Scotia | SaltWire
• Houston philanthropists Nancy & Rich Kinder give $100 million to expand Buffalo Bayou Park eastward
• Exclusive: Why Melinda French Gates’ Next Act Is What The Future Of Philanthropy Needs
• MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, gives 2 Beverly Hills mansions worth $55 million to a housing charity
• Crime Stoppers chairman gifts UAB $10 million, largest single alumnus donation in school’s history – al.com
• Billionaire Lukas Walton’s family office accelerates impact-investing push
• Billionaire Chip Wilson donates $76 million to preserve forest land in Canada
• City of Hope Orange County Receives $25 Million Gift from Julia and George Argyros
• Sergey Brin, Roblox’s David Baszucki And Kent Dauten Of Keystone Capital Commit $150 Million To Fight Bipolar Disorder
• MacKenzie Scott supports child mentors with $44 million gift – Chicago Tribune
• George Soros Donates $1 Million to J Street’s Super PAC – U.S. News – Haaretz.com
• $1.6 Billion Donation to Leonard Leo’s Political Group Bolsters Conservatives – The New York Times
• Junior Achievement Receives $38.8 Million Gift from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott
• Pokémon Company to donate $25m to support youth organizations | GamesIndustry.biz
• MacKenzie Scott donates homes valued at $55M in Beverly Hills to fund affordable housing projects
• Google Cofounder Sergey Brin Just Gave Away Nearly $130 Million Worth Of Shares
• $5m donation for pilot project to boost Queenstown residents’ health | The Straits Times
• United Way of Greater Cleveland receives $10 million donation | wkyc.com
• UC Irvine gets millions to educate on Holocaust, anti-Semitism – JNS.org
• $4 Million Dakri Family Gift Supports UH’s New Center for Economic Inclusion – University of Houston
• Alibaba Cofounder And Brooklyn Nets Owner Launches $220 Million Alliance For Athletic Moon Shots
• Here’s Whose Name Will Replace The Sackler’s At The Guggenheim After A $15 Million Donation
• UT Tyler medical school receives $10 million to support mental health education
• Bill Gates gives $20 billion to stem ‘significant suffering’ | AP News
• Philanthropists Joan and Irwin Jacobs give $10 million to Planned Parenthood – The San Diego Union-Tribune
• Billionaire Ken Griffin donates $130 million to Chicago organizations as he leaves for Florida
• Philanthropist Mark Dunajtschik donates up to $50 million for new mental health unit at Hutt Hospital – NZ Herald
• USC Arcadia Hospital Receives $7.5M Donation from Asian Businessman for New Operating Room – Los Angeles Business Journal

• Asia’s female financial firepower surges to record highs

• Watchdog investigates charity set up by UK billionaire over £16m ski clubhouse
• Inside Fight Impunity, the Brussels NGO at the heart of the Qatar corruption scandal
• Billionaire philanthropist launches his third charity
• Sir Frank Lowy Donates $18 Million to Tel Aviv University’s International School
• Chelsea Deal for Mudryk to Send $25 Million for Ukraine Defense
• Mykhaylo Mudryk’s £88m Chelsea deal sees £20m go to Ukraine soldiers to fight war v Russia
• France’s Macron: Bezos Earth Fund pledged $1 bln to protect environment
• Sweden’s Svante Paabo wins 2022 Nobel Prize in Medicine
• Mikhail Fridman Offers $1 Billion to Ukraine in Hope of Sanctions Relief – WSJ

Know Your Donor – Due Diligence to Decipher the Dark Side and Dirty Dollars

The news is replete with examples of the dark alleys of today, enabled by the Dark Web, unscrupulous crowd funding sites and “reputable” institutions.

A massive leak from one of the world’s biggest private banks, Credit Suisse, has exposed the hidden wealth of clients involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and other serious crimes. Details of accounts linked to 30,000 Credit Suisse clients all over the world are contained in the leak, which unmasks the beneficiaries of more than 100bn Swiss francs (£80bn) held in one of Switzerland’s best-known financial institutions. The leak points to widespread failures of due diligence by Credit Suisse, despite repeated pledges over decades to weed out dubious clients and illicit funds.

They include a human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girlfriend and executives who looted Venezuela’s state oil company, as well as corrupt politicians from Egypt to Ukraine.

One Vatican-owned account in the data was used to spend €350m (£290m) in an allegedly fraudulent investment in London property that is at the centre of an ongoing criminal trial of several defendants, including a cardinal.

Due diligence is not only for new clients. Banks are required to continually reassess existing customers. The 2017 report said Credit Suisse screened customers at least every three years and as often as once a year for the riskiest clients.

In recent years the philanthropic sector has been susceptible to major financial crimes. Risk assessment and corresponding services are important for nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations to assure donors are known and the dark side and dirty dollars can be deciphered.

This month we profile Junior Associate Ammna Nasser, an expert in global risk management, antimoney laundering and high-risk sectors for the Royal Bank of Canada. Ammna’s article on Risk Assessment Services deals with legal, financial, and reputational risks for the sector, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), and practical steps that can be taken now. The philanthropic sector offers significant benefits to the most vulnerable. With good due diligence and monitoring efforts, charitable projects can be conducted in a safer fashion without threat to the integrity of the charitable entity.

Good luck and start monitoring, and if you need our support, we are here, as Risk Management and Fundraising Governance is but one of 16 service offerings provided by S. Sutton & Associates Inc. and our stellar Associates, including Ammna!

Together we’re better,

Susan

Ontario Science Centre: Customer Relationship Management Data Migration

On September 26, 1969, a radio signal from over 1.5 billion light-years away struck a circuit that raised the curtain at the Ontario Science Centre’s official opening. As a gift to the people of Ontario to mark Canada’s Centennial, the provincial government commissioned architect Raymond Moriyama in 1964 to design the Ontario Science Centre—one of the first interactive science museums in the world. The Science Centre has since welcomed more than 54 million visitors.

Today the Ontario Science Centre is one of Ontario’s most significant cultural attractions, welcoming an estimated one million visitors each year, 20% from outside of Ontario, and 13% from outside of Canada. The Centre has 58,000 active members, hosts 165,000 Ontario students each year, 77,000 visitors annually through community access programs, and has become more than a destination. The Science Centre is a space where visitors of all ages can learn-through-play and discover ways to think like a scientist every day.

Guided by the belief that science, technology and innovation will help us shape a better future, the Ontario Science Centre continues to lead the way internationally with an incredible team of scientists, educators and exhibition creators who conceive, develop, design and build world-class exhibitions, award-winning educational programs and innovative science learning experiences.

As a not-for-profit agency of the Government of Ontario, the Science Centre relies on provincial support as well as generous individuals, corporations and foundations that share a commitment to science and education for additional operating support.

Junior Associate Natalia Branco and Associate Eduardo Araujo will comprise the Innovation Team conducting a data migration project from the legacy customer relationship management system, in use for the last 20 years, to Salesforce.

Northwest Arkansas Equality, Inc.: Development of a Major Gift Program

Northwest Arkansas Equality, Inc. (NWA Equality) is a community education, advocacy, resource, and service organization working to achieve full equality while creating an environment that embraces and supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community of Northwest Arkansas. NWA Equality’s services, events, and partnerships impact over 30,000 people annually throughout the greater Ozarks region.

We welcome back Northwest Arkansas Equality Inc. as a repeat client, interested in building upon the strategic plan that we developed last year. Associate Linda Boedeker led a four-month project to develop a more robust major gift program, including the development of a case for support, refreshed digital properties, collateral materials, tools and processes, and board and volunteer training sessions.

Public Radio Program Directors Association: Strategic Planning

We are pleased to welcome the Public Radio Program Directors Association (PRPD) as a new client. PRPD is a membership organization that advocates for high-quality programming and provides resources for public media program directors and staff, content managers, and independent producers. Members representing over 800 public media outlets—including national networks, local stations, and independent enterprises—benefit by sharing professional expertise and knowledge of industry trends, enabling them to boost the quality of their programming and operations.

PRPD seeks to be a leader in the industry, serving as a beacon for best practices and guidance to station leaders, providing the best possible service to their local audiences. Given the changes in the listening platforms and historical revenue model for the industry at large, PRPD saw an opportunity to look inward and determine their role in the public media landscape and how it can best position itself for mission service. The PRPD staff and volunteer leadership recognized that to remain relevant and financially sustainable, PRPD needed to examine every aspect of its mission and operations and identify who they seek to serve and how best to do so. At the crux of this goal is growing and diversifying the association’s funding streams and improving program services for the target audience.

The four-month strategic planning project was designed to provide an internal and external review by the Innovation Team members Randy Gorod, Katherine Scott and Lauren Bergquist to gain deep understanding of the issues of greatest concern to PRPD, successes and challenges, vision for the future role in the public media landscape, previous strategic plan, and funding model, all against the legacy mission statement. This inquiry informed questions explored through an extensive stakeholder analysis and consultation, an environmental scan of member organizations and a SWOT Analysis, with the goal to grow and diversify the organization’s funding streams, improve program services for the target audience(s), and set ambitious but achievable goals and objectives.

The strategic planning project was designed to draw conclusions whether PRPD’s current mission statement, infrastructure, funding/fundraising models, and offerings met the new goals and objectives, and revise accordingly, to achieve the objectives of the new strategic plan, and corresponding operations plan.

Principles of equity, diversity, access, inclusion, and anti-racism guided the entire project in its design and facilitation.

AIR Artists: Fundraising Mentorship and Coaching, Case for Support

AIR Artists is an innovative artists-in-residence program which helps to revitalize small towns by creating dynamic arts and crafts scenes celebrating the regions’ natural resources. By developing unused properties and building environmentally friendly residences and studios, AIR Artists creates a vibrant and creative community in which artists live and work and visitors learn about the arts while exploring the city’s rich culture.

Artists apply for a two-year program, during which they have the space and time they need to explore new ideas within their chosen mediums. Architect Steven Bingler has designed comfortable eco-friendly Shibusa cottages that blend with the landscape and provide a soothing respite from the outside world.

Supported by grants, philanthropy and earned income, each AIR site is independently funded and self-sustaining. Participating artists donate a portion of their work to the AIR art collection. Artists in residence and invited guests conduct workshops, and on-site retail stores offer artists’ wares for sale.

The inaugural AIR Artists site, Andalusia, Alabama, a former textile town, celebrates the textile arts.

During the summer of 2022 Senior Associate Debbie Flinn is providing fundraising mentorship and coaching and will collaborate on the development of a Case for Support.

Risk Management and Fundraising Governance

As donors increasingly demand tangible assurance their money is well spent and regulators question the costs of fundraising, nonprofit executives and their boards need to know how to build trust in their organization. We bring knowledge about “best practices” in fundraising and are fully conversant with standards that exist to assess them.

We can work with you to understand risks associated with various fundraising approaches. We can train your staff on effective processes and we can develop tools for your Board to gain and maintain confidence that your organization’s reputation is in good hands.

Providing Direction

Risk management is essential for any organization and S. Sutton & Associates Inc. understands reputational risk around fundraising operations and results presents particular vulnerability.

With that in mind our senior consultants with years in the arena also understand that with competing demands Boards need simple methods to assess risk, carefully considered solutions and if necessary, strategic remediation to restore trust.

In keeping with the methodology of the firm, our experts are able to provide a complete audit and assessment of your current state, articulating potential vulnerabilities and actionable strategies to avoid issues. Guidance and training for executive leadership staff is available to establish a framework going forward.

If the Board is placed in a position to consider remediation, our experts provide actionable steps for the organization to deploy and guidance for short term crisis communications and long term confidence building measures.

To explore how we can help, please contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation.

Earlier this year we celebrated an anniversary, as it was just five years ago in April that S. Sutton & Associates Inc. was launched and incorporated in Canada and the U.S. I could wax philosophic about the pain, the gain, the teachable moments, lessons learned, and all that has been derived from the process of moving from a start-up to an early-stage, and now to a growth-stage company. Long story short we have built a viable enterprise that is moving to its next stage of evolution.

The Innovation Team Model differentiates us, our service offerings are our table stakes, but it is the talent assembled, the Associates, who define our position in the marketplace. A huge thanks goes to the entire network of Associates who have made this possible!

This month we are also pleased to welcome four new Associates who bring a depth and breadth of experience and expertise. With these wonderful additions this brings our network of Associates to just over 100 based in the U.S. and Canada, enabling us to curate and customize just the right Innovation Teams for our clients.

With that in mind we are pleased to profile three new and one returning client, who are benefiting from our unique model, the U.S.- based Public Radio Program Directors Association, AIR Artists, and Northwest Arkansas Equality Inc. and the Toronto- based Ontario Science Centre.

Stay tuned for more to come in the coming weeks. Wishing all a terrific fall!

Susan

• Billionaire Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel Pledges Stock Options Worth $355 Million To Undisclosed Charitable Causes
• U of T and Sinai Health announce new gift from Larry and Judy Tanenbaum to establish the Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport
• U of T and Sinai Health announce new gift from Larry and Judy Tanenbaum to establish the Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport
• University Of Hawaii Receives Record Gift From Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan
• SMU gets $50 million donation for Ford Stadium expansion
• UC San Diego, USC Share $50 Million ‘Catalyst’ Gift for Alzheimer’s Research
• Mott Foundation gives MSU $25M for Flint-based research
• T-Mobile Makes $2.5M Donation Aimed at Opening Doors to Equitable Economic and Educational Opportunities for Young Adults
• Emory University Announces $100 Million Gift For Public Health
• Gates Foundation no longer centre of Melinda’s giving plans
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Announces $100M Gift to Create The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Cancer Ecosystems Project to Spur the Next Generation of Pre-Clinical Cancer Research
• Billionaire’s space trip brought $125M to St. Jude hospital
• Musk donated over $5.7 billion in Tesla shares to charity in November
• Adobe’s ‘Equity And Advancement Initiative’ Will Invest $20 Million In Nonprofits To Make A Societal Impact
• North Texas Food Bank Receives $10.5M Gift From Perot Family
• Airbnb to offer free housing to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees
• Ballmers donate $425M for new UO children’s mental health institute on former Concordia University campus
• $50M Allan Slaight Breakthrough Fund Supports Unconventional Cancer Research at Princess Margaret
• BC High receives historic $49M gift from late alumnus Pat Cadigan ‘52 to build 50,000 square foot wellness complex
• Warren Buffett’s son donates $2.7 million for Ukraine aid after meeting with Zelenskyy
• $5 million gift expands Montalvo’s artist residency program
• Taggart family donates $10 million to Ottawa hospital building campaign
• Warren Buffett charity lunch fetches record winning bid of $19 million
• Space & Rocket Center receives $10 million donation to support Space Camp
• Wendy Whiteley is giving an extraordinary $100 million cultural gift to NSW
• Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donates $8 million to North Carolina foster care, adoption agency
• Citadel founder Ken Griffin wins Blue Origin spaceflight auction, donates 2 seats to New York City teachers
• Medical College of Wisconsin receives $50 million Kern Family Foundation gift to ‘transform medical education’
• Malvern Prep receives $20 million gift, largest in school’s history
• Steven and Ellen Leifer Shulman gift $5 Million to Cleveland Clinic Weston
• Warren Buffett donates $4 billion to charity
• Margaret Alkek Williams makes a $10M donation to Houston Ballet, the largest gift in its history
• Video game designer and wife give DePaul its largest donation ever for College of Computing and Digital Media
• Tampa Museum of Art receives $25 million donation for renovation, expansion efforts
• Bloomberg invests $200M in NYC’s high-profile charter school networks
• Dallas CEO hopes to create future entrepreneurs with huge donation to SMU
• Russian-Born Billionaire Yuri Milner Pledges $100 Million To Help Ukrainian Refugees
• Harvard Receives $200 Million Gift For New Climate Institute
• $25 million gift from Shoman family advances Brown’s goal for need-blind international admission
• David Rubenstein gives $15 million to Holocaust Museum
• Samford University Announces $100 Million Gift
• MacKenzie Scott says she has given away $3.9 billion to 465 nonprofits in the last 9 months, raising her total to $12.5 billion since she pledged to give away most of her fortune
• Gilbert Family Foundation commits $13 million to aid Detroit renters facing eviction
• Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher launch $30-million fundraiser to help her native Ukraine
• First shared equity program to help Black families break into housing market launches in Canada
• Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott Among Backers of $1 Billion Gender Fund
• MacKenzie Scott donates $281 million to Boys & Girls Clubs
• MacKenzie Scott donates $436 million to Habitat for Humanity
• Sinai Health receives $2.5 million gift to bring neonatal expertise to the world
• Gates Foundation, Qatar to spend $200 million on climate-adaptive agriculture
• Ken Griffin Gives $40 Million to NYC Natural History Museum
• Lindsay and Paula Fox donate a record $100m for National Gallery of Victoria space
• Schweitzer donates $20M to WSU
• John MacLellan leaves legacy gift of $1.68-million to St. Martha’s Regional Hospital Foundation
• Hudson’s Bay gifting flagship downtown Winnipeg store to First Nations group
• Claremont McKenna College To Double Campus Footprint With Help Of $140 Million Donation
• FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Signs Billionaires’ Giving Pledge
• Former NYC Mayor Bloomberg donates millions for charter summer school program
• Olsrud family donates $12 million to Asante
• $38 million donation will pay for major renovation of Reno, Nev., high school
• Joe C. Wen and family donate $20 million to support UCI Health Center for Advanced Care
• Butt family, H-E-B commit $10 million for new elementary school in Uvalde
• Kohl’s donates $10M to Boys & Girls Clubs of America
• $25M donation made for waterfront public art trail in Toronto
• Osler Foundation receives $10M donation from Brampton trucking company
• Toronto university admitting 200 students forced to flee Ukraine
• The Obamas And Brian Chesky Launch A $100 Million College Scholarship Fund
• University of Houston names Fertitta Family College of Medicine after $50M donation from Houston entrepreneur
• World’s 1st 3D Printed Neighborhood Being Built In Mexico
• Crypto Joins the Abortion Conversation
• Canada’s Stem Cell Network Makes Its Single Largest Investment in Regenerative Medicine
• Gates, Wellcome pledge $150 mln each to pandemic preparedness group
• $25M Surprise Gift Announced During McPherson College Commencement
• OU Receives $30 Million Donation Towards L. Dale Mitchell Park Upgrades Project

• Asia’s richest Adani donating $10b to social causes
• China’s JD.com CEO Richard Liu To Donate More Than $2 Billion Of Shares To Charity
• Japanese billionaire Mikitani donates $11.7m to Ukraine
• Former student and Indigo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal donates Rs 100 crore to IIT Kanpur
• Israeli-U.S. billionaire Saban donates $1 Million to AIPAC’s Super PAC
• USC Arcadia Hospital Receives $7.5M Donation from Asian Businessman for New Operating Room

• Abramovich puts Chelsea soccer club up for sale as clamour for sanctions grows
• Tate galleries cut ties with sanctioned billionaires after Ukraine invasion
• Tate removes Sackler name from its walls because of the billionaire family’s major role in 500,000 opioid deaths in US
• Billionaire Victor Pinchuck to Sell $12.6 M. Koons Sculpture to Fund Medical Aid to Ukrainian Soldiers
• $5.2 Million Gift from Gray Inc. Will Create New Home for UK College of Design
• A $4 million fund for Europe’s Black founders

World Food Program to Elon Musk- show us the money ($6 billion). Elon Musk to the World Food Program – show me the results (solve world hunger).

This diatribe played out on social media recently exemplifies the conundrum. Donors are barraged daily with solicitations of every ilk, And, each donor has various objectives regarding what they want to accomplish with their philanthropy. Most fall into two categories, real-time direct service to address acute needs, or support designed to address root causes or systemic change. Throw in how to identify and assess impact and you have a Rubik’s cube, with not a straight line to be found, to give donors or nonprofits/NGO’s a clear path forward.

To put this quandary in the starkest of terms, today in Afghanistan food insecurity and an economic implosion are creating another Faustian bargain, as families sell their young daughters to make ends meet in the short term. While the long term solution may be through investment in infrastructure and state-building, creating a sustainable future for all going forward, for donors it is hard to ignore the immediate need, and the ramifications for the people of Afghanistan if a long term systemic approach to philanthropic investment is taken.

What is a donor to do? As a society, and in concert with the advancements of technology, our decision-making has moved from faith to reason, to big data and artificial intelligence, as described by Henry A. Kissinger, and coauthors Eric Schmidt and Danial Huttenlocher in The Age of AI And Our Human Future. This presents another interesting consideration for donors and the nonprofit sector, and a possible portent of the future.

Decision-making based on the measurement of impact or alternative approaches as described in the Stanford Social Innovation Review article entitled Ten Reasons Not to Measure Impact – and What to Do Instead, provides a useful framework for donors seeking the right balance between the subjective and the empiric. Authors Mary Kay Gugerty and Dean Karlan describe the complex, imprecise and uncertain trade-off between funding current use to ameliorate immediate need versus funding research, to inform long term impact or systemic solutions.

Time and money can be wasted on poorly conceived, poorly designed, and poorly implemented impact evaluations. Studies may be too small, or insufficient attention paid to quality data or establishing causality. Others fail to engage stakeholders appropriately and as a consequence results are never used. Good impact evaluations do enhance knowledge, and improve policy and practice, and are described as a mosaic of individual pieces that come together to create a picture that becomes clearer and clearer.

The nonprofit/NGO sectors must navigate many choices and challenges to build monitoring and evaluation systems that fit their needs. Premised that an insistent focus on measuring impact can be counterproductive to collecting other important data, The Goldilocks Challenge helps organizations design the “right fit” evidence strategies. The system of strategies in this important work informs when to measure impact and when not to measure impact.

This brings the conversation back to big data. The rapidly decreasing costs of data collection and analysis have certainly helped to heighten the appeal of impact measurement. As well, there are more calls for accountability in the public and social sectors, requiring evidence of impact. Social impact bonds and pay-for-success programs fund effective initiatives by tying financing to proven results, and proponents of effective altruism seek to persuade philanthropists to give only to programs with convincing evidence of effectiveness.

The authors contend the push to demonstrate impact wastes resources, compromises monitoring efforts, and contributes to poor and misleading methods. In some instances, organizations collect more data than they can analyze or collect the wrong data, providing misleading or wrong results, informing poor future decisions, and opportunity costs are incurred.

The challenge for funders and nonprofit/NGO stakeholders is to be accountable for developing the right-fit evidence systems and to demand impact evaluations when the time is right, using the Not the Right Tool, Not Now, Not Feasible, Not Worth It, decision tree. The authors pose scenarios and alternatives for each consideration, all leading to the conclusion that as alluring as impact measurement is, it may distract from a more useful and applicable inquiry of monitoring implementation and improving programs.

The key to right-sized monitoring data is finding a balance between external accountability requirements and internal management needs. In any event, credible, actionable, responsible, and transportable data on implementation should be a precursor to impact evaluation. And empowering decision-makers to use the data to make decisions requires regular review and the involvement of both program managers and staff.

Bottom line: the short and long term impact of programs will benefit from shifting the focus to evidence strategies that build learning and improvement.

Postscript: UN to Elon Musk: Here’s that US$6 billion plan to end world hunger

Together we’re better,

Susan

What is a Logic Model?

A logic model is a program planning tool that helps an organization, social business or group define important factors to launch a new program, product, or service. It can be used by a large, mature organization to plan a new program and can also be used by a small grassroots organization or social venture that is just beginning to plan how they will execute their mission. The logic model is a visual representation of a team’s vision of how and why their program, product or service will work. The flow of the logic model represents how that working assumption will be proven. It maps out the thought process or logic behind program execution from beginning to end.

How are Logic Models Used?

The beauty of logic models are their flexibility and adaptability. They be very granular, mapping out each and every measurable detail, or they can be much more general, allowing the flow to be captured in a more abstract way. They can also be adapted to key stakeholder audiences like funders, staff, board members or investors. For example, a logic model can be used by a team to attract foundation support for a new program; the logic model can be tailored to clearly articulate the organization’s gaps and resource needs which will allow the funder to see how their support will enable the organization to fulfill their mission. Alternatively, the logic model can be used to ensure that all board members and staff are on the same page with respect to a new program they are undertaking. Another application of a logic model framework is impact evaluation; the process of “looking to the future” can help an organization or team work backwards from their end goal to the basics of launching their program. This allows the team to put evaluation metrics in place well before the program has launched priming them for success in measurement and evaluation.

TIPS: The Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs suggests breaking out inputs into the following buckets: Human Resources, Office Supplies and Field Resources. They also suggest that this step can be taken one step further by having a Necessities List and Wish List. This additional layer allows the organization to make decisions about bottom line needs versus less essential needs.

Components of a Logic Model

1. Theory of Change or Problem Statement – while the statement is typically brief, adequate time and thought needs to be allocated to define what the organization or team plans to accomplish.
2. Inputs – the resources needed to execute the mission; inputs can be both tangible and intangible and broken out in whatever way is most appropriate for the organization.
3. Activities – the inputs in action; they effectively describe program execution; Examples activities are: vaccines administered, public awareness campaigns delivered, classes taught, performances conducted, artifacts protected.
4. Outputs – the results of the actions in measurable form – they are what is being counted. Example: We supplied 10,000 packets of supplementary food to the children under 3 years of age.
5. Short Term Outcomes – usually spanning within a year time frame, they are the objectives of the program; they represent some sort of knowledge or learning that takes place.
6. Long Term Outcomes – ranging from 2-5 years, they are the objectives of the program; they articulate some sort of action or behavior change. Example: We lowered the cases of acute malnutrition among children under three years of age.
7. Impact – the ultimate goal(s) of the program, product, or service; it represents the important change that the Theory of Change aims to prove; usually defined in terms of changes in conditions (social, governmental, environmental, civic).

TIPS: Segmenting outcomes based on time (short-term, mid-term, and long-term) can be useful in developing achievable milestones for mission fulfillment.

USE: SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Timely) goals to break out the program’s objectives.

USE: An Impact Statement to sum up several program goals and provide an overarching North Star for the organization to refer to.

Common Pitfalls

1. Avoid the “Kitchen Sink Effect”- Build the framework from right to left starting with the ultimate goal(s) and working back to smaller details; this will prevent the framework from being overloaded with non-essential information.
2. Measure What Counts – Don’t highlight outputs – or process indicators – to demonstrate organizational impact or mission fulfillment; while they are important, they are only a piece of the puzzle.
3. Keep Things Clear – If several programs are being presented in a single logic model they should be layered, clearly indicating what goals, objectives, activities, input, and outputs are tied to each layer or program.

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. has the technical expertise to work with your team to maximize your potential. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary consultation today, and in just a 30-minute call receive invaluable, actionable advice and much more.

Fundraising campaigns are a powerful driver to address institutional needs, enlist and engage the support of constituencies and elevate philanthropic performance. The process to plan and prepare for a campaign is as important as its execution and can inform short and long-term success.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning studies involve a number of our services, often including, but not limited to needs assessment and priority setting, developing the case for support, campaign branding and marketing, an evaluation of the existing donor pipeline, training for gift officers, development staff, and executive coaching for institutional leaders.

Campaign Readiness

Feasibility studies or readiness assessments gauge both internal and external readiness. External constituents’ opinions, attitudes, and engagement and are key to developing a roadmap for your campaign’s success.

We assess the potential and likelihood of both philanthropic and volunteer support for your proposed campaign, enthusiasm for the strategic goals of the campaign, and confidence in your institution, its leadership, and its fundraising programs.

Internal readiness is assessed in terms of staffing, structure, donor pipeline, processes, and funding priorities articulated in the case for support.

Based on both internal and external readiness, evidence-based recommendations for ambitious, yet achievable campaign goals are recommended.

Our consultants can assist your organization with all facets of strategic planning, preparation, and execution as well as pre, and post-campaign assessment.

To explore your possibilities, please contact us to schedule a complimentary consultation.

– Philanthropists Leon and Toby Cooperman announced last month that the Cooperman Family Foundation would be making a historic $100 million donation to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey. RWJ Barnabas Health will rename the facility Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in light of this historic donation.

– The University of Wisconsin-Madison unveiled a $20 million gift last month by brothers Jeff and Marv Levy, their alma mater, which will allow the University to move forward with plans to build a new home for its College of Letters and Science. The Levy brothers made this donation in honor of their late parents and the new building will be named “Irving and Dorothy Levy Hall.”

– The Ford Foundation will divest millions from fossil fuels. The foundation, one of the largest private foundations in the United States, will invest these funds in its energy portfolio in alternative and renewable energy, and funds that address the threat of climate change, and support the transition to a green economy.

– Belmont University’s board chairman Milton Johnson and his wife, Denice have donated $10 million to the Belmont Medical School. The private university announced the gift for the Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine. The school will also name the lobby of the new building after the couple.

– General Motors will build and sell its own brand of electric vehicle (EV) charger and donate 40,000 of the units to areas that lack significant charging infrastructure. The public chargers will not be a proprietary network, so owners of any compatible EV can use them, thus developing the infrastructure necessary for the more widespread adoption of EVs.

– Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff has pledged $200 million for reforestation, climate entrepreneurs, to plant trees, and fund ecologically-focused entrepreneurs. Benioff said “We’re in a planetary emergency, a climate crisis that impacts everyone, especially the most vulnerable among us. We need to apply every strategy possible to protect and preserve our planet.”

– The University of Toronto will divest from fossil fuels by 2030 or sooner as part of its commitment to combatting climate change and has additionally committed to placing ten percent of its investments in sustainable and low-carbon investments by 2025. The universities fossil fuel investments are worth just under $65-million, or about 1.6 percent of its holdings.

– JPMorgan Chase has deployed about $13 billion of its $30 billion goal to help close the racial wealth gap as part of its Racial Equity Commitment initiative to help close the racial wealth gap among Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities. In October 2020, JPMorgan Chase announced the $30 Billion Racial Equity project by bringing together its business, philanthropy, policy, and data expertise to advance racial equity and drive inclusive growth.

– Jeff Bezos nonprofit pledges nearly $100mn to address homelessness. The Families Fund program is pledging US$96.2 million to support efforts to address the immediate needs of U.S. families experiencing homelessness with 32 nonprofits across 21 states working to provide food, shelter, and other help to homeless families will receive grants.

– Qualtrics co-founder Scott M. Smith and his wife Karen Smith have announced a $25 million gift to fund Utah Valley University’s new engineering building which is part of UVU’s response to the state’s need for higher education to increase the number of engineers and computer scientists in Utah’s workforce. This lead gift initiates the private fundraising campaign to raise the $40 million needed to start construction on the 180,000 square-foot, five-story building that will be located on UVU’s Orem Campus.

– Elon Musk challenged David Beasley, UN’s World Food Programme directors claim that just a small percentage of his wealth could help solve world hunger. Musk tweeted that If the World Food Programme, using transparent and open accounting, could describe exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, he would sell Tesla stock right now and do it.

– The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $120 million to boost access to generic versions of drugmaker Merck’s antiviral Covid-19 pill for lower-income countries. The foundation said its funding is also intended to help ready regulatory, delivery, and other pathways in order to make the pill more accessible if it becomes available.

– The Jeff Bezos Earth Fund has pledged $2 billion to help restore nature and transform food systems as part of its $10 billion commitment to fight climate change, improve nature, and advance environmental justice and economic opportunity. Bezos said, “Our commitment today supports a three-fold imperative – we must conserve what we have, restore what we’ve lost, and grow what we need in harmony with nature.”

– A group of nine philanthropic foundations made the largest ever donation by pledging $5B to nature conservation, to finance the protection of 30% of land and sea by the end of the decade. In effect, this funding covers 30% of the estimated cost of the goal for the decade.

– Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie have pledged to donate and invest $1.5 billion on climate projects by 2030. The couple will spend $1 billion on investments in green technology businesses and another $500 million on donations towards philanthropic organizations, think tanks, institutes, and civil society organizations working on the climate crisis.

– Jamie Reuben, Newcastle United Football Club co-owner, who was part of the consortium that took over the club has pledged to match cash donations to a local food bank, Newcastle West End Food Bank at home games. Jamie has said his family foundation would match cash donations until the end of the season.

– Billionaire Bill Gates and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a $552 million project aimed at bringing green technologies in the U.K. to market through his climate investment firm Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. The firm will invest $276 million over the next ten years in green hydrogen, long term energy storage, sustainable aviation fuels, and direct air capture of carbon dioxide technologies.

In 1971 Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse initiating what was to become a global revolution – the farm-to-table movement, California Cuisine, and the embodiment of values-based corporate culture concerned less with profit and more with the security of farmers and farmworkers, biodiversity, factual labeling, and eco-friendly packaging. In 1992 the James Beard Foundation named Alice the Best Chef in America (the first woman to win Best Chef) and Chez Panisse the Best Restaurant in America. Alice and the founders brought their values to the table, and in doing so, the slow food movement became a political statement in support of the survival of the planet.

The cultural soup of the early 1970s within which Chez Panisse was envisioned produced significant social upheaval in the U.S embodied through social activism, opposition to the Vietnam War, feminism, and the passage of Roe v. Wade. The landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.

Fast forward to September 2021 when abortion, after six weeks into pregnancy, was effectively banned by a law enacted by the Texas Legislature. The law deputizes ordinary people to sue those involved (doctors, nurses, insurance companies, even Uber drivers who take women to clinics) and sets a $10,000 award for any successful lawsuit to stop abortion, effectively turning the citizenry into bounty hunters.

Enter stage left, Uber and Lyft who have stated they will pay their driver’s legal fees if they are sued under Texas’ new abortion law. Lyft plans to also donate $1 million to Planned Parenthood to “help ensure that transportation is never a barrier to healthcare access”. The reaction by the private sector continues with Marc Benioff, CEO of SalesForce, committing to help employees and their families relocate if they’re concerned about the ability to seek reproductive care, saying “These are incredibly personal issues that directly impact many of us — especially women. We recognize and respect that we all have deeply held and different perspectives. As a company, we stand with all of our women at Salesforce and everywhere.”

Corporate Social Responsibility characterized by social activism, reactive and in-the-moment, represents an important shift. Highly curated efforts are burgeoning as well, exemplified by the partnership announced by Estée Lauder and the country’s first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, who will serve as the first Global Changemaker.

“I will also work with Estée Lauder Companies to inspire change, beginning with founding Writing Change, a new philanthropic initiative of The Estée Lauder Companies. Together we will advance equality and social impact through supporting literacy globally” Gorman shared on social media. And, following the launch of their “About Love” campaign, Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced a partnership with Tiffany & Co. for the Love Scholarship program via BeyGOOD and the Shawn Carter Foundation. Tiffany & Co. has pledged $2 million in scholarship funding for students in the arts and creative fields at historically Black colleges and universities including Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Norfolk State University in Virginia, Bennett College in North Carolina, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and Central State University in Ohio.

Coining the term Movement Capitalism, Tom Steyer has announced the launch of the climate investment fund Galvanize Climate Solutions to invest in decarbonization efforts. “Movement Capitalism is an economic philosophy that employs the foundations of capitalism – innovation, entrepreneurship, competition – and merges those with the power of global activism, in support of a higher public purpose,” said Steyer in a written statement. “The practice of Movement Capitalism involves not only generating profit but also successfully addressing global challenges, such as the climate crisis.”

Similarly, Walmart Inc. made its green bond market debut with a $2 billion offering, the largest ever from a U.S. corporation. The retail giant’s inaugural sustainable debt issuance comes amid efforts to reduce carbon emissions, boost recycling, and clean up its supply chain. Walmart’s $2 billion 10-year green issuances is part of a five-tranche, $7 billion sale to help fund a tender offer as well as a range of environmental efforts. They include solar and wind projects, energy-efficient refrigeration, electric vehicles, and waste reduction, according to its green financing framework. Walmart has a target of achieving zero emissions by 2040 and aims for a $1 billion metric ton cut in emissions from its supply chain by 2030.

Through cooperative, complementary, and collective actions, the public and private sectors, civil society, and individuals have the opportunity to truly change the world. And, as Viktor Frankl is quoted as saying, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”.

Together we’re better,
Susan

CSR, purpose, sustainability, ESG….that’s just semantics, right?

Many use these words interchangeably. Are they just the same activities with a new buzzword every few years? They are, in fact, interrelated but ultimately, they are not the same.

As society faces challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice and privilege, rising inequality, climate change and biodiversity loss, just to mention a few, how do organizations leverage these management practices to build back better?

CSR (corporate social responsibility) was the initial activity that companies engaged in to do good and think about their impact on society. It covers social and environmental risks and impacts in their business as well as how they interact with their stakeholders. It’s a step towards accountability. CSR is relatively self-regulated, and the activities can vary depending on the business, the sector, and there’s a challenge around standard metrics. Some believe it’s not an integrated program to their purpose but an add-on. An Alva article indicated that for some businesses “At worst, it has become a marketing tool, allowing an organization to say what it is doing well without having to back up its claims or talk about areas where it may be failing. To the immense frustration of CSR professionals, it has failed to live up to its promise, largely because it has far more breadth than depth in its scope.”

While ‘The social responsibility of business is to increase profits’, an essay from Milton Friedman in 1970, spoke to the role of business and how businesses have operated for over 50 years since the reality is that business is changing. The purpose of an organization and focus has shifted to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and has gained tremendous momentum culminating in an announcement by the Business Roundtable. The Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies working to promote a thriving U.S. economy and expanded opportunities for all Americans through sound public policy. The announcement was “the release of a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation signed by 181 CEOs who commit to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders”.

Purpose driven companies are starting to outperform their peers. A Deloitte Monitor report speaks to “An integrated purpose strategy focused on the differentiated role a company serves in society is a good business strategy that drives sustainable, long-term value. In fact, purpose strategy is increasingly a business imperative to manage enterprise risk; build trust with customers, investors, and other stakeholders; and develop new markets.”

The idea of purpose is reinforced by Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $8 trillion in assets, through his annual letter to CEOs. In this 2021 letter, he stated “The more your company can show its purpose in delivering value to its customers, its employees, and its communities, the better able you will be to compete and deliver long-term, durable profits for shareholders.”

Organizations are now turning to social purpose experts like the Social Purpose Institute at United Way to help them develop a social purpose, build the business case for social purpose and embed it in their entire business.

An article in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance states that it is wrong to use purpose and sustainability interchangeably. The article proposes that “Purpose and sustainability are related but different ideas. Purpose comes first. Sustainability can either contribute to it or can detract from it.” It also states that the purpose of a company “is to produce profitable solutions to problems of people and planet, while at the same time not profiting from producing problems for people or planet—a failure in sustainability. Companies that are making investments in sustainability while failing to produce profitable solutions to people and the planet are also failing in purpose. Companies that are profitable while degrading the environment and society are focused on profits, not purpose.”

The Oxford Learners dictionary reflects the meaning of sustainability as “the use of natural products and energy in a way that does not harm the environment” and “the ability to continue or be continued for a long time”. The older school of thought of sustainability that infers environmental activities only, has changed. It’s not just ‘green’ activity that has come to be embedded in all business practices and operations. It can lack clear meaning, be generalized as doing better depending on how an organization communicates its sustainability ambition. On the flipside, companies have robust sustainability programs that advance the entire business. An increasing trend in sustainability is companies that are declaring their net-zero climate ambition goals by 2050 or earlier. Sustainability is frequently interchanged with CSR and triple bottom line. Triple bottom line is measured in three areas. 1) People; 2) Planet and; 3) Profit. The biggest difference between sustainability and ESG (environmental, social & governance) is measurement. ESG policies have specific metrics to measure, and they can be benchmarked against other companies through scoring and ratings. They are core to business strategy and embedded in the operations. ESG factors include all the business practices related to these three areas and touches on everything in between.

The “E”, as expected, is focused on environmental issues such as climate, the biodiversity loss, and carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, air, and water pollution, etc. The “S” focuses on stakeholder engagement such as giving back to the communities that businesses operate in, customer satisfaction, health & safety, human rights, employee diversity, equity, inclusion, and access etc. Finally, the “G” focuses on issues like a board of directors and leadership composition, audit, compliance, etc.

All the information that was previously either limited or did not exist in financial statements reviewed by investors seeking to determine the health and operations of a company, are now captured in an ESG program. Investors are looking more closely at ESG ratings for publicly traded companies, and rating agencies review ESG data when making investments. ESG investing factors in many more data points versus sustainable investment which has traditionally been more focused investments on social and environmental criteria.

One indication on this major shift is the Alva article above which also stated that “In March 2019, the Global Reporting Initiative noted that two decades ago when it launched its guidelines only a handful of companies disclosed their environmental performance, while now 93% of the world’s largest companies by revenue report information on their ESG.”

With an increased demand for transparency and a desire that businesses take action on societal challenges from stakeholders, there’s many opportunities to use the concepts and practices in CSR, purpose, sustainability and ESG. The best approach for an organization will depend on their goals and where they are in their journey as they look to build back better and future proof their business.

The world is changing fast. Business is facing new demands from rapidly evolving technologies, while social, environmental and political issues are affecting bottom-lines. Business and nonprofit organizations have a choice. They can choose to be at the mercy of these new forces, always reacting to defend the bottom-line. Or they can embrace these changes, seeing them as opportunities to deliver healthy, inclusive growth with long-term viability.

Thriving in today’s business world means having clarity of purpose, beyond profit. Businesses with this clarity know that profit is an outcome of the value they create. That’s why they focus beyond profit. What does your business stand for? To authentically engage, your employees, customers and your community must believe in your purpose.

Driving stakeholder loyalty and advocacy is vital to standing out from the crowd and succeeding in these changing times. We can help you learn about the forces driving change over the next few years and look at corporate responsibility and sustainability issues through a new lens.

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. recognizes opportunity for all parties when there is alignment between the objectives of corporations and the mission and funding priorities of a nonprofit. Knowing how and when and with whom to associate is a strategic decision.

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. has the expertise to help your organization develop strategy and tactics to maximize the potential, minimize risk, and move the mission of the organization forward.

We assist corporations and nonprofit organizations seeking to realize the potential of CSR through corporate sponsorship, contributions of goods, services, products and cash, employee engagement and pure philanthropy to contribute to your organization’s bottom-line, raise profile and build customer and donor bases.

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. brings a deep understanding of this arena, trends, and short and long term implications when considering an association. We help structure and guide programs to meet the strategic objectives of corporations and nonprofits considering all aspects of CSR.

– According to a recent report from the African Philanthropy Forum and The Bridgespan Group, African NGOs are being underfunded by African and non-African philanthropists in comparison to organizations headquartered outside the continent. Even with the global pandemic, African funders directed just 9% of large gifts to NGOs based on the continent between 2010 and 2019, while non-African funders provided just 14% to these groups.

– Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, a humanitarian aid aircraft loaded with food supplies was sent by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment to Afghanistan. This was the first of a series of aid flights planned to support the people of Afghanistan with food and clothing.

– Honorary chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Chung Mong-Koo, will donate 10 billion won ($8.6 million) to the Korea University Medical Center to establish a vaccine development center expanding R&D facilities. “I wish the vaccine center can be of help to overcome the infectious disease and recover health and happiness” said Chung.

– China’s Alibaba Group will invest 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) by 2025 in support of “common prosperity”, it said, becoming the latest corporate giant to pledge support for the initiative driven by President Xi Jinping. The government has been encouraging companies to share the wealth as part of the effort to ease inequality in the world’s second-largest economy.

– Australia-based Canva has it raised $71 million in new funding led by T. Rowe Price and Dragoneer at a $15 billion valuation. Canva has more than doubled the valuation for its design software tools after securing a $6 billion valuation amid a pandemic usage boost, and profitable growth. CEO Melanie Perkins is already on the record that they don’t plan to “hoard” such wealth. Perkins and Obrecht are now pledging to give away 30% of Canva — the “vast majority” of their stakes to the Canva Foundation to be used for charitable causes. Canva first plans to pilot its charitable giving through a $10 million donation to non-profit, GiveDirectly, to distribute to vulnerable families in Southern Africa and ramp up its giving after that. It’s all part of what Perkins has long described as a “two step plan” for maximum impact to “become one of the most valuable companies in the world, and do the best we can do.”

– Scottish regulators said are investigating one of Prince Charles’ charities after a UK newspaper reported that a Russian banker had tried to donate a six-figure sum to the future king’s foundation. Prince Charles wrote a thank-you letter to Dmitry Leus stating that he was “incredibly grateful” for Leus’ “immense generosity” and that the donation had given him “great comfort,” and offered to meet him in person after receiving a large donation for The Prince’s Foundation in May 2020.

– Tom Steyer, the 2020 presidential candidate announced is launching a climate investment fund, called Galvanize Climate Solutions. The fund will focus on “Movement Capitalism,” or using capitalism to make a change. It is an economic philosophy that employs the foundations of capitalism – innovation, entrepreneurship, competition – and merges those with the power of global activism, in support of a higher public purpose.

– The Benderson Family Foundation donated $20 million to the Boston Children’s Hospital to advance pediatric heart disease research and treatment. Kevin Churchwell, MD, president, and CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital said “The generosity of the Benderson Family Foundation will empower our researchers, clinicians, nurses and all who are involved in the Heart Center to further advance and improve care for pediatric cardiovascular patients and to create the next evolution of that care.”

– Billionaire T. Denny Sanford has pledged an additional $350 million to a South Dakota health system that already bears his name. The gift will be used to establish “virtual care centers” for patients in rural and underserved areas across the region. Sanford has faced the brunt of negative press over allegations that he was in possession of child pornography and is being investigated.

– Boston College has received an estimated $75 million gift, the largest estate gift in the university’s history from Wayland couple Joyce L. and E. Paul Robsham. The gift will fund university priorities including student scholarships, academic programming, facilities improvements and operation of the Robsham Theater Arts Center.

– The Bezos Earth Fund announced pledges of $203.7 million in grants providing critical support to nonprofits working to advance climate justice, advocate for climate-smart economic recovery, and spur innovation in decarbonization pathways. Andrew Steer, president of the Bezos Earth Fund said “This funding is just the next step in the Bezos Earth Fund’s commitment to creating catalytic change during this decisive decade”.

– Harvard University president, Lawrence Bacow, announced that the university is ending its investments in fossil fuels, which was welcomed by divestment activists who had long pressed the leading university to exit such holdings. Young members of the leadership board have been pushing for disinvestment in fossil fuel stocks and Bacow has advocated for this change in course since his appointment in 2018.

– Facebook announced that it will donate $3 million to its partners in Afghanistan and globally to support refugees and humanitarian crisis in the country. Facebook’s commitment will support the refugee registration and resettlement; protection and evacuation of at-risk individuals; and humanitarian assistance, including food, shelter and health support.

– University of Massachusetts Medical School announced a $175 million donation from The Morningside Foundat-ion, established by the family of T.H. Chan, the late Hong Kong real estate developer. The unrestricted funds will more than double the school’s endowment. In recognition of the gift, the school will be renamed the UMass Chan Medical School. UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael Collins said “This gift is a powerful statement about the stature and the potential of our medical school, a very special place.”

To some extent all in the nonprofit industry whether on the giving or getting side, are activists, attempting to make a difference, or, in the immortal words of John Lewis, attempting to get into “good trouble.”

With voting rights in the news, Pride Month upon us, and now working with our client, the Green Party of Canada, I have been reflecting on the coalitions in my past that have come together to make “good trouble.” In fact, a coalition created around these very same issues came together in the early 90’s when Coretta Scott King, author, activist, civil right leader and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Ralf Neas, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) joined forces along with numerous other organizations in Washington D. C. and across the U.S. to focus on civil rights writ large. I led the fundraising at HRCF at the time and was awestruck by the skill and ability of King and Neas to bring disparate groups together. The lessons learned from their deft strategy have stayed with me since. My biggest takeaway from that experience? Successful coalitions are based on the universal concept and pragmatic principles behind inclusion, and expanding the circle of support, not restricting, or contracting it.

Our featured article this month by Senior Associate Warren Davis entitled Dependency Quotient speaks to the intrinsic challenges of pipeline management and the barriers and blind spots which impact long term growth and sustainability. The lesson is resonant with the pragmatic principles of inclusion, expanding the circle of support, and indeed coalition building. As tempting as it might be to focus time, talent, and resources on the top of the pyramid, or a select few, this strategy negatively impacts sustained long-term fundraising success.

So, whether it’s voting rights, a social movement, or building a pipeline of constituents to support a nonprofit, focus-on-and-expand, don’t neglect, the circle of engagement. After all, the goal is to empower all to make an impact and enable “good trouble.” I invite you to join us. We stand ready to serve and can be reached directly through our website, or directly at SSutton@SSutton-and-associates.com.

Together we’re better,

Susan

Welcome Orlando Ballet!

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. welcomes Orlando Ballet to our roster of clients! Orlando Ballet entertains, educates, and enriches through the highest quality of dance.

The Performing Arts Company of Florida

Orlando Ballet began in 1974 as The Performing Arts Company of Florida and was started with twelve young, non-paid dancers and only $4,000. In 1978, the Company changed its name to Southern Ballet Theatre and began performing at the Bob Carr Theater.

The company now performs at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Since 2009, the Company has been under the creative expertise of Artistic Director, Robert Hill. Hill is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater®, Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and the New York City Ballet. He has taught for American Ballet Theatre®, the ABT® Studio Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and for companies where he creates and stages his work. Today, Orlando Ballet is Central Florida’s only fully residential professional ballet company. More than 100,000 captivated theatregoers, residents and visitors, are spellbound by the originality, vitality and spirit that have earned the organization its critically acclaimed reputation. Orlando Ballet produces year-round Main Stage productions featuring meticulous staging of timeless masterpieces and innovative contemporary world premieres, its annual The Nutcracker, performance lecture demonstrations, and enrichment programs. Orlando Ballet employs a full-time professional Company of 25 national and international dancers. Combined with extraordinary costumes, sets and lighting design, the Company achieves the highest level of professionalism and artistic excellence. Additionally, Orlando Ballet supports pre-professional dancers through Orlando Ballet II.

Orlando Ballet School

Orlando Ballet School is only one of four professional national training academies accredited by American Ballet Theatre®.

It attracts more than 1,200 local and international students and in 2018, was named “Outstanding School” at the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix. The School’s two campuses provide year-round professional ballet training, as well as performance and touring opportunities, summer intensive training, workshops and master classes, and teacher training programs. Graduates of Orlando Ballet School have pursued professional careers with major dance institutions including American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Arts Education and Community Enrichment

Orlando Ballet’s philosophy is that every child who wants to dance or experience dance be provided the opportunity. Arts education and enrichment activities are annual priorities. Programs include STEPS for underserved low-income second and third graders, Come Dance With Us!, a program for children with varying abilities, Intro to Ballet for more than 16,000 public school students to attend performances, and scholarship assistance for those in need.

A successful annual giving and direct marketing effort is critical to the long-term health of any fundraising operation. S. Sutton & Associates Inc. can partner with you to create a road map for success to build strong programs through our holistic approach enabling increased engagement and growth in annual, mid-level major and planned gifts.

Program review, staffing and revenue and expense analysis along with data analytics and segmentation are key to developing strategies to acquire new annual donors, steward and retain current donors, and upgrade donors to higher levels of giving.

Program review includes comprehensive review of materials, annual giving data, and in-depth analysis of specific program areas such as: leadership and mid-level programs, reunion/class agent programs, volunteer engagement, direct marketing (mail, phone programs and online giving), social media strategy, young alumni and student philanthropy, parent giving, faculty/staff campaigns, grateful patient programs, recognition/stewardship of annual donors; and integration of annual giving and alumni/constituent relations.

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. has the technical expertise to work with your team to maximize your potential. Schedule a 30-minute complimentary consultation today, and in just a 30-minute call receive invaluable, actionable advice and much more.

Georgia Spiliotopoulos, in her capacity as Business Development Strategist, has brought together a terrific team of Associates –– Tiffany Rosso, Debbie Flinn, Randy Gorod, Tracy Woodard, Jeanne Bray, and Eric Saarvala –– to curate and create webinars for our clients and to develop a series for the general public.

Each is available as a stand-alone or as part of a series, and available for individuals, small groups, or organization/companywide attendees. Optional mentoring and coaching sessions, provided by the presenter, are offered to complement each, providing additional support.

Catalogue of Topics

Presented by Dr. Tracy Woodard:

• Principles of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) through an Institutional and Systemic Lens
• How Categories of Difference become Systems of Inequities
• Identifying and Eliminating Inequities
• Empowering Women in the Workplace

Presented by Randy Gorod:

• Practical Guide to Navigating Challenging Times in the Development World Bringing Development into the Virtual World
• Organization Assessment and Realizing Your Staff’s Need for Coaching and Mentoring

Presented by Jeanne Bray:

• Logic Models for Strategic Planning

Presented by Debbie Flinn:

• Philanthropy Basics & Setting Up Gift Cycles (different types of gifts including grants, corporate, annual, online, SMS, Major Gifts and Planned Giving and finding prospects, development cycle)
• Diversification of Gifts (don’t put all your eggs in one basket)
• Maximizing Major Gifts
• Board Training
• Grant Writing
• Volunteer Management
• Communications Touchpoints and Story Telling
• Making the ASK
• Donor Retention and Engagement strategies
• Stewardship
• Strategic Planning
• Major and Principal Gifts – getting started, maximizing, and course-correcting
• Philanthropy Risk Toolkit
• Giving Circles and Mid-Level Clubs
• Women and Philanthropy
• Data-Driven Campaign Planning

Presented by Tiffany Rosso:

• Getting Back to the Office, HR/Liability Considerations
• Emerging trends in Philanthropy
• Virtual Fundraising Trends

Presented by Eric Saarval:

• Digital Technology and Transformation, the Future of Philanthropy

Please contact Georgia Spiliotopoulos for additional information if you are interested in scheduling a webinar for yourself or your team.

– The Mastercard Foundation announced a $1.3 billion donation to boost Africa’s response to the coronavirus, which public health experts hailed as a significant step to get vaccines to some of the world’s poorest people. “Ensuring equitable access and delivery of vaccines across Africa is urgent,” Reeta Roy, the foundation’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This initiative is about valuing all lives and accelerating the economic recovery of the continent.” The funding, which will be distributed over three years in partnership with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is intended to help acquire vaccines for more than 50 million of the continent’s 1.3 billion people, improve its vaccine manufacturing and delivery system, and strengthen public health institutions.

– Meituan founder Wang Xing has donated a $2.3 billion stake in the Chinese food delivery giant to his own philanthropic foundation, joining other internet billionaires in giving back as Beijing mounts a crackdown on the tech sector. Meituan’s chairman and chief executive officer transferred 57.3 million shares to the organization, the company said. That’s about a 10th of the billionaire’s stake in the company, worth HK$17.6 billion ($2.27 billion) based on its last close.

– A Group of Seven plan to donate 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to poorer countries lacks ambition, is far too slow and shows Western leaders are not yet on top of tackling the worst public health crisis in a century, according to campaigners. While the head of the United Nations welcomed the move, even he said more was needed. Antonio Guterres warned that if people in developing countries were not inoculated quickly, the virus could mutate further and become resistant to the new vaccines. “We need more than that,” he said of the G7 plan. “We need a global vaccination plan. We need to act with a logic, with a sense of urgency, and with the priorities of a war economy, and we are still far from getting that.”

– The European Union and an energy investment program founded by Bill Gates plan to raise up to $1 billion to roll out the low-carbon technologies Europe is betting on to meet its climate change goals. The partnership would see Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy use private capital and philanthropic funds to match funding provided by the EU. The aim is to together provide up to 820 million euros, or $1 billion, from 2022 to 2026. Support will target hydrogen produced from renewable energy, sustainable aviation fuels, technology to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, and long-duration energy storage.

– Apple Inc. announced that it will give $5 million to four historically Black universities to help expand their engineering programs for designing the chips that power electronic devices. Apple said the $5 million will be spread across Alabama A&M University, Howard University, in Washington, D.C., Morgan State University, in Baltimore, and Prairie View A&M University, in Texas, over three years. The money comes from Apple’s broader racial justice initiative, which it announced last year with $100 million in initial funding. The grants will support each school’s engineering departments and seek to focus expanding course work in fields like computing architecture and designing chips. The money will also support fellowships and internships in hardware technologies, Apple said.

– Western Michigan University has received a $550 million gift from a group of alumni, a record for a public university that more than doubles the school’s endowment. The foundation for the Kalamazoo, Mich., university will get $200 million earmarked for the main university, $300 million for its medical school and $50 million for athletics. The money will fund scholarships, medical research, student support programs and more, the school said. The donors have requested to remain anonymous. “The size and impact of this gift will generate opportunities not just for this year, not just for next year but will catalyze opportunities that will change the condition and transform lives for generations to come,” said President Edward Montgomery.

– A campaign to establish a chair in Tamil studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough – the first of its kind in Canada – has reached its $3-million philanthropic goal. More than 3,800 donors gave to the grassroots campaign, which was spearheaded by the Canadian Tamil Congress and Tamil Chair Inc. in 2018. Since then, individuals, businesses, governments and community organizations have pitched in with support. While most of the donors are local to Scarborough and the eastern Greater Toronto Area, the campaign also generated support from as far away as France, Australia and Malaysia.

– Billionaire MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated another $2.7bn (£1.9bn) to a range of charities. Ms Scott said in a blog post that she wanted to give the money to those “that have been historically underfunded and overlooked”. She wrote that she had chosen 286 organizations working on racial inequality, the arts and education.

– A Colorado couple is donating $25 million to a capital campaign for Maine Medical Center, the state’s largest hospital. The largest single donation to the hospital comes from John and Leslie Malone, who spend summers in Boothbay Harbor. Leslie Malone recently received cardiac care at the hospital. “We were very impressed by the level of care that Leslie received at Maine Medical Center,” John Malone said in a statement. “We believe strongly in supporting healthcare innovation, and ensuring that all who call Maine home have access to world-class care.” The donation will go to the hospital’s $150 million capital improvement program. A new tower for cardiac and vascular service, which will be named for the Malones, will consolidate the hospital’s cardiac and vascular care into one building. It will feature modern surgery space and 64 patient beds.

– The Eccles name is already ubiquitous on the University of Utah’s campus, from its David Eccles School of Business to its football team’s Rice-Eccles Stadium. With its biggest single gift yet, the family is now adding the Spencer F. Eccles School of Medicine to its collection. Two of the family’s foundations announced that they’re partnering to give $110 million to the university’s medical school to support the construction of a new 248,000-square foot building and bolster its endowment and research funding. The school will be named for Spencer Fox Eccles, the 86-year-old third-generation patriarch and former chairman and CEO of banking company First Security Corporation, which Wells Fargo acquired for $2.9 billion in 2000.

– Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and his wife, Renee, will donate $4 million to Maryland’s historically Black universities to create scholarships for 80 graduates of Baltimore City Public Schools, a gift described as “life-changing” by university leaders and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. The scholarship program, paired with a $400,000 donation to the CollegeBound Foundation, will carry the name of longtime Ravens executive Ozzie Newsome, the first Black general manager in NFL history. “We embrace the responsibility of discovering ways to strengthen educational opportunities for the youth of Baltimore City,” Steve Bisciotti said in a statement. “Any positive impact that can be made to help students — especially in the pursuit of a college education and their career goals — only strengthens our community as a whole.”

Orbiting Decisions in the New Normal

Response to the global pandemic and uneven economic recovery by jurisdiction, from small to large impacts us all, and for practitioners in the nonprofit and nongovernmental organization arenas, both from the organizational perspective and the philanthropist’s perspective, every decision in the new normal requires practitioners to “orbit” decisions from an infinitely more complicated variety of angles.

One could argue that given the complexity of the angles to consider, the question becomes one of focus and concentration, but an intriguing article by Marcel Schwantes profiles the principals of “how to think,” not “what to think” espoused by Mike Hayes, former commanding officer of Navy SEAL Team Two and author of Never Enough: A Navy Seal Commander on Living a Life of Excellence, Agility, and Meaning.

According to Hayes, by focusing on the process by which we make decisions, instead of trying to predict the details of any particular high-stakes choice, we can articulate principles that lead to good answers no matter what question we face and set up organizations to thrive even through the toughest crises.

The principals:

• All high-stakes decisions are fundamentally the same. Good thinking is good thinking.
• Get the broadest range of inputs possible. Embrace differing opinions, don’t run from them.
• Emphasize the signal over the noise. Make sure all communications are actionable, rather than just a distraction.
• The first decision is when to make the decision. Look for the inflection point where it’s more valuable to go ahead and make the decision than to wait for more knowledge.
• Bring your values to bear in every decision you make and stand behind every decision you make.

Kumar Mehta complements this thinking with the 1% marginal gains rule – that people who are mentally tough and successful at what they do, while setting big goals, improve using systemic and surgical precision, understanding the cumulative effects of small changes lead to significant outcomes.

The implication is that 1% improvement in a host of tiny areas results in “micro excellence”. When applied to an organization or ecosystem it creates contagious enthusiasm, becomes part of the culture and philosophy shared by a team and a goal in every aspect of the environment.

So, while every decision in the new normal requires all of us, and particularly practitioners in the nonprofit and nongovernmental arenas to “orbit” decisions from an infinitely more complicated variety of angles, it’s not what you think, but how you think. In fact, applying a renewed commitment to the basics is the topic of Sourdough and Development, penned by Associate Randy Gorod below.

We welcome your thoughts and questions and stand ready to assist with any aspect of your philanthropic journey. I invite you to contact me directly or take advantage of our complimentary consultation.

Together we’re better,
Susan

Welcome Green Party of Canada!

Building on our client relationship with the Green Party of the U.S., S. Sutton & Associates Inc. is thrilled to welcome the Green Party of Canada (GPOC) as a new client! It’s an exciting time to work with leader Annamie Paul and the entire team leading to the fall election. We fully anticipate our work conducting a development program review and the subsequent plan to expand strategies will result in fundraising moving forward further and faster in preparation for the upcoming campaign, positioning GPOC for sustained strength beyond the campaign and into the future.

The Green Party of Canada (French: Parti vert du Canada) is a federal political party in Canada that was founded in 1983 focused on green politics. Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. It began taking shape in the western world in the 1970s; since then, 149 Green parties have developed and established themselves in 99 countries around the globe and have achieved significant electoral success.

The political term green was used initially in relation to die Grünen (German for “the Greens”), a green party formed in the late 1970s. The term political ecology is sometimes used in academic circles, but it has come to represent an interdisciplinary field of study as the academic discipline offers wide-ranging studies integrating ecological social sciences with political economy in topics such as degradation and marginalization, environmental conflict, conservation and control and environmental identities and social movements.

Supporters of green politics share many ideas with the conservation, environmental, feminist and peace movements. In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green politics is concerned with civil liberties, social justice, nonviolence, sometimes variants of localism and tends to support social progressivism. Green party platforms are largely considered left in the political spectrum.

Our network of Associates stands ready to assist to and your organization with Development Program Review and Expansion Strategies. Contact us directly or take advantage of our complimentary consultation.

Major and Principal Gifts

Major and principal gifts represent an essential method of fundraising for institutions which have developed a cohort of donors who have been solicited and stewarded on a regular basis, albeit at lower levels. Though not exclusively, the vast majority of large gifts to an institution come from individuals already in its donor database. To be successful generating major and principal gifts, a constellation of relationships must be built over time between a prospect or donor, the institution, volunteer leaders, subject experts and the gift officer who acts as the facilitator. All interactions are designed to engage, elicit and share information and create understanding of the impact of a potential commitment.

Major and principal gifts take time to cultivate and often evolve from small gifts to the annual fund. We can help your team assess its readiness and develop capacity in major gifts staff and volunteers, analyze your major gift portfolio, and apply best practices that blend well with your overall fundraising enterprise.

Our Associates can also assist you to create structures of engagement to involve prospects in greater depth in your institution’s mission and priorities as well as effective structures to engage volunteers with prospect identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Schedule a complimentary consultation today and in just a 30-minute call receive invaluable, actionable advice and much more.

Client Profile and Testimonial

S. Sutton & Associates Inc. was honored to develop a Strategic Plan and subsequent Fundraising Plan for POV 3rd Street, a Toronto-based organization devoted to helping marginalized youth break into the media industry through training, mentorship, job placement and professional development opportunities. The Strategic Plan resulted in strategies to strengthen operational performance and governance, specific recommendations to improve donor engagement and retention, and enhance marketing and communications campaigns and functions. The Development Plan focused on three key areas: (1) Enhancing back-office operations by putting the systems, tools, and processes in place to fundraise more effectively; (2) Staffing and training recommendations both in-house and for the Board of Directors; and (3) Recommendations to maximize current donors and grow the donor base. After conducting a comprehensive assessment of current programs, marketing campaigns, and development procedures, S. Sutton & Associates Inc. provided 36 targeted recommendations to improve POV 3rd Street’s revenue-generating results ranked according to priority level with recommended timelines for completion.

“We hired S. Sutton & Associates Inc. first, to develop a Strategic Plan. Executive Associate Georgina Steinsky helped us learn how to create the plan for our organization. She didn’t just come in and do the work for us, she helped us understand the steps needed to complete the job. She was there every step of the way to step in, give suggestions and advise us on approaches.

Later that year, we re-hired S. Sutton & Associates Inc. to develop a fundraising strategy. This experience was amazing because it brought a group of nine subject experts in different fields to the table to brainstorm ideas and approaches. This was very innovative and brought many perspectives. It made the experience fruitful and created clear value.”

– Agapi Gessesse, Former Executive Director, POV 3rd Street; Executive Director, CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals

– Billionaire biotech entrepreneur and owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, announced he would be committing around $210 million to transfer the latest vaccine-producing technologies and biological therapies to his home country of South Africa. Soon-Shiong said in his announcement that companies in South Africa could use his donation to produce the next generation of vaccines that may be more effective against the variants present in the country.

– Vitalik Buterin, the 27-year-old founder of Ethereum, donated cryptocurrency worth $1 billion to support Covid-19 relief work in India, possibly the single-largest philanthropic contribution to help covid-stricken Indians from any country or individual. Buterin, the billionaire who founded the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world after Bitcoin, made the donation to the India Covid Crypto Relief Fund, run by Indian crypto entrepreneur Sandeep Nailwal.

– Amitabh Bachchan has donated Rs 2 crore and oxygen cylinders to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Covid Care Centre at Rakab Ganj Gurdwara in Delhi. The president of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management committee Manjinder Singh Sirsa announced that operation at the facility with 300 beds began May 10. He thanked the veteran actor for his contribution and said that “Big B” and Sikh philanthropy is legendary.

– Salesforce founder Marc Benioff said that the cloud software company is sending a Boeing 787 plane loaded with medical supplies to India. “Salesforce is loading a 787 with medical supplies and will land it in India. All of our hearts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters in India. May they all be protected, healed, & blessed,” Benioff wrote on the microblogging platform Twitter.

– Indian-American billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla pledged US $10 million for the supply of medical oxygen to hospitals in India. This is in continuation with the Sun Microsystems co-founder’s efforts to fund hospitals for oxygen supplies amid a surge in COVID cases in the country. Taking to Twitter, he said there was a need to save lives as further delay may end up in more deaths. “For @GiveIndia this isn’t enough. They’ve received requests for 20,000 oxygen concentrators, 15,000 cylinders, 500 ICU beds, 100 ventilators, 10,000-beds COVID centres with requests coming from non-profits & hospitals all across India every day. We need to do a lot more urgently,” Khosla said.

– A self-made Chinese billionaire whose glass factory in the United States is featured in an Oscar-winning documentary plans to build a university focused on technology to nurture top-notch engineers. Cao Dewang of Hong Kong-listed Fuyao Glass is spending 10 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion) to establish the Fuyao University of Science and Technology near his hometown in Fujian province, echoing repeated calls in the country to reduce reliance on Western technology. The project is said to be only the nation’s second public university funded by private donations. In 1921, contributions from Chinese-born Singaporean businessperson Tan Kah Kee led to the building of an institution that later came to be the University of Xiamen.

– The Wall Street-headquartered alternative investment management giant Blackstone, which has over $20 billion in live-investments in the country, announced $5 million aid to help India to fight the raging coronavirus pandemic. The announcement by Stephen A Schwarzman, the founder and chairman of the fund, comes on the heels of close to 40 major American companies committing millions of dollars to help the country fight the pandemic which has been topping the infection list globally for a week with daily caseload remaining above 3.25 lakh mark for almost a week now.

– Mining firm Vedanta has said it will donate ₹150 crore to help India in its fight against the deadly coronavirus. The company said the amount is over and above ₹201 crore that was spent by Vedanta Group in 2020. “I am deeply concerned and anguished to see the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 and loss of precious lives. Vedanta Group has come forward to pledge ₹150 crore towards our commitment to fight the pandemic and we stand firmly with our people and the government at this difficult time,” Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said.

– A Saudi Kingdom-wide campaign for charitable activities has been initiated on the National Platform for Charitable Work (Ehsan). The “Ehsan” platform has been developed by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) as part of its efforts to support charitable giving in Saudi Arabia. The campaign, which will run throughout the month of Ramadan, aims to introduce the role of charitable giving (“Ehsan”) in promoting the values of charitable work among community members. It also seeks to activate the integrative role of SDAIA with various government agencies and sectors and empower the nonprofit sector and expand its impact on society as well as encourage social responsibility in the private sector.

– Renowned international human rights advocacy organization Amnesty International has dramatically ended a four-year-long relationship with the University of Toronto over an ongoing controversy in which the institution is accused of not hiring a certain candidate due to her views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Scholar Valentina Azarova was up for the job of director of U of T’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP), and was apparently the “strong, unanimous and enthusiastic first choice” of the hiring team, said a Supreme Court justice who was probing the incident. But, some believed she was not granted the position due to the outside influences of a donor to the school, though an independent review concluded that this was not the case.

– Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O) issued its first sustainability bond, raising $1 billion to invest in renewable energy, clean transport, greener buildings and affordable housing. The world’s biggest company joins a growing list of debt issuers tapping the market for green and sustainable bonds, which is swelling as asset managers come under pressure from their investors to advance environmental, social and governance (ESG) causes. Global green bond issuance reached a record high of $270 billion at the end of 2020 and could reach $450 billion this year, according to Climate Bonds Initiative.

– Billionaire philanthropist and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated $150 million to Johns Hopkins University to address the underrepresentation of certain minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The donation will endow the Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative, which is named for the renowned Black scientist who developed a cardiac surgery technique at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1940s. The Initiative will fund 100 new slots across the university’s more than 30 STEM programs for diverse Ph.D. students. The funds also will help build a path for students from historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to pursue doctoral degrees in STEM fields. Partner institutions include Morgan State University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

– One big hurdle to treating mental health issues is the reluctance across much of society to talk about them—whether it’s eating disorders or schizophrenia or any other mental illness. John Pritzker, a San Francisco billionaire, and his former wife, Lisa Stone Pritzker, are doing their part to change that: They are donating nearly $60 million to construct a state-of-the-art psychiatry building for U.C. San Francisco adjacent to the university’s campus in the city’s Mission Bay neighborhood. The building will be home to researchers, interdisciplinary academics and mental health services for patients of all ages.

– Billionaire Jared Isaacman, Founder and CEO of credit card processing business Shift4 Payments, has filled the two remaining spots on the first all-civilian crew to fly to space aboard Elon Musk‘s SpaceX Dragon. Isaacman revealed Dr Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missile man from Everett, Washington, will join him and Hayley Arceneaux for three days in orbit in the third quarter of this year. Isaacman, who is paying for the flight, wants to raise US $200 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, half of which the 38-year-old said he would donate himself.

– There has never been a better argument for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) than the devastating global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. WHO estimates that more than 100 million people around the world are pushed into poverty every year because of healthcare costs. Fintech brings new and improved digital financial service models into the healthcare space. Fintech companies are leveraging powerful innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to eliminate the inefficiencies and knowledge gaps that exist in our current systems. This is the topic of a new whitepaper, “Breaking the health-poverty trap: How fintech can improve access to healthcare in Asia” co-authored by ACCESS Health International initiative Fintech for Health and the MetLife Foundation.

– Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk offered inventors $100 million in prize money to develop ways to fight global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or ocean. In January, Musk announced his intention to offer $100 million in prizes and set out the contest rules on Earth Day. What organizers called the “largest incentive prize in history” will last for four years through Earth Day, 2025.

– If the price of Bitcoin were to reach $200,000, Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong observed recently, half of the world’s billionaires would be crypto billionaires. Even at the lesser valuations that currently prevail, this crypto wealth has vast potential to reshape philanthropy. One theory is to expect a relative decline in the influence of longstanding nonprofit institutions — to be replaced by more stand-alone projects. Bitcoin itself is stand-alone project. The true identity of its inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto, is still unknown, and the broader Bitcoin ecosystem is not owned or controlled by any company or institution. It has been self-sustaining since the beginning, and so it should hardly come as a surprise that Bitcoin billionaires take Bitcoin itself as a model for future institutions, including in philanthropy.