The Daily Tell

Singer Avril Lavigne claims her greatest accomplishment of 2010 was launching her charity, the Avril Lavigne Foundation, in September. The foundation helps sick and disabled children and youth.

Lavigne partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation for the project and spent most of the year working on the effort.

"The reason I started it is that I was doing a lot of work with the Make a Wish foundation and other charities, and I just really wanted to do more, so I was really passionate about starting my own foundation, so I’ve spent the last year just getting that started and focusing on what my mission is," said Lavigne to Entertainment Weekly.

"It’s a really big project, it’s something that I’m just starting, so I’m really excited to get my fans involved now that I’m going to be back out there again, and have that grow," she added.

The foundation partners with Easter Seals, the Make a Wish Foundation and the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis.

Tennis great Roger Federer and current world champion Rafael Nadal faced off once again in the second of two charity exhibition matches this week.

In the opening match in Zurich, Switzerland, Nadal suffered a 4-6, 6-3, and 6-3 defeat to his second-ranked Swiss opponent – but everybody's a winner when the proceeds go to charity, CNN reports. In this case, the event – dubbed the "Match for Africa" – raised funds for the Roger Federer Foundation, which supports local community efforts in several African countries, including Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, as well as Federer's native Switzerland. 

Tuesday's match raised nearly $2.6 million for the charity.

"It was a match for Africa, this money is going to go to a good cause – for my foundation, for kids in Africa – so I'm so proud and so happy that we all made it work, so thanks again to everybody," Federer said after the victory against his friendly rival.

"Both of us realize we are in a very privileged position, where we have everything in life, the least we can do is to help people who are in difficulty," Nadal added.

The rematch took place in more familiar territory for Nadal: It was held in Madrid, in the player's home country of Spain – likely contributing to his victory this time around. Proceeds from the second contest, called the "Joining Forces for the Benefit of Children" match, will go to the 23-year-old Nadal's charity, which benefits underprivileged children. 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced grants totaling nearly $5 million to three Nigerian universities, intended to help education centers prepare their graduates to address the nation's challenges.

Nigeria, located in western Africa, is home to more than 120 million people who belong to approximately 250 distinct ethnic groups and speak more than 4,000 dialects, though English is widely spoken. The country is home to many centers of higher learning and has one of the highest literacy rates in all of Africa.

With the new grants from the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation, three of Nigeria's leading universities – the University of Ibadan, the University of Port Harcourt and Ahmadu Bello Univeristy – will work to build national expertise in key disciplines, broaden their connections and network with other universities in Africa and abroad. Additionally, the universities hope that the grants aid them in recruiting women into the new academic programs.

Initiatives supported by the grants will include a veterinary epidemiology program, an 18-month master's program on child and adolescent mental health and doctoral programs in energy and petroleum economics, among others.

"MacArthur's support of Nigerian higher education is based on the belief that robust universities and intellectual freedom are essential to developing and sustaining healthy, economically vibrant, democratic societies," said Kole Shettima, MacArthur's Nigeria Office Director. "Support to these specific departments will help position these universities to address national challenges in such critical areas as health, energy, and economic planning."

Yale University, a bastion of American higher education located in New Haven, Connecticut, has received a $50 million commitment from a Yale College alumnus to support the construction of a new state-of-the-art campus for its School of Management.

The Edward P. Evans Hall will be named for its eponymous donor, Edward "Ned" Evans, a private investor who graduated in 1964 and was, from 1979 to 1989, was the chair and CEO of the publishing house Macmillan. Evans now breeds horses on a farm in Virginia and has contributed generously to his alma mater several times, including a significant gift in 1991 to support the renovation and expansion of the Yale University Press building – now called the Evans Wing.

Evans said he was "delighted" to make a gift to the university that will provide a new campus and facilities for the Yale School of Management, enlarge its student body and propel it to the forefront of management education in the 21st century.

"The School of Management's new home will be as forward-looking as its pioneering curriculum," added Yale president Richard C. Levin. "With this gift, Ned Evans has expressed confidence in the School’s future and ensured that construction can proceed without putting undue pressure on our budget. We are immensely grateful for his generosity, and proud that his name will now be associated with this spectacular new facility."

The new facilities and 4.25 acre campus will be designed by Foster + Partners, the architectural firm chaired by Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate Lord Norman Foster, a 1962 graduate of the Yale School of Architecture. 

The Amgen Foundation, a division of the Thousand Oaks, California-based biotechnology firm Amgen, has announced a $1.8 million commitment to help high-achieving math and science graduates enroll in the Teach for America corps.

Each year, the foundation supports 100 new new Amgen Fellows, selected from the top math and science degree-holders in the Teach for America program. The fellows each receive a $1,000 signing bonus and are eligible to receive additional support for classroom resources or professional development from the foundation. To date, Amgen has awarded more than $7 million in support of the program, which aims to increase interest in math, science, engineering and technology among America's youth.

Thanks to the Amgen Foundation's efforts, the number of math and science graduates in the Teach for America corps has tripled over the last six years. In 2004, just 800 Teach for America volunteers held degrees in math and science; today, more than 2,600 do.

"The Amgen Foundation shares Teach for America's commitment to high quality science and math education, which is such a critical building block for our nation's future innovation and economic strength," said Amgen Foundation president Jean J. Lim. "Teach for America's efforts are helping to encourage a new generation to explore a future in science while building the next generation of leaders in education."

Teach for America has a presence in more than 35 sites and has helped thousands of students gain access to a quality education, no matter where they live.

Google has announced a $4 million donation to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in order to help the charity raise the $14 million it will need to fill a fundraising gap in its Oral Polio Vaccine pipeline.

Poliomyelitis, more commonly known as polio, is the disease that is believed to have crippled the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt. It has been largely eradicated in the United States, thanks to a comprehensive vaccine campaign that has immunized millions of children against the illness at a very young age. The growing availability of this vaccine has made polio all but extinct in a growing number of countries, but in some places – including the Indian subcontinent and West and Central Africa – the disease is still a very real risk for developing children and infants.

UNICEF and its partners are working to make worldwide elimination of the polio virus a reality by funding vaccination efforts in some of the most at-risk nations in the world. However, recent polio outbreaks in Congo, Kenya, Liberia, and Tajikistan have reduced the supply of the oral polio vaccine, leaving the charity group in desperate need of funding.

"No child should ever have to suffer from the crippling effects of this preventable disease, especially when such a simple, inexpensive solution exists," said UNICEF president and CEO Caryl Stern. "We are so grateful to Google for their incredibly generous donation, which will help us in our goal of eradicating this dreaded disease by 2012."

Since UNICEF founded Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, the number of polio cases reported annually has declined by more than 99 percent – from 350,000 in 1988 to 1,606 cases in 2009. However, the charity still has a long way to go before eliminating the disease for good. Thanks to Google's generous gift, they are now one step closer to achieving that goal.

It's no secret that many celebrities are generous with the wealth, but the Giving Back 30 list helps separate the givers from the Scrooges.

The list, released by the Giving Back Fund, ranks the top 30 celebrities who made the largest contributions to charities in the year past. The list for 2009 – the most recent year for which public data is available – was released this week, and not surprisingly, famous philanthropist and billionaire Oprah Winfrey topped the rankings for the third time.

Winfrey, whose dedication to female education is well-documented and who founded a school for girls in South Africa in 2007, gave $41 million to the Chicago-based Oprah Winfrey Foundation for education initiatives and programs that support women and children in the United States and abroad. In addition, the TV personality gave nearly $1.3 million to the Oprah's Angel Network.

In fact, Winfrey has topped the list every year since it was founded in 2006 except for in 2008 – that year, Paul Newman ranked first thanks to a generous donation made to his foundation shortly before his death.

Other celebrities on this year's Giving Back 30 include Nora Roberts, Meryl Streep and Donald Gummer, Jami Gertz and Tony Ressler, Lance and Cara Berkman and Charles Woodsen.

"Combined, these celebrities donated nearly $80 million of their personal wealth to charities," said Giving Back Fund president and founder Marc Pollick. "We hope that in recognizing the extraordinary generosity of these celebrities, we will encourage and promote greater and more authentic giving among those blessed with both wealth and fame." 

The World Bank Group has announced a $49.3 billion funding package that will go into the bank's fund for the world's poorest countries, the International Development Association.

"The funding pledges show support from an extraordinary global coalition of donors and borrowers which have come together to ensure that even in these difficult economic times we offer hope and opportunity to the world's poor," said World Bank Group president Robert B. Zoellick. "This strong level of support is a testimony to IDA's relentless focus on results that bring improvements on the ground for poor people."

Over the next three years, IDA will help 79 of the world’s poorest countries overcome poverty and grow economically on a global and local level. The group will finance infrastructure, improve health services, build schools and combat climate change as part of an effort to improve life for citizens of the developing world and people around the globe. Special focus will be given to addressing gender issues and helping fragile and war-town countries establish peace and develop a stable economy.

Sub-Saharan Africa will remain a major focus of IDA support, as it has been in years past.

In its 10 years of existence, IDA funding has played a key role in helping save 13 million lives, immunizing over 310 million children, improving access to water for more than 100 million people and building or rehabilitating more than 100,000 kilometers of roads. 

In spring of this year, the Cumberland River – the body of water that snakes through Nashville, Tennessee – overflowed its banks 13 feet above flood stage, drowning homes, destroying buildings and ruining entire towns. More than 30 people died and $1 billion worth of private and public property was destroyed in what quickly became one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history.

Now, several famous musicians who owe their success to Music City are giving back to the stricken city. Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and other country stars are lending their pretty mugs to a charity photo shoot designed to raise money for those affected by the flooding.

For Urban in particular, the cause hits close to home. When he was 10 years old and living in Australia, his family's home burned to the ground, destroying all of their belongings.

"We lost our clothes, everything," Urban recalls. "The Red Cross gave us clothes. Friends gave us a place to live."

To help people in similar situations, Urban and the other country stars are posing for portraits next to their favorite Nashville landmarks. Urban himself chose Gruhn's Guitars.

The series of portraits will be up for auction until tonight, along with a collection of other items, including a guitar signed by Taylor Swift, a chance to meet Urban and a tour of the Grand Ole Opry. All of the proceeds from the auction will go toward families and individuals recovering from the devastating floods.

The Lilly Endowment has announced at $22.9 million gift to the Ivy Tech Foundation, a part of Ivy Tech Community College, the largest public postsecondary institution in Indiana and the nation's largest state-wide community college with single accreditation.

Ivy Tech and schools like it have seen a massive boom in interest following the economic crisis of 2008, as adults who have lost their jobs have returned to school in a bid to acquire new, marketable skills and find more work. Enrollment at Ivy Tech itself has doubled in the last five years, leaving the school in sore need of additional facilities.

The $22.9 million endowment will be used to construct a new 196,000-square-foot facility, to be called the Indiana Center for Workforce Solutions. The center will offer pre-employment services, including resume writing and interviewing training, as well as training programs in fields such as health care, life sciences, information technology, advanced manufacturing, logistics and hospitality. Once completed, school officials estimate that 25,000 people a year will take advantage of the center's offerings. The facility will also host meetings and events for more than 300 organizations.

"The dramatic growth in Ivy Tech's enrollment demonstrates that Indiana residents understand that education is critical to their future," said Sara Cobb, vice president for education at the Lilly Endowment. "The new space should significantly help Ivy Tech in the accomplishment of its important educational aims."

Ivy Tech has campuses in 23 Indiana cities, including Bloomington, Indianapolis, Richmond, Sellersburg and South Bend.