The Daily Tell

In an effort to provide up to 200 four-year scholarships to students who have similar values and vision as President Ronald Reagan, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and GE have teamed up to launch the GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program. The scholarships will span the length of the next ten years.

GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship applicants must meet specific qualifications based on
their leadership, drive, integrity and citizenship. Annually, the foundation will select 20 applicants to receive a $10,000 scholarship that will be renewable for three additional years, totalling $40,000 per student. The funds can be utilized for tuition and room and board for a student pursuing a bachelor's degree at an accredited college or university within the U.S.

"Ronald Reagan believed in educating and inspiring the future leaders of tomorrow," said Frederick Ryan, chairman of the board of trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

"The GE-Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program enables us to continue this tradition and keep his spirit alive among the youth of today," he added.

Additionally, GE is sponsoring the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration with a $15 million grant in honor of a year-long celebration for the president's 100th birthday on February 6, 2011. The company committed $5 million of the funding to establish the scholarship program and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation is allocating an additional $3 million.

Ronald Reagan worked for GE from 1954 through 1962 as the host of General Electric Theater, a weekly television series. He traveled as a GE spokesman to 139 GE plants and met more than 250,000 employees, featuring their work and promoting GE products.

Qualified scholarship applicants may apply online before March 18, 2011. They must be nominated by a community leader and recipients will be recognized at a ceremony this summer. 

Wall Street executives have upped their charitable donations to nonprofit organizations within New York City for the first time in three years, according to Reuters. With well-heeled New Yorkers seeing an increase in funds once again, many executives have resumed their giving. In 2008, 2009 and the first six months of 2010, this demographic was in poor attendance at charitable galas and auctions, key events for nonprofits.

According to Stephanie Astic, a fundraising event planner for nonprofits such as Room To Grow at high-end New York venues, the New York elite are expected to raise a certain amount of capital from their network, usually in the $100,000 to $200,000 range, Reuters said.

Organizations such as the United Way of New York City are anticipating a 30 percent increase in giving from Wall Street executives and other financial industry leaders this year, but this doesn't mean all nonprofits are in the clear. Tuesday's Children, a nonprofit that supports children of 9/11 victims, said that 2008 and 2009 were "excruciating" and "challenging" years, respectively, but donations are on the rise once again.

"Philanthropy tends to lag recessions by six months to two years. I expect there to be a slow recovery, I don't see giving taking off," said Chuck Longfield of Blackbaud, a company that produces monthly giving indexes, to Reuters.

For some, philanthropy was forced to the bottom of the list during the economic recession out of necessity. Chris Page, who advises companies and individuals on philanthropy, reported a cautious increase in giving among his Wall Street clients, finding the strongest support to be for social services and those affected most by the economy. Artistic and cultural organizations tend to see the least amount of donations, Page said. 

Winston Chung has committed $10 million to the University of California at Riverside in support of clean battery power, solar energy and sustainable transportation research at the school's Bourns College of Engineering. Chung is a battery technology scientist, inventor of the rare earth lithium yttrium battery and an entrepreneur. He is the founder of Winston Global Energy Limited and his donation will mark the largest ever received by UC Riverside.

"The University of California, Riverside welcomes Mr. Winston Chung as an integral partner in our educational and research mission," said Timothy White, chancellor of UC Riverside

"His investment in this university will result in generations of students and faculty sharing their knowledge with local and global communities, and in new materials and new energy sources for an energy-hungry world. This gift is a wonderful testimony to the current strengths and aspirational future of the UCR Bourns College of Engineering," he added.

The grant will be used to create two named professorships within energy innovation and sustainability and will establish a Winston Chung Global Energy Center within the Bourns College of Engineering – Center for Environmental Research and Technology. The university will also rename one of its engineering buildings Winston Chung Hall.

The Winston Chung Center will focus on the uses associated with the inventor's rare earth battery, bio-inspired technology and the development of clean energy and energy storage.

"Mr. Chung has created a clean and efficient energy storage that is an expression of a sustainable future," said Reza Abbaschian, dean of the Bourns College of Engineering.

"We are talking about vehicles that go for 180 miles on a single charge and can be recharged in the time it takes to stop and drink a cup of coffee," he added.

Abbaschian expressed his excitement for research collaborations and the opportunities that the gift will bring for engineering students.

The Pacific Life Foundation is supporting approximately 200 nonprofit organizations within Southern California with $2.75 million in grants ranging from $5,000 to $100,000. In total, the foundation has committed to extend $5.5 million in charitable funding throughout this year.

Pacific Life Foundation is the philanthropic branch of the insurance company Pacific Life. Since its establishment in 1984, the Pacific Life Foundation has donated more than $62.7 million to nonprofits. The foundation will extend support to organizations and agencies that work within its four program areas, including arts and culture, civic involvement, community and the environment, education and health and human services.

Among those organizations that were awarded grants include the Illumination Foundation, which was extended $150,000 to help end homelessness among destitute families in Orange County, the South Coast Repertory, which was awarded $20,000 for its Theatre for Young Audiences program and the MIND Research Institute, which will receive $100,000 in part of a multiyear, $500,000 endeavor in support of its Orange County Math Initiative.

The foundation will also allocate an additional $290,000 to match Pacific Life employee donations to United Ways in southern California and will donate $100,000 to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Additionally, it will extend $550,000 in support of marine mammal protection and education programs.

Other organizations receiving funding include the Laguna Playhouse, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Environmental Nature Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana, Claremont Graduate University (Applied Women's Studies,) Food Finders, Inc. and Orange County Funders Roundtable.

Habitat for Humanity International announced that it received $11.8 million in 2010 from Wells Fargo and Company, a figure that exceeded its original pledge of $8 million. The funds helped to revitalize communities that were negatively impacted by the economic downturn.

Wells Fargo has pledged an additional $5 million to Habitat for 2011, an effort that has been made possible by the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. It also provided an additional $3.4 million in community lending to Habitat for Humanity International last year.

"Wells Fargo has supported Habitat’s affordable housing work for nearly 20 years, which is one example of our focus on doing what’s right for our communities," said Cara Heiden, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

"Together we have made a difference with low-income families who now have homes in which they can take great pride, a mission that Wells Fargo has always believed is important.," she added.

The company's grants in 2010 also included $7.2 million for Habitat's Neighborhood Revitalization, a program that constructs, repairs and rehabilitates housing in low-income areas that have been impacted by widespread foreclosure.

An additional $4.6 million was given to Habitat affiliates via the Wells Fargo Team Member Volunteer Program, which offers "Money for Muscle" when Wells Fargo team members help to build and restore homes for qualifying families. Another $3.4 million was invested in the Flexible Capital Access program through Wells Fargo's Community Lending and Investment division.

Teach for America, an educational organization that places recent college graduates in low income public schools nationwide, is slated to be the recipient of $100 million in order to launch its first endowment, enabling the organization to become consistent in its educational initiatives.

Four philanthropists collaborated on the endeavor to establish a long-running source of funding. This year, the organization had more than 46,000 applicants for its 4,400 available teaching positions.

Eli Broad pledged $25 million from his Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and encouraged others to make similar commitments. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and philanthropists Steve and Sue Mandel all followed suit. Initially, the funding will only produce 2 percent of Teach for America's $200 million budget, but this figure will grow over time.

"A few years ago we embraced the priority of making Teach For America an enduring American institution that can thrive as long as the problem we're working to address persists," said founder Wendy Kopp, who created the program as her undergraduate thesis in 1990, to the Associated Press.

"I think it's only appropriate in our country, which aspires to be a place of equal opportunity, that we have an institution which is about our future leaders making good on that promise," she added.

One-third of the organization's alumni continue teaching after their two years of service and every two out of three stay within the field, according to the source. With a steady revenue, Kopp hopes that Teach for America can double its number of active members to 15,000, while increasing the number of communities it reaches from 39 to 60.

A major donor to the University of Connecticut, Robert G. Burton, is demanding the university return his $3 million donation. Citing disagreements with the athletic director and the hiring of the new football coach, Burton wants his donation returned and his family name taken off the Burton Family Football Complex. Additionally, he plans to and will cease all additional funding. He informed the university of his intentions in a six-page letter, according to The Day.

The letter claimed that Burton had requested to be kept informed about the hiring process for a new football coach and was interested in offering insight regarding potential candidates. He was not included in the hiring process and claimed that philosophical disagreements with UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway are the reasons why he chose to end his involvement.

"The primary reason [former coach] Randy [Edsall] took another job is because he couldn't work with you," Burton wrote in the letter to Hathaway, the source noted.

"You are not qualified to be a Division I AD, and I would have fired you a long time ago. You do not have the skills to manage and cultivate new donors," he continued.

Burton has chosen not to pay for a $50,000-a-year luxury suite, support the football team via an $8,000 advertising endeavor or contribute to the university's coaching clinic. He will transfer his scholarship support initially planned for the football program to the business school.

The university's athletic department disputes Burton's version of what has happened.

"Many people, including Mr. Burton, shared their ideas about potential candidates with us … UConn's donors represent a vital aspect of the university, and we respect and appreciate their thoughts and views on various issues," the university said, the source reported.

A major donor to the University of Connecticut, Robert G. Burton, is demanding the university return his $3 million donation. Citing disagreements with the athletic director and the hiring of the new football coach, Burton wants his donation returned and his family name taken off the Burton Family Football Complex. Additionally, he plans to and will cease all additional funding. He informed the university of his intentions in a six-page letter, according to The Day.

The letter claimed that Burton had requested to be kept informed about the hiring process for a new football coach and was interested in offering insight regarding potential candidates. He was not included in the hiring process and claimed that philosophical disagreements with UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway are the reasons why he chose to end his involvement.

"The primary reason [former coach] Randy [Edsall] took another job is because he couldn't work with you," Burton wrote in the letter to Hathaway, the source noted.

"You are not qualified to be a Division I AD, and I would have fired you a long time ago. You do not have the skills to manage and cultivate new donors," he continued.

Burton has chosen not to pay for a $50,000-a-year luxury suite, support the football team via an $8,000 advertising endeavor or contribute to the university's coaching clinic. He will transfer his scholarship support initially planned for the football program to the business school.

The university's athletic department disputes Burton's version of what has happened.

"Many people, including Mr. Burton, shared their ideas about potential candidates with us … UConn's donors represent a vital aspect of the university, and we respect and appreciate their thoughts and views on various issues," the university said, the source reported.

Retired banker and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford made a $100 million gift to Sanford Health to help create a national institute to fight breast cancer. This brings the total amount of his gifts to the health system to more than $500 million, according to the Associate[d] Press. The details of the initiative are expected to be announced at Sanford Health's annual children's gala in August.

"This new initiative will create a world-class center for the research, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in keeping with the standard of excellence in Sanford's cancer and other programs," president Brian Mortenson of the Sanford Health Foundation told the Argus Leader.

Sanford earned his wealth in Sioux Falls as head of First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard. Last year, he fulfilled a $400 million commitment to Sanford Health in support of four major initiatives, one of which is a project to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. Sanford Health merged with Fargo, North Dakota-based Meritcare in 2009 to form the nation's largest not-for-profit rural healthcare provider.

According to Mortenson, approximately 10 million women are living with breast cancer and one in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer.

"Certainly having this gift is going to be tremendous not only for the women in South Dakota but for everyone who's afflicted with the disease," said Jill Ireland, an American Cancer Society official to the Argus Leader.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Washington National Opera have announced an affiliation that will allow the Kennedy Center to offer opera performances while simultaneously ensuring the financial security of the WNO.

WNO will remain a a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, retaining its board of trustees, and the Kennedy Center will take responsibility for WNO's administrative and business functions, including marketing, communications, finance, sales and information technology operations.

The artistic programming will be developed by WNO staff members and Michael M. Kaiser, the Kennedy Center president, and will be approved by the WNO board. WNO will continue its development initiatives through the support of its board, although both organization's fundraising operation's will be combined.

This effort is touted by the Washington Post as a "rescue operation" to save WNO, which has been financially floundering for some time, the source reported.

"Over the past few years, the financial uncertainty surrounding the opera has threatened not only its viability but its ability to … maintain a level of artistic excellence," WNO President Kenneth R. Feinberg said to the source.

"This is a critical step designed to ensure the long term artistic and financial success of the company," he added.

The organizations had been discussing a merger for approximately a year, but Betty Brown Casey, a WNO benefactor, threatened to support New York's Metropolitan Opera if this occurred. The Washington Post reported the WNO's debt would stand at $12 million if Casey withdrew her support. Realizing the organization had no other options, Casey offered it a matching gift of an unspecified amount, which it was able to meet, to pay off its debt.

"WNO and the Kennedy Center have always shared a commitment to presenting great opera, and by formally affiliating, we and our audiences will reap the benefits," said Feinberg.

"The Kennedy Center is a world-class arts institution, and WNO is thrilled at the endless possibilities that such an association will enable," he added.