The Daily Tell

Target has announced an ambitious new goal to pledge $1 billion to education over the next five years.

The Minneapolis-based Target Corporation will donate more than $500 million in support of education by 2015, doubling its contribution to educational activities and organizations to bring its total donation to a staggering $1 billion.

Education in America is in sore need of the money. Recent statistics show that as many as one in four U.S. children are not graduating from high school, and as many as 40 percent of Hispanic and African-American students never earned their diploma.

"When more than a million students a year fail to graduate with their class, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said General Colin L. Powell, founding chair of America's Promise Alliance, an organization which works to help more children graduate high school and go on to postsecondary education. "Our economic and national security are at risk when we fail to educate the leaders and the workforce of the future. No single organization or entity can solve this issue on its own. We have a responsibility to unite across sectors to address this crisis because we cannot afford to let our kids fail."

Target's pledge is designed to address this problem. The gift is part of Target Read With Me, a program that aims to help more children become proficient in reading by the end of third grade. Research shows that this is when children make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, and kids who are proficient in reading at this stage will go on to achieve higher grades and stand a better chance of graduating.

In addition, Target has announced a reading pledge, a donation of as many as 2 million books for low-income children and plans for an innovative virtual and physical reading center, also as part of the initiative.

Fordham University has received a $25 million gift from a grateful alumnus.

The university, based in New York City, had a major impact on the life of Mario J. Gabelli, whose generous $25 million donation marks the opening of the public phase of Fordham's $500 million capital campaign. Gabelli is a second-generation American and was the first member of his family to attend college. Now he is the CEO and chairman of GAMCO Investors, a diversified asset management and financial services company.

"Education is the great leveler, the engine of America's meritocracy, and it must remain so for the country to compete in the global economy," Gabelli said, expressing his gratitude to the university. "My grandfather died in a coal mining accident in western Pennsylvania one hundred years ago, and my family always stressed the importance of education as a stepping stone to creating a better life. I am proud and blessed to be able to contribute to that effort."

The $25 million gift is the largest in the school's history. It will be used to fund student scholarships and faculty chairs, as well as to establish the Center of Global Investment Analysis, which will work to enhance the study and understanding of global capital markets. In recognition of Gabelli's incredible generosity, Fordham will also rename its undergraduate business program the Gabelli School of Business.

Including Gabelli's donation, Fordham has raised $364.8 million toward its campaign goal.

Facebook has been in the news quite a bit lately. A new movie about the website, called The Social Network, will be released later this fall and is already generating significant Oscar buzz. Now, the film's inspiration, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is keeping his site in the news by donating $100 million to charity.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook as an undergraduate at Harvard, is the world's youngest self-made billionaire thanks to his 24 percent stake in the site. At 26, he is worth an estimated $6.9 billion. Now, the programmer and developer has donated $100 million of his personal fortune to the much-maligned Newark, New Jersey, public school system.

Zuckerberg wanted to keep the donation anonymous, but was convinced to publicly announce his contribution on the Oprah Winfrey Show earlier this month.

"I've had a lot of opportunities in my life, and a lot of that comes from … having gone to really good schools," Zuckerberg, a graduate of the elite Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, said. "And I just want to do what I can to make sure that everyone has those same opportunities."

Though he has no personal ties to Newark, Zuckerberg was touched by the school system's troubles after a meeting with mayor Cory Booker at a summer conference. The Newark school district has one of the worst records in the state, with only 40 percent of students able to read and write by the third grade. It was declared a failure and taken over by the state in 1995.

Booker has high hopes for the school district following Zuckerberg's generous contribution.

"I think that Newark is going to change the paradigm for urban education," he told Oprah.

If you like bagels, make sure to stop by any of the 48 Panera Bread locations managed by Breads of the World in Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and northern Kentucky to pick up a few on October 1 – you'll enjoy a delicious snack and you'll be helping to cure breast cancer.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Panera wants to start things off right by donating 100 percent of Pink Ribbon bagel sales made on the start of the month to the American Cancer Society of Central and Southwest Ohio. In addition, the restaurant and bakery will continue to donate $0.10 from every bagel sold from October 2 until October 31 to the nonprofit cancer research, treatment and support group.

"This year, more than ever before, we are pleased and honored to lead the charge against breast cancer in Ohio," says Jeff Rains, president of Panera parent company Breads of the World, which operates franchises in Ohio, Kentucky and Colorado. "On October 1 Panera Bread will donate 100 percent of all Pink Ribbon bagel sales. It's important to us to kick Breast Cancer Awareness month off on the right foot, by bringing together our employees, owners and customers as a united front – supporting the cause in the Ohio communities we serve."

The American Cancer Society estimates that as many as one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. It is the second most common cancer, after skin cancer, in women, and the second most deadly, after lung cancer. Nearly 40,000 women will die from breast cancer every year in the United States.

"Give me shelter," sang the Rolling Stones – and one group is working to do just that.

Shelter: It's one of the most basic of human needs, something that many of us take for granted every day. But for millions of people around the world, owning a home feels like an impossibility. That's why Habitat for Humanity is so committed to putting a roof over the heads of people in both the industrialized and the developing world.

Every week, more than a million people are born in cities in the developing world. As a result, the urban population of developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion in the next 30 years. By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people – about 40 percent of the world's population – will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day. That's 4,000 houses every hour.

Habitat for Humanity is committed to meeting this challenge. On October 4th, in recognition of World Habitat Day, the nonprofit will work to raise awareness about the issues facing the homeless population around the world. Habitat for Humanity will emphasize the connection between human health and housing and redouble its commitment to neighborhood revisitation in the United States.

In fact, the connection between health and housing is so great that the number of low-income families who lack access to a safe and affordable home is directly correlated to the number of children who suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children suffer from stunted growth attributable to a lack of stable housing, 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation in their homes and more than 180 children die every year in house fires attributable to faulty heating and electrical equipment in unsafe homes.

By contrast, children who do have a safe and stable home are more likely to stay in school, do better on standardized testing and have a reduced chance of behavioral problems.

This year, Habitat for Humanity will once again host the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project as a part of World Habitat Day. The event is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for safe and affordable housing. This year, the Carters will work alongside volunteers in several cities, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Birmingham, Alabama, to build, remodel and improve 86 homes.
 

Cydcor, a leading sales company, recently announced that it would be working with its independent business operators in order to help a worthy cause.

One of the leading sales companies recently announced that it would be working with its independent business operators in order to help a worthy cause.

Cydcor, which specializes in outsourced, face-to-face sales teams, will work to raise money for Operation Smile as its official corporate cause. The company helps with dental work for children whose faces have been deformed and who cannot get adequate treatment in their home country. The firm said that it hoped to raise $150,000 after all is said and done.

“This is the first time that we have adopted a charitable organization on this scale – it’s a great way to exercise team building among our offices,” said Gary Polson, chief executive officer of Cydcor. “Cydcor is proud to support an organization that improves the quality of so many lives.”

Each individual office has a goal of raising $1,000, while the corporate website seeks to raise $21,000 before the fundraiser ends.

Cydcor also gave back in recent days by rewarding its employees with a Thank You event at a hotel in Miami. Key members of the company gathered at the Fountainbleau Miami Beach in order to take part in the festivities.

The prestigious Georgetown University has received an $87 million bequest from Virginia and Harry J. Toulmin to support medical research at the university’s medical center.

The gift is the largest in the university’s 220-year history. Founded in 1789 by Jesuit priests, the Washington, D.C., university is now one of the most respected intellectual and research institutions in the United States.

The massive donation came from much humbler origins, however. It originated as a $1.2-million charitable trust, established by the will of Harry Toulmin after his death in 1965. Toulmin served as an army colonel in both world wars and was an international patent attorney and owner and director of Central Pharmaceuticals. After his passing, his widow, Virginia, ignored the advice of the company’s attorney to sell his business for $1 million. Instead, Virginia ran Central Pharmaceuticals for the next three decades, eventually selling it to German drug company Schwarz Pharma A.G. in 1995 for a whopping $178 million.

Virginia also managed the $1.2 million trust for the next 45 years until grew to its current value. In 1997, she said that she "couldn’t be happier" knowing that the funding would eventually be used toward medical research. A longtime Georgetown volunteer leader, Mrs. Toulmin died in June of this year at the age of 84, leaving the gift to the university.

The money will be used to establish the Warwick Evans and Mary Mason Washington Evans Medical Research Endowment, in honor of Harry Toulmin’s grandparents. Warwick Evans was the first graduate of the Georgetown School of Medicine in 1852 and went on to become a professor of anatomy at the school.

"I am deeply grateful to Harry and Virginia Toulmin for their generosity and trust in Georgetown’s ability to use these resources to create knowledge that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of others," said university president John J. DeGioia. "This gift will enable Georgetown to enhance our mission by strengthening and sustaining our commitment to groundbreaking medical research."

Alex von Furstenberg has personally donated $1 million to the Curtis School.

At least $250,000 of the donation will be used to fund scholarships for deserving students. The Los Angeles-based Curtis School will use the remainder of the money for financing special projects.

Alex von Furstenberg, whose own children attend the Curtis School, said that his kids are "fortunate to be receiving a first-rate education."

"It is important to me that regardless of circumstance, deserving children get a shot at the same opportunity," he added.

The Curtis School, founded in 1925, “seeks to inspire a love of learning, to promote appreciation of and participation in athletics and the arts, and to instill a strong sense of moral behavior," according to its official website. The institution houses programs for approximately 500 students in kindergarten through sixth grade on its 27-acre campus located in the Santa Monica mountains. Without scholarships, yearly tuition is $21,800.

Mr. von Furstenberg’s dedication to education is shared by his family’s nonprofit organization, the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Since 1999, the foundation has donated more than $6 million to charter schools, universities and educational programs. The foundation is also involved in various other charitable pursuits, including community reform, environmental advocacy, medical research and human rights.