Posts Tagged Donations
Stan’s Story
Sep 6
Random Acts Of Kindness
Aug 31
By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY
In an unprecedented show of generosity, a band of 40 American billionaires have pledged to give at least half their fortunes to charity.
The wealthy families and individuals — including cable TV mogul Ted Turner, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and filmmaker George Lucas — are the first to join an organization founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett in June.
In a conference call Wednesday, Buffett said he, Bill and Melinda Gates and others made 70 to 80 calls to some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals. Those who agreed to the pledge are from 13 states and the District of Columbia. Buffett and Gates also plan to meet with groups of wealthy people in India and China to discuss giving.
“We hope this movement will lead to more, and smarter, philanthropy,” Buffett said.
usatoday.com
Paul Allen, who founded the Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates, announced on Thursday that he planned to give more than half of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy.
Mr. Allen is among a growing number of wealthy philanthropists who are publicly stating their commitments to giving their money away in response to a call from Mr. Gates and Warren E. Buffett, who last month started a program called The Giving Pledge that aims to get the country’s billionaires to devote half their fortunes to charity. Eli and Edythe Broad, John and Ann Doerr and other wealthy philanthropists have also signed on.
nytimes.com
Juliette Jowit
guardian.co.uk
Saddam Hussein’s draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible – was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them.
But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world’s third largest wetland to some of its former glory.
guardian.co.uk
Polar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, a move which helps the country to meet its international obligations to protect biodiversity.
The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of over 3.8 million ha by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones of over 1 million ha.
“For the first time, development of protected areas in Russia will be based on the analysis of all available data on biological diversity of Russia”, said Vladimir Krever, WWF-Russia biodiversity coordinator.
“The creation of protected areas is crucial to save Russia’s diverse and unique biodiversity,” he added.
panda.org
Day after day after day, Fern Bloom returned to knock on Dr. Jeffrey Veale’s door at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
When’s it going to be my turn, the Chatsworth woman wanted to know. When can I pay back this incredible gift I’ve just received?
Her husband, Ross, was alive, thanks to the transplant of a kidney donated by a stranger. Now, Fern wanted to return the favor, to be that donor for someone else. Just tell her when.
“No one in the chain backed out — that’s what we were a little worried about,” Dr. Veale said Friday. “Everyone came through.”
dailynews.com
By JESSIE SAWYER
Register Citizen Staff
HARWINTON — Elly Overton, 13, was horrified to hear about a fire at the Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) on Route 6 in Terryville, Conn. that happened few years ago.
“When my daughter heard about the fire, she wanted to help them,” Jennifer Overton, Elly’s mother, said.
So, when she had to decide on a community service project for her bat mitzvah on April 24, she chose to donate to ARF. In the fall she posted signs and wrote letters to community members, family and friends to raise awareness about animal cruelty and animal rescue efforts. She donated $1,200 from fundraising and babysitting money to the shelter.
“I wanted to do something local and I really love animals,” Elly said.
registercitizen.com
They want billionaire peers to pledge 50 percent to charity
SEATTLE – Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, America’s two richest people, are embarking on a campaign to persuade their super-rich peers to give half their fortunes to charity in a move that could change the face of philanthropy.
The effort, if successful, could funnel a colossal amount of money into nonprofit groups. If the individuals on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans pledged half their net worth to charity, that would amount to $600 billion, Fortune magazine says.
Fortune, in an article posted Wednesday, detailed the origin and status of the campaign, which it called “the biggest fundraising drive in history.”
msnbc.msn.com
By NANCY VISSER / The Dallas Morning News
Doc Compton wants giving to go viral.
He says that to give is such a great feeling he wants everyone to experience it.
So he stuffed 100 envelopes each with a dollar and a letter that basically says: Keep this if you need it, or add to it and pass it on.
On Sunday, he distributed the envelopes to strangers in McKinney and at the Dallas Arboretum, and now he’s hearing from people who want to do the same in their communities.
“Think of how awesome it would be if we could have the entire state of Texas ‘Paying it forward,’ ” said “Tonya” on the guestbook on Compton’s website, NeeditKeepit.org.
dallasnews.com