As things stand, the pandemic’s driven more than 1,500 funders to make at least 50,000 grants totaling $25.5 billion. Some made high-dollar commitments right away and took time doling it out. Others invested sporadically as needs evolved. Some are … [Read more...] about Seven Rounds, $100 Million. How a Global Foundation Responded During the Pandemic Year
Hospitals
How a Quiet Family of Southern California Donors Is Helping Transform Cancer Care in the Region
Reticent to speak publicly about their giving, the Chao family of Orange County, California, have long been quiet but leading donors in the region, with a big focus on cancer care and treatment. And now, with a new $20 million gift to the University … [Read more...] about How a Quiet Family of Southern California Donors Is Helping Transform Cancer Care in the Region
As Maternal Mortality Spikes in the U.S., Who is Stepping Up for Mothers?
America has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries, a rising health crisis that’s driven by inequities of race, place and socioeconomic status. Expectant mothers in the U.S. today are twice as likely to die in childbirth as … [Read more...] about As Maternal Mortality Spikes in the U.S., Who is Stepping Up for Mothers?
How One Foundation Is Fueling Hope and Feeding Healthcare Workers in Colorado
It’s unclear exactly how it started or when, precisely, it stopped. Few people still engage in the early-pandemic ritual of cheering from windows and clanging pans to honor healthcare workers. Yet more than a year after the first COVID-19 cases were … [Read more...] about How One Foundation Is Fueling Hope and Feeding Healthcare Workers in Colorado
Backed by a Billionaire, a New York Hospital Takes on Health Disparities
COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on people of color cast a harsh light on the racial disparities in our health system. Statistics tell the story: During the peak months of the pandemic, Native Americans, Hispanics and Black Americans were twice as … [Read more...] about Backed by a Billionaire, a New York Hospital Takes on Health Disparities
Home Depot Founder Arthur Blank Talks Big New Gifts and His Philanthropic Legacy
Starting from humble beginnings in a Jewish family in Sunnyside, Queens, Arthur Blank, 78, co-founded Home Depot along with Bernie Marcus in 1978. He started his career as an accountant before moving into the home improvement business and launching … [Read more...] about Home Depot Founder Arthur Blank Talks Big New Gifts and His Philanthropic Legacy
How a Private Foundation Backed Trusted Partners When Crisis Struck its Home Region
Though the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States has shifted to other regions, in early spring, New York and New Jersey were the national hot spot, accounting for the bulk of the country’s cases and deaths. One family in Freehold, New Jersey, … [Read more...] about How a Private Foundation Backed Trusted Partners When Crisis Struck its Home Region
With Donor Backing, Hard-Hit Bronx Becomes a Center for COVID-19 Research
Billionaire Michael F. Price, who runs the New York-based MFP Investors hedge fund, has long supported medical research and community health in low-income neighborhoods of New York City. For example, funding from his Price Family Foundation has gone … [Read more...] about With Donor Backing, Hard-Hit Bronx Becomes a Center for COVID-19 Research
A Silicon Valley Donor Looks to Jumpstart a Push to Find a COVID-19 Medicine
With so much money being mobilized to develop COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, you’d think pretty much the full spectrum of potential medical solutions would be under the microscope by now. But Silicon Valley entrepeneur and philanthropist Steve … [Read more...] about A Silicon Valley Donor Looks to Jumpstart a Push to Find a COVID-19 Medicine
In Harm’s Way: How Philanthropy is Supporting Frontline Health Workers During COVID-19
It takes guts to report for a hospital shift these days. Frontline health workers face the physical and emotional tolls of treating high-risk patients while exposing themselves—and by extension their own families—to a deadly disease. Care protocols … [Read more...] about In Harm’s Way: How Philanthropy is Supporting Frontline Health Workers During COVID-19
What is the Top U.S. Health Philanthropy Doing in Response to COVID-19?
The COVID-19 pandemic has mobilized philanthropy more broadly than any event in recent years, prompting organizations across the sector to respond with emergency grantmaking and speedily developed funding programs to address the human services, … [Read more...] about What is the Top U.S. Health Philanthropy Doing in Response to COVID-19?
Doctors Without Debt: The Billionaire Who Built Silicon Valley Joins a Growing Movement
Faced with a projected doctor shortage, an alarming paucity of physicians from diverse backgrounds, and a median student debt of $200,000, donors have been ramping up support for a debt-free medical education, making big gifts to New York University, … [Read more...] about Doctors Without Debt: The Billionaire Who Built Silicon Valley Joins a Growing Movement
Giving Big to Build a 21st-Century Nurse
Healthcare in the U.S. is only getting more complex. Every part of the industry is struggling to respond to such challenges as an aging population with rising numbers of chronic conditions. Attempts to integrate new solutions, technologies and … [Read more...] about Giving Big to Build a 21st-Century Nurse
Why These Health Funders Focus on Care, Rather than Cures, for People with Serious Illness
Diseases are lousy and serious diseases are lousiest of all, so it’s no wonder that most health-oriented philanthropy focuses on the research or delivery of cures and treatments.But millions of people live a long time with serious or incurable … [Read more...] about Why These Health Funders Focus on Care, Rather than Cures, for People with Serious Illness
Leveraging Donor Dollars, a Nonprofit Clears Millions in Medical Debt for Low-Income Americans
The debt buying industry has often been lambasted for predatory behavior, but RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys and forgives medical debt for eligible recipients, presents a striking exception. In July, over 10,000 people in rural areas of … [Read more...] about Leveraging Donor Dollars, a Nonprofit Clears Millions in Medical Debt for Low-Income Americans
There’s an Institute for That? Behind a $100 Million Gift to Explore the Neurobiology of Compassion
The notion of scientific research into the biology of compassion may sound a bit New-Agey, or perhaps a subject more naturally in the wheelhouse of social scientists and theologians than neuroscientists. But empathy is as much a part of human … [Read more...] about There’s an Institute for That? Behind a $100 Million Gift to Explore the Neurobiology of Compassion
The U.S. Faces a Severe Nursing Shortage. Who’s Giving to Close the Gap?
One of the hottest trends in higher ed fundraising right now is donors’ ambitious efforts to support STEM-related initiatives in fields like engineering, artificial intelligence, and data science and analytics. But a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics … [Read more...] about The U.S. Faces a Severe Nursing Shortage. Who’s Giving to Close the Gap?
Breaking Barriers, a Fundraiser Rises to the Top of Her Game
At the first fundraising conference June Bradham ever attended, she encountered a group of male fundraisers—many wearing embellished name tags that broadcast their seniority in the profession. She listened as they traded war stories from their … [Read more...] about Breaking Barriers, a Fundraiser Rises to the Top of Her Game
Ideas Guy: A Closer Look at the Donor Behind That $200 Million Gift to the Mayo Clinic
With a few exceptions, mega-donors always have some sort of personal or professional relationship with the organization on the receiving end of a big gift. Michigan-based philanthropist Jay Alix takes this idea to a whole new level.Alix recently gave … [Read more...] about Ideas Guy: A Closer Look at the Donor Behind That $200 Million Gift to the Mayo Clinic
More Than Oil Wealth: A Closer Look at Houston’s Growing Philanthropy Ecosystem
In a recent post looking at the John P. McGovern Foundation’s $50 million gift to the Houston Zoo, I noted that Charity Navigator ranked the city first in “overall philanthropic culture” a few years ago, thanks in no small part to the city’s energy … [Read more...] about More Than Oil Wealth: A Closer Look at Houston’s Growing Philanthropy Ecosystem
Medicine’s Blind Spot: A Foundation Takes on Diagnostic Error
What are some the most intractable problems in healthcare? Rising costs? Lack of access? Incurable or deadly diseases? Yes, those are all serious threats to health, but at least government and philanthropy have marshalled forces to address many of … [Read more...] about Medicine’s Blind Spot: A Foundation Takes on Diagnostic Error
Capital Project Gold Rush: What Can We Learn From a Foundation’s Giving Spree?
The explosion in regional philanthropy brings to mind visions of a hardscrabble entrepreneur somewhere in “flyover” country who amasses a small fortune—typically in some bland old-economy industry—and then becomes a major benefactor of local … [Read more...] about Capital Project Gold Rush: What Can We Learn From a Foundation’s Giving Spree?
“We Were Not Chasing the Money.” Fundraising Lessons From a Path-Breaking Healthcare Gift
A few months ago, an Inside Philanthropy article praised a $15 million gift to improve healthcare services in the needy community served by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital in south Los Angeles.“I only wish we could report gifts like … [Read more...] about “We Were Not Chasing the Money.” Fundraising Lessons From a Path-Breaking Healthcare Gift
To Avert a Public Health Crisis, Three Funders Come Together
On June 12, the American Medical Association announced that drug shortages pose an urgent public health crisis that should be of concern to all Americans. Why this level of concern? Drug shortages have serious consequences. Most importantly, they … [Read more...] about To Avert a Public Health Crisis, Three Funders Come Together
“A Dysfunctional Market.” What This Foundation is Doing to Control Healthcare Costs
That healthcare costs in the United States are high—often prohibitively so—is a familiar lament by now. This week, a Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll found that nearly 90 percent of Americans are concerned about increasing healthcare costs for … [Read more...] about “A Dysfunctional Market.” What This Foundation is Doing to Control Healthcare Costs
“A Moral Imperative.” Exploring the Idea of Donor-Funded Free Tuition
For donors concerned about the growing student debt crisis, the most obvious solution is simply to make college free. What's not to love? It frees students from decades of debt, while also bolstering a school's competitiveness and brand. Campus … [Read more...] about “A Moral Imperative.” Exploring the Idea of Donor-Funded Free Tuition
Grants to Tackle a Difficult—But Unavoidable—Issue: End-of-Life Care
Remember those "death panels" that supposedly were part of Obamacare and a big government plot to let bureaucrats pull the plug on grandma? We haven't heard much about that canard lately, even though the Affordable Care Act has now been up and … [Read more...] about Grants to Tackle a Difficult—But Unavoidable—Issue: End-of-Life Care
Vital Signs: A New Way for Hospital Fundraisers to See How They’re Doing
American nonprofit hospitals and medical centers can now compare their fundraising returns with others that have a similar number of beds and are located in regions of comparable wealth. As the country’s most sophisticated fundraising organizations … [Read more...] about Vital Signs: A New Way for Hospital Fundraisers to See How They’re Doing
Another Donor Revokes a Mega-Gift. Is a Pattern Developing?
In a recent post reporting on Timothy and Thomas Pearson rescinding their $100 million donation to the University of Chicago, I wondered if the news foreshadowed a future in which a new breed of more hands-on mega-donors revokes gifts with greater … [Read more...] about Another Donor Revokes a Mega-Gift. Is a Pattern Developing?
Bricks, Mortar, and Medicine: A Closer Look at a Campus Mega-Gift
Our most recent example of higher ed mega-giving comes to us from Atlanta, where the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation announced a whopping $400 million gift to Emory University not long ago. Part of the funds will go toward the new Health Sciences … [Read more...] about Bricks, Mortar, and Medicine: A Closer Look at a Campus Mega-Gift
