June 28, 2010
Hedging Millionaires Buy Jets, Art, Bling, Give Less to Charity
By Katya Kazakina
As millionaires’ assets rebounded in 2009, they put more money in tangibles such as art, jets and gems, according to a report released this week by Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co.
“It was such a severe crisis, the investor psyche has really shifted,” said Ileana van der Linde, the Capgemini principal who managed the research, in a phone interview. “They don’t fully trust the financial markets and regulatory bodies. That’s why we are seeing a trend toward putting money into tangible assets like art and gold.”
Almost 30 percent of the world’s millionaires withdrew their assets or left wealth-management firms in 2008, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 38 percent, according to an earlier survey by Capgemini and Merrill. The index has gained 22 percent in the past 12 months.
(Read more via Bloomberg News.)
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June 24, 2010
50 Most Influential People
Litchfield’s artists, philanthropists, conservationists, restaurateurs, and more
These hills are filled with talent and money and dedicated community spirit. We have among us great artists and shop owners, non-profit organizers and big-money philanthropists. They use their time, talent, and resources to improve this corner of paradise and to weave a certain charm into the fabric of Litchfield County.
Fran Keilty
The owner of the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington Depot, Keilty brings authors big and small to share their love of reading with a community that cherishes the written word.
Anne Maitland
Co-founder of Literacy Volunteers on the Green, a program dedicated to improving literacy in the targeted towns of Bridgewater, Kent, New Milford, Roxbury, Sherman, Warren, and Washington, Maitland has helped over 200 newcomers to the area learn to speak, read, and write English.
Anne Bass
A philanthropist living in South Kent, she directed a documentary “Dancing Across Borders,” which tells the story of her experience helping a young Cambodian dancer Sy Sar pursue a career. Her fundraising and community organizing skills are legendary.
Barbara Spiegel and Nancy Rogers
Spiegel is executive director and Rogers is a driving force with others of the Susan B. Anthony Project, which helps survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.
James Preston
The former CEO of Avon Products, Inc., he has helped create modern-day Kent, through development and stewardship of the local business community. He and his family now manage the Kent Village Barn Shops.
(Read more via Townvibe.)
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June 21, 2010
Fundraising seen emerging from recession
Overall fundraising revenue grew 12.1 percent for the three months ended in April 2010, compared to the same period in 2009, with a big chunk of the increase tied to the outpouring of giving to support relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti, a new index says.
All nonprofits are emerging from the recession, with smaller nonprofits doing relatively better than mid-sized and larger nonprofits after suffering steeper declines between July 2008 and April 2009, says the inaugural Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving.
The Index, which will be published monthly and reflects fundraising revenue trends for the previous three months compared to the same period a year earlier at 1,400 nonprofits representing $2.2 billion in annual revenue, also found larger nonprofits showed declines for all of 2009 but now are pulling out of their dive, fueled by relief groups and Haiti-related giving.
Mid-sized nonprofits fared fairly well through 2008 and early 2009 but showed steeper declines later in 2009, the Index says.
(Read more via Philanthropy Journal.)
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June 15, 2010
All-Stars Among Us creating change
Built around All-Star Game, MLB initiative gaining momentum
Kendra Robins is the founder of Project Night Night, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides free packages of books, security blankets and stuffed animals for the comfort of homeless children in every state in the contiguous U.S.
One year ago, she and her organization were honored by fellow citizens as the People All-Stars Among Us representative for the Giants. She was on the field that powerful night at Busch Stadium as Barack Obama and all living U.S. presidents recognized these everyday heroes in a ceremony before the All-Star Game. Then came even better news.
Someone in the St. Louis area wanted to bring Project Night Night there.
“We didn’t have a presence there at that time, and we were contacted by an individual who was at the game. That was a direct result of All-Stars Among Us,” Robins said on Monday. “She followed up with us, she brought Project Night Night to St. Louis, and we now support four or five shelters in that area. We’re in every state except Alaska and Hawaii now…
(Read more via MLB.com)
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Eliza Dushku Joins Stars For Charity Walk
A whole bunch of stars pulled on their walking shoes for Children’s Hospital Boston on Sunday as part of a charity walk supported by NSTAR.
Over 5,000 people turned out to walk 7 miles along Charles River on June 13, including Eliza Dushku, Anna Farris, Ellen Pompeo, Chris Evans and Ari Graynor…
(Read more via Look to the Stars)
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June 7, 2010
Stand Up To Cancer Fundraiser Returning in September
Stand Up To Cancer is returning to prime time after two years with a star-packed fundraiser hosted by the three network evening news anchors.
It will be simulcast commercial-free on ABC, CBS and NBC as well as on HBO, Discovery Health, E!, MLB Network and the Style Network on Friday, Sept. 10 at 8/7c. (More networks and cable channels are expected to join in.)
“Our goal with this telecast is to not only continue to raise funds to accelerate promising research, but also show viewers how their money and individual action will make — and have already made — a difference,” said executive producer Laura Ziskin, herself a cancer survivor.
She also oversaw the September 2008 telecast that helped raise more than $100 million…
{Read more via FOX News}
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June 1, 2010
Stars Celebrate National Barefoot Day For Charity
Today is National Barefoot Day, which kicks off a weeklong series of events organized by Soles4Souls to encourage people to donate shoes to those in need.
“If you can’t dig deep in your pockets, than dig in your closet!” said Scarlett Johansson, who has donated over 2000 shoes to the charity. “Americans can make a huge difference with Soles4Souls by donating shoes. Souls4Soles gives away a pair of shoes every 13 seconds in over 120 countries, with over 55 percent donated to fellow Americans.”
Over the course of the entire week, Soles4Souls will be distributing more than 50,000 pairs of new shoes in the United States while it also collects much needed donations support shoe drives at schools, churches and community centers.
“Whether it’s a child struggling to go to school in Kenya, or an American who needs a pair of work boots, Soles4Souls is there to answer the simple requests of millions of people,” says Brittany Snow. “We hope you will participate in Barefoot Week and help change the world, one pair at a time.”
“I am thrilled to support Soles4Souls and…Barefoot Week in order to help spread their mission to ‘Change the world one pair at a time’,” adds Kellie Pickler. “Their commitment is inspiring and I hope that thousands of people join me in support of the fantastic work they are doing across America…”
{Read more via Look to the Stars}
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Product RED | The Lazarus Effect Campaign
A new campaign comes just in time to spread the word about funding the fight against AIDS.
The 27-year-old woman wearing an “I Love New York” T-shirt looked healthy. Her visit to New York from her home in Zambia included plans to see Wicked, sing karaoke and attend, last week, a star-studded screening of The Lazarus Effect, a 30-minute documentary at the Museum of Modern Art.
Concilla Muhau is one of four HIV-positive Zambians in the film, all of whom shared their stories with filmmaker/director Lance Bangs who went to Africa to demonstrate the dramatic transformation of their lives before and after taking antiretroviral drugs.
The documentary, exec produced by Spike Jonze and produced by Anonymous Content and (Red) — the organization that touts using commerce to help fight AIDS via co-branded products — debuts May 24 on HBO, YouTube and Britain’s Channel 4. It shows Muhau first as a skeletal figure, barely able to move from a chair. “It was like I was already dead,” she says in the film. Ninety days later, the documentary shows, she gained weight, is mobile and can be a mother to her daughter…
{Read more via AdWeek}
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