Big Givers

Whitney Museum Receives Major Gift

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) — May 9th 2010 at 7:02PM

The Whitney Museum in New York City has been gifted a collection of artworks worth up to $75 million. The 367 pieces donated by museum trustee Emily Fisher Landau, widow of real estate developer Martin Fisher and clothier Sheldon Landau, is focused on works by 20th century American artists like Edward Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns – there are 44 by Johns' alone, along with 18 Rauschenbergs and six by Ruscha. The museum's largest task will be to find a place for them – the Whitney's current location is already just about full.

Tags: art, emily fisher landau, new york, new york city, new york museums, philanthropy, whitney museum

Billionaire David Koch Plans Pretty Fountains For The Met

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — May 4th 2010 at 9:01PM

Like the fountains at New York City's Lincoln Center? Then you'll want to keep an eye on the Metropolitan Museum of Art where philanthropic billionaire David H. Koch plans to spend at least $10 million on dramatic new fountains for the cultural landmark. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Koch had said he pledged "at least $10 million" for the project.

The overall sprucing up of the exterior will include updating the museum's exterior lighting and the entire plaza as well as renovating the dormant oval fountains. Koch was inspired by the Lincoln Center's Revson fountain with its dramatic dancing display. That fountain was created by fountain architect Mark Fuller of WET Design. WET is best known for the fountains at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. (The New Yorker had a fascinating piece on the details of the Lincoln Center Fountain back in January).

Koch knows a little something about the Lincoln Center. In 2008 he agreed to contribute $100 million toward the renovation of the New York State Theater. The gift put Koch's name on the door (it's now known as the David H. Koch Theater) and was the largest private capital donation in the Lincoln Center's history. He is the executive vice president of Koch Industries, Inc. and has an estimated net worth of $17.5 billion.

Koch's is the first major gift dedicated to the Met's exterior renovations. The fountains were installed in the early 1970s, a gift from Lila Acheson Wallace, a co-founder of Reader's Digest. The Wall Street Journal also points out that the fountains are designated landmarks and any changes must be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Tags: david koch, fountains, lincoln center, metropolitan museum of art, new york city, philanthropy

Rare Stamps Up For Auction For Charity

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Apr 24th 2010 at 4:01PM

PIMCO Founder Bill Gross or as I call him, the philanthropic philatelist, is at it again selling off more rare and valuable postage stamps for good causes. The latest auction being held by Spink Shreves Galleries of New York City and Dallas features stamps from France, Germany and China. The auction on May 19 in New York City is conservatively estimated to bring $1 million or more. All proceeds from the sale will be donated by Gross and his wife, Sue, to the Emergency Relief Fund of the nonprofit organization, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The historic stamps, including some dating back to the earliest days of French postal history, will be displayed in London, England and New York prior to the sale.

The stamp above overprinted "CHINA" and postmarked in Shanghai is a rare three Pfennig denomination stamp from 1898 was used for German offices in China. It has a catalog value today of $23,000.

Tags: bill gross, philanthropists, philatelist, philately, pimco total return, stamp collecting, stampshady-grimm

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Billionaire Eli Broad Offered $1 Lease For His New Art Museum

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Apr 23rd 2010 at 10:01PM

What do you get the billionaire who has everything? How about a $1 a year lease for 99 years. This amazing deal is proposed by Los Angeles officials who want to make sure that billionaire Eli Broad creates a museum in the $3 billion Grand Avenue project in downtown Los Angeles. The Grand Avenue project was to be a huge complex of shops, restaurants and hotels but in this weakened economy it has had some trouble getting off the ground.

Not everyone thinks that Broad should get such a sweetheart deal according to an LA Daily News article. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich wonders why the city, which is struggling financially, would give up the potential tax revenue in favor of benefiting one of the country's richest men. The art museum won't generate property or sales taxes and although Broad is one of the city's most philanthropic citizens it still seems like a tremendous gift.

The Broad collection was originally supposed to go to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2008 he decided that he wouldn't be installing his 2,000 work contemporary art collection at the LACMA and other locations in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica were discussed. The art is currently located in a four-story building in Santa Monica but it is in a building that does not offer easy public access. The Santa Monica City Council has also offered to lease a 2.5-acre site a couple of blocks from the beach for Broad's museum for $1 per year for 99 years.

Tags: art museum, eli broad, grand avenue, los angeles

Readers' Choice Awards for Best in Entertainment

by Carrie Coolidge (RSS feed) — Apr 2nd 2010 at 10:31AM

Is there a coffee house that offers both ambiance and a great cup o' Joe? Do you have a favorite brew pub that makes great-tasting beer and serves good food? What wine bar offers an extensive selection of wines and a knowledgeable staff? What are the best cocktail lounges? Which hotel bars are the best in the world? If you can recommend the best places to enjoy a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or a cocktail, we want to hear from you!

The Luxist Awards Readers' Choice Awards for Best in Entertainment will be awarded based on your nominations and voting. We're currently seeking nominations for the best-of-breed in the following categories:

Best Brew Pub
Best Cocktail Lounge
Best Coffee House
Best Hotel Bar
Best Wine Bar

One nomination per category, please. Submissions can be filed until April15, 2010. Winners will be announced on May 1, 2010.

Tags: awards-main, best brew pub, best cocktail lounge, best coffee house, best hotel bar, best wine bar, luxist-awards

The Fashion Statement: More Celebrity Hookups Good or Bad?

by Kristin Young (RSS feed) — Mar 18th 2010 at 9:00AM

Celebrities have no intention of staying away from fashion, even with all the bad press lately (see last season's disastrous Lohan/Ungaro mash up). Last week Madonna teamed up with Iconix Brand Group to produce a tween line inspired by her daughter Lourdes. Early this week, she struck another deal with Dolce & Gabbana to produce a line of eyewear called MDG. Amy Winehouse hooked up with Fred Perry for a line scheduled to hit stores in the fall. And then there is Sarah Jessica Parker and Halston and a myriad of Olympic stars lending their now recognizable names to brands.

Since the days of Jaclyn Smith for Kmart in the '80s and Kathy Lee Gifford for Wal-Mart in the 90s, celebrities have been ubiquitous in the fashion field. It's not hard to guess what their primary motivator is. A brand generally spends loads of money for the privilege of using a household name.

But does it do anything for a brand? Based on some marketing studies I found online, the jury is out on that one. One guy called it the lazy man's brand building. Another said it's very hard for the consumer to keep track of what celebrity is with whom and harder still to trust a brand just from a celebrity endorsement alone. And if a celeb is hooked up with lots of different brands, each individual brand could really suffer.

Tags: amy winehouse, AmyWinehouse, celebrity endorsement, celebrity endorsement deals, celebrity endorsements, Celebrity fashion designers, celebrity fashion lines, Lourdes, Madonna, Tiger Woods, TigerWoods

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Austrian Millionaire Raffles Off Luxury Home

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 9th 2010 at 12:01AM

They say money can't buy happiness and one millionaire asserts that it is true. The Daily Telegraph reports that Austrian millionaire Karl Rabeder has decided to give away everything it spent him a lifetime to accumulate. He has already unloaded a collection of six gliders and an Audi A8. His stone farmhouse in Provence on 42 acres is listed for sale and his villa in Tirol is being sold in a raffle with tickets available for 99 euros each. The Tirol home is a 3,455 sq ft villa with Alps views. It has a swimming pond, a beach volleyball court and an outdoor entertainment pavilion.

Rabeder sold his successful furnishings and accessories company in 2004 and supports several orphanage projects in Central and South America. He and his wife have created a micro-credit organization. They plan to use the proceeds of the house lottery, on the one hand, to pay back existing house construction loans and cover the startup costs for MyMicroCredit which will fund self-employed entrepreneurs in several South American countries. A total of 21,999 lottery tickets will be sold.

It's not the first time we've seen this type of thing. Last year after a divorce English banker Andrew Paul started the Win A New Life website to give way his his home, car and boat in a competition that anyone could enter for £20. Up for grabs were his £1.1m five-bedroom house, a £160,000 Aston Martin DBS and his £200,000 Sealine 35 Sport motor boat. He was looking to sell 200,000 tickets but did not sell the required amount of tickets for the first prize of his belongings so a cash sum was given out instead.

Tags: austrian millionaire, AustrianMillionaire, karl rabeder, KarlRabeder, millionaire philanthropy, MillionairePhilanthropy, tirol

Russian Billionaire Will Give His Money To Charity

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 2nd 2010 at 9:01PM

Warren Buffett isn't the only generous billionaire in the world. Businessweek reports that Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin has said that he will plans to leave almost all of his estimated $2.1 billion fortune to charity within the next decade. Unlike Buffett, Potanin is a bit younger, just 49. He has three children. His assets include 25 percent of OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia's biggest mining company, 30 percent of lender OAO Rosbank, and the Rosa Khutor Olympic ski development. His Interros Holding Company will manage the assets which will eventually be transferred to a "special charity fund" but no designated benficiary for his largesse has been revealed. Ahead of the big donation Potanin will raise contributions to his existing charitable fund to at least $25 million a year.

What's Potanin's motivation? An article in The Financial Times says that Potanin was inspired by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and has a long history of philanthropy. Potanin told the Financial Times he also wants his children to achieve and felt that inheriting wealth would only be a hindrance. Some feel that Potanin's generous move may inspire more Russians toward philanthropic aims, a trend I first heard Roustam Tariko, founder and chairman of Russia Standard vodka, speak about a few years ago.

Tags: billionaire, philanthropy, Vladimir Potanin, VladimirPotanin, wealth

Naples Wine Auction Numbers Back Up

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Feb 1st 2010 at 11:01PM

Last year the results of the Naples Winter Wine Festival in Florida showed an economy where even the wealthiest patrons were slow to open their wallets. The results of this year's auction are a little more uplifting. The Naples News reports that the Naples Winter Wine Festival at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort at Tiburon in North Naples raised a preliminary total of $8.06 million for children's charities in Collier County. That's around $3 million more than last year's total and the overall mood appears to have been far brighter with reports of an energetic room and even a few bidding wars. It's not as high as the previous years when $14 and nearly $16 million results were seen but it is a step in the right direction.

Many lots sold for over six figures including a four-day trip to Manhattan for two couples with the best seats in the best restaurants, Yankee Stadium and live tapings of television shows which went for $170,000. A 14-night voyage aboard The World for two couples sold for $160,000. Two couples will be hosted by jewelry company Chopard at the Cannes Film festival in a lot that sold for $160,000. A ten-day South African odyssey for two couples through the country's premier wine regions and landscapes sold for $340,000. One woman paid $130,000 for a lot that is topped by a dinner with Robert Redford. A lot that featured a Michael Kors makeover and a trip to the Project Runway finale fetched $150,000.

And of course there were many large wine auction lots including a 2003 Chateau Lynch-Bages presented in a rare double magnum and two nights for two couples at Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac, France that sold for $170,000. A lot of 30 wines from Burgundy sold for $100,000. And someone really likes the monster bottles, a lot that included four mammoth 9-liter Salmanazars, one each of 2005 Chateau Haut-Brion, 2005 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion and two 9-liter bottles of the 2009 vintage sold for $150,000.

Tags: naples wine festival, naples winter wine festival, NaplesWineFestival, NaplesWinterWineFestival, wine auction, wine auctions, WineAuction, WineAuctions

Big Givers Donate To Haiti

by Amanda Gordon (RSS feed) — Jan 15th 2010 at 6:00PM

The response to the earthquake tragedy in Haiti was almost immediate, and just days afterward, millions of dollars have been raised, a lot of it through small donations of $5 or $10 transmitted through the humble text message. But there's another kind of giving that has emerged too: Single donations in much larger amounts, from the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Olivia Wilde, Tiger Woods, Madonna. Hopefully the list will grow and grow.

Why is it so gratifying though to hear about celebrities making donations? Perhaps because by doing so, they're doing something we've already done, something that thousands of ordinary people are doing. A crisis reminds us that we're all vulnerable, we're all responsible for helping. And that's what it is going to take to bury the dead, take care of the living, and rebuild Haiti.

So when George Clooney asks for your donation tonight, during the Hope for Haiti telethon he is hosting on MTV, you won't just be saying "yes" to an incredibly magnetic movie star, you'll be joining a community of people wanting to help. It's as simple as that. Celebrities undeniably bring some glamour and sparkle to the task of fundraising, and that's okay. It is after all a difficult and serious business. We're lucky to have them.

Check out the gallery below for a look at the amounts donated so far.

Gallery: Haiti's Big Givers

Tags: angelina jolie, AngelinaJolie, ben stiller, BenStiller, brad pitt, BradPitt, brangelina, celebrity donations, CelebrityDonations, donations, earthquake, haiti, yankees

Brangelina Donated $333,000 Instead of Adopting More Kids

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) — Dec 29th 2009 at 8:01PM

Brad and Ange at the UNICEF Ball on December 10, 2009

In addition to caring for their own six children, Brad and Angelina Jolie-Pitt just donated $333,000 to SOS Children's Villages, including $100,000 for two in Florida and Illinois (according to the Sydney Morning Herald). Merry Christmas!

SOS Villages operates 500 villages in 132 countries, taking in children who have been orphaned or abandoned. SOS Villages are currently raising over 80,000 children. Each SOS Home has a "mother" and up to 16 children in it -- Angelina recently visited one such home in Chad, and she must have liked what she saw. Other celebrity supporters include the Dalai Llama, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Johnny Cash, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa. Visit sos-usa.org to follow suit.

Having personally visited a Ritz-Carlton owned SOS Village home in Jamaica, I can see what the fuss is all about. I met some happy, chatty kids who might not otherwise have had much of a chance at survival. Click through the gallery for a peek inside an SOS Home.

Gallery: SOS Village in Jamaica

Tags: angelina jolie, AngelinaJolie, brad pitt, BradPitt, brangelina, foster care, FosterCare

Gambling For Good, The Legend Of Robin Hood 702

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Dec 28th 2009 at 7:02PM

If you are going to help the poor why not have some fun doing it? It seems like the mysterious Robin Hood 702 is having a great time gambling his way to good deeds. The unknown gambler chooses needy families and gives them his winnings. The Daily Telegraph tells a story in which one couple was flown to Las Vegas and treated to first-class flights and a suite in the Palazzo hotel. Once there, the gambler met them and proceeded to use his own money to begin to win them money. He went down hundreds of thousands of dollars before he rallied and won $35,000 for the couple.

On his website Robin Hood 702, he says that he wants to get money from the casinos and give the proceeds to the poor. People are invited to send in video or web submissions asking for help and if selected he will try to win up to $50,000 for the lucky recipients. He has given television interviews but with his face in shadow. He is reputed to have won and lost six-figure sums in a single night. Robin Hood 702 has been featured on Fox News multiple times. Recently Dr. Schulze from herbdoc.com agreed to help another family and will be picking from one of the submissions on the Robin Hood 702 site.

Tags: gambling, las vegas, LasVegas, robin hood 702, RobinHood702

Billionaire Plans $100 Vouchers To Tempt Tourists To Ireland

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Dec 15th 2009 at 7:01PM

Billionaire Chuck Feeney has spread his philanthropy around the world as far as Australia and his latest plan is to help boost Irish tourism. The Irish-American philanthropist is working on a plan to give $100 vouchers to American tourists who visit Ireland. According to the London Times, tourism minister Martin Cullen said that Feeney got in touch with him after the Global Irish Economic Forum in Farmleigh, where business people got together to discuss the economy.

Feeney made his money through duty free products and in 1982 he set up Atlantic Philanthropies, which gives money to initiatives in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as other places. Ireland's tourism industry slipped along with the rest of the world in 2009, falling by 12 percent. The vouchers which have a total value of up to $5 million, would be used for discount flights and hotel stays and could boost tourism numbers by 50,000.

Tags: atlantic philanthropies, AtlanticPhilanthropies, billionaire, chuck feeney, ChuckFeeney, ireland, tourism

Philanthropist Defends Reduced Donation

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Dec 11th 2009 at 2:01AM

A private philanthropist has come out of the shadows to defend reducing his donations. David Gelbaum has made more than $380 million in donations to groups including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Sierra Club and others over the past four years. But after a NY Times article came out describing how the loss of his annual donation of $20 million would affect the ACLU, Gelbaum decided to make a statement. In an article in the NY Times he said that he was willing to come out in order to make the point that his drop in donation had nothing to do with any issues with the ACLU but instead was all about his own financial situation. He said that his investments in alternative, clean energy companies have placed him in "a highly illiquid position" because of the global economic crisis. The circumstances may be different but Gelbaum is just one of many donors, big and small, who have found themselves with less to give as a result of the economy. Many nonprofits have had to shrink their budgets in response to decreased donations.

The Iraq-Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund of the California Community Foundation had received the bulk of Gelbaum's largess. He gave $246.6 million to the fund which supports nonprofit groups offering assistance to the families of troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and was the sole contributor to the fund. The ACLU received $93.5 million and the Sierra Club $47.7 million over the same four year period. We hope David Gelbaum's financial picture brightens over the next year, we could all use more big givers.

Tags: aclu, david gelbaum, DavidGelbaum, donations, philanthropy, sierra club, SierraClub

Loyola University Receives Museum As A Gift

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) — Dec 8th 2009 at 10:01PM

Loyola University is getting a big early Christmas gift. The Cuneo Museum and Gardens in Vernon Hills, Illinois is being donated to Loyola University by the The Cuneo Foundation. The gift which includes the 100 surrounding acres and art collections is valued at $50 million. The Chicago Sun-Times says that the gift is the largest in the university's 140-year history.

The stately 31,000-square-foot museum is a real treasure. The mansion was built in 1918 and is home to a collection of antiques and art, including Thomas Gainsborough's self-portrait. James Cuneo, Jr. wanted to share his childhood home with the public. His father, printing magnate John Cuneo Sr., bought the home in 1937 and created the foundation. The terms of the gift require Loyola to keep the building open to the public for at least 20 years.

Tags: cuneo museum, CuneoMuseum, donations, illinois, loyola university, LoyolaUniversity

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