philanthropists

Metropolitan Museum of Art Gets Big Donation For Costume Institute

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City got a big boost this week in the form of a $10 million gift from Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. The gift will support the creation of a major exhibition space within the Costume Institute, allowing the Museum to proceed with a total renovation of its costume-related exhibition galleries and conservation center starting next year.

The new 4,200-square-foot gallery will be named the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery. The renovation will also add a new costume conservation center and an expanded and updated study/storage facility that will house, onsite, the combined holdings of the Met and the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection, which was transferred to the Metropolitan Museum in early 2009. Adjacent to the new Tisch Gallery, the Carl and Iris Barrel Apfel Gallery, will be refreshed and function as introductory space to The Costume Institute holdings.

In a statement Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch said, in part: "In today's world, fashion, art, and culture are becoming more intertwined, and the renovation of The Costume Institute will give this interrelationship the proper focus it deserves at the Museum. The new gallery will allow young designers and students to see and learn while advancing both art history and the art of fashion design." The Lizzie and Jonathan M. Tisch Foundation also supports a variety of organizations including Tufts University, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 92nd Street Y, Citymeals-on-Wheels, and others that are active in education, the arts, and health care.

Tags: costume institute, lizzie and jonathan tisch, lizzie tisch, metropolitan museum of art, philanthropists, philanthropy

Paul Allen Joins BIll Gates By Giving Away His Fortune

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Big Givers

Paul Allen and Bill Gates founded Microsoft and now Allen is taking a page out of Gates's book, announcing that he will give more than half of his estimated $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy. Just last month we learned about a plan that Gates, his wife, Melinda and Warren Buffett had cooked up to get the country's billionaires to earmark half their fortunes to charitable causes. Other billionaires who have already committed to at least a 50 percent pledge include Eli and Edy Broad, John and Ann Doerr, H.F. "Gerry" and Marguerite Lenfest and John and Tashia Morgridge.

Allen already has an existing foundation, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. His projects have included the nonprofit scientific research done at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Allen institute and the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum. As the NY Times reports Allen has made Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual list of the nation's 50 largest donors, eight times. Last year, he ranked No. 11 for giving away $85 million.

Tags: bill gates, microsoft, paul allen, philanthropists, philanthropy, warren buffett

Rare Stamps Up For Auction For Charity

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Big Givers

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

Continue reading “Rare Stamps Up For Auction For Charity”

Koryo Tours Helps the Blind Read in North Korea

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Charity, Charity of the Day

Charitable giving is an obvious casualty of any economic downturn. Even when people want to give - or maintain their previous rates of donation - the realities of a shrinking portfolio force themselves into the decision-making process. Of course, a rather unique charity is struggling with this issue now. Koryo Tours, which takes westerners on rare excursions into North Korea, is looking to raise a mere $6,700 for two projects to benefit the people of North Korea. One involves buying braille dictionaries (which haven't been available in that part of the world), and the other is to buy playground equipment for an orphanage in Wonsan, North Korea.

If Koryo Tours is able to raise the funds necessary for the dictionaries, which is the first priority, it will be the first time that North Korean blind children will have this type of resource available -- the books currently do not exist.

Tags: braille, dictionary, donation, donations, dprk, north korea, NorthKorea, philanthropists, philanthropy

Philanthropy Not as Screwed as Financial Markets

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Charity, Big Givers

We're gripped by an unusually strong bear right now. He's squeezing financial markets viciously. And, it comes as no surprise that charitable giving is suffering. Nonetheless, philanthropy is staying ahead of investment hits. Even with stock market calamity, we're still able to find the occasional heart of gold out there.

Don't get me wrong, the situation's grim for the nonprofit sector. Craig M. Joseph of InQuest International, a full-service philanthropic consultancy, observes that the USA Giving Index – calculated by the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University – is down 35 percent from its 2007 peak. That year, $306 billion in charitable gifts were made. With the steep decline over the past two years, though, a lot of organizations won't get the funding they need.

Of course, it could be worse. If philanthropy followed the Dow, gifts would have fallen more than 40 percent to less than $184 billion – rather than the estimated February 2009 level of $199 billion. With numbers this large, $15 billion may not seem like a lot, but in the hands of an efficient charitable organization, it can change a lot of lives.

For now, the news is "less negative," but there is still a lot of pain that still has to be pushed through the markets, as much of the Wall Street calamity likely has yet to be visited upon consumers. Let's just hope that we still find some room in our wallets to support our favorite charities.

Tags: charitable, charitable contributions, charitable giving, charitable organizations, CharitableContributions, charitablegiving, CharitableOrganizations, charity, financial crisis, FinancialCrisis, giving, non-profit, nonprofit, philanthrophy, philanthropist, philanthropists, philanthropy, recession, stock market, StockMarket