Fundraising galas still in style...

November 4, 2009

Despite the still-ailing economy, fall fundraising galas are in full swing and may help charities meet their year-end revenue goals, USA Today reported Nov. 3 (see charity event story). In one recent example, the Corcoran Gallery of Art's Fall Fete reported a sold-out crowd of 930 and exceeded its fundraising goals.

The California Endowment, James Irvine Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation together launched the California Education Supports projects, a $700,000 effort to address health issues affecting the state's student, The Los Angeles Times reported Nov. 3 (see California health foundations story). Over the next two years, the joint venture will release policy papers and hold hearings on issues including mental health, childhood obesity and reproductive health.

Denver's KBDI-TV, a public television station, is raising $400,000 to launch Colorado Public News, a nonprofit investigative news operation that will include a website and on-air program, The Associated Press reported Nov. 3 (see nonprofit TV news story). The effort will solicit donations from community members, businesses and foundations.

Amherst College in Massachusetts has received anonymous gifts of $100 million and $25 million, the largest unrestricted gifts in the school's history, The Associated Press reported Nov. 3 (see Amherst gifts story). The gifts from alumni will be paid over five years.

Norm Rice, the new head of the Seattle Foundation, aims to expand the organization's fundraising base from hundreds of wealthy people to more than a million donors from King County in Washington State, Kristi Heim wrote in a blog in the Seattle Times Nov. 3 (see Seattle Foundation story). To help the effort, the $570 million foundation is updating its website to provide profiles and reviews of the nonprofits it funds, allow online donations and help donors find programs related to their interests.

• Email this page