Baylor U. to Receive $200-Million Bequest for the Study of Aging

A graduate of Baylor University has pledged to leave a bequest with an estimated value of $200-million to the university for the study of aging, Baylor announced on Thursday. When received, it would be the university's largest donation. The gift will finance research in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Social Work, and other university programs. The university, in Waco, Tex., said the interdisciplinary nature of the gift would contribute to a holistic study of aging, including the physical, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual needs of the aging population.

Full text article by Kathryn Masterson is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/4/10.

Alumnus gives University of Nebraska-Lincoln $20 million

A Texas cattle baron and University of Nebraska alumnus has pledged $20-million to support the institution's agribusiness curriculum. The gift from the Paul F. and Virginia J. Engler Foundation, in Amarlllo, Tex., is the largest ever for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the university's flagship Lincoln campus. Mr. Engler, a Nebraska native and 1951 graduate of the school, runs Cactus Feeders, the country's second-largest cattle-feeding operation.

Full text article by Art Hovey is available via Lincoln Journal Star, 3/1/10.

Oil Tycoon Pledges $100-Million to Oklahoma State U.

T. Boone Pickens, the founder of the investment firm BP Capital Management, has pledged $100-million to Oklahoma State University to establish a scholarship endowment. With this pledge, Mr. Pickens has committed nearly a half-billion dollars to the university.

Full text article by Maria Di Mento is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2/26/10.

Wal-Mart's $10-Million Diplomas

Students quit college for all kinds of reasons. They can't pay; they have to work; they struggle academically. When they're the first in their families to pursue higher education, the hurdles can seem higher. Just getting to college does not guarantee success. Numerous studies have found that first-generation students are much less likely to graduate. They enroll less prepared and less confident than their classmates whose parents have degrees, and their performance is worse, according to data from the Higher Education Research Institute and the U.S. Education Department.

Full text article by Sara Lipka is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/14/10.

Sebelius, Solis Announce Nearly $1 Billion Recovery Act Investment in Advancing Use of Health IT, Training Workers for Health Jobs of the Future

More than $225-million in U.S. Department of Labor grant awards are being earmarked to train 15,000 people for careers in health care, information technology, and other fast-growing fields. The training will be offered at community colleges and other local education providers. The money is part of $1-billion in federal stimulus money being doled out to help make health information technology available to more than 100,000 health-care providers by 2014 and to support job training.

Full text article is available via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2/12/10.

Big gift for local climate efforts

The Barr Foundation, created by the former cable-TV mogul Amos Hostetter Jr., will make grants of $100,000 to $1-million to efforts in the Boston metropolitan area to promote public transportation and reduce greenhouse gases. The philanthropy will phase out grants it now makes to environmental groups whose missions do not fit its new emphasis on climate.

Full text article by Erin Ailworth is available via The Boston Globe, 2/14/10.

Five Principles for Smart Giving to Support Haiti’s Recovery

The statistics and the images of suffering from Haiti speak for themselves: 200,000 people dead, 500,000 in need of water, 1.1 million in need of shelter, and 2 million in need of food, according to statistics released early this month from the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Donors have responded, providing more than $644-million to support the many immediate needs of Haiti’s people.

Full text article by Eric Kessler and Regine Webster is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2/12/10.

'Ramirez Provision' is banned

Major League Baseball and the union representing its players have agreed to restrict contracts that demand that players donate to teams' charities. The pact settles a grievance filed by the union last year after Frank McCourt, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said he would implement such a provision in all future contracts with players. The club's deal with the slugging outfielder Manny Ramirez, signed in March, included a mandated $1-million donation to the Dodgers' charitable foundation. The settlement limits charity demands to negotiations related to free agency, in which players have an option to sign with another team.

Full text article by Alison Damast is available via the Los Angeles Times, 2/4/10.

Many Nonprofit Programs Hold Even or See Gains in Obama’s Proposed 2011 Budget

The $3.8-trillion federal budget that President Obama has proposed for 2011 seems to avoid major cuts in many social-service programs and adds money to some. For example, the president would increase spending on Head Start and Early Head Start, which help children. Mr. Obama wants an additional $989-million for the programs in fiscal 2011, an increase of more than 13 percent, in order to continue to serve 64,000 additional children and families that are covered by the economic-stimulus law that was enacted last year.

Full text article by Grant Williams is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2/1/10.

Red Cross Sketches Out Its Plan for Spending Aid for Haiti

As aid efforts continue in the earthquake-shattered capital of Haiti, the American Red Cross finds itself in a familiar position. As with Hurricane Katrina and other pressing humanitarian emergencies, the nonprofit organization is the primary recipient of America’s generosity—garnering more than one-third of the $560-million raised for Haiti so far.

Full text article by Ian Wilhelm is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/29/10.

Burnham Institute Gets A Big Gift And A New Name

The Burnham Institute for Medical Research has been renamed the Sanford-Burnham institute. This follows a $50 million gift from South Dakota banker Denny Sanford.

Full text article by Tom Fudge is available via KPBS, 1/26/10.

Donations to Help Haiti Exceed $528-Million, Chronicle Tally Finds

Contributions continue to pour in for relief efforts in Haiti. Fifteen days after the massive earthquake struck, donors have contributed more than $528-million to 40 U.S. nonprofit groups.

Full text article by Caroline Preston and Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/27/10.

Sharp rise in donations to community foundations

British community foundations more than doubled their donations take last year. The country’s 57 community funds reaped about $90.9-million in 2008-9, an increase of more than $55-million.

Full text article by John Plummer is available via the Third Sector, 1/21/10.

Corporate America pledges $69 million+ in aid for Haiti

American corporations have pledged more than $69-million to post-earthquake relief in Haiti. Thirty-four companies have donated at least $1-million, according to a list compiled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civil Leadership Center. Many businesses were also supplying food, water, and technical expertise to help repair communications and other infrastructure destroyed by last week’s magnitude 7.0 quake.

Full text article is available via USA Today, 1/19/10.

Donations to Haiti Relief Top $380-Million

Contributions to charities providing aid to the victims of the Haiti earthquake now top $220-million. The pace of giving for Haiti is running ahead of the amount donated in the same period after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the Asian tsunamis in 2004, but slower than the outpouring of gifts after the flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Full text article by Caroline Preston and Nicole Wallace is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/22/10.

Donations for Haiti pour in via text messages

In the first three days after an earthquake rendered a third-world country nearly unreachable, more than $10 million in donation pledges flooded in using a 21st-century method of philanthropy. At one point, 10,000 text message pledges of $5 or $10 were being sent per minute to charities aimed at getting help to Haiti in the wake of an earthquake that's left the country in ruins. This new philanthropic tool was ready thanks to the efforts of a young nonprofit in Bellevue, Washington.

Full text article by Erich Schwartzel is available via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1/18/10.

Using a Pfizer Grant, Courses Aim to Avoid Bias

Stanford University is expected to unveil plans today to develop new, bias-free programs of continuing medical education for doctors. The work is being made possible by a $3-million grant from the drug maker Pfizer. The university announced in 2008 that it would severely restrict industry support for medical education in order to avoid conflicts of interest. Adriane Fugh-Berman, a Georgetown University medical professor, called the announcement "self-satirizing." But Stanford's medical dean, Philip Pizzo, said he understood the skepticism about whether an industry-backed approach could be free of bias, but asserted that Pfizer would have no say in how the grant was used.

Full text article by Duff Wilson is available via The New York Times, 1/11/10.

Powerball winner gives $10M to Morris College

A South Carolina pastor who won a $260-million lottery jackpot last summer has donated $10-million to Morris College, a historically black Baptist institution. The Rev. Solomon Jackson Jr. announced the gift January 7 at the Sumter, S.C., campus. Morris officials said the gift, the largest in the 102-year-old college’s history, would be used to endow scholarships and build and repair dormitories, among other things.

Full text article by Wayne Washington is available via The State, 1/8/10.

Ford invests $80 million in U.S. workers

Over the next five years, the Ford Foundation will invest $80 million to make it easier for American workers and their families to keep their jobs, and access benefits should they become unemployed. Funds will be used to boost programs and policies that improve job quality, with an emphasis on keeping workers on the job longer.
Full text article is available via the Philanthropy Journal, 1/8/10.

Harvard receives $20.5m gift for new Asia studies center

An Indonesian conglomerate has pledged $20.5-million to Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government to pay for research and study of the Asian nation. The donation from the Rajawali Foundation, the charitable arm of the PT Rajawali Corporation, will create a new Institute for Asia and an Indonesian program within the Kennedy School’s Ash Center. The world’s fourth-largest country and the biggest Muslim-majority democracy, Indonesia has been the subject of less study and research than other Southeast Asian nations, such as China and Vietnam, said Professor Anthony Saich, who heads the Ash Center. Full text article by James F. Smith is available via The Boston Globe, 1/7/10.

Kenneth and Anne Griffin give $16 million to Children's Memorial Hospital

The billionaire hedge-fund managers Kenneth and Anne Griffin will give $16-million to establish an emergency-care center at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital. Mr. Griffin, founder of Citadel Investment Group, and his wife, who heads Aragon Global Management and serves on the hospital’s investment committee, started a charitable foundation last year. The gift is part of a capital campaign toward the 50-year-old hospital’s plan to move to an expanded facility in 2012.

Full text article by Melissa Harris and Bruce Japsen is available via the Chicago Tribune, 1/7/10.

Knight Foundation Commits $70 Million to Community Foundations

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has promised $70 million over the next seven years to community foundations that serve cities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers.
“Information is an essential community need, and community foundations were established to meet core needs,” said Alberto Ibargüen, the Knight Foundation’s president. “They also only exist and thrive because of community engagement and contributions. That makes them ideal partners to help us understand and advance local community engagement, focused on ensuring that these communities have the information they need to manage their affairs in our democracy.”

Full text article is available via The Knight Foundation, 1/7/10.

$250 million initiative for science, math teachers planned

President Obama on Wednesday announced a $250-million effort paid for in large part by the technology giant Intel to improve science and math instruction nationwide. The Santa Clara, Calif., computer-chip maker and its foundation are committing $200-million in cash and in-kind support over 10 years to expand teacher-training and other programs for instruction in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM. The new project effectively doubles the size of the philanthropic campaign for STEM education the president began in November.

Full text article by Nick Anderson is available via The Washington Post, 1/6/10.

Eclectic bunch of donors -- near, far, left, even right -- gave to Clinton group

Several Middle Eastern states that previously made multimillion-dollar donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation were not among the organization’s more than 19,000 donors last year, according to a roster issued last week by the organization. The governments of Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia sent no funds to the Clinton Foundation in 2009, Hillary Clinton’s first year as U.S. secretary of state. Bill Clinton agreed to the annual donor report in late 2008, when his wife was in talks with the Obama transition team about joining the Cabinet. Other past foreign donors, including the government of Norway, continued to support the foundation last year, as did numerous business magnates, Democratic Party fund raisers, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Full text article by Philip Rucker is available via The Washington Post, 1/2/10.

Longtime ACLU Donor Confirms $388-Million in Anonymous Gifts

David Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously, confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly $388-million to three organizations.

Full text article by Maria Di Mento is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/9/09.

Nippert gives $85M to Cincinnati's arts

The Ohio arts patron Louise Nippert has donated $75-million to support the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and another $10-million to the city’s opera and ballet companies and other classical-music entities, provided they continue to use the orchestra’s musicians. The gift, one of the largest by an individual to a U.S. orchestra, was announced at a symphony rehearsal attended by Ms. Nippert, 98, the widow of the Procter & Gamble heir Louis Nippert.

Full text article by Janelle Gelfand is available via The Cincinnati Enquirer, 12/10/09.

Pepsi turns ad focus online

Pepsi, a major Super Bowl advertiser for 23 years, will forgo the blockbuster football game next year and instead put its marketing dollars into a philanthropy-related online campaign. The world’s second-largest soft-drink maker spent $142.8-million advertising its products during the last 10 Super Bowls, including $33-million on the 2009 game. The company plans to focus marketing efforts on its Pepsi Refresh Project, a mostly online effort set to start in January that will pay at least $20-million for projects created to “refresh” communities, such as feeding the needy or teaching children to read.
Full text article by Bill Lambrecht is available via the Associated Press, 12/17/09.

While the bad economy has taken a toll on the philanthropist Sheldon Adelson’s business investments, he still plans to maintain his giving, which has hovered around $200-million a year, to medical research and Jewish causes. In an interview with the news organization, Mr. Adelson said he will fulfill his philanthropic commitments. However he won’t be making any new commitments during the tough economic times. “We have decided that we will keep more of our powder dry,” he said.
Full text article by Jacob Berkman is available via the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 12/17/09.

$30 million Danforth Foundation grant will fund Wash U studies on religion and politics

Former Senator John C. Danforth’s foundation has endowed a center for the study of religion and politics at St. Louis’s Washington University. The $30-million gift will support five new faculty members, including a permanent director for the center. The new entity, set to open next month, will aim to deepen understanding of the ties between faith and politics and encourage a civil discourse on the subject, according to Mark Wrighton, the university’s chancellor.

Full text article by Bill Lambrecht is available via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/16/09.

Congressional negotiators have agreed to allocate $50-million in the 2010 fiscal year for the new Social Innovation Fund, which will provide grants to help promising nonprofit groups expand effective programs — the full amount requested by President Obama.

Full text article by Suzanne Perry is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/9/09.

Bike ride charity reports drop in fundraising

The Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, one of the nation’s pre-eminent athletic fund-raising events, collected 14 percent less this year than in 2008, the first donation decline in the cycling event’s 30-year history. Organizers said the nearly $30.4-million raised still exceeded their expectations for the challenge, in which some 5,000 cyclists ride up to 190 miles over two days in August. The event raises money for the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research and care at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Full text article is available via The Boston Globe, 12/5/09.

Solicitors get most of money raised for charities

Nearly 60 percent of the donations secured by professional charity solicitors in Massachusetts last year went to the fund-raising firms, down from about 65 percent in 2007. Of the $292-million raised by such firms in 2008, $120-million — or about 41 cents on the dollar — went to the associated charities.
Full text article by Abbie Ruzicka is available via The Boston Globe, 12/8/09.

Longtime ACLU Donor Confirms $388-Million in Anonymous Gifts

David Gelbaum, a former hedge-fund manager who has made large donations anonymously, confirmed that over the past five years he has given a total of nearly $388-million to three organizations.

Full text article by Maria Di Mento is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/9/09.

A lesson in philanthropy: Anonymous donors give $12 million to a small Jewish day school

An anonymous group of donors has given $12.25-million to a small Jewish high school in Waltham, Mass., to pay off the lingering debt from a 2003 construction loan. The contribution to the 315-student Gann Academy is the first significant gift to a Jewish group in the Boston area since the twin blows of the recession and the Bernard Madoff fraud hit last year, the newspaper notes.

Full text article by Michael Paulson is available via The Boston Globe, 12/4/09.

Memo to Wall Street: Philanthropy, not bonuses

Remember the lessons of Carnegie and Rockefeller, when you've made a lot of money, give a lot of it to good causes. Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has finally acknowledged that his company "participated in things that were clearly wrong." As an act of contrition, Goldman Sachs will give $100 million during each of the next five years to help small businesses. Because the company has set aside more than $10 billion in employee bonuses for this year alone, paltry would seem a flattering description for the offer.

Full text article by Joyce Appleby is available via the Los Angeles Times, 12/6/09.

Ford Foundation Commits $80-Million to Help American Workers

With the unemployment rate at its highest point since 1983, the Ford Foundation has committed $80-million to help American workers cope with job losses, declining income, and other problems triggered by the economic downturn.

Full text article by Ian Wilhelm is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 12/2/09.

Community Colleges Get Gift of Millions for Online Education

While Congress is still weighing legislation that could put $500-million into the development of open, online courses, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has stepped up to the plate. The charity is giving $12.9-million to advance technology at community colleges, improving virtual learning environments for both students and teachers.

Full text article by Josh Fischman is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/3/09.

Goldman Sachs to Give Colleges $200-Million to Expand Business Education

The investment bank of Goldman Sachs has announced a $500-million effort to help thousands of small businesses recover from the recession, and the initiative will include $200-million to expand access to business-education programs at community colleges, universities, and other institutions. The money will be given to institutions to provide scholarships to small-business owners and to increase the programs' capacity. LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York, will be the first recipient.

Full text article by Graham Bowley is available via The New York Times, 11/17/09.

John Muir Health Employees Contribute $1.8 Million for Hospital Renovations

John Muir Health Foundation, the charitable fundraising organization for all John Muir Health programs and services, announced today that employees of John Muir Health have contributed more than $1.8 million to the Capital Campaign supporting hospital renovation and expansion projects in Walnut Creek and Concord.

Full text article is available via Earth Times, 12/1/09.

UW-Madison Receives $9.5 Million From Gates Foundation

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced a five-year, $9.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to identify virus mutations that would serve as early warnings of potential pandemic influenza viruses. The grant will enable an international team of scientists to look for mutations in viral proteins that allow avian influenza viruses to bind to human receptors or facilitate efficient replication in human cells. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, will be the principal investigator on the project.

Full text article by Tania Banak is available via the University of Wisconsin-Madison Press Release, 11/19/09.

Bloomberg Pledges $125 Million to Reduce Traffic Deaths

Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, has pledged $125-million for an international program aimed at reducing and preventing deaths and injuries from automobile crashes. The five-year program will benefit 10 low- and middle-income countries with large numbers of deaths resulting from traffic crashes. The six organizations that will coordinate the program with the countries’ government agencies are the Association for Safe International Road Travel, Global Road Safety Partnership, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, World Health Organization, and World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport.

Full text article by Betsy McKay is available via The Wall Street Journal, 11/18/09.

Goldman Sachs Pledges $500-Million to Help Small-Business Owners

The investment bank Goldman Sachs has pledged $500-million to help develop small businesses and train entrepreneurs across the country, a move that comes amid widespread criticism of bonuses for bank executives. In addition, the New York company has recruited a high-profile team of advisers, including financier Warren Buffett, to guide the philanthropic effort.

Full text article by Ian Wilhelm is available via The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 11/17/09.

$10 million fundraiser launched by Ali Center

Officials of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville have launched an effort to raise $10 million to expand the center. Officials told The Courier-Journal they want to also broaden the center's mission of teaching confidence, dedication, giving, spirituality, respect and conviction - attributes they describe as Ali's core values.

Full text article by The Associated Press is available via the Lexington Herald Leader, 11/23/09.

Bezos Family Gives $10-Million to Hutchinson Cancer Center

The parents of Amazon.com’s founder, Jeff Bezos, have donated $10-million to Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to explore immunotherapy as a potential cancer treatment. The gift from Jackie and Mike Bezos will help the center recruit and retain top researchers and pay for clinical trials and the development of new drugs. The Hutchinson center is seeking to raise $28.5 million for its immunotherapy effort in all.

Full text article by Kristi Heim is available via The Seattle Times, 11/23/09.

U. of California Regents Back Deal to Reopen Troubled L.A. Hospital

Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, in South Los Angeles, will reopen by 2013 under a plan unanimously approved Thursday by the University of California’s board. The board’s vote came after county officials pledged to seek a $100-million letter of credit to underwrite the hospital for up to six years. The pharmaceuticals billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has also promised a $100-million guaranty.

Full text article by Molly Hennessy-Fiske is available via the Los Angeles Times, 11/20/09.

New Fame for the Everyday Donor

Although the multimillion-dollar gifts from the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett get the most attention, charities are increasingly focused on, and even formed around, reaching out to modest givers, The New York Times reports as part of its annual giving special section. New endeavors such as One Day’s Wages and One Can a Week are joining longstanding operations like the March of Dimes in building a foundation on modest but ongoing donations.

Full text article by Stephanie Strom is available via The New York Times, 11/11/09.

$10 million gift energizes charter chain

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has promised $10-million to help Houston’s biggest charter-school chain secure financing for an aggressive expansion plan. The Houston arm of the national Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP, is seeking a $62-million bond to pay for plans to double its local enrollment to 21,000 students in the next decade. The nonprofit charter-school operator’s expansion effort, started in March 2007, had stalled as the downturn dried up sources of credit.

Full text article by Jennifer Radcliffe is available via the Houston Chronicle, 11/15/09.

Gates Foundation Awards $4-Million to Help 7 Cities Improve College-Completion Rates

In an effort to improve college-graduation rates, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $4-million in grants to seven cities and to the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. The grants, which were announced on Thursday, will be used to better coordinate services that colleges, public school systems, and communities provide to students.

Full text article by Jennifer Gonzalez is available via The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/4/09.

Cargill charitable giving tops $58 million in FY2009

Minneapolis-based Cargill has announced grants of more than $58 million to organizations around the world working to promote nutrition, health, education, and environmental stewardship. In response to the global financial crisis, the company donated $5.5 million for emergency hunger relief in ten countries through organizations such as Feeding America, the Salvation Army, and the Global Foodbanking Network. In addition, the company, as part of a five-year, $10 million commitment, awarded $2 million to the humanitarian organization CARE, which works to alleviate poverty in the developing world. And to help foster science, technology, engineering and math learning in Minneapolis schools, the company invested more than $3 million in two programs. "We recognize our continued success depends on the growth and health of our communities and partners," said Cargill chairman and CEO Greg Page. "We are committed to investing in communities where we live and work to promote vibrant, stable communities and growth that improves living standards."

Full text press release available via Cargill, Inc., 10/28/09.

Lumina Foundation for Education Awards $4.5 Million to Minority-Serving Institutions

The Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education has announced nine grants totaling $4.5 million to foster models of success among minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Grants were awarded to organizations working to improve the capacity of MSIs to collect, analyze, and use data to inform decisions that promote student success; create a collective voice for policy advocacy on behalf of MSIs; strengthen policy and practice to improve developmental education; increase MSIs' commitment to transparency and effectiveness in improving student learning outcomes; and increase postsecondary completion rates for traditionally underserved students, especially men of color.

Full-text post is available via Philanthropy News Digest, 11/3/09.

Billionaire Aids Charity That Aided Him

Sergey Brin, the Russian-born co-founder of Google, has donated $1-million to the Jewish organization most responsible for his childhood immigration to the United States. The gift to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was the largest of several Mr. Brin gave to groups that assisted his family’s move from the Soviet Union 30 years ago, when he was 6. The aid society helped the Brins apply for visas, paid for transport, and gave them money as they moved from Russia to Paris to Maryland. “I would have never had the kinds of opportunities I’ve had here in the Soviet Union, or even in Russia today,” said Mr. Brin, who in recent months has publicly discussed giving away more of his estimated $16-billion fortune. “I would like to see anyone be able to achieve their dreams, and that’s what this organization does.”

Full-text post by Stephanie Strom is available via The New York Times, 10/24/09.