Nonprofit News From Elsewhere
The Rockefeller Foundation is adding $150 million to its funding for a new effort to prevent future pandemics. The donation comes on top of $20 million Rockefeller invested in the Pandemic Prevention Institute over the summer. To be headquartered in Washington, D.C., the institute will aim to stop outbreaks within the first 100 days. It will be led by Rick Bright, former director of the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Other organizations backing the effort include the World Health Organization and Global Pandemic Radar, a “pathogen surveillance network” in Britain. (Politico)
The stock market’s long bull run has helped blow up the value of the superrich’s charitable foundations alongside their personal fortunes, just as Congress takes a long look at a proposed billionaire tax. For example, the bottom line for Elon Musk’s foundation, which is likely dominated by Tesla stock, grew a staggering 350 percent from summer 2019 to summer 2020, from $207 million to $930 million. Defenders of the status quo say those kinds of numbers demonstrate why it can be good for society when an entrepreneur focuses on “maximizing the value of his or her company” — but they also add fuel to a drive for a tax on billionaires’ wealth. Ariz. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is reportedly considering giving her elusive support to some form of a billionaire tax championed by Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, boosting its chances of passage, as an alternative to raising the corporate income tax rate. (Puck)
More News and Opinion
- With Resettlement Agencies Overwhelmed, Afghan Refugees Can Be Sponsored by Private Citizens Under New Program (Wall Street Journal — subscription)
- Opinion: This Movement Is Taking Money Away From Fossil Fuels, and It’s Working (New York Times)
- Brown Expands Student Aid After Endowment, Fundraising Haul (Associated Press)
- Fired After Endorsing Vaccines, Evangelical Insider Takes a Leadership Role at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Tex. (New York Times)
Major Gifts
- Fifth Third Bank Unveils $20 Million Gift to Atlanta’s Grove Park Foundation (Atlanta Voice)
- Alumnus Donates $20 Million for New Data Science Building at Ohio’s Miami University (Cincinnati Inquirer)
Arts and Culture
- France Is Giving Looted Treasures Back to Benin. Some Worry it Will Open the Floodgates. (Associated Press)
- After Pandora Papers, Met Officials Contacted U.S. Attorneys About Relics Cambodia Says Were Stolen (Washington Post)
