Major Gifts

Sanford Weill, the former Citigroup chairman, and his wife, Joan, have pledged $10-million to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, to expand its facilities for treating children with cancer and Palestinian patients, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.

Also, a Saudi oil executive has donated $10-million to the Mayo Clinic to support reconstructive surgery for victims of war, trauma, and illness, the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in acknowledgment that thousands of young black and Latino men are cut off from New York’s civic, educational and economic life, plans to spend nearly $130 million on measures to improve their circumstances.

To pay for the endeavor, the city is relying on an unusual source: Bloomberg himself, who intends to use his personal fortune to cover about a quarter of the cost. A $30 million contribution from Bloomberg’s foundation would be matched by fellow billionaire, George Soros, a hedge fund manager, with the remainder being paid for by the city.

The Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania announces the launching of a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary center focused on discovering novel treatments for orphan diseases. The Center will bring together all necessary approaches to attacking and treating orphan diseases: establishing dedicated research support facilities, translating findings into therapies, fostering targeted grant awards, and educating physicians and researchers.

Formation of the new Penn Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy was catalyzed by a $10 million gift from an anonymous donor.

At a time when for-profit theaters may be feeling the pressure to cave in to the economic pinch and roll out the revivals, nonprofit San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater is still taking chances.

Hamilton College has received its largest gift ever — from a foundation headed by the inventor of an anti-cancer drug who planned to be a writer when he came to the college in 1942.

"I went to Hamilton to major in English,” recalled Edward Taylor, who is giving $16 million to the college through his SunUp Foundation. “I was required to take a science course in my first semester. I flipped a coin and it turned out to be chemistry instead of biology. I owe my lifelong fascination with chemistry to Hamilton.”

San Diego developer and philanthropist Conrad Prebys has given Scripps Health $45 million for its new cardiovascular institute in La Jolla, Calif., making the donation the largest in Scripps’ history and the biggest Prebys has given any organization.

Scripps officials plan to announce that the $456 million center being built at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla will be named the Prebys Cardiovascular Institute.

Warren Buffett, who is urging fellow billionaires to commit most of their wealth to philanthropy, gave away stock valued at about $1.5 billion in his annual gift to the foundation established by Bill Gates.

The donation of 19.3 million Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) Class B shares was made Thursday, according to a filing.

Buffett has pledged the majority of his holdings to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and to charities run by his three children and one named after his first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett, who died in 2004.

First, you must understand how you define a major donor and why. Then, use these 10 ideas when calling your major donors.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research seems to have it all wrong, going against conventional fundraising wisdom at seemingly every turn. Yet the $57 million MJFF raised last year ($50 million of which went toward its mission) tells a different story. The foundation, which has funded more than $240 million in research since its founding 10 years ago, is light on its feet and built for speed.

The campaign to equip the new Oakville Hospital has received a further boost thanks to a $6 million gift from Oakville, Ontario, philanthropists June and Ian Cockwell.

The couple, with their family foundation Amarna, is donating $4 million to the campaign and has pledged an additional $2 million as part of a multi-strategy community challenge. The purpose of the challenge gift is to encourage as many people as possible to support the new Oakville Hospital.