Enid Ablowitz: Anonymity and Giving - Boulder Daily Camera

Enid Ablowitz: Anonymity and Giving - Boulder Daily Camera: What does anonymous mean? Does the anonymous donor know or determine the recipient? Is the recipient a known individual or organization? If the donor is anonymous to the recipient, is the recipient anonymous to the donor? If both are anonymous, who serves as the intermediary? Is the gift then no longer anonymous?

Philosophers have waxed eloquent for eons about charitable intent. The ladder of giving, described by the 12th century rabbi, Maimonides, is informative as a testament to early attempts to characterize some kinds of giving as better than others.

Anonymous giving in no short supply this holiday season - chicagotribune.com

Anonymous giving in no short supply this holiday season - chicagotribune.com: What compels people to donate anonymously?

Daniel Borochoff, president of CharityWatch — formerly the American Institute of Philanthropy — cited the Jewish scholar Maimonides, who said donating anonymously is a higher form of giving than doing so publicly.

Anonymous Donor Gives St. Francis $2.5 Million | NBC Connecticut

Anonymous Donor Gives St. Francis $2.5 Million | NBC Connecticut: "A grateful St. Francis Hospital patient has given the hospital $2.5 million and wants his or her identity to remain a secret.

The patient placed no restrictions on the gift."

Judge: UW-Madison's $15M donors can stay anonymous

Judge: UW-Madison's $15M donors can stay anonymous: "Based on that publicly available information, Internet sleuths may be able to guess the identity of the donors who promised $15 million to build a music performance facility at the university. But a judge has decided that their names can stay secret for now, a decision praised by university fundraisers.

'It's very important,' said Andrew 'Sandy' Wilcox, president of the UW Foundation, which raises money for the school. He said being forced to release the names of the donors 'would not only damage this proposal but a lot of others in the future. We would be seen as not being able to keep our word.'"

Donors Give Pluralistic School in Boston $12.25 Mil – Forward.com

Donors Give Pluralistic School in Boston $12.25 Mil – Forward.com: "Defying the recession and concerns about Jewish philanthropy after Bernard Madoff, a group of anonymous donors recently gave $12.25 million to Gann Academy, a 13-year-old pluralistic Jewish high school in suburban Waltham, Mass., enabling the school to retire its building debt."

The End Of Conspicuous Philanthropy? - Forbes.com

The End Of Conspicuous Philanthropy? - Forbes.com: "Anyone who scowled in 2008 when the New York Public Library announced that it would rename its historic Beaux Arts building on Fifth Avenue the Stephen A. Schwarzman building and chisel his name into it five times to mark his $100 million pledge, might have smiled at the news last week: The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that anonymous giving is soaring. In this re-calibrated world, it seems, some big givers no longer w"

Anonymous donor makes $70M in gifts to women-run colleges and universities

Anonymous donor makes $70M in gifts to women-run colleges and universities: "It's a big-bucks mystery: Who's flooding some of the nation's universities with millions in anonymous gifts?

At least 13 schools have received gifts totaling nearly $70 million from an unknown deep-pockets philanthropist."

Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise - Philanthropy.com

From the Chronicle

Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise - Philanthropy.com: "Anonymous Giving Is on the Rise

Wealthy philanthropists are increasingly choosing to give their charitable donations anonymously, in part to protect their privacy but also to avoid rifts among family members expecting an inheritance, reports the Los Angeles Times."

The Jewish Week News

The Jewish Week News: "That’s the new direction of much philanthropy today. Anonymous giving — sort of.
There were more truly anonymous major gifts to American philanthropies last year than ever, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Unnamed American donors gave at least 87 gifts of $1 million or more, and 23 were over $10 million.
The shift is being felt throughout American philanthropy as well as at its highest reaches, according to the article.
Is it true also in the Jewish community?
“I don’t know if Jews are more recognition hungry,” says Jeffrey Solomon, president of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, which in addition to giving about $17 million to Jewish and Canadian causes this year also advises other donors, but “it certainly seems that way.”
While no one has done a formal study, observers of Jewish philanthropy say that things are moving toward more anonymity."

CollegiateTimes.com - University donor privacy questioned

CollegiateTimes.com - University donor privacy questioned: "The House General Laws Committee passed a bill last Tuesday that would permit donors to public colleges and universities to remain anonymous if they wish to do so.

House Bill 407, sponsored by Sen. Edward Houck (R-Spotsylvania) and Delegate Glenn Oder (R-Newport News), passed the committee on an 18-3 vote.

The measure, which came at the request of the University of Virginia, would grant Virginia's colleges and universities an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act to withhold a large amount of personal information about donors."

Providence Business News- Anonymous donor gives $1M matching grant to URI

Providence Business News: "KINGSTON – An anonymous donor has offered a $1 million challenge grant to the University of Rhode Island to help establish the Robert S. Haas Endowed Professorship in Electrical Engineering. The donor will match gifts of $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 or more, up to a maximum of $1 million."

Generosity without trumpets | Chicago Tribune

Generosity without trumpets | Chicago Tribune: "Americans can be generous. Annual charitable giving in this country exceeds $260 billion, which is greater than the economy of Denmark, South Africa or Greece.

Few of those dollars, however, are given without credit. Not quite 1 percent of givers in this country donate anonymously.


So it was deliciously astonishing when the University of Chicago announced Wednesday that it had received the largest charitable pledge in state history -- $100 million -- from a benefactor who wished to remain anonymous."