Large-scale Philanthropy

[Northern Light]

Makes me glad to live downtown east with all the top hospitals nearby. If you live in the countryside I'm not sure there are sufficient rich guys to fund the incupbators, MRIs, etc, that a hospital in Timmins or Subury would need.

Excluding First Nations Reserves and other communities w/no direct road access, most communities of any size do have CTs. As @PinkLucy noted this was not always the case, and there are still many hospital without one, but not in areas the size
of Sudbury.

CTs are the most common diagnostic imaging device (excluding x-ray and ultrasound) so they are first up on the list for acquisition.

MRIs are less common, so you see some pretty major gaps. Notably there is not one MRI between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg. A gap of 800km or so.

Kenora will get one, when it gets a new hospital in the next few years, but that could be up to another decade yet.

PET Scan machines are even rarer, and to date there is still only the one in all of Northern Ontario though one is finally coming to Sudbury after many years of fundraising and lobbying Queen's Park which has to approve
the operating funds.

A committee that's in charge of PET Scanner approvals for the province just approved a new strategy for more and better machines throughout Ontario earlier this year.

A story that touches on this can be found here:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/pet-scan-sudbury-vs-windsor-1.4560705

 

[Johnny Au]

First last, Detroit does have a really ugly waterfront, and even though its downtown is back from death's door, its still small and relatively speaking, struggling. A signature park that will offer swimming, picnic space, sports amenities etc. will be
a quality of life boost, but also a boost in 'hope' for a beleaguered city.

There are certainly compelling arguments as to whether that should be the highest priority; but its also what the charitable foundation is offering to fund.

It also arguably frees up money that would otherwise have been budgeted for parks to go to some other priority.

Detroit has a major philanthropist: the late Mike Ilitch (best known for making Little Caesars one of the largest pizza chains in the world)

 

[TrickyRicky]

Philanthropy is no good substitution for public funding.

What philanthropy does do is create pockets of resources made available to create nice things. Nice things are nice. They are inspirational, trend setting, aspirational. This forum is basically populated by people who care about nice things in Cities so I would suspect there is general approval for philanthropy.

Life though is fundamentally about the mediocre not the nice. That is why I am not envious of a model where the generosity of private donations could originate from a or must be relied upon because of a public realm that is underfunded or poorly managed (If poorly managed no amount of funding generates results).

 

[Northern Light]

Philanthropy is no good substitution for public funding.

What philanthropy does do is create pockets of resources made available to create nice things. Nice things are nice. They are inspirational, trend setting, aspirational. This forum is basically populated by people who care about nice things in Cities so I would suspect there is general approval for philanthropy.

Life though is fundamentally about the mediocre not the nice. That is why I am not envious of a model where the generosity of private donations could originate from a or must be relied upon because of a public realm that is underfunded or poorly managed (If poorly managed no amount of funding generates results).

Completely agree.

I am not envious of a 'model' in which philanthropy is needed; only lauding its free-standing virtue (whatever model your using more resources are always nice, and those in a position to afford them should be happy to 'give back')

 

[Admiral Beez]

Philanthropy is no good substitution for public funding.

What philanthropy does do is create pockets of resources made available to create nice things. Nice things are nice. They are inspirational, trend setting, aspirational. This forum is basically populated by people who care about nice things in Cities so I would suspect there is general approval for philanthropy.

Life though is fundamentally about the mediocre not the nice. That is why I am not envious of a model where the generosity of private donations could originate from a or must be relied upon because of a public realm that is underfunded or poorly managed (If poorly managed no amount of funding generates results).

Reminds me of public schools and their fundraising, where rich neighbourhoods can raise money for nice things, but things that should be considered essential to all schools.

 

[Johnny Au]

Reminds me of public schools and their fundraising, where rich neighbourhoods can raise money for nice things, but things that should be considered essential to all schools.

Funding should be spread evenly, not limited only to areas where residents have the means.

Amenities should benefit all.

I too agree that philanthropy should accompany public funding, not replace it.

 

[lenaitch]

Governments consider philanthropy in their policy calculations, such as 'community cost sharing' in major hospital expenditure. Our local hospital has embarked on an 'adopt a room' campaign to upgrade patient rooms (much needed). For a certain level of contribution you get a plaque and the room named after you. Similar to their calculus on legal gambling income, where health care and other community funding depends on the (un)witting contribution of people who are bad at math.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

And then of course there is abuse of policies around philanthropy:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...-charity-rules-after-multimillion-dollar-tax/

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

250M donation to the U of T Faculty of Medicine.

It will be renamed Temerty Faculty of Medicine in honour of the donation from James and Louise Temerty (he is the former CEO of Northland Power).

The money will be used to endow a new Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

There will also be money to lure top faculty and graduate students.

Money for new recruiting and scholarships focusing on students of diverse backgrounds, particularly Indigenous and Black.

This will fund the purchase of a new Cryo-Electron Microscope.

Finally it will allow a refurb of the Med. Sci building.

Appears to be the largest donation to Canadian University ever.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-university-of-toronto-medical-school-to-get-record-250-million/

 

[Admiral Beez]

Tend to agree the general "tastelessness" of having one's name slathered all over. The ones who always impresses me most are the anonymous donors.

This is how I like it see large scale donations done. Anonymous research into worthy candidates, and then the donations with no naming strings attached. The donor still goes public and gains some recognition and appreciations, nothing wrong with getting credit for good deeds, but I doubt she’s going to demand a wing or anything physical be renamed to memorialize her. I hope so at least. Nothing wrong with a scholarship being named, but I don’t think we’re likely to see the MacKenzie Scott Memorial Fountain or whatnot.

‘I Was Stunned’: Big Gifts to Small Colleges From an Unexpected Source
MacKenzie Scott’s donations to colleges serving often overlooked students were a surprise — and potentially transformational.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/...e-donations.html?referringSource=articleShare

 

[Admiral Beez]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/...hilanthropy.html?referringSource=articleShare

There might be some truth to this, as many of the wealthy guys I know are about bravado and peacocking. If you don’t get credit, why do good deeds? So it goes.

“If you look at the motivations for the way women engage in philanthropy versus the ways that men engage in philanthropy, there’s much more ego involved in the man, it’s much more transactional, it’s much more status driven,” said Debra Mesch, a professor at the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University. “Women don’t like to splash their names on buildings, in general.”

 

[Johnny Au]

Sometimes, large-scale philanthropy is used to atone the crimes committed by the donor.

Note that the Muzzo Wing in the Vaughan hospital isn't named after the convicted drunk driver Marco (though he's part of the same family that donated to the hospital) and thus really isn't an example of the above. However, there have been cases of large-scale philanthropy used to atone the crimes of the donor (though that can be controversial).

 

[Northern Light]

30M donation by Slaight Family Foundation to support Mental Health Care, principally for youth, in the Toronto Area.

Money supports SickKids and CAMH on a large scale with support also to KidsHelpPhone and St. Mike's/Sunnybrook:

Slaight Family Foundation donates $30-million to improve mental-health care in Canada

The donation comes at a time when experts have been raising concerns about rising anxiety and depression among vulnerable youth during the COVID-19 pandemic

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[Northern Light]

21M donation to Mt. Sinai to more than double the size of their ICU, adding 20 beds, room for families/caregivers and also funding new research.

Life-changing bike accident inspires $21-million donation to Sinai Health for new initiatives, including ICU expansion

Shawn Kimel and his partner Kate Schatzky say they want to ensure patients have as good an experience as Kimel did when he was treated for a severe brain injury in 2017

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[PinkLucy]

Nice, but how did he make all that that money? https://financialpost.com/news/fp-s...ped-with-nine-month-trading-ban-over-spoofing