Archive for category Environmental
Charity says Canadian investment firm paid $1.68M for lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Environmental, Health, Hockey, Israel, School, family on July 15th, 2009
Winner of $1.68M lunch with Buffett identified
OMAHA, Neb. — The Canadian investment managers who paid $1.68 million in a charity auction to win lunch with investor Warren Buffett believe the meal will be worth it because of what they might learn from the billionaire.
The Glide Foundation, which receives all the auction proceeds, identified Salida Capital, which is based in Toronto, as the winner of last month’s auction.
Salida CEO Courtenay Wolfe she’s looking forward to talking to the 78-year-old Buffett about his experience and his perspective on the world.
“We’re excited to talk to him about broader themes that are affecting the global markets,” Wolfe said.
Buffett annually auctions off a lunch to benefit Glide, which provides social services to San Francisco’s homeless and poor.
Wolfe said she and her two partners at Salida plan to bring five of the firm’s biggest supporters to the lunch with Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive. The owners of the Smith & Wollensky restaurant in New York contributed $10,000 to Glide and will again host the lunch.
“Lunch with Warren Buffett is something we have always had on our ‘dream list,’” she said.
Salida is marking its tenth anniversary this year, and Wolfe said it has recovered well from last year’s difficult market, so the time seemed right to bid.
Salida’s investment managers try to identify macro trends and take advantage of them, Wolfe said. Currently, the firm is heavily invested in commodities because Wolfe says they expect consolidation in the resource area.
Wolfe said having lunch with Buffett should be great personal development.
“This is a personal and professional investment by partners of the firm,” she said. “For us, the opportunity to sit down with him face-to-face for lunch one-on-one and have a dialogue with him. For us, that’s invaluable. And it’s also going to an incredible cause.”
Glide’s founder, the Rev. Reverend Cecil Williams, said he is thankful for the support from both Salida and Buffett. Glide relies on donations for most of its $17 million budget.
“Glide is so fortunate that we were able to raise this amount of money which will help San Francisco’s poor and disenfranchised,” Williams said.
Buffett’s late first wife, Susan, introduced the billionaire investor to Williams and the Glide Foundation. Buffett has said he enjoys being able to help Glide with the lunch because he’s never found another charity more effective at lifting people out of despair.
Buffett is renowned for his investing success. The company owns more than 60 subsidiaries including insurance, furniture, clothing, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants, natural gas and corporate jet firms and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
But Buffett is also known for his plan to gradually give most of his $36 billion fortune to five foundations over time. The biggest chunk of Buffett’s Berkshire stock will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Salida’s bid is less than the record-setting $2.1 million bid that won last year. That 2008 bid on lunch with Buffett was the most expensive charity item eBay had ever sold.
Previously, the most expensive charity item ever sold on eBay was a letter from Democratic senators blasting conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for using the phrase “phony soldiers” on his program. The letter signed by 41 senators sold for $2.1 million on eBay in October 2007.
The proceeds from Limbaugh’s auction went to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which provides scholarships to children of Marines or federal law enforcement personnel who were killed while serving their country. And he matched the bid.
http://blog.taragana.com/n/charity-says-canadian-investment-firm-paid-168m-for-lunch-with-billionaire-warren-buffett-103402/
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC Canadian funding corp CEO
ICRF History
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Environmental, Health, Hockey, Israel, School, Torah, Uncategorized, Youth, family on July 9th, 2009
The Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) supports groundbreaking cancer research by outstanding scientists in Israel. It is a voluntary charitable organization funded exclusively by private donations. Israeli researchers have been at the forefront of many of this decade’s most exciting developments in cancer research.
ICRF acts like the venture capital bank of cancer funding in Israel. Unlike many of the enormous government and private “cancer establishment” funding institutions, ICRF is open to imaginative new approaches and will often take a risk on new ideas. Research grants are awarded based strictly on merit – they do not favour any individual, institution or scientific point of view. The grant review process is rigorous, ensuring that only the most promising cancer research is funded. ICRF’s Scientific Review Panel is composed of more than 30 leading cancer researchers from Canada and the United States.
ICRF was founded in 1975 by a group of Canadian and American researchers, oncologists and lay people who were committed to the growth and development of Israel and to fighting cancer. They realized that a unique confluence of circumstance had positioned Israel to excel at cancer research:
Superb scientists: Israel has the world’s highest per capita concentration of scientists and physicians. The only thing the country needs more of is money to properly fund research.
Cost-effective research: the cost of conducting a research project in Israel is
30 per cent less than that of running the same project in Canada and the United States.
Well-equipped research network: Israel has a network of well-equipped laboratories, sophisticated hospitals and universities. Monies contributed go directly to advancing knowledge, not on constructing buildings or paying administrative costs.
Unified health care system: all Israelis belong to a national medical program, so record keeping and bio-statistical data collection are relatively simple.
Ethnic diversity: the Israeli population comprises of ethnic groups from many countries, making the nation itself a superb “laboratory” in which to study the role of environmental and cultural factors in the development of cancer.
http://www.icrfbuzz.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7:about-icrf&catid=6:about-icrf&Itemid=8
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC Canadian funding corp CEO
Israeli Economy a Draw for North American Immigrants
Posted by admin in Aid Services, Environmental, Health, Hockey, Israel, School, family on July 8th, 2009
by Rachel Abrams
(IsraelNN.com)
“For the first time in history, the Israeli economy is looking better than the American economy”, says Danny Oberman, executive vice president of operations at Nefesh B’Nefesh. A leading organization which finds and assists Jews wishing to make Aliyah [immigration to Israel], the group has reported an average of 25 new inquiries each day from people looking to begin the application process. “We are seeing an unprecedented level of interest from North America,” says Oberman, “and it’s not just people who have lost their jobs but people who don’t see a serious upside in the near future.”
Powered by WebAds
Click here to hear interview with Oberman.
For young singles and couples, the advantages afforded by Israel’s current economic edge are especially appealing. The job market is wider for recent university graduates, and families with young children can find more affordable Jewish or college education in Israel than back in the U.S. and Canada. Israeli health insurance, free for between the first six to 12 months for new arrivals and amounting to $50 to $100 a month after that, is also a cheaper option than many health insurance plans in the U.S.
Immigrants also are given a discount on car purchases and are eligible for free education if they are under the age of 27. For those generating income from overseas, no taxes are taken for the first 10 years of residence. These lower costs, combined with an overly burdened and strained American economy, are enticing more North American Jews than ever to emigrate.
In 2008, Nefesh B’Nefesh reported that 3,000 immigrants to Israel were from North America. This year, the organization is expecting upwards of 4,000.
“What we’re seeing is…people who had considered Aliyah, people who had visited Israel in the past, people who had a connection, but who stayed in North America because they were doing well; they were comfortable,” says Oberman. Now, however, with Israel faring considerably better in the global economic crisis, families are in a better position than before to line up their ideological and fiduciary concerns.
“Anybody who has visited here has seen that the opportunities here, and the ways kids are brought up and the social environment is different than North America. It’s a healthy environment… For anyone who’s looking for a different set of values, Israel’s definitely an option.”