Education

CHICAGO, April 29, 2009 — YMCA of the USA (Y-USA), the resource office for the nation's 2,686 YMCAs, has announced an important addition to the programming and services YMCAs provide to connect underserved youth to higher education opportunities. With a grant of more than $5 million over three years from Lumina Foundation for Education, Y-USA is integrating College Goal Sunday into national YMCA programming. College Goal Sunday is a national, volunteer-driven program that assists students and families in applying for financial aid.

April 23, 2009, Detroit Free Press — The $10-million check was delivered in a FedEx envelope to Michigan State University. No personal note. Just a banker’s business letter.

April 22, 2009, The Wall Street Journal — For many years, the Harvard and Yale endowments performed brilliantly, far outpacing the major stock market averages. They grew and grew, and their strategies became widely popular among professional investors. Yale's lead money manager, David Swensen, became a kind of guru for endowment investing and published "Pioneering Portfolio Management" in 2000 to codify his insights. In 2005, he brought out "Unconventional Success," a popular book that tried to explain to individual investors how they could mimic aspects of his approach to managing Yale's money.

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2009 — The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy announced today that its prestigious National Grant Program is awarding a total of $634,070 to 10 nonprofit organizations, public school districts, and other agencies across the United States to improve the literacy skills of parents and their children. Since its inception in 1989, the Foundation has awarded nearly $32 million to 730 family literacy programs in 50 states, including the nation’s capital.

HARTFORD, Conn., April 23, 2009, The Wall Street Journal — Financially strapped colleges are angering their benefactors by selling school radio stations, auctioning Georgia O'Keeffe paintings and dipping into endowments for purposes their donors may not have intended.

Kansas City, MO, April 22, 2009 — Over 70% of students in the 2009 freshman college class may be looking at big changes in their education plans due to economic pressures, according to a nationwide study released today by Longmire & Co., Inc, an educational consulting firm. Nearly half of the families participating in the study say they will definitely modify their children's college plans and another 26% are in a state of flux because of the uncertainty surrounding the economy. Adding to their anxiety is an overall frustration in understanding the complexities of the financial aid system, the study showed.

Durham, N.C., April 20, 2009, The Chronicle — In a volatile economic climate, Alumni Weekend is more than a time for former Duke students to relive their college pasts-it is a chance for the University to raise funds to brighten its present and future financial outlook.

NEW YORK, April 21, 2009 — The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation and DonorsChoose.org, the online charity that connects
individual "citizen philanthropists" with classrooms in need, today
announced a landmark grant that enables DonorsChoose.org to fund up to 50
percent of the cost of individual classroom projects developed by teachers
to promote college-readiness among students in high-need and underserved
urban and rural public schools.

Washington, April 24, 2009, The Chronicle of Philanthropy — Rich Mintz thinks college fund raising needs serious help.

DES MOINES, Iowa, The Associated Press — A mystery is unfolding in the world of college fundraising: During the past few weeks, at least nine universities -- including two in North Carolina -- have received gifts totaling more than $45 million, and the schools had to promise not to try to find out the giver's identity.