Major Gifts

First Hawaiian Bank, which began its Kokua Mai employee-giving program in 2007 to give back to the community, is pledging to donate $2.5 million to Hawaii nonprofits in 2011, raising its total contribution to charities to more than $5 million over a two-year period.

The state's largest bank and its 2,200 employees gave more than $2.5 million to more than 400 local charities in 2010, with employees and retirees raising more than $560,000 of that amount for 38 designated charities during its Kokua Mai fund drive in October.

In yet another sign of how the nation’s economic slump is causing struggles for many charities, big donations from individuals and their foundations fell for the second consecutive year. The 10 biggest gifts donated by Americans in 2010 totaled slightly more than $1.3-billion, compared with $2.7-billion in 2009 and $8-billion in 2008.

In addition, only six individuals announced gifts of $100-million or more in 2010, a minor decline from 2009, when seven donors gave gifts of $100-million or more, but a significant drop from 2008, when 15 philanthropists announced gifts of that size.

Because it costs more to raise philanthropic money during a recession, nonprofit hospitals and other institutions who are willing to invest in fundraising personnel and emphasize major gifts and planned giving in their well-rounded programs will weather the current fiscal crisis in America, according to a “State of Philanthropic Health Care Address” released by William C. McGinly, Ph.D., CAE, president and chief executive officer, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP).

Just in time for Christmas, N.C. State University is getting the biggest gift in its 123-year history. Lonnie C. Poole Jr., who made a fortune in the garbage-hauling business, and his wife, Carol Johnson Poole, are giving the university $40 million. That single gift will swell NCSU's entire endowment by nearly 10 percent and instantly boost the profile of the university's young management college, which is getting most of the money.

Donors to The Salvation Army can double their donated dollars to the charity during this holiday season. The Salvation Army announced Tuesday that three anonymous donors have offered to match all donations up to $300,000 given to the charity's red kettles in the Chicago area through Friday. A fourth anonymous donor has offered to match gold coins found in the kettles up to 100 coins.

For 99.9 percent of the players in the NBA, July 1, 2011 is circled on their calendars as the start of a potential lockout if the player's union and the league's owners can't come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement before the current one expires on June 30. For Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest, July 1 marks the day he will announce just how much of his 2011-12 salary he will donate to charities to benefit mental health awareness.

A $15 million gift to Rice University will allow it to expand its signature urban research project to cities around the world.

Versions of the Houston Area Survey, which has documented demographic and cultural shifts in Houston for almost 30 years, will be conducted in cities around the United States, as well as those in other countries.

Drexel University on Tuesday morning will announce a whopping $45 million gift from corporate executive and alumnus Bennett S. LeBow for a new academic center for its business school, which already bears his name.

It's Drexel's largest gift from a single donor and the 12th largest to be made to a U.S. business school, Drexel officials said.

We'd like to introduce SOFII to those of our readers who don't know about it and share some of the fundraising efforts that have made it into the site's Best of the Best Showcase.

The parents of a boy who lost his battle with cancer have donated $30 million to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with the goal of helping more children survive the disease. The donation, believed to be the single largest private gift to pediatric cancer in North America, will establish the Garron Family Cancer Centre and fund research into childhood cancer.