Michael Bloomberg Plans to Transfer His Company to Charity. Here’s What That Could Mean for Philanthropy.

Billionaires Phil and Penny Knight are putting $400 million into an effort to rebuild a historically Black neighborhood in Portland, Ore. The Rebuild Albina project will focus on an area on the city’s east side that was “shaped by racist real-estate policies,” and partly cleared to make way for a highway, sports and entertainment venues, and a hospital. The money will be an initial investment in the 1803 Fund, formed to support Portland’s Black residents after two nonprofit leaders brought the idea to Nike co-founder Phil Knight in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Financial expert and community leader Rukaiyah Adams, who will chair the fund, said “a place-based effort of this magnitude” has never been done in the United States. (Oregonian)

A massive effort partially underwritten by philanthropy is getting underway to ensure that Africa is not left scrambling for vaccines during major disease outbreaks, as it was during the Covid pandemic. The continent has little production capacity of its own, and India – its main supplier of more affordable vaccinations – shut down exports during the pandemic. Now philanthropists, researchers, private companies, and government officials are helping to import technology, set up research or manufacturing facilities, and establish fast and reliable regulatory regimes in Africa. Gavi, funded by high-income countries and major philanthropies, is poised to sign initial contracts with new drug makers, whose costs will be significantly higher than established companies due to startup expenses and who therefore might struggle to find other early buyers. Many of the individual research and production efforts across the continent are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. (New York Times)

More News

• $11 Million Contest Hopes to Solve California’s Wildfire Problem (Los Angeles Times)
• Full Disclosure: Vermont Lawmakers Serve on the Boards of Nonprofits They Fund (VT Digger)
• As Most of Maine’s Newspapers Go Up for Sale, a New Nonprofit Enters the Mix to Buy Them (Boston Globe)
• ‘No Sirens. No Gunshots’: Big City Nonprofit Builds Bridges Between Youth, Police as Trust in Cops Struggles (Fox News)
• Canada’s Auditor General Says She Won’t Probe Donations Made to Trudeau Foundation (CBC)

Nonprofits and Twitter

Museums

• Chicago’s Field Museum Joins Effort to Combat Climate Change by Studying the Millions of Objects in History Museums Around the World (Chicago Tribune)
• A Text Message Helped Turn the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Into a Masterpiece (Talk Business & Politics)
• Gibbes Museum of Art Is Reimagining How It Tells Charleston’s Art History (Charleston Post and Courier)

Note: In the links in this section, we flag articles that only subscribers can access. But because some journalism outlets offer a limited number of free articles, readers may encounter barriers with other articles we highlight in this roundup.