The Straits Times: "The head of a leading Taiwanese hi-tech company Friday made the single largest donation here of 15 billion Taiwan dollars (455 million US) as part of his pledge to donate most of his assets to charity. 'I am very happy to have the chance to collaborate with the National Taiwan University, to do something for Taiwan's medical and bio-tech sectors,' Hon Hai group chairman Terry Gou said at a signing ceremony. Most of the money will be used to build a hospital specialising in treating cancer, according to the university."

NAICU Press Release: "A new survey of private college and university presidents finds that fund raising, endowments, the availability of student aid, institutional debt, and student enrollment lead the list of campus economic concerns as the fall 2008 semester comes to an end. The survey was conducted from Nov. 18 to Dec. 12 by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU)."

From Barron's: "Generous Gen-Xers are putting their own spin on charitable giving, combining their desire to achieve with their desire to do good. younger givers -- entrepreneurs, executives and latter-day members of old-money clans -- are intent on leaving a mark now, not in their 50s and 60s. Some are even dropping the p-word itself. 'We don't call what we are doing philanthropy; we call it having an impact,' says Peter Kellner, 39, managing partner of Uhuru Capital Management."

From Market Watch: "When economic times get tough, finding dollars to donate can get tougher, but there are ways to make your charitable dollar stretch farther. Certainly, plenty of people find a way to give, no matter what the broader economic trends. While charitable giving declines during economic slowdowns, it doesn't slow all that much. The steepest decline in charitable giving in the past 40 years was in 1974, when charitable giving dropped 5.5%, said Patrick Rooney, interim executive director at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Charitable giving has increased on average 4.3% per year in non-recession years, and is estimated to be more than $306 billion in 2007."

From The Wall Street Journal: "Colleges and universities are actively encouraging donors to contribute directly to education rather than asking for big gifts toward buildings and programs. The economic downturn is causing schools to refocus their fund-raising campaigns more on financial aid, scholarships or a school's general fund, which is typically used for a university's most pressing needs and often directed toward student aid."

From Market Watch: "Adeptia Inc., an innovative provider of business process integration technologies, today announced the purchase of its Adeptia Integration Server product by Grenzebach Glier & Associates, Inc. (GG&A), an international fundraising consulting firm. GG&A, a global leader in consulting on all facets of fundraising management for nonprofits, educational institutions, medical centers and cultural institutions, helps clients raise more money more efficiently by better understanding their donors. 'We are focused on helping our clients achieve greater, deeper insight into donor behaviors and tendencies. As we grow, we find that it is critical that we have an automated process for collecting and processing our customer data based on a pre-defined set of business rules,' said Brian Chapman, President of Grenzebach Glier Philanthropic Analytics. 'We were pleasantly surprised to find in Adeptia a compelling product that allowed us to do all that and more in an easy-to-use approach. It helps us deliver more value to more customers with existing resources.' GG&A will utilize Adeptia's business integration technology to automate analytics processes and integrate disparate information sources, customer data feeds, databases and software applications within its existing IT landscape."

From Webwire: “SunGard Higher Education will offer advancement data services by Grenzebach Glier and Associates (GG+A) DonorScape to assist its customers with the fundraising process. Advancement Data Services by GG+A DonorScape provides customized predictive modeling, hard asset data and analytics, and related strategies and services to help institutions identify and prioritize donor prospects that can help increase fundraising results. Fred Weiss, executive vice president of advancement solutions at SunGard Higher Education, said: ‘In order to secure the commitment of donors, institutions must first understand their needs and interests, identify how best to engage them, and then create the experiences that will inspire their commitments. GG+A's services and solutions can help institutions transform their data into the knowledge and insight that is critical to fundraising success.’”

Former GG+A Senior Vice President and Managing Director G. David Gearhart has been unanimously elected to become the fifth chancellor of the University of Arkansas. Gearhart is famous for his role in helping the University raise more than $1 billion during its previous campaign. Learn more about David and his appointment in the University of Arkansas’ Press Release.

The Washington Post: "The estate of a New York mortician and early investor in the computer giant IBM has bequeathed $75 million to Georgetown University, the institution's largest gift, school officials announced yesterday...Georgetown officials said they were ecstatic about the donation, given the state of the economy and rapidly declining endowments at many universities."

Earlham College Press Release: "The work of the Earlham College Public Affairs staff was honored with three awards at the 2008 Pride of CASE V Awards ceremony in Chicago last week. The awards, given by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, District V, honor institutions and individuals from six states for outstanding achievement in the concept and execution of advancement programs and communications. 'I am blessed with bosses who trust me to make good decisions and fantastic colleagues in the Public Affairs Office who respond to drafts and help me improve my work,' says Jonathan Graham, publications editor and editor of the Earlhamite magazine, who received a coveted Gold Award for Excellence in Research/Scientific/Medical Writing for the recent Earlhamite focusing on Earlham's contributions to the medical field."

From the Globe and Mail (Canada): "A Toronto couple have donated $10-million to the renovation of Robarts Library, adding to a legacy of support for the University of Toronto. U of T grads Russell Morrison, 85, and his wife Katherine Morrison, 83, yesterday announced the gift to the $40-million renovation set to begin next year at Robarts, North America's fourth-ranked research library."

From The Business Review (Albany): "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has received a $7.5 million grant from NASA to be used for opening of the New York Center for Astrobiology. The center will be part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). Rensselaer said NAI is a 'virtual' institute of universities that combine expertise 'to advance our understanding of the origin and distribution of life in the universe.' It is based at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif."

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Wearing black and gold buttons that said ‘Billion $ Club,’ University of Missouri-Columbia officials giddily — and sometimes tearfully — announced on Friday that the university has met its fundraising goal of a billion dollars. In doing so, the university joins an elite group of about 20 public universities around the country that have successfully completed billion-dollar campaigns. MU is the first public university in the state to do so.”