AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Mashable
Gifting, as silly and basic as it may seem on paper, has become quite popular on social networking sites, like Facebook. Some of the gifting applications on Facebook have gained more users than many thought possible, and have even managed to turn them into a monetary value that allows the creators to make social gifting [...]

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The Wall Street Journal
Web sites let you donate to charity just by doing searches or clicking on ad banners. And it doesn’t cost you anything.
Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, Syed Karim learned early on that with charitable giving, even pennies could make a difference.
With his mother’s encouragement, he and his sister got into the [...]

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NY Times
Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, announced plans on Friday to introduce legislation next week to better regulate embedded giving, the fast-growing fund-raising practice that involves building a gift to charity into everyday purchases.
Senator Robert Menendez wants tighter regulations.
“We need to ensure that charity is not being used solely as a sales pitch,” [...]

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Sunday NY Times covers Ted, who produced NANKING & keynoted at this year’s SilverDocs, where he talked about the concept of Filmanthropy and changing the business model for documentaries.

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The Graffiti of the Philanthropic Class - Sun NY Times
Aside from the poetic echoes provided by the Times’ headline writer, this piece talks about an issue near and dear to nonprofits, e.g., our beloved “naming opportunities.” Has this gone too far, posits the article…
WHATEVER happened to Anonymous?
I don’t mean the composers of old English folk [...]

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UCLA to form Alpert School - Variety
Music industry legend donates $30 million
A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert has donated $30 million to UCLA to establish the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
Gift from the Herb Alpert Foundation marks the largest arts-oriented donation ever made to the UC schools system and the largest individual gift made to [...]

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Gates’ study to track wealthiest households — Arizona Republic
s the economist John Kenneth Galbraith once wrote, “of all the classes, the wealthy are the most noticed and the least studied.”
Now, the richest man in America aims to change that.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is co-funding a study that is believed to be the largest [...]

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The Most Elite Club in the World - Business Week

It’s one of the most exclusive clubs anywhere, which is why you’ve probably never heard of it. Members come from 68 of the wealthiest families in 22 countries. Many are connected to business dynasties around the world. The point of the club: to give away [...]

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Yoda named chairman of Tokyo film fest– Variety reports about Mr. Yoda, who has been a supporter of AFI Conservatory scholarships and other AFI activities.
TOKYO — Gaga’s Tom Yoda took over as chairman of the Tokyo Intl. Film Festival as expected at Thursday’s meeting of the fest’s board of directors. Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, who served [...]

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Hefner gives $2 million to USC — VARIETY
Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner has donated $2 million to the USC School of Cinematic Arts to fund a central exhibition space in the school’s new headquarters complex.
Funds will also go toward an archival repository that will house decades of student films, production-related records and other historic resources.
The exhibition [...]

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