FYI: I will link program, early tomorrow, when it becomes available for free.
Regards,
Ted
June 4, 2015
Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,
If perception is nine-tenths of reality then Wall Street has a problem. According to recent polls, just 21% of Americans view Wall Street favorably, while 33% have negative opinions. Are these feelings justified? This week we have an online exclusive about the “real” Wall Street, a podcast with Jason DeSena Trennert, Chairman of Strategas Research Partners and a 27 year Wall Street veteran of major investment firms and independent ones. He is also the author of the just published “MY SIDE OF THE STREET: Why Wolves, Flash Boys, Quants, and Masters of the Universe Don’t Represent the Real Wall Street.” He’ll address the perceptions and what he sees as the reality of the Street from his experience as an insider.
As it is the final week of Public Television’s fund-raising drive, on the broadcast this weekend, we are moving from the markets and Wall Street to revisit a show about changes in charitable giving. It’s an investment that 95% of American households make every year.
Americans are known for their generosity. From the earliest days of the Republic,
charitable- giving was an integral part of American culture. The French political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about this phenomenon in his classic book, Democracy in America:
Americans group together to hold fetes, found seminaries, build inns, construct churches, distribute books, dispatch missionaries to the antipodes. They establish hospitals, prisons, schools by the same method. Finally, if they wish to highlight a truth or develop an opinion by the encouragement of a great example, they form an association.
That impulse to join together and contribute to the well-being of society is alive and well today. Americans gave $335 billion to charity in 2013, close to an all-time high.
72% of that or $241 billion came from individuals. 95.4% of households gave an average annual contribution of nearly $3,000.
As in the past, the majority of charitable dollars went to religion, 31%, followed by 16% to education and 12% to human services.
In 2013 the biggest increase in giving was in education, which saw donations jump 8.9%.
This week’s WEALTHTRACK guests are on the frontlines of the American desire to give and serve their communities. Each runs a leading philanthropic organization based in New York City and is adapting to the needs of their large and diverse communities, as well as the changing interests and demands of donors.
Jed Bernstein is President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a position he assumed in January of 2014 after a career as a Tony Award winning Broadway producer, head of The Broadway League and an advertising executive.
Lincoln Center is the world’s largest performing arts center. It presents more than 3,000 events and educational activities a year, spanning all the performing arts from symphony to opera to theater, to dance, film and arts education.
Jack Lund has been the CEO and President of the YMCA of Greater New York for more than a decade. It is the country’s oldest and largest Y and New York City’s largest private youth serving organization. Lund has spent his entire career at the Y in numerous leadership roles all over the country and internationally.
Under his leadership the YMCA of Greater New York has expanded to serve 520,000 people annually, including 250,000 kids in 24 branches in all five boroughs. The Y has taken a leadership role in after school programs, fighting childhood obesity, developing teen leaders and reaching and guiding disconnected youth. I experienced these programs first hand as a board member under Lund’s leadership for 9 years.
I asked Bernstein and Lund to identify the biggest changes they are seeing in philanthropic giving and the difference it is making in their best in class organizations.
We also have EXTRA interviews with both Lund and Bernstein available exclusively online. If you have comments or questions, please connect with us via Facebook or Twitter.
Have a great weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and productive one.
Best Regards,
Consuelo
