Category: Philanthropy

Philanthropy

In FoodPort’s sudden failure, a rare defeat for Louisville’s blue-chip philanthropists: the Brown family
FoodPort rendering 600
An aerial rendering of 24-acre site at 30th Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard.

By Jim Hopkins
Boulevard Publisher

For the past two years, developers of the West Louisville FoodPort worked mightily to bring urban farming and as many as 250 good jobs to the heart of a neighborhood yearning for a better future. Mayor Greg Fischer said the project would “change the look and feel of Russell forever.” Their ambitious, $35 million plan was going so well, one of the world’s foremost advocates of organic food paid a headline-grabbing visit last year: Prince Charles, heir to the British throne.

Stephen Reily
Reily

But yesterday, the entire enterprise collapsed when the non-profit developers, Seed Capital Kentucky, abruptly announced they’d lost a linchpin partner, and without enough time to find a replacement. “We don’t have a way to put it together,” Seed Capital co-founder Stephen Reily said. “We are deeply disappointed.”

Many, many other people were disappointed as well: the mayor, who’d pushed the project as a centerpiece for revitalizing the Russell neighborhood, only to see it steadily scaled back amid community infighting; some 150 residents who helped shepherd the project past months of political hurdles, and the Russell councilwoman, Cheri Bryant Hamilton, “heartbroken” last night over its failure, The Courier-Journal said.

But less publicized was the distress almost certainly felt by a high-profile Louisville family who had invested heavily in its development: the Browns, founders of the spirits giant Brown-Forman. It was an unusual defeat for a family that’s often in the vanguard of high-profile causes ending in resounding success.

Christy Brown
Brown

The Browns were there at critical junctures for the FoodPort, including last year’s goodwill tour by Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. In a speech at the Cathedral of the Assumption on that overcast Friday in March, the CJ reported at the time, “the prince credited his visit to the persuasive powers of Louisville philanthropist Christina Lee Brown, matriarch of the family that controls Brown-Forman.”

Indeed, in 0ne photo with the newspaper’s online story, the unidentified woman in an orange coat and strands of pearls, beaming in the royal couple’s wake during one of their walkabouts, is Christina, known to many in Louisville as Christy.

Augusta Brown Holland
Holland

As one of the city’s best-known philanthropists, she and her immediate family have formed the core of the extended Brown family’s support of Seed Capital. Her daughter, Augusta Brown Holland, an urban planner and investor, is one of the non-profit’s six board members. Another daughter, Brooke Brown Barzun, has a more direct line to Buckingham Palace: Her husband, Matthew Barzun, is U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

A tale of IRS tax returns

The Browns donate multimillions of dollars annually to charities from coast to coast, although especially in Louisville. But they don’t often seek attention for their contributions.

Prince and Christina 300
On the CJ: Camilla, Christy and Charles.

In fact, Seed Capital only hints at the family’s hefty financial support,
on a difficult-to-find page of its website with a barebones alphabetical roster of “funders.” Of the 16 names listed, six are Brown family members or their personal charitable foundations. A seventh is the source of their $6 billion fortune: Brown-Forman, the nearly 150-year-old producer of Jack Daniel’s and other well-known brands. And an eighth, the Community Foundation of Louisville, is home to at least 10 individual Brown donor-advised funds.

Brown family foundation public IRS tax returns fill in details. In 2012-2015, six of the foundations donated a combined Continue reading “In FoodPort’s sudden failure, a rare defeat for Louisville’s blue-chip philanthropists: the Brown family” →

Philanthropy

Kosair’s 40-year affiliation with Norton-run children’s hospital ends bitterly

Kosair Children's Hospital logoUnder a new settlement of a suit it brought against Norton Healthcare in 2014, the Kosair Charities foundation will make a multimillion-dollar payment to Norton, and lose naming rights to Kosair Children’s Hospital downtown. Still, Kosair’s payment will only a fraction of the $117 million it had pledged to Norton over 20 years, according to The Courier-Journal.

Kosair and Norton teamed up in the late 1970s as long-term care for children became more complex. In 1981, Kosair merged its 58-year-old children’s hospital with Norton’s, creating Kosair Children’s Hospital. Kosair then expanded its support of children’s health care to what is now more than 90 agencies statewide.

In the year ended Sept. 30, 2015, it donated $6 million to dozens of charities, according to the group’s IRS tax return for the year. The single-biggest grant went to Kosair Children’s Hospital: $3.6 million. On the surface, the vast majority of its grants went to charities with a clear health-care focus. A handful of unexpected recipients stand out, including the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts ($10,000) and Kentucky Friends of the NRA Foundation ($7,500). More about Kosair Charities.

Updated 4:55 p.m.: The return’s Schedule O says the NRA grant was for gun safety lessons for children. (And thanks to a Facebook friend for pointing that out.)

Philanthropy

Fund for the Arts raises $9 million, but campaign illustrates risk of shifting Louisville economy

The Fund for the Arts said it received $8.7 million in contributions during its fundraising campaign ended last month, up slightly from last year’s $8.6 million. The money will be distributed to more than 100 charities, schools and other nonprofits to support arts programs, according to The Courier-Journal.

Fund for the Arts logoBut in announcing the figures, the 67-year-old organization warned Louisville’s economy has made it harder to raise more money, especially when big contributions from companies such as GE Appliances and Humana may be threatened by ownership changes.

The Humana Foundation is one of the fund’s biggest supporters. Of the $8.3 million it gave to charity in 2014, $366,000 went to the arts fund, according to the foundation’s most recent IRS tax return. Only six other charities got more:

With $179 million, the Humana Foundation is the fourth-largest foundation in Louisville, according to Boulevard’s database of richest nonprofits. While it’s legally separate from the company, their leadership overlaps. The foundation’s five directors are Humana CEO Bruce Broussard; General Counsel Christopher Todoroff; board member David A. Jones Jr.; his father, company co-founder David A. Jones Sr., and Chairman Michael McCallister, a retired Humana CEO and former chairman.

Michael McCallister
McCallister

It’s unclear whether Aetna would change any of those officers — and the foundation’s giving, too — assuming the Hartford insurer completes its $37 billion purchase of Humana. That deal is subject to final regulatory approval, a hurdle that’s recently grown higher within the Department of Justice’s antitrust division.

Related: As GE Foundation gets new chief, its Louisville ties are less certain after Haier deal.

Philanthropy

As GE Foundation gets new chief, its Louisville ties are less certain after Haier deal
Ann Klee
Klee

The GE Foundation, under fresh leadership today with the appointment of executive Ann Klee as its new president, last year donated $3.8 million to Kentucky non-profits, including $1.1 million to five Louisville health centers. And the company itself contributed another $417,000.

But it’s unclear how much of that support will continue in the future, after the conglomerate sold its GE Appliances division last month to China-based Haier for $5.6 billion. The deal included 6,000-employee Appliance Park in the city’s south end, a fixture since it opened nearly 65 years ago.

Corporate foundations tend to favor communities where they have employees. In April, GE  pledged to donate $50 million over five years to philanthropic causes in Massachusetts, as it prepares to move its corporate headquarters to Boston from Fairfield, Conn. In 2014, the foundation gave $85.9 million to charities, according to its most recent IRS tax return.

Klee, the new president, runs GE’s Environment Health & Safety. She’s replacing Deborah Elam, who’s retiring from the company at the end of the year.

Philanthropy

Ali Center to disclose ‘significant’ gift this morning

Muhammad Ali Center logoThe 10-year-old museum downtown said the contribution will “continue the special legacy of the late, great Muhammad Ali.”

The Muhammad Ali Center will announce the gift and introduce the donor at a 10:30 a.m. press conference at the 144 N. Sixth St. museum. CEO Donald Lassere and Mayor Greg Fischer will be there.

The Louisville native, prize fighter and humanitarian died June 3 in Phoenix, his primary home, after battling Parkinson’s disease for decades. He was 74. Ali was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery a week later amid a celebrity-studded memorial service.

The $80 million Ali museum has struggled at times, with frequent top staff changes, occasional budget issues, and facility setbacks that included long delays in opening an adjoining plaza and a pedway connection to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, The Courier-Journal said in advance of the center’s 10th anniversary in November.

Philanthropy

WFPL’s Louisville Public Media announces $7 million capital campaign
Louisvillel Public Media building
Louisville Public Media’s headquarters.

Money raised by the Raise Your Voice campaign will go toward renovating the non-profit’s headquarters and studios at 619 S. Fourth St. in Louisville; technology upgrades, and programming improvements. The building was last remodeled 20 years ago. The campaign has already raised $5.3 million. Here’s the press release.

The campaign committee’s co-chairs are District 8 councilman-elect Brandon Coan and his wife, Summer Auerbach, who manages the Rainbow Blossom natural foods company started by her parents, Rob and Pumpkin Auerbach. The other co-chairs are philanthropist and former Brown-Forman executive Bill Juckett and his wife Barbara Juckett. Other committee members are Tyler Allen, Charlie Barnsley, Todd Lowe, Ron Murphy, Ben Ruiz, Lee Smith and Peter Wayne. Naming rights range from $250 for a coffee station to $500,000 for an entire studio.

Founded in 1950, Louisville Public Media also is the parent of Classical 90.5 WUOL and alternative music station 91.9 WFPK Radio Louisville.