Tag: Culture

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.)

The A-list

Royal ties that bind: Brown-Forman’s Barzun-Bingham connection shined bright in the Brexit shocker

By Jim Hopkins
Boulevard Publisher

The spirits giant Brown-Forman depends on the U.K. for 10% of its annual sales, and the rest of Europe for another 21% — making Britain’s surprise vote to quit the E.U. especially meaningful last month. Brexit also recalled Brown-Forman’s familial ties to the Kingdom through the techie U.S. ambassador Matthew Barzun.

“Well, it’s been a big day,” he Tweeted the day after the June 23 referendum, “and as @POTUS says, our unmatched & unbreakable #SpecialRelationship will endure.”

Barzun, 45, a part-year Louisville resident, is a former technology entrepreneur from the Internet’s early days, becoming only the fourth employee of CNET Networks in 1993. He worked there until 2004 in roles including chief strategy officer and executive vice president, according to his State Department biography.

Barzun has been married to Brown-Forman heiress Brooke Brown Barzun since 1999. Her father was the late Brown-Forman CEO Owsley Brown II, and her mother is Owsley’s widow, the philanthropist Christy Brown.

A fifth-generation Brown

The company is one of Louisville’s most storied businesses. It was founded by Brooke’s great-great grandfather George Garvin Brown in 1870. The distiller employs 1,300 workers in the city and another 3,300 worldwide, where the company distributes Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia vodka and other marquee brands in about 160 countries. Tomorrow, shareholders will hold their annual meeting at the Dixie Highway headquarters; three board members up for re-election also are fifth-generation members of the family controlling the nearly 150-year-old distiller.

The Barzuns’ rarefied social and political connections were on full display in November 2013, when the couple rode in a gilded, horse-drawn carriage to Buckingham Palace to present his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II; photo, top, and in this video:

The Barzuns also entertained the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall during a reception last year at the ambassador’s official Winfield House residence in London, shortly before the royals visited Louisville at Christy Brown’s invitation:

Barzuns and Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Matthew and Brooke Barzun.

President Obama handed Continue reading “Royal ties that bind: Brown-Forman’s Barzun-Bingham connection shined bright in the Brexit shocker” →

Diversions

At tonight’s Forecastle Festival, the chillwave Georgia man behind ‘Portlandia’s’ dreamy theme music

There are so many things to anticipate at the annual three-day Forecastle music festival starting tomorrow at Waterfront Park, including artisanal corn dogs (they had them last year), and luxury, air-conditioned bathrooms for those who’ve sprung for $400 weekend VIP tickets.

Forecastle logoBut most of all, a performance by Washed Out from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET tonight. Recorded by Ernest Greene — that’s him in the photo, top — Washed Out is known to many for “Feel It All Around,” the opening theme for the hit IFC series “Portlandia.” Listen to it in the music player in the sidebar, left, or in the video, below:

Greene, 33, was born in Perry, Ga. His recordings fall within genres that include chillwave, and dreampop, according to Wikipedia. From Forecastle’s bio:

His music has been nothing if not dreamy, but for his second full-length, he’s taken the idea of letting your mind wander to another state a huge leap further. On “Paracosm,” the musician explores the album’s namesake phenomenon, where people create detailed imaginary worlds. The concept has been used to describe fantasy lands like Tolkien’s Middle Earth and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, and it’s at the heart of the 2004 documentary “In The Realms Of The Unreal,” about outsider artist Henry Darger.

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.

Latest Headlines

Monty 1978-2016 | ‘He never bit anyone in his 35 years here at the zoo, which is rare!’

Louisville Zoo officials were forced to euthanize Monty, a popular 38-year-old male Burmese python after he was recently diagnosed with cancer.

The giant snake hadn’t been eating well and was losing weight after developing lymphoma, an immune system cancer, according to a zoo statement. The veterinary and HerpAquarium teams decided the most humane course was to euthanize the python on Tuesday.

In death, he is now globally famous. News of his demise was reported as far away as Continue reading “Monty 1978-2016 | ‘He never bit anyone in his 35 years here at the zoo, which is rare!’” →

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.