Fundraising

Fundraising

Stephen Aslin, who is nearly halfway through his 30,000-mile (48,280km) global charity cycling trip, says the support he has received from people from different countries has been "amazing". He told BBC London: "Children wave to me as I cycle and when I stop I've found wherever I am people are friendly and welcoming." So far he has travelled through 24 countries, including Germany, Turkey, Nepal and Uzbekistan. Stephen aims to reach New York for the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in September 2026.

Within hours of the Bondi beach terror attack, the money had already begun to pour in. As images of the tragedy flooded social media, people from around the world donated tens of thousands of dollars to the victims, their families and first responders. Passing the hat around the neighbourhood or the local pub has always been a staple response in times of crisis. But today, that instinct to open your wallet has been exponentially supercharged via a digital simulacrum: online crowdfunding platforms.

Broadway Bound Kids, the nonprofit that provides performing arts education to New York City students K-12, will be hosting their fourth annual benefit concert, Empower State of Mind, on Feb. 2 at City Winery in Manhattan at 7:30 pm. The evening will include show-stopping performances by theater legends who have starred on the Broadway stage. The participating performers include Kate Baldwin (Chicago), Kelsee Kimmel (Hell's Kitchen), Storm Lever (Six), Olivia Donalson (Six), Daniel Quadrino (Wicked) and Jacob Keith Watson (Ragtime), among others.

SoFi Technologies (Nasdaq: SOFI) crossed the $1 billion quarterly revenue threshold for the first time in company history, delivering Q4 2025 results that beat estimates across the board while adding a record 1 million new members. The fintech platform reported revenue of $1.01 billion versus the $982 million consensus, alongside GAAP EPS of $0.13 that surpassed the $0.12 estimate by 8%.

Billionaire Ross Stevens wants to change that. Beginning with next month's Milan Cortina Games, he will give $200,000 to every U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athlete, regardless of if they win, in a move to help them gain financial security. Stevens, the founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group, donated $100 million to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) for the program in 2025. It was the largest gift in the organization's history.

Modern Milkman has secured a £10 million investment to accelerate growth across the UK, expand its US footprint and develop new sustainable doorstep services, taking its total funding to more than £60 million. The Manchester-based business said the funding will support the continued evolution of its doorstep delivery model, as it builds out a broader logistics platform designed to make sustainable grocery shopping easier and more convenient for households. The investment comes from Salica Investments, marking the first direct-to-consumer business backed by Salica's Growth Debt Fund.

This year, the Gates Foundation will spend a record $9 billion and cut as many as 500 staff jobs during the next five years as the world's largest private foundation plans to shutter. The foundation's motivation for its move is to accelerate giving to global health, poverty, and education, helping beneficiaries take ambitious bets now rather than maintaining operations indefinitely. These moves underscore how one of the defining philanthropic institutions of this century is reconfiguring for its sunsetting era.

Private equity liquidity has become a more active topic as we enter 2026, reflecting investors' close attention to cash flows, distributions, and portfolio construction. One clear signal is the pace of secondaries growth as their volumes continue to increase. Volumes reached USD 226 billion in 2025, a 41% increase compared to the previous year. The market tends to rely on two main structures, depending on the type of liquidity required. LP secondaries are the simplest structure.

British startup Synthesia, whose AI platform helps companies create interactive training videos, has raised a $200 million Series E round of funding that brings its valuation to $4 billion - up from $2.1 billion just a year ago. Unlike some other AI startups that are still a long way from turning a profit, Synthesia has found a lucrative business in transforming corporate training thanks to AI-generated avatars.

In the heart of Florida's Treasure Coast, Kristin Brown Stuart FL stands as a model of what it means to combine entrepreneurial vision with a deep sense of social responsibility. Her professional journey, spanning business ownership, philanthropy, and performance leadership, reflects a rare synthesis of innovation and integrity. While many entrepreneurs pursue growth through scale alone, Kristin Brown Stuart FL has long emphasized purpose as the driving force behind every venture.

Among the contributors recognized at the ceremony was blood donor Kathy Stiles, one of SBC's top Give Good contributors, who donated 6,000 points to support Blood Cancer United. During the visit, Blood Cancer United representatives took a behind-the-scenes tour of SBC's laboratory facilities. Seeing the lab processes firsthand was incredibly moving, Jenaye Shepherd, Northern California executive director for Blood Cancer United, said in a release.

The theme of this year's Guardian charity appeal was hope, supporting fantastic projects that foster community, tolerance and empathy. Over the past year our reporting has captured the increased alarm most of us feel over the return of 1970s-style racist abuse, the demonisation of refugees and the resurgence of far-right marches in Britain's streets. I'm delighted that Guardian readers responded with such generosity, warmth and solidarity. Your donations will make a positive difference, sending a clear message about standing up to hate and bringing people together.

"It's not the biggest are getting bigger - it's the best are getting bigger,"

Donna Cochran had boxed up nearly every room in her Atlanta, Georgia, home - except one. The space belonged to her late daughter, Ansley, and it remained exactly as it had the day Ansley left it, with journals, jewelry and drawers filled with the cozy clothes she loved to wear. Ansley died in 2018 at 21, after a 19-year battle with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. What Cochran could not yet bring herself to dismantle was not a bedroom, but a life.

It opened my eyes, he says. I had heard stories, but it opened my eyes to the reality of what my dad faced growing up, the conditions. And you're fighting against the [odds]. If we're in a race with the rest of the world, you're starting further behind [in Togo] than, let's say, we are in Canada. So I thought to myself, if one day we can come back as a family, do something.

The Trevor Project used to get some federal funding for operating LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services for the federal 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. But the current administration cut funding to that initiative in July. The funding cut came after Trevor Project was targeted for years by the right with accusations of "grooming" children that had no basis in reality. Conservatives claim that the organization is somehow making kids become LGBTQ+, which is not possible. Instead, the organization provides support for LGBTQ+ youth.

In a post on the Reddit, one of the event's organizers has revealed that Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 has raised $2,443,414 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation, which focuses on early detection and prevention of cancer. In total, Games Done Quick has now donated over $28 million to the Foundation of the $59 million in total the streams have raised for charity.

When they meet, share stories and learn together, they build empathy and understanding that lasts a lifetime, Linda Cowie and Meg Grant said of the children who participate in the schools linking network they help run. The project, which now operates in 26 local authorities, pairs schools so pupils from different faiths, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds can meet, spend time together and discover what they have in common.

BOCA RATON, Fla.- Dec. 31, 2025 - DigitalBridge Group, Inc. ("DigitalBridge" or the "Company") (NYSE: DBRG), a leading global alternative asset manager dedicated to investing in digital infrastructure, and Crestview Partners ("Crestview"), a leading private equity firm, today announced that affiliated investment funds have completed their previously announced take-private acquisition of WideOpenWest, Inc. ("WOW!"), a top provider of fiber-broadband internet services and advanced connectivity solutions in the United States.

Last month, we asked readers to donate to a couple of good causes in our 2025 Charity Drive sweepstakes. And boy, did you deliver. With the drive now complete and the donations all tallied, we can report that Ars Technica readers gave an incredible $42,936.83 to Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in this year's drive. That doesn't set a new record, but it beats last year's total and raises our lifetime Ars Charity Drive donation haul since 2007 to over $585,000.