James Pollard, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTube video maker who goes by MrBeast, wears a Lionel Messi jersey as he stands in a sideline box at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and CF Montreal, March 10, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Online creators, led by MrBeast and Mark Rober, want to raise $40 million for clean water access

August 1, 2025

Online creators are launching a $40 million fundraiser to build water quality projects around the world. Led by MrBeast and YouTuber Mark Rober, the monthlong crowdfunding campaign is called #TeamWater. It promises to rally the team’s combined 2 billion subscribers around combating unsafe water sources. Funds will primarily benefit WaterAid, an international nonprofit that builds community-tailored infrastructure ranging from solar-powered wells to rainwater harvesting systems. Organizers hope to provide sustainable access for 2 million people — and instill new generations with a lifelong commitment to environmental advocacy. The multi-platform drive follows the 2019 #TeamTrees and 2021 #TeamSeas campaigns, which reportedly drew more than $50 million altogether.

FILE - Ford Foundation President Darren Walker speaks at the opening of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Darren Walker’s new book is still hopeful despite growing inequality as he leaves Ford Foundation

July 28, 2025

Outgoing Ford Foundation President Darren Walker’s new book “The Idea of America” is a collection of more than eight dozen texts spanning his 12-year tenure with one of the nation’s leading philanthropies. He says he regrets that American democracy weaker now than when he started. He finds that younger generations lack access to the “mobility escalator” he rode from poverty. And he describes the Trump administration’s first six months as “disorienting” for the philanthropic sector. But he still considers the upcoming collection to be patriotic. He says: “My own journey in America leaves me no option but to be hopeful because I have lived in a country that believed in me.”

Agog Executive Director Chip Giller, left, philanthropist Wendy Schmidt and Kinfolk Tech co-founder Idris Brewster, right, tour Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City on June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/James Pollard)

Philanthropist Wendy Schmidt insists science and immersive media can inspire action for the planet

July 24, 2025

Philanthropist Wendy Schmidt and her husband, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, have long insisted that the scientific advancements they fund be shared widely and for the planet’s protection. The Silicon Valley veterans’ philanthropies are among the growing ranks focused on marine conservation. And they’re embracing their role even as the Trump administration cuts billions in federal funding for research. Wendy’s latest venture is Agog, an immersive media institute that attempts to spark social change by fostering new connections with the natural world through extended reality technologies. She says: “We work really hard to make sure science holds its place in our society.”

Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO and president of MrBeast, center, participates in a closing bell ceremony with MrBeast's "Beast Games" winner Jeffrey Allen, right, and Joe Brantuk, Nasdaq chief client officer, left, at their studio Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

MrBeast CEO and ‘Beast Games’ winner rally brand partners and rare disease support on Wall Street

July 23, 2025

MrBeast’s new CEO is hitting Wall Street as YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson’s media empire looks to develop long-term brand partnerships and, in turn, unlock more funding for its charitable content. Venture capitalist Jeff Housenbold is helping MrBeast professionalize the ever-growing entertainment company. But, despite joining Nasdaq’s closing bell ceremony on Wednesday, Housenbold says their strategic plan does not currently include a public offering. Instead, MrBeast is focused on securing multi-year exclusive advertising deals. Ringing the market’s closing bell on Wednesday is Jeffrey Allen, the winner of the $10 million grand prize awarded in that inaugural Beast Games season. He is raising awareness for rare diseases like his son’s creatine deficiency.

FILE - Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) in the second half of Game 2 of a first-round NBA playoff series April 21, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Ex-Raptors exec Masai Ujiri remains focused on humanitarian work as Giants of Africa Festival nears

July 18, 2025

Masai Ujiri is staying focused on his upcoming Giants of Africa Festival even as the longtime NBA executive navigates his recent departure from the Toronto Raptors. Ujiri says “the focus will always be” Giants of Africa, the foundation he started in 2003 to host youth basketball clinics, teach life skills and build basketball courts across the continent. Its second ever festival returns to Kigali, Rwanda on July 26 with appearances from Nigerian pop singer Ayra Starr, WNBA great Candace Parker and two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. In a Q&A with The Associated Press, Ujiri says “I owe it to the youth of the continent.”

Global Citizen takes its fight against poverty to the world’s growing cities

July 10, 2025

Global Citizen is focusing on cities to combat extreme poverty amid global political gridlock. The international advocacy group sees local governments as key players in tackling the most pressing challenges such as climate change. On Thursday, Detroit hosted Global Citizen’s first U.S. conference outside New York. Global Citizen’s urban focus reflects projections that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. The organization’s leaders fear that trend will worsen concentrated poverty if local governments don’t start creating inclusive economic opportunities. To that end, it is launching a new partnership that aims to improve artificial intelligence literacy for 10 million people by 2030.

FILE - Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden arrives at the presentation of the Gershwin Prize, to be awarded to Joni Mitchell at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington March 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)

Former Librarian of Congress, fired by Trump, vows to improve public information in new Mellon role

July 7, 2025

Carla Hayden, the former Librarian of Congress fired by President Donald Trump, has joined the the country’s foremost philanthropic supporter of the arts. Announced Monday, she will serve as a senior Andrew W. Mellon Foundation fellow advising on efforts to advance public knowledge. Hayden, the first woman and African American to hold her previous role, was dismissed amid a conservative group’s accusations that she promoted “radical” material as the White House purged perceived opponents of Trump. Mellon says the appointment comes as libraries and other institutions face challenges such as artificial intelligence, funding withdrawals and censorship efforts.

FILE - Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, participates in the Gobal Citizen NOW conference in New York, Friday, April 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Yale’s law school dean will be the Ford Foundation’s new president

July 2, 2025

The Ford Foundation has announced Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken as its next president. Gerken, a leading expert on constitutional law and democracy, will succeed Darren Walker, who has led the foundation since 2013. Her tenure begins in November. The Ford Foundation, with a $16 billion endowment, focuses on social justice initiatives. Gerken brings extensive legal experience, including work on voting rights and increasing access for underrepresented students at Yale. She called it a profound honor to continue the foundation’s mission. Walker praised her dedication, saying her leadership will advance the foundation’s goals of equity and justice.

Taylor Mac’s ‘Prosperous Fools’ skewers wealthy philanthropists in a biting satire

June 23, 2025

A new play by MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Taylor Mac invites questions about the moral value of philanthropy in a society denounced by the comedy as “feudal.” In Taylor Mac’s new show, set at a not-for-profit dance company’s gala, a boorish patron goes mad trying vainly to wield his lacking creative capital. His antics only confirm the choreographer’s fears of selling out to a sleazy oligarch who represents everything his art opposes. The script reflects personal frustrations with philanthropy’s uneven power dynamics that Mac has navigated throughout a 30-year career in the arts.

ASCAP Foundation Executive Director Nicole George-Middleton, Stephen Schwartz and businesswoman Chandrika Tandon pose for a photo at the ASCAP Foundation's 50th anniversary celebration in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/James Pollard)

Meet the charitable foundation carrying the little-known legacy of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’

June 12, 2025

“Take Me out to the Ball Game” is more than just a song sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States. A nonprofit supporting young composers was formed fifty years ago with a bequest of the song’s royalties. The ASCAP Foundation provides money, lessons and mentorship to musicians at all career stages. But the foundation has had to identify new funding streams and reinvent programming. With dwindling arts funding and millions reportedly going without music education, its leaders have more recently sought to reach underserved communities. Iconic Broadway composer Stephen Schwartz says the nonprofit is filling gaps as the government “supports the arts less and less.”

WhyHunger marks 50 years of fighting for food security, a point of ‘pride and shame’

June 5, 2025

WhyHunger is celebrating 50 years of fighting to eradicate hunger at its root. Singer-songwriter Harry Chapin and radio DJ Bill Ayres founded the grassroots support organization in 1975 with the idea they could leverage their music industry connections to fund community groups advancing economic and food security. But the half-century mark reflects the sobering need for continued food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates more than 47 million people, including nearly 14 million children, lived in food-insecure households in 2023. Jen Chapin, Harry’s daughter and a WhyHunger board member, says it’s “embarrassing” that the nonprofit “is still relevant when hunger is a completely solvable problem.”

MrBeast aims to raise millions for his charity by offering a weekend experience to six-figure donors

June 2, 2025

MrBeast plans to turn the success of his Amazon Prime Video reality competition series into millions of dollars for charity. YouTube’s biggest creator is offering an exclusive weekend on the set of Beast Games Season 2 to the first 40 donors who make $100,000 gifts to his registered nonprofit. The invitation comes as MrBeast surpasses 400 million subscribers. Rallying that fervent following to make their own charitable contributions marks a new fundraising strategy for Donaldson and signals his continued philanthropic presence. Donaldson says: “I have some big charity projects I want to fund so I think it’s a win/win.”

Summer Dean, 27, poses for a portrait, Friday, May 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)

Philanthropy wants to build Gen Z’s confidence in institutions. Will youth empowerment foster trust?

May 28, 2025

Gen Z tends to lack trust in the major institutions that previous generations expected to safeguard their futures. The philanthropic sector is working to reverse that disillusionment by empowering Gen Z to make the structural change they so often seek. Born out of the idea that young people distrust institutions because they don’t feel served by the status quo, several initiatives are underway with hopes that more responsive institutions will be seen as more legitimate. For example, DoSomething has been boosting youth volunteering since 1993 and the nonprofit is now providing opportunities to make more lasting community change. Summer Dean, 27, says: “Young people — we’re not just victims of these systems. We have agency and we have power.”

James Pollard.