In the past 25 years, over 2 billion people have gained access to improved sources of drinking water. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization announced the Millennium Development Goals for water had already been reached. The efforts of nonprofits, private businesses and governments are to be lauded for this great success.
Although, as a whole,
Imagine that you are online and all of the sudden you have the urge to participate in a lottery. A day later, you discover that you have won $100 million. You now have it made, right? Actually, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, up to 70 percent of people who unexpectedly gained large
According to research conducted by the Cox Family Enterprise Center, 80 percent of the world’s businesses are family-owned, and 60 percent in the U.S. In fact, in this country, family-run businesses account for more than half of the gross domestic product.
Perhaps neither of the first two statistics are surprising. But, consider that nearly 35 percent
John Hoffmire, PhD Director of the Center on Business and Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin School of Business, Chairman, Progress Through Business
Thomas Harms, Director, Progress Through Business
Copyright © 2009 by Filene Research Institute. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-932795-58-5
Printed in U.S.A.
Progress is the constant replacing of the best there is with something still better!— Edward
I know that many will say: “But the choice is not whether wealth should be taxed or given way.” Stay with me for a few paragraphs.
In 2006, Warren Buffet made the decision to gradually give away all of his Berkshire Hathaway stock, amounting to billions of dollars. Buffet says, “More than 99 percent of my
On March 26, the value of shares in King Digital, maker of Candy Crush, fell 16 percent in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Some people lost a lot of money on this company that makes games. At the same time, lots of others have done very well, as managers and early
In the fight against poverty, few issues are more contentious than the allocation of the billions of dollars set aside to help those in need. Whether the money comes from private donations or state tax revenues, arguments over how to use the monies arise both in domestic and international politics. This debate usually focuses on balancing
The New Year is here and of course that means it’s time to be concerned about paying income tax. And once again help is being offered in Madison, Wisconsin to low and moderate-income workers.
Stephanie Thompson, a former Vista volunteer with Progress Through Business is coordinating our free tax help program in Madison in her new
Another tax preparation site started with major support from Progress Through Business is run by UW-Marathon County in Wausau, is facilitated by the AmeriCorps VISTA program and falls under the umbrella of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. This program fits into the mandate of both the UW Colleges and UW-Extension.
UWMC VITA programs
Volunteers in Madison, Wisconsin helped complete more than 490 federal income tax returns this season. Sixty-two volunteers working under the aegis of the UW Credit Union offered the free help in eight locations around the city.
Evan Smith, a junior accounting major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was one of the trained volunteers. A native of
Volunteer efforts to help low-and middle-income workers complete federal and state income tax forms resulted in refunds of over $1,000,000 in Wisconsin and Arizona for the tax year 2011.
At Arizona Central Credit Union the help offered for 27 returns resulted in $36,509 in federal refunds and $7532 in state refunds.
At St. John’s Hospital, help with
COMPLETING FREE TAX FORMS FOR LOW INCOME EMPLOYEES – completing over 900 low-income employees’ tax forms for free. For example, the $8/hour employees we helped, our research shows, received a benefit worth a 3% raise as our tax preparers found advantages and credits that employees would have missed.
The 900 tax forms completed this year showed
For what we believe is the second time in the world, an ongoing class will be taught as part of a major MBA program. The Said Business School at the University of Oxford will have classes taught by John Hoffmire – beginning in both September of this year and April of next year.
The focus of
Plans are being made to privatize Royal Mail, the distribution entity of the UK government which delivers letters and packages. As part of this transaction, upon completion, employees will receive 10% of the company stock. The value of this stock is estimated to be worth approximately $3000 per employee, which is proposed to be shared
Every December, for the past 170 years, Ebenezer Scrooge has been haunted and redeemed. In print, on stage or on film, his story, through years of adaptations, has become part of our folklore. The dreadful, heart-of-stone miser who sees the error of his ways in time to become a truly good man: a staunch friend,
James Lee Sorenson donates $13 million to the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah for the creation of the James Lee Sorenson Center for Global Impact Investing Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
Philanthropy in Utah took a large step on Jan. 29 when the business school at the
Survivors from the world of drug addiction and the dark world of sex trafficking and violence often have heart-wrenching stories; girls and women with so much potential, lost to the pain and suffering of sexual exploitation. The hope in these stories can be found in the resiliency of survivors and their ability to create meaningful
From the year 2009 through 2012, “crowdfunding,” a new type of fundraising, grew 91 percent in its worldwide funding volume. Over those four years,its funding volume increased from $530 million to $2.8 billion. What is this fast-growing fundraising phenomenon? It involves a combination of the Internet and social networking to attract a wide variety of interested donors and investors to
As Africa awakes to its enormous promises and confronts the challenges that it must surmount, the recent World Economic Forum Africa Summit in 2013 reflected on how Africa’s entrepreneurs can be transformed into global champions.
The key points that emerged were that, though entrepreneurship is growing rapidly in Africa, there are significant difficulties and barriers that entrepreneurs must confront. Lack of access
