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Donations wanted to restore humane society HVAC unit

Daily SF News — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 19:27:46 +0000

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. — With this 90-degree weather, most likely have their air conditioners on.

But at the Humane Society of St. Joseph County, one of the HVAC units failed.

Luckily, the animals are doing well and a temporary mobile unit is keeping the animals cool, but they need help to fix the unit.

The air conditioning broke just before Memorial Day weekend, so the affected area was temporarily fitted with extra fans to keep the animals comfortably cool on these hot days.

Replacing the device could cost as much as $4,000, so they are seeking community donations to help make this important repair possible.

Managing Director Jenny Brown said the facility is 13 years old and has eight or nine HVAC units.

Both the area for adoption dogs and the area for taking in new cats were affected by the glitch.

The staff managed to kill the cats, but they have nowhere else to put the dogs, so they’re now keeping them cool while also calling on the community for help.

“Without an HVAC unit, the temperature in there is going to get to 80, 80 degrees and up, which is a health hazard in those areas and the people who work there,” Brown said. “So we want to make sure we limit that possibility by having working equipment here at the shelter.”

To help or learn more, click here.

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Beatrice Bowles, a San Francisco heiress who forged off excessive society to host events for the counterculture, dies at 78

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 16:09:58 +0000

It was after Miss Burke’s School for girls and Vassar College for women, after the Debutante Ball, after the wedding at Grace Cathedral and after two kids were born that Beatrice Bowles became bored with San Francisco high society.

First she got divorced, then she replaced the doors in her Russian Hill home with beaded curtains and started throwing parties. She became a storyteller in grade schools, published a book and recorded six audio storybooks.

That was during the day. At night, she danced the tango.

Throughout her transformation, “Bea” or “Bebe,” as she was alternately known, was warm and funny and generous with her time and money, which derived from two of San Francisco’s oldest empires.

Bowles died Oct. 19 after complications from minor outpatient surgery. She was 78. Her death was confirmed by her son, Cannon Michael of Los Banos (Merced County).

“She sort of missed the ’60s, but she found a way to drag them into the ’70s,” Michael said. “It was an interesting way to grow up. She was full of love and creative energy.”

Bowles moved in and out of two distinctly San Francisco worlds — the culture and the counterculture — and she endeavored to mix them together when she could. Her parties were notorious, with the likes of Gov. Jerry Brown, state appeals court Justice Tony Kline and a variety of forward-thinking authors.

“She had a broad circle of friends, everyone from her tree trimmer to Charles Reich,” the author of “The Greening of America,” a classic psalm of the counterculture, said her brother, Henry Bowles of Alameda.

“She connected up everyone in the city — artists, photographers, dancers, filmmakers.”

When Bowles took up tango dancing with his longtime partner, fiction writer Terence Clarke, she went at it the way she went at everything: full tilt and with maximum enthusiasm.

“They went to Argentina and danced in the clubs of Buenos Aires,” said her brother, “which was pretty bold for a couple of old Irish people.”

Beatrice Bowles reading to children at a tea party.

Courtesy of Nancy Dionne

Beatrice Virginia Bowles was born Aug. 29, 1943, in New Jersey, where her father, Henry Miller Bowles, served as a captain in the US Army Signal Corps during World War II. Her mother, Constance Crowley Bowles, was a homemaker and volunteer . Both the Bowles and Crowley families date to the 1850s in San Francisco.

On her father’s side, Bowles descended from Henry Miller, who emigrated penniless from Germany in 1850. His modest beginnings as a butcher flourished over time: He would eventually be known as “the cattle king” and became one of the largest landowners in California. Part of that legacy lives on as Bowles Farming, 9,000 acres of vegetables overseen by Cannon Bowles, the sixth generation to be involved in the family business.

One her mother’s side was Tom Crowley, who started out in a rowboat delivering supplies to ships anchored in San Francisco Bay. He built it into Crowley Maritime, a family-owned shipping company based in Jacksonville, Fla.

During his freshman year at Vassar, Bowles was introduced to San Francisco society at the Cotillion Ball, an exclusive black-tie-and-white-glove affair held at the Palace Hotel. She completed her degree in English literature in 1965 and began writing short stories when she came home to San Francisco.

Soon thereafter, she married Peter Z. Michael, whom she’d known since she was a senior at Miss Burke’s School and he was a freshman at UC Berkeley. The newlyweds lived in a flat in Pacific Heights, with concert impresario Bill Graham as their upstairs neighbor. This got the couple invited up to parties with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, in heavy rooms with marijuana smoke.

“Bea was always open to interesting people and ideas,” Michael said.

They left that scene so Michael could fulfill a two-year obligation to the US Army at Fort Sill, Okla. Afterward, New York City, the couple’s next stop was, and they had a daughter, Amanda, in 1968. They lived in a dormitory at New York University, where Michael pursued a master’s degree in tax law. Their dinner table was an ironing board.

They returned to San Francisco in 1970 and bought a shingled craftsman above the Broadway Tunnel that had been owned by her uncle, Thomas Crowley, the tugboat magnate. A son, Cannon, was born in 1972. The couple were divorced in 1974, leaving Beatrice with two young kids, and her original name of Bowles.

That’s when she replaced the doors with beaded curtains, and replaced all of the furniture with oversize cushions.

“She’d build a fire in the fireplace, and we sat on cushions to eat dinner out of wooden bowls,” said Amanda Michael, who did the baking in the family. She now owns Jane, a cafe bakery group with four locations in San Francisco.

“I learned from my mom to follow what your passion is,” Michael said. “I use food to connect people, and my mom was one of the great connectors of people.”

Beatrice Bowles spurned high society to party with a different crowd at her Russian Hill home.

Courtesy of Nancy Dionne

Some of her mom’s connections came from the San Francisco Botanical Society and Earth Island Institute, Bowles’ two main charitable causes. She’d also invite people she met at tango nightclubs. There was room for a hundred or more in her garden.

A good source of attendees was her niece Nellie Bowles, former Chronicle and New York Times tech reporter. For several years, Bowles lived in her aunt’s downstairs in-law unit. The two of them collaborated on parties. Dry martinis were served upstairs. Dry ice Negronis were downstairs.

“Upstairs was the older crowd, and downstairs were a bunch of 22-year-olds just out of college,” Nellie Bowles said. “Aunt Bea would have us upstairs for food and dancing, and then when it got too rowdy she’d send us back downstairs,” she said, employing the French term for “aunt.”

Bowles was disciplined about her writing, done in longhand on legal pads at her desk with a view of the bay. She’d take a Greek myth or a tale of California history and modernize it in a way that kids would understand.

Before she took a story into schools, she would memorize it. It was more an animated performance than a strict reading. She booked her own tours in both independent and public schools in the city, the Peninsula, Marin and public libraries.

“She would tell three or four stories and then open it up to questions,” her daughter said. “She was very much about respecting all views and teaching kids to be open and accepting.”

Bowles was paid from time to time, but she’d also do it for free if money was an obstacle. A collection of her stories was published as “Spider Grandmother’s Web of Wonders,” in 2020. She was eager to get out and read from it when COVID-19 closed the schools and libraries. Even then, she recorded her stories, and they live on her website, beatricebowles.com.

“Bea was magic. She really was,” her brother said. “She had a way of befriending people from every walk of life, and they all loved her.”

A public memorial will be held at 2 pm Tuesday, Nov. 23, in the San Francisco County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park. Donations in her name may be made to the San Francisco Botanical Garden and Earth Island Institute.

In addition to her son and daughter, Bowles is survived by her brothers, Henry Bowles of Alameda and Philip Bowles of San Francisco, and five grandchildren.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@samwhitingsf

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New TechSoup International Research Finds Civil Society Organizations Transferring to Undertake Cloud-Primarily based Companies and Cybersecurity Instruments, However Challenges Stay

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 09:33:54 +0000

A global survey of the sector shows COVID-19 is moving to the cloud faster for nonprofits, but planning, skills and resource gaps remain.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2021 / PRNewswire / – TechSoup, the leading not-for-profit network facilitating the distribution of technology solutions to civil society organizations worldwide, today released the results of the largest global civil society research study ever conducted to understand computing practices and digital readiness of nonprofits and identify ways organizations like TechSoup can drive digital transformation of nonprofits and improve the impact on the sector.

The study, commissioned by TechSoup and supported in part by a generous grant from Okta for Good, interviewed 11,758 civil society technology decision-makers in 135 countries and in 41 languages. Survey distribution partners included TechSoup Global Network, BoardSource, Center for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Civicus, Institute for the Development of Social Investment, Technology Association of Grantmakers, RNW Media, Transparency and Accountability Initiative, and WINGS.

“Okta for Good is proud to sponsor this global research project that is providing valuable insights into the digital needs of nonprofits,” said Erin Baudo Filzer, Vice President for Social Impact and Sustainability at Okta. “The scope and scope of this study shows a sector that is making significant strides but needs better tools and programs to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

“As a global alliance of organizations and activists committed to empowering citizenship and civil society around the world, it is critical that we understand the digital state of civil society around the world,” added Amy Taylor, Chief Networks Officer of Civicus. “With its global reach and comprehensive analysis of organizations’ needs and capabilities, this study helps define how activists and organizations engage in a digital world to serve, support, engage and inspire our most vulnerable communities. ”

The study, carried out in summer 2020, asked companies about IT resources, digital readiness, data management and the effects of COVID-19. The most important findings include:

Tech Budgets: IT budgets are typically low but are likely to increase over the next 2 years. Most decisions about IT products and services are made at the employee level, with an average purchase size of $ 375 Need permits. The number of people working on an IT team is limited and volunteers are often used.
Transition Ready ?: A quarter of nonprofits have a defined strategy for achieving digital readiness. The biggest barriers to digital adoption, digital enhancement, and data management are cost, employee training, and availability.
Data processing: Most organizations collect recipient, donor, and financial information. Across all data types, cloud-based data storage is the most widely used option today.
Killer App: Organizations rely on spreadsheets for all aspects of data handling, including collecting, storing and sharing data.
Pandemic focus: The major negative effects of COVID-19 affected workflows across the company and prompted a rethinking of the way they work. Most programs, fundraising and marketing have been negatively impacted while internal communication has improved. COVID-19 has sparked digital adoption primarily in cloud-based apps, followed by hardware and desktop apps.
Need for Nonprofits: The adoption of cloud-based services, cybersecurity tools and other digital resources could be accelerated by increased funding, access to IT consultants / staff to facilitate digital transformation, staff skills or training and increased awareness of available digital tools become.

“Our global study is an important first step in moving beyond the rhetoric and conventional wisdom about nonprofits and technology,” said Chris Worman, TechSoup vice president of alliances and program development. “This gives us comprehensive baseline data that will enable us to hit the industry where it is and develop programs that support digital transformation and maturity so that our industry can thrive through digitization.”

To further explore the findings from the survey, TechSoup will convene a series of workshops with key stakeholders from civil society, foundations, government, business and the TechSoup community. In addition, a dashboard is created to share the data so that others can make their own inquiries and increase the collective benefit to the industry.

You can access a copy of the TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study here.

About studying
The TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study is based on an online survey of nonprofit IT decision makers that was conducted in the summer of 2020. The survey was conducted through the TechSoup Global Network (TSGN) and other industry organizations such as Civicus, WINGS, BoardSource, TAG, CSIP, RNW, TAI and IDIS to reach global reach and was an open link with anonymous responses. A total of 11,758 qualified answers from 135 countries and 41 languages were considered.

Via the TechSoup Global Network
The TechSoup Global Network brings together over 60 organizations on six continents who work together to help more than 1.3 million NGOs meet the world’s most pressing needs. The partners, who work in 39 languages, are all united by a commitment to achieving social impact through access to technology. Together, the TechSoup Global Network partners have a big impact.

About TechSoup
For more than 30 years, TechSoup has provided the transformative technology solutions, the digital platforms and the personal experiences that enable people to work together for a fairer world. TechSoup manages the only global philanthropy program that brings together more than 825 companies and foundations to make technology donations to NGOs everywhere. TechSoup’s data and validation services enable companies, foundations, and governments to connect their philanthropic resources with verified NGOs around the world. TechSoup has reached more than 1.3 million NGOs and distributes technology products and grants worth more than. enables $ 15 billion. https://www.techsoup.org/

Media contacts
TechSoup Media Relations
[email protected]
720-470-3653

SOURCE TechSoup Global

New TechSoup International Examine Finds Civil Society Organizations Shifting to Undertake Cloud-Based mostly Companies and Cybersecurity Instruments, However Challenges Stay

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:29:42 +0000

A global survey of the sector shows COVID-19 is moving to the cloud faster for nonprofits, but planning, skills and resource gaps remain.

TechSoup logo (PRNewsfoto / TechSoup)

The story goes on

The study, carried out in summer 2020, asked companies about IT resources, digital readiness, data management and the effects of COVID-19. The most important findings include:

Tech Budgets: IT budgets are typically low but are likely to increase over the next 2 years. Most decisions about IT products and services are made at the employee level, with an average purchase size of $ 375 Need permits. The number of people working on an IT team is limited and volunteers are often used.
Transition Ready ?: A quarter of nonprofits have a defined strategy for achieving digital readiness. The biggest barriers to digital adoption, digital enhancement, and data management are cost, employee training, and availability.
Data processing: Most organizations collect recipient, donor, and financial information. Across all data types, cloud-based data storage is the most widely used option today.
Killer App: Organizations rely on spreadsheets for all aspects of data handling, including collecting, storing and sharing data.
Pandemic focus: The major negative effects of COVID-19 affected workflows across the company and prompted a rethinking of the way they work. Most programs, fundraising and marketing have been negatively impacted while internal communication has improved. COVID-19 has sparked digital adoption primarily in cloud-based apps, followed by hardware and desktop apps.
Need for Nonprofits: The adoption of cloud-based services, cybersecurity tools and other digital resources could be accelerated by increased funding, access to IT consultants / staff to facilitate digital transformation, staff skills or training and increased awareness of available digital tools become.

You can access a copy of the TechSoup Data Handling and Digital Readiness Global Study here.

About TechSoup
For more than 30 years, TechSoup has provided the transformative technology solutions, the digital platforms and the personal experiences that enable people to work together for a fairer world. TechSoup manages the only global philanthropy program that brings together more than 825 companies and foundations to make technology donations to NGOs everywhere. TechSoup’s data and validation services enable companies, foundations, and governments to connect their philanthropic resources with verified NGOs around the world. TechSoup has reached more than 1.2 million NGOs and distributes technology products and grants worth more than. enables $ 15 billion. https://www.techsoup.org/

Media contacts
TechSoup Media Relations
mo.shafroth@shafroth.com
720-470-3653

Cision

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SOURCE TechSoup Global

The post New TechSoup International Examine Finds Civil Society Organizations Shifting to Undertake Cloud-Based mostly Companies and Cybersecurity Instruments, However Challenges Stay appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Engineering Information Report Names Monzer Hourani of Houston as Prime Engineer of the Yr and Award of Excellence Recipient for Warp Pace Deployment of Breakthrough COVID-19 Killing HVAC Filter Endorsed by American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 06:11:15 +0000

Bloomberg

With $ 1 trillion in hardship, debtors find junk

(Bloomberg) – For investment firms profiting from buying the debt of troubled companies, this seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: a pile of $ 1 trillion in bad bonds and loans in America alone when the pandemic hit the markets broke down in March last year. But after a massive federal bailout and rock-bottom interest rates kept even some of the shakiest companies afloat, those juicy targets have shrunk to less than $ 100 billion. The bad debt specialists, who once had to spend $ 131 billion last year, are rummaging through bargains that are always elusive. Even the real estate sector, which has been ravaged by offices, hotels and shops after the pandemic, has managed to avoid an epic wipe for the time being. How do distressed investors – often among the most savvy in the markets – get involved? all that money? Some, like Caspian Capital, decided to give some money back to investors as the rewards would no longer justify the high risks. Others look further afield. Olympus Peak Asset Management addresses unpaid supplier claims in companies that are already bankrupt. Arena Investors looks for convertible bonds and real estate loans that have been issued by banks. And business giants like Oaktree Capital Management are looking for opportunities in Asia: “People don’t invest, they just hunt,” said Adam Cohen, Caspian’s Managing Partner. This comes with an added dose of risk, according to Howard Marks, co-founder of Oaktree, the dean for distressed investments. “To get higher returns these days, you have to be willing to give credit to someone who isn’t clearly coming back,” Marks said in a Bloomberg television interview. The money continues to flow nonetheless, and the managers have made some progress in finding new places to express it. According to advisors at Preqin.For Arena Investors, a $ 2.2 billion investment firm that has gotten smaller and nimble, around 40 funds – from Oaktree to Angelo Gordon & Co. – have around 35 billion between this year and last year US dollars collected. said the chairman of the board, Dan Zwirn. That’s because 80% of troubled companies owed less than $ 1 billion in early April, and about 60% of companies that filed for bankruptcy last year owed less than $ 500 million. That leaves too many larger firms chasing after the few big situations that are left. “When you write checks for $ 100 million, the competition is excessively high,” said Zwirn. Arena wagered almost all of the $ 519 million it raised on a Special Opportunity Strategy last year that targets industries displaced by the pandemic. Among other things, they worked in the following areas: real estate loans, loans for special situations in the areas of energy and aviation as well as litigation financing. Closer LendingFund managers like Olympus Peak are also looking for companies too small to capitalize on the seemingly limitless bond and equity markets that were boosted by the unprecedented wave of federal incentives last year. Large borrowers in the public market have now largely been taken over. Smaller companies, on the other hand, have relied more on banks for liquidity. And the percentage of banks making it harder to get a loan is still high at 11.4%, according to the Federal Reserve, well above the 1.9% average since the great financial crisis you need your position hold because if you sell them there is nothing else to buy, ”said Jason Dillow, chairman of the board of $ 8.4 billion Bardin Hill Investment Partners, according to those familiar with the portfolios, Bardin Hill is trying various tactics to drive returns To Boost: In early February, Bardin Hill raised $ 600 million on privately negotiated loans and deployed about 78% of that. The money went to high-end cruise lines, fitness, technology, healthcare, and education, as well as alternative assets like insurance-covered receivables. Olymppus Peak, which operates a $ 1.4 billion hedge fund, launched a $ 300 million fund this month in bankruptcy claims. So-called trade receivables are often small, illiquid and labor-intensive and therefore less attractive for a larger fund. Angelo Gordon raised $ 3.5 billion at the start of the pandemic and invested everything plus $ 1 billion in recycled capital. The company preferred high-yield, privately-negotiated financing with strong protections for its investments identified in its agreements. Centerbridge Partners’ Special Credit III strategy invested $ 1.8 billion in March and April 2020. Since then, 90% of these positions have been negotiated. The money has been redeployed into growth companies like HCI Group Inc. and bailout funding for companies like cinema chains like AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., UK subsidiary Odeon and Cineworld Group Plc. In February, Monarch Alternative Capital had invested more than 60% of the $ 3 billion it raised last year for its latest distressed loan fund. The company lent bankrupt companies after the pandemic temporarily closed them. The plan included a franchisee for Wendy’s and Pizza Hut, Ann Taylor’s parent company Ascena Retail Group, and the owner of Chuck E. Cheese. Monarch looked beyond the pandemic, stepping up investments at times to keep the companies alive. DE Shaw & Co. The company on Tuesday raised $ 1 billion for its latest private loan fund targeting stressed assets and financing with a 5-year investment window. For Cohen’s $ 3.5 billion Caspian capital, NPL investing is too tight a mandate in today’s world. The firm expanded into stressed-out firms. The company is aiming for returns of 10% to 15% or loans that trade between 70 and 90 cents on the dollar but are not in arrears. Investors got $ 565 million back. “Money always burns a hole in your pocket,” said Cohen. “The best you can do now is not to make a mistake. This can save you a lot more money than mediocre trades can bring you. “Of course, companies with patient capital don’t have to invest right away, and there could be a bigger wave of opportunity after policymakers scaled back economic support. Meanwhile, Oaktree intends to raise $ 15 billion for its latest distressed fund and its cash to be used outside the USA. So far, according to public documents, only about 10% of the committed capital has been drawn as of February. Oaktree’s pitch to investors cited nearly $ 5 trillion in opportunities across Asia, mainly China, including bad loans, bonds, shadow bank loans and leveraged loans. The remaining question is whether the remaining distressed assets are for recovery or whether they are simply being kept afloat by a historic dead cat leap that does not last. “If you had a fundamentally strong business, you would have found the liquidity to meet the challenges of 2020,” said Chris Acito, chief investment officer of Gapstow Capital Partners, a New York-based firm focused on the selection of loan fund managers. “Many of the distressed companies have flawed business models that are difficult to revive.” (Updates with DE Shaw on last point. Arena Investors’ name was corrected in an earlier version.) Other articles such as Find it with us at bloomberg.com. Sign up now to stay up to date with the most trusted business news source. © 2021 Bloomberg LP

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