Frank Azar – GM Plans Compensation Fund For Victims of Defective Vehicles

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The latest blog post from Frank Azar:

The long road to compensation for those injured or killed in accidents involving defective GM vehicles may be finally coming to an end. As reported in a recent blog post on the West Virginia Legal Examiner, GM has been working with the Center for Automotive Safety, as well as lawyers for the plaintiffs in drawing up the terms of the proposed plan. As it stands, there will be no monetary limit to the fund, and payments will be offered to claimants who had already settled out of court prior to the 2014 recall of the vehicles.

Claimants seeking payments from the fund would be required to prove that the air bags in the vehicle did not go off, a stipulation that is giving critics of the plan pause. How plaintiffs can be expected to prove that the air bags did not engage is anyone’s guess, but some are hoping that claimants whose vehicles powered off would benefit from presumption and be accepted.

The fund will open until the end of 2014 according to recent reports, which has some accusing GM of trying to hurry the process along before the Department of Justice and the NHTSA complete their investigations. Those findings may have relevance upon plaintiff’s claims and critics hope that GM allow victims to wait for results before having to accept payment.

The company has indicated that the fund will only exist to provide payments to parties who were injured or killed due to the defective vehicles, and will not be providing payments to individuals looking for compensation for economic matters. Claims based on complaints of the depreciation of the vehicle’s value will not be considered valid under the current plan.

In the plan as it currently exists, payments going to claimants may range from $20,000 to several million dollars.

Read more at West Virginia Legal Examiner or the Wall Street Journal.

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Frank Azar – Golf Tournaments A Boon To Charities

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The latest blog post from Frank Azar:

Charity golf tournaments have been on rise in recent years, meaning big money for the charities they support. In a recent article, the New York Times reports that the number of these organizations has grown to such extremes that organizations have to attract affluent golfers.

According to a survey conducted in 2011 by the National Golf Foundation, 143,000 charity golf events in that year that raised approximately $3.9 billion. But these tournaments mostly serve as a way for charities to attract new supporters and to also market their message. A representative from the World Golf Foundation indicated that 60 percent of the charities reported that their golf tournaments were very important to the success of their organizations.

The likelihood that the average recreational golfer will play in an amateur tournament of some kind is very unlikely. However, according to the representative of the World Golf Foundation it is very likely that one of those golfers will play in a charity tournament. 12 million golfers played in at least one charity tournament in 2011, a significant number considering that only about 25 million golfers play the game in U.S. Recreational golfers tend to be an older and more affluent crowd which makes them very desirable for attracting financial support.

The attraction of golf as a social event and the allure of playing on golf courses one might not otherwise play on is helping to raise revenue and awareness. Even high profile cultural organizations are finding golf tournaments to be a very important part of their fund raising operations. The Lincoln Center will host its third annual golf tournament at the end of June. Each of the previous two event raised roughly a half-million each.

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Frank Azar – Google’s Impact Challenge Supports Charitable Innovation

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The latest blog post from Frank Azar:

Google will contribute roughly £3.2m to 10 British charities that participate in the company’s Impact Challenge. The money will be given to UK nonprofits to develop and implement ideas meant change lives for the better throughout the world, ITPRO reports.

The ten charities chosen will each be given £200,000 in the Impact Challenge, an initiative from Google Giving developed to to inspire and facilitate innovation within the world of nonprofits as a way to do more good, faster. Of the ten chosen, one will be shortlisted by the public, while another three will be listed by a panel of expert judges. Each of these organizations will see their prize fund increased to £500,000.

In addition to funding, Google will provide mentoring for all 10 organizations in tandem with Nesta, an innovation charity. The charities run the gauntlet of charitable aims, from technological innovations, to curing social ills, and even biology research. Google and Nesta are looking to mentor charities that are looking to tackle an array of social issues but all look to, “To make a better world, faster.”

“We hope in the future to continue developing and supporting the charity and community sector to embrace digital technology and use it to create far more social impact at even greater scale,” Nesta said.

The organizations represented at the Impact Challenge cover a range of causes. Among those firms that have been shortlisted is Kew Gardens, a group looking to eliminate the threat of malaria around the world through the use of wearable acoustic sensors that detect mosquitoes. The Royal National Institute of Blind People develops smart glasses to help those with the sight impaired take advantage of what little sight the do possess. WeFarm helps geographically isolated farmers from all over the world the chance to connect with others and access crowdsourced data.

“Google’s Impact Challenge shows that innovation is crucial to success,”said panel judge Peter Jones, “You can’t stand still…These are non-profits doing great things that have a real impact on society.”

The Royal National Institute of Blind People is developing smart glasses to help those with limited vision make use of the little sight they have, the St Giles Trust has created an app that will allow for ex-offenders to be rehabilitated and WeFarm’s initiative is to help farmers in remote locations across the world connect with others via crowdsourced information.

Judge Peter Jones said: “After an inspiring process, we’ve unearthed ten exceptional projects from ten exceptional charities.

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