In a difficult year for philanthropy, it’s important to recognize those who have helped steer this important economic sector through a time of great challenges.

Which is why we’re going to take time to note some of the people and organizations that will be recognized Nov. 19 at the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals National Philanthropy Day virtual awards for the Santa Barbara/Ventura counties chapter.

This year’s program starts at 3:30 p.m. and you can find out more at afpsbv.org/events/npd. It is presented by the Santa Barbara Foundation and the Ventura County Community Foundation.

Among the 2020 honorees are Kate McLean, Philanthropist of the Year, who has played an influential role in improving governance at a number of large nonprofits in Ventura County. Tragic fires, mass shooting and now the

COVID-19 pandemic have stretched regional nonprofits to the breaking point, but their resiliency comes in large part because of the enhanced capacity that is part of McLean’s legacy.

Another honoree, Professional Fundraiser of the Year Claudia Armann of the McCune Foundation, is also noteworthy. She has steered the foundation, named for Business Times Hall of Fame member Sara Miller McCune, through unprecedented challenges while advocating for social justice and continuing to think big.

Other honorees include Karen Allen at Creative Arts Workshop; the Zoomers to Boomers youth philanthropy project; social justice champions Krystel Farmer Sieghart and Simone Akila Rustkamp; and a special award to Kids & Families Together. And kudos to Karen Kawaguchi, AFP-SBV Board member and National Philanthropy Day Chair.

Pacific Coast Business Times is proud to be a media sponsor for this worthwhile effort on behalf of AFP-SBV, which has been promoting ethical and effective fundraising since 1986.

GOING AFTER GOOGLE
We’ll add our voice to those who say the federal government’s antitrust action against Google is a couple of decades late and likely to fall billions of dollars short.

The federal government is alleging that Google has a monopoly on search, and that it uses that power to push its own products and paid advertising over unpaid search results. The feds also think Google leverages its search monopoly to get more market share for its browser and other products—a charge similar to the one levied against Microsoft in the landmark antitrust action against it in the late 1990s.

A back-of-the-envelope calculation would suggest that somewhere between $20,000 and $100,000 a year is the retail value amount of revenue that Google and its Apple deal have siphoned away from Pacific Coast Business Times in advertising, subscriptions and unpaid search royalties. Multiply that over 20 years and you get $400,000 to $2 million—not a trivial amount.

We’re lucky to have survived in such an environment and we’re not holding our breath while we wait for the check. But what compensation would the government offer to newspapers that have folded or the thousands of newsroom employees who have lost their job?