Despite the pandemic that had businesses and nonprofits reeling throughout most of 2020, the year was an unprecedented one for donations, a new survey shows. Donor-advised fund (DAF) account holders at community foundations nationwide granted record amounts to help their ...
Read More »Despite COVID, 2020 unprecedented for donations
Despite global pandemic, M&A deals were still carried out 
Evans Bank was in the midst of a major acquisition in early 2020 when COVID-19 suddenly hit, and the world was put on pause. The situation raised questions for the financial institution. “We asked ourselves that, given the current environment, ...
Read More »Students’ mental health must take priority in pandemic recovery efforts 
New York State recently reached a sobering milestone: Just over one year ago a state of emergency was declared as the number of COVID-19 cases in the state began to climb. While we have, thankfully, made significant strides in our ...
Read More »Restaurants and bars eligible for federal grants 
Restaurants, wineries, brewpubs and bars are eligible to apply for federal relief, part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress last month. A pool of $28.6 billion will be used for grants issued through the Small Business ...
Read More »The growing popularity of the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) 
Former New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley recently described 2020 as “The Year of the SPAC” during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Indeed, these special purpose acquisition companies attracted gross investment proceeds of approximately $80 billion last year, ...
Read More »Lessons learned from COVID-19 era: How to improve communication 
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” — Randy Pausch The past 12 months have been anything but normal. The pandemic has certainly provided each of us with experience that we will never forget. In ...
Read More »Pandemic affects companies’ valuation, bringing challenges to the M&A market 
COVID-19 has had an impact on a company’s worth in the Mergers and Acquisition arena, with some saying that impact could continue post pandemic, as the market adjusts to a new normal. “COVID-19 definitely complicated things,” says Michael Tota, director ...
Read More »An overview of today’s M&A market — many buyers, low inventory 
Normally, when owners of closely held businesses want to sell or transfer, there is not much liquidity in those enterprises and not very many buyers, says Tony Cotroneo, co-chair of Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP’s merger and acquisitions group. But currently the market ...
Read More »A call to action for RBJ’s Power 100 
I’d like to start this column by thanking the Rochester Business Journal for the honor of being named to their inaugural Power 100, along with a very distinguished list of 99 other individuals. The RBJ team did an excellent job ...
Read More »Excellus BCBS offers educational COVID-19 vaccine website 
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is working to help the community become vaccine ready during National Minority Health Month. Excellus BCBS has created a dedicated COVID-19 website that offers up-to-the-minute information on what individuals need to know such as how to schedule ...
Tagged with: covid excellus excellus bluecross blueshield vaccine
Read More »Lilac Festival returns with a retro, weekends-only feel 
The Lilac Festival is going retro, reverting to the format of yesteryear as it kicks off Rochester’s festival season and a return to near-normalcy. Instead of operating for 10 consecutive days, the 2021 Lilac Fest will welcome visitors to Highland ...
Read More »New York tribal communities receive federal funding 
More than $3.7 million in federal block grants have been made available for seven New York tribal communities through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Housing Block Grants Program, including two communities in the Rochester and Finger ...
Tagged with: american rescue plan funding native americans tribal communities
Read More »New task force seeks solutions to county’s digital divide 
A task force of local government partners and community leaders will assess internet services in low-income and rural areas of Monroe County in hopes of finding solutions to close service gaps and eliminate access barriers. The Monroe County Advisory Task ...
Read More »Manufacturers adjust supply chains to lessen future disruptions 
The COVID-19 pandemic shook up supply chain operations for manufacturers, who acted quickly to lessen the impact. Those in the field say they are now taking steps to realign their supply chains to minimize potential disruptions in the future. “It ...
Read More »Manufacturers, distributors prepping for economic reopening 
It has been a long year with heavy focus on the present as people, businesses and governments battled crises and solved the immediate problems on hand, but with vaccination rates rising and COVID-19 cases slowing, manufacturers, distributors and other businesses ...
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