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By Maria Saporta

The Rotary Club of Atlanta could not have found a more fitting speaker for its Thanksgiving message than Bill Bolling, founder of the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

What the folks at Rotary did not know is that Bolling will be receiving the top honor from Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians in January, 2012. Bolling probably is the first nonprofit leader to receive the magazine’s “Georgian of the Year” award.

Bolling began his talk by giving thanks for our freedom and our ability to agree to disagree. He thanked Rotary for being “one of those containers that holds the energy” to make Atlanta a stronger

By Maria Saporta

Fort McPherson’s officials are seeking Requests for Qualifications for firms interested in become the master developer for a 113-acre site south of downtown Atlanta.

The McPherson Implementing Local Redevelopment Authority will select a firm or a team of firms that will be able to guide the project through its development phases and provide professional services within the project’s scope.

Fort McPherson, a 488-acre military facility, was closed earlier this year. Planning for the redevelopment of the property has been underway for years.

By Maria Saporta

The Consulate General of France in Atlanta has reason to celebrate.

The second-annual France-Atlanta two-week gathering brought together a wide variety of people — elected officials, professional experts, scientists, diplomats, humanitarian leaders and performing artists to forge a closer relationship between the French and Georgians.

The theme of the 2011 conference was: “France-Atlanta: Together Towards Innovation,” a partnership between the French government, Georgia Tech and numerous other French and American organizations.

By Maria Saporta

The Woodruff Arts Center today sent an email to its governing board that it has received a $15 million grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to cover long deferred capital needs of the cultural institution.

The grant will be paid over the next two years.

In its letter to the center, the foundation stated: “This grant commitment is made in recognition of the substantial progress made in strengthening financial oversight and governance within the Woodruff Arts Center. Grant expenditures are to be

By Maria Saporta

As currently envisioned, Georgia Tech would redevelop the Crum & Forster block and keep more than the historic building’s facade but would want to tear down part of the building.

Lisa Grovenstein, Georgia Tech’s director of media relations, sent SaportaReport a couple of emails on Tuesday to elaborate further on the university’s conceptual plans for the block bordered by Spring Street, Fourth Street and West Peachtree Street and Amstead Place.

“In regard to your column on Crum & Forster, after checking with a number of people, I wanted to provide additional insight on future plans for that block of Technology Square,” Grovenstein wrote.

By Maria Saporta

The Walton Family Foundation announced today that it is investing $25.5 million in the KIPP Foundation over the next five years with the goal of doubling the number of students who attend the public charter schools across the country.

The grant will help families of 59,000 students attend KIPP’s schools by 2015. It also will assist the KIPP network’s goal to increase its college completion rates.

Since the KIPP Foundation’s inception, KIPP has grown to a national network of 109 public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. During the

By Maria Saporta

Sixty years. That’s how long the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has been a conduit between philanthropists and local charities and initiatives.

The foundation celebrated “the Community that Philanthropy Built” at its annual meeting Monday at the Temple — complete with a hilarious improvisation act with two leading Atlanta actors and playwrights — Tom Key and Rob Cleveland.

It also was an opportunity for the community foundation to look back to its inception.