News

PepsiCo awards $5.4 million for clean water access in Latin America
PepsiCo will invest $3 million over three years in Agua Para el Planeta, a program it operates in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy in Latin America, while the PepsiCo Foundation will invest $2.4 million in support of new drinking water access programs in the region....

Educate Texas receives $4 million for STEM programing in Dallas County
Investments will support STEM education in the southern Dallas County independent school districts of Cedar Hill, DeSoto, and Lancaster....

UT's Dell Medical School receives $2 million for homelessness services
The gift from John Paul and Eloise DeJoria will establish an endowed chair focused on improving health services for people who are experiencing homelessness, including best practices for providing integrated health care, mental health services, and social resources....

Community Foundation Update (03/27/2021)
News and staff announcements from community foundations in Alaska, California, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island....

TCU and UNTHSC medical school receives anonymous gift
The gift will fund tuition for the 2021-22 academic year for the entire class of sixty students....

Comcast commits $1 billion over ten years to close digital divide
The ten-year commitment includes support for Comcast's Lift Zone initiative, which is working to establish WiFi-connected safe spaces in more than a thousand community centers nationwide, new donations of laptops and computers; grants for nonprofits working to create opportunities for low-income Americans; and continued investment in Internet Essentials....

Georgetown University School of Public Policy receives $100 million
The commitment includes $50 million for financial aid and scholarships and $50 million for critical investments in faculty and research, including a doubling of the school's faculty over the next decade....

Broad Institute awarded $300 million for data and life sciences center
Commitments of $150 million each from Schmidt Futures and the Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation will launch the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center, an initiative of the Broad Institute aimed at catalyzing a new scientific discipline at the intersection of biology and machine learning....

Gates Foundation awards $1.5 million in education grants
Awarded through Balance the Equation: A Grand Challenge for Algebra 1, the foundation's first ever U.S. education Grand Challenge, the Phase 1 grants will support projects designed to transform Algebra I from a "gatekeeper" into a "gateway" to success....

University of Texas at San Antonio receives $20 million gift
The gift from businessman Carlos Alvarez and his family will be used to advance research-enhancing activities, including endowed faculty positions, graduate research fellowships, and undergraduate research programs....

SU2C announces $6 million to increase diversity in clinical trials
The grant will support efforts to address the low participation rates of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in clinical cancer trials....

Greenlining Institute announces new strategic plan
The three-year plan commits the organization to working "towards a future where communities of color can build wealth, live in healthy places filled with economic opportunity, and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change"....

Conrad Prebys Foundation awards nearly $78 million in grants
The foundation's first round of competitive grants will support projects in the areas of arts and culture, conservation, education, health care, medical research, and youth development in the San Diego region....

Duke Endowment awards $25 million to Furman University
The grant will support the expansion and enhancement of Furman Advantage, a Duke Endowment-funded program launched in 2016 that provides every student with a personalized four-year pathway to graduation that includes academic advising, mentoring, and career guidance....

Daniels Fund announces 2021 Daniels Scholars
Two hundred and forty high school seniors from Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming will receive up to $25,000 a year in educational expenses to attend an accredited nonprofit college or university in the United States....

Report calls on arts funders to support 'Solidarity Economy'
A report from Grantmakers in the Arts provides an overview of the “Solidarity Economy,” a community-controlled ecosystem based on five principles — cooperation, intersectional equity, participatory democracy, pluralism, and sustainability — and how grantmakers can help strengthen it by supporting Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) arts workers and culture-bearers....

T. Denny Sanford commits $300 million for rural healthcare access
The gift will support efforts to improve access to affordable, high-quality health care in the rural Midwest, including a significant expansion of graduate medical education, an investment in community health and wellness, and a planned virtual hospital....

Rollins College receives $3 million for theater and dance complex
The gift was made in recognition of the college's efforts during the pandemic to ensure that students could pursue their studies without interruption....

Mellon Foundation awards $3 million to Silkroad for arts education
The grant will support a four-year capacity-building effort at the nonprofit founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma aimed at launching new music projects and expanding educational initiatives, with a focus on social justice and equity....

NFWF awards $1.6 million for projects in southeast Michigan
Awarded through the Southeast Michigan Resilience Fund, grants will support efforts to strengthen regional resilience through green infrastructure, preservation of the urban tree canopy, and riverbank and floodplain habitat restoration activities....

GAVI, Global Fund, USAID partner to improve supply chain efficiency
With the goal of improving health outcomes and the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in lower- and middle-income countries, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and USAID will jointly offer a training program designed to increase supply chain efficiency for medicines and healthcare supplies....

Ford Foundation commits $4.5 million to 'reclaim the border' campaign
Borealis Philanthropy, the Center for Cultural Power, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures will regrant funds from the foundation to support immigrants' rights advocates, artists, writers, and nonprofits in preserving stories that reflect the dignity and truth of border communities....

Kresge Foundation announces new focus on health equity
To help close the racial wealth gap and achieve health equity for all Americans, the foundation, through its new Community Investment for Health Equity focus area, will more explicitly apply a racial justice lens to community investment, put greater emphasis on community intermediaries who can build effective community investment ecosystems benefiting low-wealth BIPOC communities, and support innovative models of community ownership....

NFWF awards $9 million for Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline Project
The funds will be used by the Pensacola Bay Living Shoreline Project – White Island Habitat Restoration to construct emergent and submerged offshore breakwaters leading to the eventual creation of forty-five acres of marsh, fifteen acres of beach habitat, and ten acres of suitable habitat for natural recruitment of submerged aquatic vegetation....

People in the News (03/21/2021): appointments, promotions, obituaries
The latest staff and board announcements from the philanthropic sector....

Schmidt Futures announces winners of Tools Competition
Eighteen teams of entrepreneurs, learning scientists, and researchers will receive more than $1.5 million each to fund tools, technologies, platforms, and research that addresses a range of learning issues and goals....

Five grantmakers launch safeguarding collaborative
Housed at and administered by the Global Fund for Children, the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative will support global efforts to prevent abuse and exploitation....

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology receives $4 million gift
The gift from alumnus and trustee Mike Mussallem and his wife, Linda, will establish a scholarship program for students in northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland region....