Grants

The Syracuse-based Gifford Foundation has announced capacity-building grants totaling more than $900,000 to six area community development and human service organizations that are part of the Advancing and Developing the Assets and Value of Nonprofits in Syracuse (ADVANS) initiative.

Launched in 2007, the initiative engages organizations in an intensive one- to three-year assessment and business planning process. Organizations that participate in the business planning component of the program will receive an additional $100,000 to implement their plans, along with three years of consulting support valued at $55,000.

Certain ideas make so much sense that one wonders why no one thought of them sooner. Case in point: Global leaders struggled for decades to think of a way to improve education. Ten years ago, Fred Mednick, Ph.D., started his nonprofit aimed at supporting those who can best provide that education.

An innovative capcity-building grant from Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento helps small nonprofits learn to become self-sustaining organizations built for the long haul.

The federal government is trying to make it easier to apply for one of its grants for innovative ideas to improve education. But with budget cuts there’s a lot less money to give away this year. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Education gave out $650 million to 49 school districts, charter organization, colleges, universities and other nonprofit organizations with entrepreneurial ideas for improving the nation’s schools. The U.S. Department of Education is announcing Friday that this year there’s $150 million available for the second round of Investments in Innovation, or i3 grants.

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, announced a $50-million challenge spurring existing and new donors at every level to give, or increase giving, to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The Challenge is now in effect and will match all new or increased gifts to The Michael J. Fox Foundation on a one-to-one basis through year-end 2012.

JPMorgan Chase announced the names of the small and local charities that will receive grants totaling more than $5 million through its Community Giving Program.

Facebook users selected New York City-based IELADEINU — a Chabad of Argentina Relief Appeal program that works to protect the rights of children and teenagers who have been maltreated, abused, and abandoned — to receive the $500,000 top prize. Four runners-up will receive grants ranging from $200,000 to $400,000. They include the Petfinder.com Foundation, Sonia and Max Silverstein Hebrew Academy, Youth Education in the Arts and the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

Mark and Terri Little presented the Schenectady Free Health Clinic with a $50,000 donation that will be used to purchase generic drugs for its patients. They used their own foundation to match a $25,000 grant for charity that Mark Little, the head of GE Global Research, received from General Electric Chairman Jeff Immelt in January.

Grants like this one are critical to maintain the clinic's operation in the community. The clinic now operates primarily from private donations and grants, ever since losing the bulk of its state funding about four years ago.

The Nonprofit Finance Fund named 12 Philadelphia-area nonprofit organizations that will receive grants and technical assistance through the Capital and Capacity for Economic Recovery (CCER) program. The program has awarded $600,000 to nonprofits in much-needed financial resources, paired with technical assistance designed to strengthen long-term fiscal heath — all with the end goal of improving job training services and other economic development support for Philadelphians. This second round of CCER awards comes as results from the first allocation demonstrate the broad impact of the program.

Opus Bank and the Opus Community Foundation announced that the Foundation’s board of directors approved 13 grant awards. The grant awards will provide financial support to nonprofit organizations that make a positive and meaningful impact in the community and improve the quality of life of individuals and families, particularly the least advantaged, living in Opus Bank's communities.

A $5.375 million, multiyear grant recently awarded to the Alliance for Children and Families by The Kresge Foundation will encourage Alliance members to elevate the role of strategy in their work.

Recognizing that nonprofits face difficult challenges in achieving greater capacity and sustainable futures, the grant — the largest the Alliance has ever received — will underwrite the implementation and evaluation of various strategy models at 19 Alliance member agency pilot sites.