Grants

Opus Bank and the Opus Community Foundation announced that the foundation’s board of directors approved eight grant awards. These grants were awarded to eight nonprofit organizations that the bank and foundation believe will have an immediate and long-lasting impact.

These groups include Community Opus Project, H.E.L.P. of Los Angeles, Harmony Project, Junior Achievement of San Diego, Olive Crest, Peninsula Education Foundation, Rosie’s Garage and South Coast Repertory.

The Prudential Foundation board of trustees approved $3.4 million in grants to four Newark, N.J.-based organizations focused on education and youth development, and a national organization dedicated to bridging the gap between the skills workers have and the skills employers need them to have.

To help develop education leadership in Newark, the board approved $250,000 for The Newark Education Trust (NET), an independent local education fund that mobilizes money, people and organizations to support quality public schools for Newark children.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, a leader in the national anti-hunger community, has awarded more than $3 million to 286 carefully screened organizations fighting hunger in the United States, Israel and selected developing nations. Over its 25-year history, MAZON has made grants totaling more than $53 million.

For a complete list of 2011 grant recipients, please visit http://mazon.org/go/2011grants/

Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management announced that it is the recipient of a $3 million federal grant through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program administered by NeighborWorks® America.

Congress created the NFMC Program in 2007 to help families at risk of foreclosure by connecting them to trained housing counselors.

As an award recipient, Springboard will receive funding for counseling, counselor training, program support and operational oversight.

The McKnight Foundation awarded 128 grants totaling $14,248,000 in its second-quarter 2011 grantmaking. 
 
Of the $14.2 million total approved, $1.4 million went to 18 small and midsized arts organizations that model innovation in connecting artists and people, or that develop and deliver the work of Minnesota artists.

Morgan Stanley announced that the nonprofits Women’s Initiative for Self Employment, Feeding America and Episcopal Social Services received cash grants to implement pro bono strategic advice provided by Morgan Stanley professionals at the Third Annual Morgan Stanley Strategy Challenge. 

This year, the Strategy Challenge paired teams of outstanding Morgan Stanley professionals with 15 nonprofit organizations across the country for eight weeks to provide pro bono strategic advice on issues related to business model optimization, geographic and program expansion, and new ventures.

Learn how River City Food Bank transformed into a stronger, self-sustaining organization with a capacity-building grant from Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.

Verizon has extended the deadline by a week for New Jersey nonprofit organizations to submit proposals for grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 from the Verizon Foundation to support literacy programs across underserved communities in the Garden State. The new deadline is June 17.

The foundation will award grants to agencies that develop programs that are focused on building reading skills for children, teens and adults and incorporate technology through computer and Web-based literacy programs for minority and disabled residents in low-income communities across the state.

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.