Grants

Over the past decade, U.S. foundation support explicitly benefiting Native Americans declined from 0.5 percent to 0.3 percent of total foundation giving. According to Foundation Funding for Native American Issues and Peoples, released by Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) and the Foundation Center, total grant dollars targeting Native Americans dropped 30.8 percent in the latest year, compared to a 12.4 percent overall downturn in foundation giving.

The economy … well … sucks at the moment! But does that really mean nobody is giving? Nope! Fundraising is alive and well and even thriving. I have 10 tips to help you get your share of the money that's going around.

The Levine Museum of the New South has nearly doubled its goal of raising $350,000 in its 20th anniversary year, raising more than $635,000 since last fall, and received a challenge grant from The Leon Levine Foundation that could total $3 million over 10 years. The anniversary fundraising effort, which will fund programming in the next fiscal year and begin to build reserves for the future, included a $150,000 matching gift from The Leon Levine Foundation.

Developing genetic interventions that target the immune system and creating personalized cancer vaccines are just two of more than 80 innovative research grants being funded this year by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The world’s largest breast cancer organization announced it will fund $55 million toward research grants at 56 institutions across the U.S. and internationally in 2011 and nearly $3 million toward 33 grants to support patient support conferences and programs.

The Pew Charitable Trusts announced that it will provide $7,168,000 over the next three years to 45 Philadelphia-area organizations that serve some of the region’s most vulnerable adults. These agencies help low-income individuals with limited education and work skills to obtain competitive employment; expand the availability of proven treatment approaches for persons with serious mental illness or substance abuse; and ensure a comprehensive array of services for adults with multiple needs, thereby enhancing their prospects for greater independence.

The United Service Organizations (USO) has announced a $5 million lead gift from the Northrop Grumman Foundation for a new Wounded Warrior and Family Center at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

To be operated by the USO of Metropolitan Washington, the 25,000-square-foot facility will provide troops and their families with a variety of programs and support services and will be a place where they can find relief and understanding amid the rigors of rehabilitation and reintegration.

Six months after announcing a headline-grabbing $100 million donation to Newark’s schools, the first installment of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s grant will finally reach city classrooms.

The nearly $1 million award, granted to five new public alternative high schools, was announced Tuesday following a week of open hostility after the city’s school advisory board opposed the schools set to receive grants. In an uncommon rebuke to the board, state officials, who have controlled the district since 1995, reversed the board’s decision.

The NFC Foundation, a Nash Finch Co. charitable organization, announced recent grants made totaling $100,000. The organizations that received recent grants were: Fisher House Foundation, Hope for the City, Loaves and Fishes, Special Olympics Minnesota and Neighbors Inc. 

Grants by the biggest U.S. foundations to support social justice totaled $3.1 billion in 2009 and accounted for more than 14 percent of their grant dollars, virtually flat compared to 2008, and 11 percent of their grants, a new report says.

Forty-seven percent of social-justice grant dollars supported international activities, says Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking, a report by the Foundation Center.

YMCA of the USA, the resource office for the nation's YMCAs, has received a $500,000 grant from The Sierra Club Foundation to provide thousands of military youth and their family members with outdoor camp experiences at YMCA day camps, overnight camps and family camps from April 2011 through March 2012. This announcement comes on the heels of First Lady Michelle Obama's call this morning for greater support for military families.