News about grants, gifts
In its third round of seed grants, the Catalyst Initiative of the George Family Foundation continued its support of the development of mind-body healing practices in a diverse range of communities in the Twin Cities and beyond by awarding more than $260,000 to several organizations.
Nordstrom selected Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and Canada to be the 2016 beneficiary of its’ Treasure&Bond give-back brand. From February 2016 through January 2017, Nordstrom will donate 2.5 percent of Treasure&Bond net sales to Big Brothers Big Sisters in support of their work to generate one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage has awarded two advancement grants. The Please Touch Museum will receive a two-year grant of $750,000, and theater company People’s Light will receive a three-year grant of $500,000.
The Southeast Michigan Early Childhood Funders Collaborative awarded Innovation Fund grants totaling $1.4 million to four Head Start organizations across Detroit.
News about people, groups
Three tons of medicine and medical supplies, valued at nearly $1.8 million, from AmeriCares have arrived in Ecuador to resupply hospitals and clinics damaged by the April 16 7.8-magnitude earthquake. AmeriCares deployed an emergency response team from the United States to assist relief efforts.
On May 6th, Urban Insititute held a networking luncheon entitled “Can Economic Growth Include Women in the Global South?” which focused on factors affecting women’s empowerment in the global South.
The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center named Richard J. O’Reilly, MD the inaugural recipient of The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize. This new award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the field of pediatric oncology.
Outten & Golden LLP held its Seventh Annual Public Interest Award Ceremony in honor of the New York Communities for Change Worker’s Rights program. New York Communities for Change received the award in honor of its grassroots advocacy for living wages for workers in New York and beyond.
The League of American Orchestras has selected five exemplary orchestra musicians to receive The Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service. A new program made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund, the awards celebrate orchestra musicians and the essential work they do in their communities. Recipients are; Penny Anderson Brill, Shannon Orme, Jeffrey Paul, Brian Prechtl, and beth Vandervennet.
The Credit Union National Administration (CUNA) has awarded Tampa Bay credit union, GTE Financial with the 2016 CUNA Diamond Award for Best Brand Awareness and Logo for its Reimaging Possible design. The Diamond Awards recognize achievements in marketing and business development, including branding, campaigns, direct mail, social media and video.
Andrew Sabin
Eight of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s top young researchers have been formally named Andrew Sabin Family Fellows at an event honoring their benefactor, Andrew Sabin and the Family Foundation. The inaugural recipients are; Ken Chen, David Hui, Nicholas Navin, Katharina Schlacher, Ferdinandos Skoulidis, Benjamin Smith, Cullen Taniguchi, and Shanno Westin. A $30 million gift established the program to advance MD Anderson’s goal to end cancer.
On Saturday, May 7th, the 4 Miles 4 Water Run/Walk was held followed by an “All Thing Water” festival in an effort to bring awareness to water-related issues in Cleveland and around the world.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation, in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign, announced the winners of the inaugural HIV 360° Fellowship on May 5th. Ten outstanding young leaders from community-based organizations fighting the spread and stigma of HIV in the U.S South, leaders will receive nine months of intensive leadership training to elevate their advocacy work.
Data Quality Campaign has released its new report, Time to Act: Making Data Work for Students. The report unveils the four top things education leaders must do to use data to support student learning.
Peli Peli, a South African restaurant with two locations in Houston, and Marine Foods Express, a local commercial seafood distributor, organized a Great Gatsby-themed prom for 125 teens and their families at The University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital on Saturday, April 30. Many of the teens have not been able to attend regular school events such as homecomings and proms due to their treatments.
The American Academy in Rome has selected its newest group of scholars, artists, writers, and composers for its Rome Prize and Italian Fellowships for the 2016-2017 year.
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance announced seven winners of the third annual Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. Each will receive $200,000 in funding per year for up to three years to enable them to continue to pursue explorative and high-risk/high-reward research. In addition to six winners fully funded by the Alliance, this year marks the formation of a unique partnership with The New York Community Trust, which will support a seventh prize winner.
Tifffany & Co., eBay, JetBlue and Google join the US Wildlife Tracking Alliance, to continue the alliance’s work with the United States government to reduce the purchase and sale of illegal wildlife products. The alliance, a project of African Wildlife Foundation, believes in government, NGO, and corporate partnership to reach their goals.
News about opportunities, initiatives
Sumu and Flutter are teaming up to give away one year of rent-free living at Chroma Cambridge benefiting Y2Y Harvard Square – the first student-run shelter for homeless youth in the country. Between May 2 and June 1, people can donate $10 to Y2Y Harvard Square for the chance to receive 12 months of rent-free living.
Xoom, a digital money transfer provider and PayPal service, is supporting by making sending donations easy to help victims affected by the earthquake in Ecuador. April 20th to May 2nd, Xoom customers were able to donate directly to the Ecuadorian Red Cross and 100% of the donation amount benefited the organization.
Launched last year, Food For Free’s prepared food rescue program helps to bridge the gap between waste and want in the Greater Boston area. The organization is the only food rescue program locally that is able to capture and distribute prepared food from institutions and universities at scale, due to the difficult process of transporting and storing frozen food in bulk. Executive Director of Food For Free, Sasha Purpura, is working to connect and collaborate with more institutions that have an excess of healthy prepared food.
Ten Thousand Villages has begun its first-ever national corporate social responsibility campaign to further educate consumers about the company’s mission to strengthen artisans worldwide through fair-trade. The inaugural initiative, called Landscapes, promotes reforestation and marks the beginning of a larger, year-long campaign.
Bolder Advocacy will hold it’s Justice First! Luncheon on May 11 in Washington, D.C. Dean Strang, defense attorney, will be honored at the event along with Dorian Warren Roosevelt Institute fellow and MSNBC contributor and feature Rashad Robinson Executive Director of ColorOfChange.
CNA will participation in the Chicago Charity Challenge, a nine-month competition in which businesses team with nonprofits and compete to contribute volunteer hours and money to Chicagoland charities. CNA has chosen Chicago Lights as its nonprofit partner and will engage with them throughout the remainder of 2016.
Applications for the Grantmakers for Effective Organization‘s (GEO) second Change Incubator are now available. To learn more about the program and application process, GEO will hold several webinars until May 17th.
Race to end hunger on November 6, 2016 with the City Harvest 2016 TCS New York City Marathon team. Last year, the City Harvest Team raised over $100,000 to help feed hungry New Yorkers.
The Foundation for Child Development‘s 2017 Young Scholars Program is now accepting Letters of Intent. The Young Scholars program supports policy and practice-relevant research that is focused on early learning and development needs of the nation’s children growing up under conditions of economic insecurity and social exclusion.
Aroha Philanthropies is launching a new initiative and national grant opportunity, “Seeding Artful Aging.” Aroha will select up to 15 nonprofit organizations to participate in this demonstration project and awards will range from $15,000 to $50,000 for programming.
If you are interested in having your organization’s news announced in the next News Bits, please send announcements or press releases to news@philanthropyjournal.com.
