News about grants, gifts
Cummings Properties recently distributed $265,000 to local charities divided among 218 organizations within Middlesex, Essex, and Suffolk counties in Massachusetts. Several charities received multiple donations, including Beverly Bootstraps ($6,000), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ($7,000), Jamie McKeown Boys and Girls Club ($4,000), and Woburn Council of Social Concern ($4,000).
KidsGardening and Klorane Botanical Foundation seek applicants for their 2020 Budding Botanist grant. Twelve schools will be awarded a $250 curriculum and garden tool package, as well as a check for $2,000 (three schools) or $1,000 (nine schools) to install or expand a school garden. Click here for more information.
Problem learners may have undetected vision issues and the real solution is often just a pair of glasses.
For the entire school year, Lensabl is sponsoring a mobile “Vision Van” traveling to Los Angeles schools on behalf of Vision To Learn, which provides free eye exams and glasses to students in need.
The International Women’s Media Foundation received a $350,000 grant from Luminate to improve digital safety initiatives.
BNP Paribas joined with John and Patrick McEnroe’s Johnny Mac Tennis Project to found and fund “Team BNP Paribas Mac 1” with accompanying scholarships. The program provides 10 players ages 11-17, with a year of tennis training to increase access to tournaments and assist players in preparing for collegiate and professional tennis.
GrantStation and The Grant Professionals Association launched their “Winning Grant Proposal Contest” where existing, already-awarded proposals can be repurposed to earn a bonus grant. Click here for frequently asked questions and more information.
The Women & Girls Fund of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation, awarded a grant of $1,245 to Northwest Connecticut YMCA to support citizenship classes, including ESL and civics instruction for mothers and daughters.
Arthur Blank awarded two grants through his family foundation, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, each for $250,000 to World Central Kitchen and Direct Relief for immediate Hurricane Dorian relief and long-term assistance in The Bahamas.
Following Hurricane Dorian, The Walt Disney Company, led by Disney Cruise Line, committed more than $1 million to nonprofit relief agencies to help recovery efforts in The Bahamas.
News about people, groups
Ruth McCambridge, president and editor in chief of The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ), will leave NPQ for other projects in June 2020.
Named after Medal of Honor recipient Col. Leo K. Thorsness, the award recognizes outstanding leadership and exceptional service to military veterans, their families and caregivers.
America’s Warrior Partnership named retired Air Force Reserve Maj. Bonnie Carroll as the recipient of the fifth annual Leo K. Thorsness Leadership Award.
SSB acquired HEPdata, the matching gift data platform to expand upon existing SSB products including data management and analytics. As part of the transaction, all HEPdata team members will become part of SSB, and the company will retain the HEPdata brand.
Alison Moore was appointed CEO of Comic Relief USA.
In 2019, National Charity League, Inc. saw the largest number of collective volunteer hours served in the nearly 100-year history of the organization. More than 2.7 million volunteer hours were served in the Fiscal Year 2019 (June 2018-May 2019) to over 4,000 philanthropy partners throughout the country, resulting in a $66 million national fiscal impact.
Kass joins the Council on Foundations following his service as President of the Council for a Strong America for more than 15 years.
David Kass joined the Council on Foundations as vice president of government affairs and strategic communications.
St. David’s Foundation named Edward B. Burger as new president and chief executive officer.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy‘s (CDP) president and CEO, Robert G. Ottenhoff will retire, effective April 1st, 2020. Ottenhoff joined CDP in 2012 as its first chief executive. The board has hired Russell Reynolds, a global leadership search organization, to lead the national search for his replacement.
ActionAid USA hired Niranjali Amerasinghe as its new executive director.
Soles4Souls added three new individuals to its Board: Steven Barr, Michelle Love, and Lisa Collier.
News about opportunities, initiatives
The Birmingham Zoo will host its largest fundraising event of the year, ZooGala 2019: South American Sizzle ‘n Samba. Click here for more information.
Held exclusively for foundations and organizations that make grants for the benefit of animals, this year’s event will also commemorate the organization’s 20th anniversary.
Animal Grantmakers will hold their annual conference for the foundations, organizations, and individuals making grants for the benefit of animals starting Sunday, October 20th in Minneapolis. Registration for the conference is open until Tuesday, October 1st. Click here for registration information.
The Cannabis Doing Good will honor outstanding Cannabis leaders at an awards gala to benefit Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains on Thursday, October 17th in Broomfield, Colorado. Click here to make a nomination (open through Friday, September 20th) or for more information.
Art Buddies will host “Ghosts, Googlie Eyes, and Glue Guns,” a Halloween costume making party on Saturday, October 19th in Pershing Park, Minneapolis. Click here to RSVP.
The project has resulted in an agreement between the foundations to experiment with new practices to alleviate the chronic underfunding of their grantees, as well as a call for other funders to join them in addressing this sector-wide problem.
The Bridgespan Group published a report exploring “new approaches to solving the systemic underfunding of nonprofits.” The report features a two-year study of the Ford, Hewlett, MacArthur, Open Society, and Packard Foundations. Full access the report, including a menu of grantmaking approaches, can be found online here.
House of Charity will hold an afternoon ground breaking ceremony on Tuesday, September 10th for its new building in Minneapolis. Click here for more information.
National Chemicals, Inc. (NCI) is partnered with Venue Naples and other local Lee County companies to organize Hurricane Dorian relief and donations for the Bahamas. NCI is donating the equivalent of 60,000 gallons of disinfecting cleaner.
CleanChoice Energy partnered with MPOWERD to gift solar lanterns to those impacted by Hurricane Dorian. Through this partnership, CleanChoice will gift 1,000 lights which will be disseminated via MPOWERD’s non-profit network.
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.
