GRID Alternatives received a $12 million multi-year grant from the Bezos Earth Fund that will grow the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund. The tribal-led program expands renewable energy capacity and solar job opportunities in Indigenous communities across the United States to advance energy resilience and energy sovereignty.

The Propel Center selected 15 institutions to receive $3 million collectively from 44 Impact grant submissions centered around Agri-tech and Arts & Entertainment initiatives. The Arts and Agri-Tech Grant disbursements will begin this month. The second round of Impact grants, focused on health, social justice and entrepreneurship, will be released in February 2022.

Hampshire College received an anonymous $5 million gift in honor of alumni and award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. The donation to the Ken Burns Initiative to Transform Higher Education will help the Massachusetts school continue its academic transformation.

The National Science Foundation awarded more than $880,000 for projects at West Virginia University (WVU) and Fairmont State University. Awards include $749,693 to Fairmont State for a project to support low-income undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines; $90,156 to WVU for a project to enhance understanding, modeling and forecasting of variations in the upper atmosphere; and $50,000 to WVU to develop a health care patient scheduling system to predict patient no-shows.

America’s Black Holocaust Museum will reopen next month thanks to a $10 million grant from an anonymous donor made through the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.

The Central Indiana Land Trust received a $1 million gift from Leonard and Kathryn Betley and their family to protect and support reforesting portions of the newly renamed Betley Woods at Glacier’s End, a 300-acre (121.4-hectare) nature preserve. The money will also establish an endowment for protecting the Hills of Gold Conservation Area, which encompasses the nature preserve.

PlanBørnefonden received a grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation of DKK 200 million (€27 million) to give more young Syrian refugees in Jordan access to jobs and income opportunities.

Franklin College received a gift of land valued at $1.8 million from Southpoint Farm LLC. The 29 acres near campus will become a biological field station for students and instructors.

The Raye’s Mustard Mill Museum received a Dead River building with an appraised value of $157,000 from the Hutchins family, longtime owners of the Dead River Company. The property will eventually be sold to provide funds to preserve America’s last remaining traditional stone ground mustard mill as a working museum.

With $2.5 million in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation is providing grants to 30 organizations that are engaging the arts to build vaccine confidence throughout the United States. The CDC Foundation is collaborating with the National Endowment for the Arts to support organizations using the arts and culture to educate local communities about Covid-19 and influenza vaccine safety and efficacy.

News about people, groups

Desmond Tutu died Sunday, December 26, 2021 at age 90. Tutu was remembered as a Nobel laureate, a spiritual compass, a champion of the anti-apartheid struggle who turned to other global causes after Nelson Mandela, another moral heavyweight, became South Africa’s first Black president.

On January 4th the the United Nations Mission in South Sudan peacekeepers marked their 100th day of continuous battling against some of the worst floods the Unity State has ever experienced. Pakistani engineers based in Unity State are working around the clock to construct huge flood protection dikes, and UN peacekeepers continue to assist humanitarian partners in protecting civilian lives and livelihoods.

The Nature Conservancy is creating its largest nature preserve in California thanks to a transformative $50 million philanthropic gift by Frank and Joan Randall. The Randall Preserve covers more than 112 square miles (290 square km), linking a patchwork of ranchland across the southern Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi Mountains that will serve to protect a crucial wildlife corridor connecting Northern and Southern California.

Prized antiquities valued at over 10 million euros ($11 million) located in prestigious U.S. museums and galleries after being illegally trafficked in recent decades are being returned to Italy. Of the 201 works returned by US officials earlier this month, 161 have been repatriated to Italy while 40 are on exhibit at the Italian Consulate General in New York through March 2022. All will be returned to the places from where they were stolen for display in museums there.

APCO Worldwide has acquired the Global Philanthropy Group, a consulting firm specializing in helping individuals, foundations and corporations design and implement philanthropic strategies and programs. The acquisition will help APCO Worldwide continue to grow its philanthropy and corporate purpose capabilities.

News about opportunities, initiatives

The United Nations World Food Programme and Impact Hub Kigali, with the support of USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, launched the IGNITE Food Systems Challenge in Rwanda to foster locally-driven solutions to tackle food systems challenges. Selected ventures will have the opportunity to receive grant funding of up to US$50,000 as well as 6 months acceleration support. The call for applications closes on February 4, 2022.

The Urban Institute released A New Era of Racial Equity in Community Development Finance Leveraging Private and Philanthropic Commitments in the Post–George Floyd Period. The report examines the state of racial equity commitments made since 2020 primarily for community development finance, and outlines 11 potential solutions to equitably addressing the challenges faced in supporting disinvested communities.

The Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area will host a first-ever Charity Reception on January 13th. The virtual event commemorates 60 years of giving by the federal community. Charities can apply to the 2022 Combined Federal Campaign through February 28th.

Tennessee State Parks is holding the My TN State Park fundraiser this month. People can vote for their favorite park with each dollar they donate, with funds going to projects such as trail and bridge repair, bird of prey programs, aviary equipment and childhood education activities.

Innovators around the world are invited to submit nominations for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, a competition aimed at finding new ways to tackle climate change. The £1 million ($1.4 million) prize will be awarded to five winners every year until 2030 to develop and scale up their ideas. This year’s prizes will go to projects aimed at “tipping point” issues where there are opportunities to create significant benefits over the next few years.

The New York Stem Cell Foundation is accepting applications for the NYSCF – Robertson Neuroscience Investigator Awards through February 17th. The award provides up to $1.5 million in flexible funding over five years to early career investigators in support of research in neuroscience.

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