February 28, 2011
Urban Institute Announces $15 Million Initiative for Low-Income Families
The Urban Institute has announced the launch of a five-year, $15 million initiative designed to help states develop new approaches to the delivery of support services for low-income working families.
Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Work Support Strategies: Streamlining Access, Strengthening Families initiative has selected nine states — Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina — to receive grants of $250,000. Over the next year, the states will use the funds to assess their operations and develop new approaches to delivering work supports to low-income families. States that demonstrate they can execute their plans will then compete for three-year implementation grants of up to $500,000 per year.
(Read more via Philanthropy News Digest.)
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February 24, 2011
Winnick Gallery in New York City Features Rare Treasures Illuminating Jewish History
Center for Jewish History is now the largest repository of Jewish history and experience outside of the State of Israel, preserving, protecting and presenting more than 500,000 books and 100 million documents.
New York, NY — Winnick Hall, the principal art gallery for Yeshiva University Museum which is located at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History, is now providing a rare look at selected Jewish history treasures, gathered from collections of the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
The exhibit, entitled “Zero to Ten,” continues through May 29 and honors the tenth anniversary of the Center for Jewish History. The Center is now the largest repository of Jewish history and experience outside of the State of Israel, preserving, protecting and presenting more than 500,000 books and 100 million documents and including pieces of art, textiles, ritual objects, as well as music, films and photographs.
Gary Winnick said: “My family and I are delighted to provide a venue for this extraordinary exhibition. The items on exhibit now are just a small part of the Center’s vast collection, but sufficient to illuminate and celebrate the rich history of Judaism to the diverse and international audiences that pass through the Center.”
The treasures on display include:
- A Torah scroll belonging to the Baal Shem Tov (1700-1760), founder of Hassidism. This Torah features lines written in his own hand.
- “Dutch Masters in the Rose Room “ by Larry Rivers (1997) (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg). This is a playful oil and canvas work based on a conflation of the iconic Dutch Masters cigar box and a Rembrandt group portrait, among other popular and art historical motifs.
- “The Trial of the Jews of Trent,” 1478-1479, ink, gouache and gold on paper. Written for the first Duke of Würtemberg, Eberhardt I, and bearing his arms, this is the only known German copy of the records of the Trials of the Jews of Trent, falsely accused of the ritual murder of a young Christian boy named Simon in 1475.
The “Zero to Ten” exhibit is curated by the Yeshiva University Museum and organized by the Center for Jewish History. Principal funding for the exhibit was provided by The David Berg Foundation, with additional support from the Kumble Cultural Fund, the Selz Family Cultural Fund and the Slovin Foundation. The Winnick Hall gallery was established with a grant from the Winnick Family Foundation.
About the Winnick Family Foundation
The Winnick Family Foundation encourages project-specific programs but also selectively supports capital campaigns and unrestricted gifts to grantee organizations. There is a preference for projects in Los Angeles and New York – or for those having an international component.
Foundation naming grants include:
- Winnick Family Clinical Research Institute at Cedars Sinai Hospital
- Winnick House at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
- Arnold S. Winnick Student Center at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University
- Winnick International Conference Center at the Simon Wiesenthal Center / Jerusalem
- Winnick Children’s Zoo in Los Angeles
- Winnick Faculty Scholar at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University
- Winnick Hall at the Skirball Cultural Center
- Arnold & Blanche Winnick Popular Library and Karen Winnick Children’s Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library
- Winnick Hillel House at Syracuse University
- Winnick Board Room at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City
- Winnick Winners Mentoring Program for the Los Angeles Unified School District
- Winnick Fellows at UCLA School of Medicine
- Winnick Gallery at Yeshiva University Museum, Center for Jewish History
Karen and Gary Winnick and the Foundation have endowed university and high school literacy and scholarship programs at Brown University, at Mrs. Winnick’s alma mater Syracuse University, and at Gary Winnick’s alma mater, Long Island University.
They have also funded the transformation of the on-campus C.W. Post mansion administrative center – renamed Winnick House – as well as the main cafeteria which is now named in honor of Mr. Winnick’s late father.
In California, the Foundation has supported educational programs at the California Science Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, KOREH L.A., the Los Angeles Zoo, L.A.’s Best Afterschool Program, the Wonder of Reading, the Fulfillment Fund and Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Center.
Among the many other Foundation grantees are the Special Olympics, The Center for Jewish History, Children’s Scholarship Fund, Partnership for Better Schools, Teach for America, The Gettysburg Foundation, The National Parks Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, The Los Angeles Police Foundation, Shoah Foundation, and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University.
The Foundation also supports charities operating outside the United States, including the International Medical Corps, Flora and Fauna, World Wildlife Fund, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Israel Museum, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Zoo, Heifer International and the Bloomfield Science Museum at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. For more information on the Foundation and its work, visit http://www.winnickfamilyfoundation.com on the Web.
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February 21, 2011
No Surprises, Rural Philanthropy Still Lags Behind
The failure of foundations to put much grant money into rural nonprofits is historic and persistent. Despite frequent promises to the contrary, foundations haven’t done much to narrow the disproportional gap between urban and rural groups’ access to foundation dollars. The toll is increasingly evident in the rural nonprofits across the country that struggle to stay afloat every day.
In Monroe County, Georgia a community health center serving rural communities is closing. As the director of the clinic noted, all too typical of rural areas that lose a crucial service, “Unfortunately, there is not another rural health center or clinic in the county. Most will find that they will have to seek out this type of health care outside of their own county.” The money to stay open simply isn’t there.
(Read more via The Nonprofit Quarterly.)
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February 18, 2011
Texas Philanthropist: Our Contributions Can Not Replace Public Funding
According to Janet Harmon of the KDK Harmon Foundation of Austin, last week Texas grantmakers who support public education took a field trip to the Statehouse to talk with legislators. It was the first time they had ever done so, although they have been involved in public private partnership efforts for some time. They spent some time listening to lawmakers and finance experts apparently, but they also had a message to send – “don’t depend on philanthropy to replace public money!”
Harmon writes in this opinion piece from the Austin American-Statesman, “According to some, philanthropic foundations, corporate giving programs, United Ways, faith-based organizations and nonprofits will be able to absorb the cuts made to critical state services. Though this notion has obvious appeal to policymakers making heartbreaking budget cuts, the simple fact of the matter is that private philanthropy cannot fill the chasm that will be created by cuts to education and health and human services currently under consideration.”
(Read more via The Nonprofit Quarterly.)
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February 14, 2011
Gates Foundation Makes $2 Million Program-Related Investment in Inigral
Inigral, a for-profit education technology company, has announced a $2 million program-related investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop the Schools App, an educational social media application built on the Facebook platform.
The Schools App leverages Facebook to quickly create affinity groups and drive feelings of friendship and belonging among students during freshman orientation and the first year of college. The equity investment is part of its ongoing exploration of innovative approaches to education reform. The investment is part of a larger effort by the foundation to encourage education technology innovators to develop applications that enhance college and career readiness.
The Schools App seeks to address the low freshmen retention rates that plagues many colleges and universities — some of which lose as much as 50 percent of their first-year students by the end of the first year. The U.S. faces a growing employment problem as the graduation rate for colleges stagnates and the number of jobs requiring a postsecondary degree increases.
(Read more via Philanthropy News Digest.)
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February 11, 2011
Kellogg Foundation Awards $1.2 Million to Provide Healthy Food
The Battle Creek-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation has announced $1.2 million in funding to help provide low-income people in Michigan with improved access to healthy, fresh food by doubling the value of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits used at farmers’ markets.
Operated by the Detroit-based Fair Food Network, the Double Up Food Bucks program enables shoppers using SNAP benefit cards to purchase fresh food at farmers’ markets. For every $2 spent, shoppers receive $2 in bonus tokens, up to $20 per visit. The tokens can be used to buy more fresh, locally grown foods. The program is serving residents in Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Saginaw, and Traverse City, communities in which an average of 17 percent of residents receive SNAP benefits and 30 percent of children receive food assistance.
(Read more via Philanthropy News Digest.)
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February 7, 2011
Google Awards $5 Million to Support Education in India
Google has announced a $5 million grant to the India-based Bharti Foundation to upgrade and create fifty elementary schools in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
The grant will cover the costs of setting up new middle schools and upgrading primary schools to the elementary level. The newly formed schools will be called Satya Elementary Schools. Through the Satya Bharti Schools program, the foundation hopes to establish a total of five hundred primary schools and fifty secondary schools in India.
Established in 2000 by Bharti Enterprises — the parent company of Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest telecom provider — to improve primary and secondary education in rural parts of the country, the foundation currently operates two hundred and thirty-six primary schools and one senior secondary school. An additional fifteen primary and four senior secondary schools are scheduled to open in the next academic year.
(Read more via Philanthrophy News Digest.)
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February 4, 2011
Six Silicon Valley Companies Pledge $150 Million for Stanford Hospital Facility
Stanford Hospital & Clinics has announced that six leading Silicon Valley technology companies have joined together to pledge as much as $150 million over ten years for development of a new $2 billion hospital to be built at Stanford Medical Center.
Apple, eBay, HP, Intel, Intuit, and Oracle, the founding members of the new Stanford Hospital Corporate Partners Program, will support development of the new hospital, which is designed to create a global model for patient-centered, technologically advanced health care, and will work collaboratively with SHC to develop innovative approaches to patient access, information, education, and navigation.
SHC aims to raise an additional $400 million in private donations for the facility, which will use the latest in sustainable technology and be designed to accommodate an ever-accelerating pace of medical and technological change. At the same time, technical requirements will be balanced by a healing environment that is responsive to the emotional, social, and psychological needs of patients, families, visitors, medical professionals, and staff.
(Read more via Philanthrophy News Digest.)
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February 1, 2011
Adam Lambert raises funds for Charity:Water
The global superstar singer, and former American Idol finalist, Adam Lambert celebrated his 29th birthday over the weekend, and from the various reports, it looks as though the performer had a great time. The singer has taken to his official Twitter account to thank the fans for wishing him a happy birthday as well as donating to the MyCharityWater organization. The singer has encouraged his fans to donate to the charity that enables others to have access to clean drinking water, and according to the official website for the charity, the fans have really been involved, and have donated a lot of money.
Adam Lambert wrote to his fans via Twitter: “Thank you all for the beautiful birthday wishes and parties!!! And- We’ve reached 260k for Charity:Water!!! Amaaaaaaazing!”
There has been quite a lot of people who are suffering in the world with various injustices, and circumstances. The MyCharityWater organization helps those who do not have clean water to drink and use, obtain clean water. Water is a basic human right, and it is terrible to think that there are many who do not have access to this.
(Read more via Examiner.)
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