Rhode Island to Donate to Charity for Every 5,000 Vaccinated Residents
Rhode Island announced its first round of RI Gives Vax Challenge grant recipients Monday. Ten nonprofits on the front lines of the pandemic will evenly split $100,000.
“This is a win-win for the state of Rhode Island and all of our community members,” Gov. Dan McKee said in a statement. “Through the RI Gives Vax Challenge, we’re getting healthier, we’re raising awareness and we’re able to help the organizations that support those most in need each and every day.”
Established by McKee, the Rhode Island Commerce Department, the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Foundation in July, the challenge encourages Rhode Islanders to get vaccinated by offering grants to nonprofits that supported the COVID-19 response and recovery. The state chipped in $500,000, with the foundation adding $250,000, to create 75 grants at $10,000 each that will be doled out as each milestone is met. That grant amount will increase with each goal accomplished, with the fifth and final installment set at $200,000 in grants divided among 20 nonprofits. As of publication, the state needs 1,186 more residents to get their first-dose shots in order to reach the second round of the grant program.
“Hitting the first vaccination milestone and making the initial round of grants is a great start," Neil D. Steinberg, president and CEO at Rhode Island Foundation, said in a statement. "Every new person who gets vaccinated against COVID brings us closer to awarding the next $120,000 to the nonprofits that are doing so much every day to help Rhode Islanders recover from the impact of the pandemic."
The recipients of the initial round of grants are:
- Access To Recovery
- Adoption Rhode Island
- Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern Rhode Island
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center
- Elisha Project
- Pawtucket Soup Kitchen
- Refugee Development Center
- Rhode Island Free Clinic
- Southern Rhode Island Volunteers
- WARM Center
The Rhode Island Foundation will accept applications from interested Rhode Island nonprofits with annual operating budgets of less than $3,000,000 in 2020 at rifoundation.org/vax through July 30. Eligible nonprofits will be selected each round through a lottery system.
