Education
July 26, 2011
Public school systems around the country may have spent the past several years starving for cash in this financially troubled era, but a new report shows that philanthropists doled out $684 million in private grants from 2000-08 to organizations involved in reforming the teaching profession.
The analysis, the first comprehensive examination of philanthropy activity in this area, showed that the biggest chunk of the money — 38 percent — went to teacher recruitment, while 22 percent was spent on professional development, 14 percent on teacher preparation and less than 10 percent for everything else.
July 20, 2011
MasterCard Worldwide announced a $1 million grant to the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) to support entrepreneurship education programs geared toward middle and high school students in low-income communities across the United States.
The MasterCard grant will support NFTE’s core U.S. school-based youth entrepreneurship program that provides hands-on learning and classroom lessons on mathematics, analytical skills and management and planning. MasterCard employees will also have an opportunity to get involved as volunteer educators.
July 18, 2011
Cornell University on Thursday announced one of the largest current-use gifts to undergraduate scholarships in the university's history — $15 million.
Cornell said The Atlantic Philanthropies gave the university a $15 million grant to support financial aid for students in the Cornell Tradition program. The gift will be paid in three annual installments of $5 million each, beginning this month, according to a statement from the university.
July 7, 2011
Blackbaud announced that in the first quarter, Beloit College, the University of Connecticut Foundation, University of Richmond, and Wake Forest University each selected the company’s higher education solution to optimize advancement operations. Additionally, Blackbaud announced that it will serve as the platinum sponsor of the CASE Summit for Advancement Leaders, kicking off on Sunday.
June 30, 2011
The Prudential Foundation board of trustees approved $3.4 million in grants to four Newark, N.J.-based organizations focused on education and youth development, and a national organization dedicated to bridging the gap between the skills workers have and the skills employers need them to have.
To help develop education leadership in Newark, the board approved $250,000 for The Newark Education Trust (NET), an independent local education fund that mobilizes money, people and organizations to support quality public schools for Newark children.
June 29, 2011
Tufts University has completed its largest fundraising effort in the school's 159-year history.
The school reported on Wednesday that it raised $1.2 billion for its "Beyond Boundaries" campaign.
Officials at the Massachusetts school said nearly 140,000 donors contributed $434 million for scholarships and other support to enhance the student experience, creating more than 630 new endowed and term scholarships. Officials said donors also gave $386 million for faculty recruitment and research and $137 million for new facilities.
June 28, 2011
The Weatherhead Foundation has pledged another $50 million to Tulane University to fund scholarships for students with a passion for community service. The new Weatherhead Scholars Program will be the first program of its kind in the country sponsored by a single donor. Its vision is to advance the overall reputation and community engagement impact of the entire Tulane University community.
June 21, 2011
A pioneering initiative that helped leading journalism schools reinvent themselves for the digital age will be extended to all journalism and mass communications programs in the United States, thanks to $3.9 million in new support from Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The expansion comes after an independent evaluation found the initiative has already helped transform curriculums and get more students hired at a critical juncture in the industry’s history.
June 20, 2011
Princeton University has announced a $10 million gift from longtime supporter Lynn Shostack to endow its Project X fund, which supports innovative projects in engineering.
Launched as a two-year pilot program, the fund provides small grants to engineers who wish to pursue projects outside their formal area of expertise or are too speculative to attract conventional funding. To date, the fund has supported research ranging from an exploration of techniques to sterilize hospital rooms to the development of an idea for playing highly realistic three-dimensional sound from conventional speakers.
June 13, 2011
Verizon has extended the deadline by a week for New Jersey nonprofit organizations to submit proposals for grants ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 from the Verizon Foundation to support literacy programs across underserved communities in the Garden State. The new deadline is June 17.
The foundation will award grants to agencies that develop programs that are focused on building reading skills for children, teens and adults and incorporate technology through computer and Web-based literacy programs for minority and disabled residents in low-income communities across the state.
