Foundations

More and more foundations are paying increasing attention to the role of communications in furthering their public-policy work "in ways that go far beyond the annual reports, press releases, and grant lists of yesteryear," according to a new study of 18 foundations published by the Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at the University of Southern California.

On Tuesday night, the Brewers’ game against Arizona was televised without commercials. Instead, the breaks were filled with messages about the team’s foundation and on-air fundraising auctions. Mark Attanasio recently gave $1 million to the foundation.

He said he was fairly certain that no team had gone commercial-free in a game, which could not have been done without a Fox Sports Wisconsin donation of the ad time.

Eleven California nonprofits, from park groups to hospitals and an incubator for minority restaurateurs, have received grants totaling more than $1.1 million from the Hearst Foundations in New York.

The Hearst Foundations are private philanthropic organizations that operate independently from the Hearst Corp.

The Ford Foundation announced it would commit $85 million in grants to ensure that rural and indigenous people around the world are not ignored in efforts to combat climate change.

The money, which will be spent over five years, advances a fresh approach to managing forests and other vast tracts of land, based on a recognition that such areas are home to hundreds of millions of people who often do not have a voice in how the lands are preserved.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded a three-year, $5.2 million grant to the DeLeT teacher education program at Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles.

According to an evaluation commissioned by the foundation, DeLeT represents a “paradigm shift” in the preparation of Jewish day school teachers, integrating graduate coursework with a yearlong immersive field experience in partner schools. As of this summer, the program will have prepared more than 130 Jewish day school teachers, working in 40 schools across the U.S.

Billionaire Paul Allen has taken his friend Bill Gates up on his challenge to publicly pledge the majority of his wealth to philanthropy.

Allen, who is 57, said today that he plans to leave the majority of his $13 billion estate to philanthropy to continue the work of his foundation and to fund scientific research. It was also a way of marking the 20th anniversary of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which he started in 1990 with his sister, Jo Lynn Allen, and has since given 3,000 grants totaling about $400 million.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced this week that it will award $10 million over five years for emergency services for impoverished Holocaust survivors living in North America.

The Weinberg Holocaust Survivors Emergency Assistance Fund provides medical equipment and medications, dental care, transportation, food and short-term home care for Holocaust survivors.

Foundations, donors, and others involved in giving away money need to change quickly to keep up with the world around them, argues a new report by the Monitor Institute.

Nineteen institutions in five states will participate in the first phase focusing on mathematics and college readiness.

Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and Lumina Foundation are joining in partnership with The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to invest in improving student success in community colleges. All five foundations share a commitment to expanding college readiness and furthering student retention and graduation rates.

The McKnight Foundation awarded 117 grants totaling $30,054,000 in its second-quarter 2010 grantmaking.

Of the $30 million total approved, over $1.3 million went to 20 small and mid-sized arts organizations that model innovation in connecting artists and community. Among them, Franconia Sculpture Park, a 20-acre working sculpture park that invites the public into each artist's creative process, received $70,000 over two years; nonprofit literary publisher Milkweed Editions of Minneapolis received $180,000 over three years; Northern Community Radio of Grand Rapids received a $20,000 grant to support its general operations; and Public Art Saint Paul received $60,000 over two years for an artist in residence in the city of St. Paul. Minnesota's oldest performing arts organization, the Schubert Club of Minneapolis, received $80,000 over two years; and SteppingStone Theatre of St. Paul received $60,000 over two years to support youth-specific productions created by professional playwrights.