Grants

The Riverside, Calif. branch of a national nonprofit that assists veterans with finding homes and jobs was awarded a $175,000 federal grant to bolster the organization's employment services, it was announced Friday.

The United States Veterans Initiative, which runs a support center for ex-service members at March Air Reserve Base, was one of 23 recipients of a total $5.43 million grant issuance by the U.S. Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program.

The Corporation for National and Community Service announced that five new intermediaries will be receiving grants from the Social Innovation Fund. The five awards total $13.9 million and will fund the initial two years of each grant, which address challenges in the critical areas of affordable housing, homelessness, obesity, early education and literacy.

The five new grantees include Corporation for Supportive Housing, Mile High United Way, NCB Capital Impact, the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the United Way of Southeastern Michigan.

Youth Villages, a Memphis, Tenn.-based national organization that provides a wide array of services to children and families in 11 states and Washington, D.C., will receive the largest grant in the organization’s history, and one of the largest ever awarded to a social services organization.

The Day Foundation has announced it will donate a $42 million legacy challenge grant that primarily will be used to expand the organization’s transitional living (TL) program, which helps older foster children become successful adults.

REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.), a national outdoor gear and clothing retailer, announced plans to grant $4.2 million this year to nonprofits across the country that work to preserve and maintain natural spaces through active volunteer programs.

The company designates 3 percent of the previous year's operating profit to its annual grants program. Because REI employees have the most direct connection to local nonprofits, store employees nominate organizations from their local community. REI invites selected nominees to apply for grant funding. Eligible organizations must be outdoor nonprofits that promote active volunteerism through their programs.

At a time when for-profit theaters may be feeling the pressure to cave in to the economic pinch and roll out the revivals, nonprofit San Francisco-based American Conservatory Theater is still taking chances.

Aetna and the Aetna Foundation together awarded $1.03 million in community grants and sponsorships to Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organizations during 2010. The grants were made to organizations addressing a variety of health issues, including obesity among adults and children, racial and ethnic equity in health care, and needed improvements in the integration and coordination of health care services. In addition, grants were made in support of arts and cultural programs, human services and academic organizations, faith-based initiatives and many others.

A Cincinnati-area nonprofit organization is assisting high school students throughout the Tri-State in not only giving to charity, but learning more about the spirit of philanthropy and social causes. Magnified Giving, a nonprofit organization based in the Cincinnati suburb of Reading, enters its fourth year of teaching students to become philanthropists through placing the decision of what charities to donate funds to upon the shoulders of students.

The program allows students and teachers in 15 area high schools to form Youth Grantmaking Councils charged with dispersing a grant of at least $1,000 to charities.

A Milwaukee nonprofit that provides veteran services has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The money will help the Center for Veterans Issues assist veterans in central and southeastern Wisconsin. It's one of 85 nonprofits across the nation to receive a grant.

The VA program is designed to help homeless veterans find permanent living solutions, and to prevent at-risk veterans from losing their homes.

The NBCUniversal Foundation has awarded $800,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations across the country. The grants are part of NBCUniversal’s ongoing commitment to improving public secondary education in underserved communities.

This is the sixth year of the successful NBCUniversal initiative, which targets nonprofits in cities with large NBCUniversal employee populations and significant education needs. Since the Foundation’s inception, close to $7 million has been directed to nonprofits that have demonstrated a commitment to improving educational opportunities for public school students in the 6th through 12th grades.

The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for childhood cancer research, announced more than $19.6 million in new grants to fund promising and innovative childhood cancer research. The grants bring the total to more than $21 million awarded by St. Baldrick's for the fiscal year. Every dollar raised came from the creativity and dedication of St. Baldrick’s volunteers and the generosity of donors, working together to help fund the best possible research.