Grants

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, announced a $50-million challenge spurring existing and new donors at every level to give, or increase giving, to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The Challenge is now in effect and will match all new or increased gifts to The Michael J. Fox Foundation on a one-to-one basis through year-end 2012.

JPMorgan Chase announced the names of the small and local charities that will receive grants totaling more than $5 million through its Community Giving Program.

Facebook users selected New York City-based IELADEINU — a Chabad of Argentina Relief Appeal program that works to protect the rights of children and teenagers who have been maltreated, abused, and abandoned — to receive the $500,000 top prize. Four runners-up will receive grants ranging from $200,000 to $400,000. They include the Petfinder.com Foundation, Sonia and Max Silverstein Hebrew Academy, Youth Education in the Arts and the Wildlife Center of Virginia.

Mark and Terri Little presented the Schenectady Free Health Clinic with a $50,000 donation that will be used to purchase generic drugs for its patients. They used their own foundation to match a $25,000 grant for charity that Mark Little, the head of GE Global Research, received from General Electric Chairman Jeff Immelt in January.

Grants like this one are critical to maintain the clinic's operation in the community. The clinic now operates primarily from private donations and grants, ever since losing the bulk of its state funding about four years ago.

The Nonprofit Finance Fund named 12 Philadelphia-area nonprofit organizations that will receive grants and technical assistance through the Capital and Capacity for Economic Recovery (CCER) program. The program has awarded $600,000 to nonprofits in much-needed financial resources, paired with technical assistance designed to strengthen long-term fiscal heath — all with the end goal of improving job training services and other economic development support for Philadelphians. This second round of CCER awards comes as results from the first allocation demonstrate the broad impact of the program.

Opus Bank and the Opus Community Foundation announced that the Foundation’s board of directors approved 13 grant awards. The grant awards will provide financial support to nonprofit organizations that make a positive and meaningful impact in the community and improve the quality of life of individuals and families, particularly the least advantaged, living in Opus Bank's communities.

A $5.375 million, multiyear grant recently awarded to the Alliance for Children and Families by The Kresge Foundation will encourage Alliance members to elevate the role of strategy in their work.

Recognizing that nonprofits face difficult challenges in achieving greater capacity and sustainable futures, the grant — the largest the Alliance has ever received — will underwrite the implementation and evaluation of various strategy models at 19 Alliance member agency pilot sites.

More than $1.2 million in federal grants from the national service program AmeriCorps has been awarded to five nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island.

The grant recipients — The Providence Plan, The Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, The Providence Children’s Museum, Save The Bay and Brown University — will use the money to support the work of 105 new AmeriCorps volunteers who will work with the organizations to provide services to needy youth and families.

The Obama administration plans to spend $500-million to help states expand innovative early-learning and child-care programs, the bulk of which are operated by nonprofits.

The new fund, called the Early Learning Challenge, will consume most of the $700-million that was allocated by Congress in April for Race to the Top, the grants program to help states improve the quality of their schools.

Like previous Race to the Top competitions, the Early Learning Challenge will award grants directly to states. The program will be administered jointly by the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services.

It's difficult to resist petting these hard workers. But Freedom Service Dogs have a job to do. And the Englewood, Colo.-based organization that trains the canines and pairs them with people with disabilities who can benefit from these working dogs' help ensure that they're able to do that job.

Stamford Hospital has received a $10 million grant from OdysseyRe, a leading worldwide underwriter of reinsurance and specialty insurance based in Stamford, to help fund the Hospital's recently approved Master Facility Plan. OdysseyRe was honored for its gift last night at Stamford Hospital's annual Leadership Dinner, held at the Rockrimmon County Club in Stamford.

Stamford Hospital announced in December 2008 an ambitious master facility plan that would include building a new hospital at its current location over a 10-15 year timeframe. The project is estimated at $575 million.