Grants

The United Service Organizations (USO) has announced a $5 million lead gift from the Northrop Grumman Foundation for a new Wounded Warrior and Family Center at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

To be operated by the USO of Metropolitan Washington, the 25,000-square-foot facility will provide troops and their families with a variety of programs and support services and will be a place where they can find relief and understanding amid the rigors of rehabilitation and reintegration.

Six months after announcing a headline-grabbing $100 million donation to Newark’s schools, the first installment of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s grant will finally reach city classrooms.

The nearly $1 million award, granted to five new public alternative high schools, was announced Tuesday following a week of open hostility after the city’s school advisory board opposed the schools set to receive grants. In an uncommon rebuke to the board, state officials, who have controlled the district since 1995, reversed the board’s decision.

The NFC Foundation, a Nash Finch Co. charitable organization, announced recent grants made totaling $100,000. The organizations that received recent grants were: Fisher House Foundation, Hope for the City, Loaves and Fishes, Special Olympics Minnesota and Neighbors Inc. 

Grants by the biggest U.S. foundations to support social justice totaled $3.1 billion in 2009 and accounted for more than 14 percent of their grant dollars, virtually flat compared to 2008, and 11 percent of their grants, a new report says.

Forty-seven percent of social-justice grant dollars supported international activities, says Key Facts on Social Justice Grantmaking, a report by the Foundation Center.

YMCA of the USA, the resource office for the nation's YMCAs, has received a $500,000 grant from The Sierra Club Foundation to provide thousands of military youth and their family members with outdoor camp experiences at YMCA day camps, overnight camps and family camps from April 2011 through March 2012. This announcement comes on the heels of First Lady Michelle Obama's call this morning for greater support for military families.

Tourism in Florida is getting a $30 mililon boost from BP, state officials said Monday. Gov. Rick Scott announced the Northwest Florida Tourism Council will recieve a grant to help mitigate the impact to the area's tourism industry as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a statement from the governor's office said.

How could philanthropy do a better job of meeting today’s challenges? By ditching the jargon, getting over its aversion to paying for fund-raising costs, and tackling the kinds of goals that capture people’s imaginations, according to speakers at today’s kick-off of the annual Council on Foundations meeting in Philadelphia.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is challenging colleges and universities to think creatively about how they educate future scientists, science teachers, and a scientifically-literate public. The Institute has invited 215 undergraduate-focused colleges and universities from across the country to apply for a total of $60 million in science education grants.

USA Funds, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that helps American families benefit from postsecondary education, has awarded $1 million grants to two nonprofit organizations that help disadvantaged students succeed in college. 

Bottom Line, a nonprofit organization in Boston, will receive funding as the recipient of the USA Funds Trustees’ National Award for College Success. Starfish Initiative, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit, will receive funding under the USA Funds John Burkhart Indiana Award for College Success.

Two local nonprofits working to better the lives of children and families were recently honored with grants totaling more than $20,000. The Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County recently announced nearly $125,000 in financial awards this year to local nonprofit groups through its grant program, including the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and the Anne Arundel Community College Foundation.