Grants

Teach For America, the education organization that places recent college graduates in low-income public schools, is getting $100 million to launch its first-ever endowment in hopes of making the grass-roots organization a permanent fixture in education. The program — which is now in communities from Atlanta to rural New Mexico to Los Angeles — announced Thursday that four philanthropists are joining to create a stable, long-term source of money. It's welcome news for an organization that had more than 46,000 applications for just 4,400 teaching slots this academic year.

Six different groups received $200,000 grants from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, and they’ll be offering (likely competing) proposals later this year aimed at tackling the country’s fiscal problems.

The proposals will be unveiled as part of the Peterson Foundation’s fiscal summit later this year. Each proposal will be compared with the baseline the Congressional Budget Office offers later this month. They come as Washington is wrangling over how best to cut spending and could be used to shape budget battles or negotiations over entitlement programs.

The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, which has assets of about $280 million, is being broken into thirds and dished out to the foundations of each of the offspring.

The handover won't happen for nearly two years, and in the meantime the 60-year-old foundation will continue to hand out grants, said fund Executive Director Amy Lyons.

Then, on Dec. 31, 2012, the fund will shut its doors and the existing foundations of John and Douglas Goldman and their sister, Susan Gelman, will receive whatever assets are in the fund's pot.

Many people already know about the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called “genius” awards. These are grants worth half-a-million U.S. dollars that the charitable foundation give to creative sorts, with no strings attached.

On Wednesday, the philanthropic organization announced that it was giving $350,000 to ARTH, a health nonprofit that works in Rajasthan, to fund its effort to improve healthcare for expectant mothers and reduce deaths from deliveries.

Donors to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund made more than 353,000 grants totaling over $1.2 billion to nonprofits nationwide during 2010, up 19 percent and 14 percent, respectively, compared to 2009, the fund said.

Incoming charitable contributions surpassed $1.6 billion during 2010, representing a 42 percent increase compared to 2009. This is the sixth consecutive year that the Gift Fund has accepted more than $1 billion in contributions from donors.

Reach Out and Read CEO Earl Martin Phalen discusses his organization and its fundraising techniques.

The Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) New York division awarded grants to eight not-for-profit organizations at its year 2010 benefit dinner.

It chose organizations that focus on education, children at risk, the environment, and disaster preparedness.

The grant recipients are Boys & Girls Clubs of America; Boys Hope Girls Hope of New York; Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation; Community Mainstreaming Associates; Covenant House of New Jersey; Hudson River Sloop Clearwater; Starlight Children’s Foundation NY•NJ•CT; and World Cares Center.

Months after winning $700 million in the federal Race to the Top competition, New York state's education department says it needs another $18 million, and is turning to foundations, hedge fund managers and other private donors for the money.

The $18 million will pay for systems, technology and research that will help ensure that the state spends the $700 million effectively, education department officials said. 

The Iowa Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Foundation has received a $5,000 grant from the CJ Foundation for SIDS, the largest SIDS organization in the United States.

Funds will be used for the design and distribution of educational brochures highlighting the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations for safe sleep. Free brochures will be given to educators, health care providers and child care providers across Iowa.

The competition for foundation grants is greater than ever with charitable service demand at an all-time high. So to ensure your organization is in position to grab the attention of grantmakers, make sure you're set up with the pre-grantseeking needs foundations look for.