Posted on September 29, 2005

Allen Family Foundation Awards $9.3 Million to Nonprofits in Pacific Northwest

The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has announced its most recent round of grants, awarding $9.3 million to 110 nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest region.

Supporting nonprofits in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, the foundation made grants in the areas of community development and social change, arts and culture, youth engagement, and scientific and technologic innovations. Among the awards announced was a $500,000 grant to Seattle-based AIDS Housing of Washington, which will help launch the Washington Families Fund to provide service-supported, affordable housing for homeless families in the region; and $700,000 to the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, also in Seattle, to support the building of a new facility and the expansion of its services. Support to arts groups included $225,000 to Koahnic Broadcast Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska, for its production of "Earthsongs," a weekly public radio program of contemporary Native American music; and $40,000 to the Seattle-based Earshot Jazz Society in support of the 2005 Earshot Jazz Festival.

Paul G. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and created the $100 million Allen Institute for Brain Science, has donated more than $825 million to nonprofit cause and organizations since retiring from the company. "Seventeen years ago, Paul Allen and [executive director] Jody Patton began making grants to innovative charitable groups in the Pacific Northwest whose work created positive change in their communities," said the foundation's senior director, Susan M. Coliton. "The foundation acts as a catalyst for creativity, discovery, and achievement, and remains steadfast to our founders' vision of improving lives, strengthening communities, and supporting vulnerable populations in this region."