Posted on February 12, 2009

Kresge Foundation Awards $63.6 Million in Fourth-Quarter Grants

The Kresge Foundation in Troy, Michigan, has announced 125 fourth-quarter grants totaling $63.6 million to organizations working in the areas of health, the environment, community development, arts and culture, education, and human services.

The single-largest quarterly grant disbursement in the foundation's 85-year history increased its 2008 grantmaking total to $181 million, which also was a record for the foundation. Awarded to organizations in thirty states, the District of Columbia, Canada, Great Britain, and South Africa, the grants included $5 million to the San Francisco-based Energy Foundation to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and $4 million to the Detroit-based College for Creative Studies to renovate and repurpose its Argonaut Building.

Other grants included $3.5 million to the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan; $3 million to the Detroit chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation; $2 million to Xavier University of Louisiana; $2 million to MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, Washington; $1.5 million to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa; and $1.5 million to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

"If ever there was a time for Kresge to put its resources on the line to help nonprofit organizations serving the poor and disadvantaged, it is now," said foundation board chair Elaine D. Rosen. "The magnitude of the economic contraction demands we be both creative and aggressive in our grantmaking."