Posted on November 21, 2009

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Community Foundation Update (11/21/09)

Arizona

The Flagstaff Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, has awarded a hundred grants totaling more than $600,000 to local organizations, the Arizona Daily Sun reports. Recipients include the Artist's Coalition of Flagstaff, the Alliance for Children's Early Success, the Flagstaff Festival of Science, and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder of Northern Arizona.

The Irvine-based Orange County Community Foundation has announced that during 2009 it surpassed the $150 million mark in grantmaking — just two years after topping $100 million. At an event celebrating its twenty-year history, the foundation honored its founder and executive director emeritus Judy Swayne, bestowing her with the foundation's 2009 Excellence in Philanthropy Lifetime Achievement Award. At the same time, Swayne and her husband announced that they were donating $500,000 to establish permanent endowments to support the environment and the arts.

The Norwalk-based Fairfield County Community Foundation has announced a $1 million endowment gift from two anonymous to support Domus, which works to help struggling young people in the Stamford region turn their lives around through its educational, residential, and community programs. The organization hopes to expand the endowment to at least $20 million to help secure its long-term sustainability.

The Honolulu-based Hawaii Community Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $27,000 to help the Aloha House, Maui Youth & Family Services, and Malama Family Recovery Center merge technology systems in order to reduce administrative costs, the Maui News reports. By establishing a common server, the organizations hope to increase their efficiency. The grant was awarded by the Gwenfread Elaine Allen Fund of the foundation.

The Ellsworth-based Maine Community Foundation has announced that new guidelines for its community building grant program will go into effect in 2010. In addition to modifying its application form, the foundation has raised the maximum grant award from $7,500 to $10,000 and will be instituting new capacity-building grant opportunities.

The Philadelphia Foundation has announced the launch of the Generous Philadelphia Campaign, which will match up to $250,000 in donations to the foundation's Basic Needs Fund through the end of the year. The fund provides support to agencies working to help those most affected by the recession by providing food, housing, transportation, clothing, and help with utility expenses.

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation has announced the launch of a new program called Vital Signs, which provides a single online location where users can find data on six different measurements of the region's economic health: home foreclosures, unemployment, food stamp enrollment, W-2 cases, calls for food assistance, and calls for shelter. Data are collected and analyzed monthly by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute and the information is then posted on the foundation's Web site. In addition to providing data, the site also provides in-depth analysis on one key topic each month through interviews with local experts.

Bruner, Betsey. “Flagstaff Community Foundation Grants $600,000 to Local Nonprofits.” Arizona Daily Sun 11/15/09.

“'Generous Philadelphia' Campaign Challenges Community to Help Needy.” Philadelphia Foundation Press Release 11/16/09.

“New Guidelines for MaineCF's Community Building Grant Program.” Maine Community Foundation Press Release 11/19/09.

“Substance Abuse Agencies Get Grant.” Maui News 11/15/09.

“Vital Signs Provides Critical Information on Impact of Economy.” Greater Milwaukee Foundation Press Release 11/13/09.

“Orange County Community Foundation Marks 20 Years of Philanthropic Impact in Orange County at Annual Meeting.” Orange County Community Foundation Press Release 11/12/09.

“Domus Uses $1 Million in Gifts to Create Endowment Fund.” Fairfield County Community Foundation Press Release 11/18/09.

Primary Subject: Community Improvement/Development
Secondary Subject(s): Education, Community Improvement/Development, Human Services, Environment, Health, Economic Crisis
Location(s): Arizona, California, Connecticut, Ellsworth, Flagstaff, Hawaii, Honolulu, Irvine, Maine, Maui, Milwaukee, Norwalk, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Wisconsin

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