Posted on June 9, 2012

Community Foundation Update (6/09/12)

California

The Silicon Valley Community Foundation has announced that it is merging with the Entrepreneurs Foundation, combining the corporate philanthropy services of both organizations to better serve clients that want to give back locally, regionally, and around the world. Together, the community foundation and EF work with more than one hundred companies to implement, facilitate, and guide corporate philanthropy programs, providing strategic advice about giving and corporate social responsibility, events, and resources.

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has announced grants totaling $20,000 from its Clayton Fund to Arts Clayton, Clayton County Family Care, Historical Jonesboro-Clayton County, Rainbow House, and the Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center.

The Chicago Community Trust has announced that Sun-Times Media has established a foundation at the trust. The Sun-Times Foundation will assist community organizations in reaching their fundraising goals through the trust's Community Match program.

The Community Foundation of Louisville has named Caroline George Meena as its new gift planning advisor. An attorney, Meena will work to build relationships with legal and financial advisors in the Louisville area while broadening the foundation's reach.

The Greater New Orleans Foundation has announced a grant of $100,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to help broaden the work of its Organizational Effectiveness initiative, which GNOF launched a year ago to strengthen local nonprofits. During 2011, the initiative conducted eighty one-on-one conversations with representatives of nonprofits in the area and released its findings in its Needs Scan Report.

The Healthy Kid: Healthy Community program of the Hernando-based Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi has been recognized for its role in helping reduce the percentage of obese and overweight elementary school children in the state from 43 percent in 2005 to 37 percent in 2011, the DeSoto Times Tribune reports. The Center for Mississippi Health Policy recently released a report on obesity-prevention efforts in the state, which leads the nation in childhood obesity and has some of the highest rates nationwide in terms of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and depression.

The Whitefish Community Foundation has announced a $1.1 million bequest from longtime supporters Mary Jane and Russell Street. The bequest will be placed in an endowment and used to further the foundation's efforts in the community.

The Community Foundation of Abilene has awarded approximately $10,000 to the View Volunteer Fire Department toward the purchase of new equipment, KTXS reports. Last year, the foundation established the Volunteer Fire Department Fund to help rural and volunteer fire departments meet safety and security needs.