RI Foundation donates $18.2M over first half of 2016

THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION awarded $18.2 million in grants during the first half of 2016, benefiting a broad cross-section of nonprofits and community initiatives.
THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION awarded $18.2 million in grants during the first half of 2016, benefiting a broad cross-section of nonprofits and community initiatives.

PROVIDENCE – From health care issues to housing problems, hundreds of nonprofits serving Rhode Islanders benefited from the $18.2 million the Rhode Island Foundation has awarded during the first half of 2016, the organization announced Friday.

As the largest nonprofit funder in the state, the Rhode Island Foundation partners with donors and grant recipients to meet the needs of state residents.

“We connect the desires of our donors to the challenges Rhode Island faces,” said Neil D. Steinberg, the foundation’s president and CEO. “By encouraging innovation, collaboration and leadership, we make it possible for nonprofits to take on issues that are crucial to the state’s success.”

The foundation’s competitive strategy grant program – which targets arts and culture, children and families, education, economic security, the environment, and health and housing – funded dozens of nonprofits since January.

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Most notably, the South Kingstown school department received $15,000 to support its dual language, Spanish and English, immersion program; $24,740 was awarded to Tufts Health Plan Foundation to develop a plan to control health care spending; Year Up Providence received $125,000 for its work to close the opportunity divide; and $74,423 was awarded to the University of Rhode Island to train public school teachers in English as second language lnstruction.

Discretionary grants, awarded by the foundation’s staff and directors to solve long-term, significant issues faced by the community, were presented to hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the first half of the year.

Organizations serving the state’s LGBTQ communities – including Sojourner House, Thundermist Health Center and Youth Pride through the Equity Action Fund – received more than $50,000.

Grants totaling nearly $260,000 were awarded to Newport County nonprofits for a number of initiatives, including after-school activities, stocking food pantries, Alzheimer’s care and preventing relationship violence. Those Newport County-based institutions include the Boys and Girls Club of Newport County, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, and the Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties.

Pawtucket-based Blackstone Valley Community Action Program, the West Warwick Senior Center and the Jonnycake Center in South Kingstown – which support Rhode Island’s food banks, homeless shelters and free clinics – received more than $195,000 to support residents of the state in need.

Other major grants include:

  • Adoption Rhode Island: $50,000 for general operating support
  • AS220: $85,000 for general operating support
  • Audubon Society of Rhode Island: $45,000 for National Land Trust accreditation
  • East Bay Community Action Program: $20,000 for integrated behavioral health services
  • FirstWorks: $30,000 for PVDFEST 2016
  • Local Initiatives Support Corporation: $50,000 for Bridges to Career Opportunities
  • Newport Festivals Foundation: $30,000 for expansion of the Newport Jazz Festival
  • Preserve Rhode Island: $34,650 for Rhody Ramble
  • Providence After School Alliance: $75,000 for the Quality Improvement System
  • Rhode Island Interscholastic League: $125,000 for Operation Clean Competition

Friday’s announcement comes during the foundation’s year-long 100th anniversary celebrations, which continue with the foundation-sponsored concert by the R.I. Philharmonic Orchestra. The event, which will be hosted at the Temple to Music in Roger Williams Park on August 18 from 7-9:00 p.m., is free and open to the public.

The Rhode Island Foundation was founded on June 13, 1916, through a $10,000 gift from industrialist Jesse Metcalf. Since then the foundation’s assets have grown to nearly $800 million, and over the past five years the foundation has awarded more than $165 million in grants.

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