R.I. Foundation awards record $87M in grants to nonprofits in 2020

THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION awarded a record $87 million in grants to local nonprofits in 2020. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION awarded a record $87 million in grants to local nonprofits in 2020. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION

PROVIDENCE – In a year where Rhode Island saw immense hardship, the Rhode Island Foundation offered no shortage of help to the community, and did so in record-breaking fashion.

The state’s largest nonprofit funder announced Wednesday that it awarded in 2020 a record $87 million in grants to more than 2,200 nonprofit organizations, surpassing the foundation’s 2019 grant-making mark by more than $30 million.

Over the last five years, the foundation has issued more than $284 million in grants and raised more that $328 million, it said.

Of that 2020 total, the foundation said more than $21 million in grants were raised to specifically help organizations that are directly responding to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Included in this initiative was the foundation partnering with the United Way of Rhode Island to create the COVID-19 Response Fund in March 2020 right at the pandemic’s infancy.

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Additionally, Rhode Island Foundation said it raised more than $68 million from family, individual, organizational and corporate donors last year. That figure, the foundation said, made it the third-highest amount the foundation has raised in its 105-year history. At the conclusion of 2020, the foundation – which issued grants between $1 and several million dollars – saw its total assets standing at $1.2 billion and its total investment return for the year at just more than 12%, it said.

In a statement Wednesday, Rhode Island Foundation CEO and President Neil D. Steinberg said the funder is grateful of the donors who helped the organization take on the state’s recent challenges.

“Working with nonprofit organizations to support their critical services in the community, inspiring donors and providing leadership around crucial issues all played a role as we worked to meet the needs of all Rhode Islanders during a year unlike anything we’ve experienced before,” Steinberg said.

Along with the grantmaking, Rhode Island Foundation established in October 2020 a three-year, $8.5 million plan to address racial disparities and inequities in the state. Steinberg told Providence Business News at the time that the foundation wanted to put a “stake in the ground and lead by example” in addressing underlying issues of racial disparity in the Ocean State.

“[Racial inequity is] not new, we knew there were populations – the Black and Latino populations specifically – where there were many health disparities that were a factor in COVID-19,” Steinberg said. “There’s a lot of talk about diversity and equity, inclusion, racial equity, all prompted by current events, some negative current events and hopefully some positive current events. But, we wanted to … make a commitment, we are Rhode Island’s community foundation and we wanted to go above and beyond.”

The foundation, through its Civic Leadership Fund, raised more than $610,000 in 2020. The fund, the foundation said, allows the funder to go beyond traditional grantmaking and meet opportunities, challenges and engage Rhode Islanders in civic and civil dialogue.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.

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