R.I. Foundation sets grant record

PROVIDENCE – Despite the Ocean State’s record-high unemployment and a steadily worsening national economy, The Rhode Island Foundation this year awarded a total of $27 million in grants to more than 1,000 local organizations, making 2008 the 93-year-old organization’s largest grant-giving year.
This year’s grants topped 2007 totals by more than $1 million, the foundation announced today.
“Our endowment, like that of other foundations, has certainly been affected by the current economy,” President and CEO Neil D. Steinberg said in a statement, “but we are buffered in the short term by prudent investments and spending policies developed by our board of directors.”
Local donors were “wonderfully generous,” Steinberg added. Donor contributions to the foundation this year topped $40 million, breaking past years’ records.
About 60 percent of Rhode Island Foundation grants are donor-directed.
The balance – about $10.8 million this year – go toward “discretionary investment in organizations working on solutions to the state’s most critical challenges.” Of that sum, about $4.48 million was distributed this year as part of the foundation’s strategy grant program.
For those grants, foundation members visit the grantees to determine their worthiness, Executive Vice President Carol Golden said in a statement.
“Our community philanthropy officers spend a great deal of time with applicants, learning about their projects and gaining real understanding of their organizations,” she said. “Since we are unable to fund every proposal, we are determined that our strategy grants will have an impact where it is most needed in every sector.”
Averaging about $46,000, this year’s strategy grantees range widely, from the $64,350 given to WaterFire Providence to fund its transition to an executive director-led organization to the $30,000 given to Montpelier, Vt.-based New England Grassroots Environmental Fund to enable it to provide seed grants, technical assistance and “networking opportunities focusing on Rhode Island community environmental initiatives.”
The strategy grants are awarded in six categories, which this year broke down in this way:
• Arts and culture: $472,350
• Community and economic development: $1,191,732
• Education: $858,183
• Environment: $355,000
• Health: $803,912
• Human services: $797,200
This year’s largest grantees, each receiving $75,000, were: Rhode Island Public Radio (WRNI 102.7 FM and 1290 AM), Church Community Housing Corp., Grow Smart Rhode Island, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, the Rhode Island College Foundation, The Providence After School Alliance, the City of Warwick, Rhode Island Hospital, the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, and Rhode Island Kids Count.
Since 1998, the foundation has awarded more than $220 million in grants and accepted gifts of more than $240 million.
The Rhode Island Foundation, founded in 1916, is one of the nation’s largest and oldest charitable organizations serving a specific geographic community. To learn more about the foundation or its programs, visit www.RIFoundation.org.