Nonprofit news roundup for Dec. 11, 2008

December 11, 2008

Gates Foundation gives $4 million for global-health school

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $4 million to the University of California to open a multi-campus School of Global Health, likely in 2011, The San Jose Mercury News reported Dec. 10 (see school story). The grant will enable at least five campuses each to tackle a problem facing developing countries, including infectious disease, climate change and food security.

Five Indiana charities team up to donate $3.2 million

Five charities in central Indiana have donated a total of $3.2 million to organizations addressing basic needs, such as food banks and homeless shelters, The Indianapolis Star reported Dec. 10 (see needs story). The Lilly Endowment, United Way, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, the Richard Fairbanks Foundation and the Central Indiana Community Foundation contributed to the effort, which will help provide groceries and rental assistance to people in need.

Family foundations get focused with mission statements

Family foundations are writing formal mission statements to help target their giving and better leverage their charitable dollars in uncertain economic times, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 10 (see family story). In October 2008, more than eight in 10 family foundations had a formal mission statement, with most of them reviewing the statements at least once every five years, says a survey by the National Center for Family Philanthropy.

 

In Brief:

* The Pittsburgh Foundation launched Neighbor-Aid, a fund of more than $700,000 devoted to helping Pittsburgh-area nonprofits cope with skyrocketing demand, The Pittsburgh Business Times reported Dec. 10.

* Frank Batten, founder of Landmark Communications, and his wife, Jane, are donating up to $70 million to the Culver Academies, a private prep school in northern Indiana, the Associated Press reported Dec. 10.

* Despite the economic meltdown and a drop in service-sector jobs, remittances by immigrants to their home countries are holding steady, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 11.

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