Nonprofit news roundup May 18, 2009

May 18, 2009

One hundred high-net-worth women in the U.S. will each give $1 million or more, for a total of more than $176 million, to groups that make grants supporting women and girls, Dow Jones reported May 13 (see women story). The Women Moving Millions initiative is one example of the philanthropic influence women are exercising now that they control more than half the nation's wealth.

Echoing a trend from the Great Depression, when Americans doubled their donations to charity, individuals in the current recession are digging deeper as struggling foundations cut back, The Salt Lake City Tribune reported May 15 (see individual giving story). At Utah State University, for example, individual gifts are up eight percent from last year, while foundation gifts are down as much as 60 percent.

Utah's nonprofit sector is bracing for a drop in grantmaking by the state's 450 foundations, which together held assets of more than $2 billion before the economic downturn, The Salt Lake Tribune reported May 15 (see Utah story). If Utah funders have lost asset value at the 30 percent level estimated nationally, that will mean available grant dollars of about $71 million this year, down from $139 million in 2005.

The University of California at Berkeley is on track to post its second-best fundraising year ever, The San Francisco Business Times reported May 15 (see university fundraising story). Through April 30, the school had logged $256.7 million in gifts and pledges, with over $70 million of them since Jan. 1. In fiscal 2008, the school received over $400 million in gifts and pledges, including a record-high $113 million matching grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

A new Catholic Charities program funded with $1 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will focus on 11-to-14-year-olds in four Wichita middle schools to prevent dating violence, The Wichita Eagle reported May 16 (see teen-violence grant story).

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