Kresge Foundation approves $43.7 million in nonprofit grants

By Byron Butler, The Daily Tell

October 16, 2009

The Kresge Foundation recently approved $43.7 million in grants for nonprofit organizations working to improve long-term conditions for the poor and provide immediate relief for needy individuals and families.

The grants will go to 208 organizations in 26 states, the District of Columbia and South Africa working in the areas of health, human services, education, the environment, arts and culture, and community development.

"We are supporting exemplary nonprofit organizations in this time of financial hardship so they, in turn, may better serve and sustain those suffering in their communities," said Elaine D. Rosen, chair of the Kresge board of trustees.

Among the giveaways will be a $2.5 million grant to Feeding America, the country’s largest hunger-relief agency, to fund the purchase of 20 to 25 refrigerated trucks. The trucks will be used to distribute food to its 63,000-member network of food banks and mobile pantries.

A $1 million grant will go to the National Advising Corps at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a program that places recent college graduates in underserved high schools and community colleges as college-access counselors.

Another $1 million grant will go to Enterprise Community Partners, a Maryland-based group that works to create affordable housing communities for low- and middle-income individuals and families.

The largest single giveaway will be a $4 million grant to the Nonprofit Finance Fund in New York, a group that distributes capital to nonprofit organizations.

The Kresge Foundation is a $2.8 billion private, national organization based in Troy, Michigan. It was established by Sebastian Kresge, the founder of K-Mart, in 1924 to provide financial support to nonprofits. The group retired its Green Initiative, a program started in 2003 to encourage environmentally sustainable construction in the nonprofit sector, on May 29, 2009.