More Than $4-Million Donated in Response to Gulf Coast Oil Spill

June 10, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes

A month and a half after the start of the drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, donors have contributed more than $4-million to support relief efforts.

Among the recipients:

Grant Makers

• The Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, a project started by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors after Hurricane Katrina, had received more than $245,000 as of June 9. The fund has awarded $155,000 in emergency grants to 27 grass-roots environmental groups in the region. The Gulf Coast Fund also organized a three-day tour that allowed potential donors to see the work and meet the leaders of the groups the fund supports, which resulted in commitments of at least $60,000 to those organizations.

• The Gulf Oil Spill Fund, created by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, stands at $130,000, including an initial gift of $60,000 from the foundation. The foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to Seedco Financial for its Southeast Louisiana Fisheries Assistance Center, in Belle Chasse.

• A benefit concert in New Orleans headlined by the singer Lenny Kravitz brought in $300,000 for the newly formed Gulf Relief Foundation.

• The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, in Baton Rouge, has awarded emergency grants totaling $117,500 to nine local nonprofit groups that are providing assistance to communities affected by the spill.

Gulf-Coast Charities

• The Audubon Nature Institute, in New Orleans, had raised $42,735 as of June 8.

• Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans had received $882,850 as of June 8, including a $750,000 contribution from BP America.

• Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana had received $376,400 as of June 8, including two donations from BP America that totaled $350,000.

National Charities

• Greenpeace USA had received $260,000 as of June 8.

• The Audubon Society, in New York, had raised more than $1-million as of June 9, including a $750,000 gift from Chevron for the group’s new Volunteer Response Center in Moss Point, Miss.

• The National Wildlife Federation, in Reston, Va., had received $480,000 as of June 4, including $20,000 via text messaging.

• The Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Va., had received 89,216 as of June 7.

• Oceana, in Washington, had received more than $15,000 as of June 8.

• Waterkeeper Alliance, in Irvington, N.Y., was awarded a $100,000 grant from the footwear company Teva on June 2.

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.