Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Awards $117.6 Million to Help Homeless Families

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by the Chronicle:

Bezos Day 1 Families Fund

$117.6 million to 38 recipients to help families experiencing homelessness in 23 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

This is the sixth annual round of grant making to address homelessness; grants this year ranged from $150,000 to $5 million each.

Kalahari Resorts and Conventions

$50 million commitment to Charity:Water to deliver clean water to 1 million people throughout Africa.

Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation

$30 million to the Franciscan Health Foundation to create the Dean and Barbara White Cancer Center within the new Franciscan Health Crown Point hospital, in Indiana.

George Gund Foundation

$11.5 million to groups in Ohio, including $2.5 million to nine organizations that are leading nonpartisan democracy-building efforts across the state.

Persian Heritage Foundation

$11 million to the University of California at Los Angeles to create the Yarshater Center for the Study of Iranian Literary Traditions.

The center is named for Ehsan Yarshater, a scholar of Iranian studies who was a professor at Columbia University for 40 years and established the Persian Heritage Foundation in 1983. He died in 2018.

Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

$10 million over four years to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to back the Allen Discovery Center for Neuroimmune Interactions, which will conduct multidisciplinary studies on how the human body senses disease.

Sherman Fairchild Foundation

$10 million to the Morgan Library and Museum to back its $50 million fundraising campaign.

Of the total, $3.5 million will name the Walter and Constance Burke Paper Conservator and establish the Walter and Constance Burke Endowment Fund for Paper Conservation. Walter Burke was the longtime president of the foundation and a trustee of the museum.

Early Educator Investment Collaborative

$9 million to three grantees to develop new ways to increase wages and benefits for early-childhood educators.

The recipients are the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children.

Overdeck Family Foundation

$9 million to 20 grantees, including $4 million over three years to Opportunity Insights for its efforts to use research and data platforms to improve economic opportunity.

Ball Brothers Foundation

$5 million to 36 organizations in Indiana.

The largest grant of almost $2.8 million went to the Minnetrista Museum and Gardens for general operating support and to back its educational programs, exhibitions, events, workshops, and the maintenance of its facilities.

Mark Foundation for Cancer Research

$5 million to 16 interdisciplinary cancer-research projects through its annual Aspire Awards.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

$4.5 million to BiomEdit to develop new types of additives to animal feed and related solutions that can reduce methane emissions from beef and dairy cattle.

JPMorgan Chase

$3.5 million commitment to four organizations to create apprenticeship opportunities for more job seekers and expand training programs for in-demand industries.

New America, WTIA Workforce Institute, and Per Scholas each received $1 million, and an additional $500,000 went to Apprenticeships for America.

United Health Foundation

$3 million over three years to the Hispanic Federation for a program that aims to promote lifestyle changes that reduce risk factors for diabetes among Latino people in Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston.

Bread Financial

$1.8 million to Ruling Our eXperiences to offer a 20-week program in schools that teaches social-emotional skills to girls in grades 5 through 12 and help them handle relationship and interpersonal challenges.

Data.org

$1.25 million to the five winners of the Generative AI Skills Challenge, a global grant program in partnership with Microsoft to help workers develop the skills to use generative artificial intelligence.

The grantees, which have each received $250,000, are Data Elevates, the Global Integrated Education Volunteers Association, the Mississippi AI Collaborative, the Myna Mahila Foundation, and the Tipping Point.

New Grant Opportunity

South Arts, with support from the Wallace Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, is accepting letters of interest for ArtsHERE, a grant program to expand access to participation in the arts across the United States. Approximately 95 grants worth between $65,000 and $130,000 each will go to organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to equity within their practices and programs, and will back projects that strengthen grantees’ ability to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for marginalized groups and communities. Statements of interest are due January 19.

Chronicle of Philanthropy subscribers also have full access to GrantStation’s searchable database of grant opportunities. For more information, visit our grants page.