Bezos Earth Fund Commits $400 Million Through Its Greening America’s Cities Program

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by the Chronicle:

Bezos Earth Fund

$400 million commitment through its new Greening America’s Cities program, which will back projects to build parks, plant trees, and develop community gardens within urban communities.

The program will begin with $50 million in grants to projects in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Wilmington, Del.

John Podesta, senior adviser to President Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation, was at the event announcing the grants. He said in an interview that the federal government had $1.5 billion available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture for urban tree planting and that he was excited to see philanthropic organizations supporting similar efforts.

“We’ve got to marry solutions that both remove carbon from the atmosphere, but also create more resilient, more livable neighborhoods, particularly for places that have often been left out and left behind,” he said. “Decades of policy, including redlining, abandoned those neighborhoods and left them really vulnerable to a warming planet. So we’re trying to reverse that and make these investments.”

Lilly Endowment

$92 million to 77 organizations through its Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative to provide resources and support for Christian families and help them share their faith and values with their children.

Each grantee received between $240,000 and $1.25 million.

The Lilly Endowment is a financial supporter of the Chronicle.

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

$57 million to 13 organizations that work in the foundation’s program areas of Catholic sisters, foster care, global early-childhood education, homelessness, opportunities for youths, refugees, water quality, and civic leadership.

Among the grants in this round, the United Way received $8.5 million to streamline its efforts to address homelessness in Los Angeles County.

Lemelson Foundation

$50 million commitment through its new Climate Initiative, which will make grants to projects that advance education, justice, and new solutions to climate change.

The commitment comes in honor of the 100th birthday of Jerome Lemelson, the late inventor who established the foundation with his wife, Dorothy, in 1992. It now has $489 million in assets.

Humana Foundation, Reach Resilience, USAA, and the USAA Foundation

$41 million to Face the Fight, a new coalition that will make grants to organizations that work to prevent suicide among military veterans.

Reach Resilience committed $25 million over five years, USAA and the USAA Foundation together gave $10 million, and the Humana Foundation pledged $6 million over three years.

J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation

$25 million to the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center to expand access to mental-health services in southwestern Texas.

Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Foundation

$23.7 million to three organizations to develop public parks in Ohio.

The foundation gave $13 million to Cleveland Metroparks to build a bike trail and purchase land in the southern part of the city’s Gordon Park, and $725,000 to LAND Studio to involve residents from adjacent neighborhoods in Cleveland in that development process. It also granted $10 million to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to build a public park along Lake Erie.

Zilber Family Foundation

$20 million to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee to endow the Zilber Faculty Excellence Fund and the Vera Zilber Student Program Fund within the Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health.

Joseph Zilber previously gave $10 million to the college in 2007. He died in 2010 at age 92; Vera Zilber died in 2003.

Weingart Foundation

$9.4 million to organizations in Southern California that are addressing issues of disability, economic, housing, and immigrant and refugee justice.

The foundation also awarded $10 million in impact investments.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

$8 million to Miami Waterkeeper and the Everglades Foundation to bolster their operations and develop new solutions that increase climate resilience in southern Florida.

The foundation gave $5 million to Miami Waterkeeper and $3 million to the Everglades Foundation.

Fund for Frontline Power

$5 million to 48 grassroots groups that are addressing the climate crisis at the community level across the United States.

Lake Health Foundation

$5 million to University Hospitals to strengthen community health and well-being in Ohio’s Lake County.

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

$4 million to 49 arts organizations and museums to back visual-arts programs, exhibitions, research, and financial support to artists.

Houston Endowment

$2.1 million to the National Partnership for New Americans to augment its programs for naturalized citizens in the Houston metropolitan area and integrate immigrants into the local community, economy, and civic affairs.

Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation

$2 million to Kalamazoo College to renovate its science facilities.

Dollar General

$1 million to Feeding America to continue its work to alleviate hunger in the communities where the discount retailer has locations.

New Grant Opportunity

The Center for Nonprofit Advancement is requesting nominations for its Excellence in Chief Executive Leadership Award, which recognizes exceptional nonprofit chief executives in the Washington area. Nominees must have held the top salaried executive position for at least three years at a nonprofit group with an annual budget of under $10 million in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia. Nominations are due August 4.

Send grant announcements to grants.editor@philanthropy.com.

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