Grants Roundup: Gates and Kresge Funds Team on $13 Million Ed Network

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by The Chronicle:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates, Kresge Foundation

$13 million to create the Strong Start to Finish network, which is designed to increase the number of low-income and minority students who complete math and English requirements during their first year of college. The network will be coordinated by the Education Commission of the States, an education-policy group, and will make three-year grants of up to $2.25 million to support evidence-based programs in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Wyncote Foundation

$5 million to the Philadelphia Orchestra to expand programming for the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ in Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, the orchestra’s home venue.

Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund

Approximately $4.7 million to nonprofits with missions that include reducing the influence of money in politics, protecting access to abortion services, and strengthening early literacy development. The grant round also includes $1 million for new exhibits and other programs at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation

$2.5 million to Free Arts of Abused Children of Arizona to double the nonprofit’s space and expand its mentoring and art-therapy programs.

Valero Energy Corporation

$1 million to the Whitacre College of Engineering at Texas Tech University to relocate and expand its chemical-engineering laboratory.

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