Multiple Donors Pool $2.6 Billion to Eradicate Polio Worldwide (Grants Roundup)

By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions

Several American grant makers have given a combined $2.6 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for its efforts to vaccinate 450 million children against polio per year. Dominique Catton/©Gates Archive

December 4, 2019 | Read Time: 2 minutes

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by the Chronicle:

Multiple Funders

$2.6 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for its efforts to vaccinate 450 million children against polio per year and eradicate all wild poliovirus variants by 2023. Grants from American grant makers include $1.08 billion from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, $150 million from Rotary International, $50 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies, and $25 million from Dalio Philanthropies.

Open Society Foundations

$830 million pledge to Central European University to establish the Open Society University Network, an international consortium that bolsters academic freedom in Budapest. The grant builds on an existing partnership between the university and Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Pulte Family Charitable Foundation

$111 million to the University of Notre Dame to enhance and expand its anti-poverty programs through teaching and research to create, identify, and promote practices that best serve those with greatest need.

John M. O’Quinn Foundation

$16 million to the University of Houston for the UH Law Center and to help build its new state-of-the-art facility.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

$10 million to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation to upgrade technology and make its main branch an inviting public space for residents of Charlotte, N.C.

Walmart Foundation

$5 million to the University of Arkansas to help build its new Student Success Center, which is expected to finish construction in 2022.

Donald A. Pels Charitable Trust

$4 million to the City University of New York to expand its Accelerate, Complete, and Engage program at Lehman College.

Gilead Sciences

$2.4 million to the National AIDS Memorial to relocate the AIDS Memorial Quilt from Atlanta to San Francisco, and support the organization’s public-education programs.

Everychild Foundation

$1 million to Homeboy Industries to build a youth center in Los Angeles County that will work with high-risk, gang-involved youths ages 14 to 21 who are on probation and live in poverty.

New Grant Opportunity

X Prize is now accepting applications for its newly announced Rainforest X Prize, a $10 million grant competition for teams of technological innovators working to identify and catalog rainforest biodiversity. The top two teams will receive grants worth $5 million and $2 million, with additional prizes of $500,000 awarded to remaining finalists. Registrations are due June 30, 2020.

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

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

M.J. Prest has been writing about major gifts, grant making, and executive moves for the Chronicle since 2004. Email M.J.

About the Author

M.J. Prest

Senior Editor, Solutions

M.J. Prest is senior editor for solutions at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she highlights how nonprofit leaders navigate and overcome major challenges. She has covered stories on big gifts, grant making, and executive moves for the Chronicle since 2004. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate.com, and the Huffington Post, and she wrote the young-adult novel Immersion. M.J. graduated from Williams College and after living in many different places, she settled in New England with her husband, two kids, and two rescue dogs.