Press Release
$1.35 million awarded to 19 Arizona nonprofit organizations
March 23, 2010
Trust Leads Community Emergency Funding for 2nd Year
Grants Support Children, Young Families, Elderly, Environment
(Phoenix) — The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust announced $1,348,500 in grants to 19 Arizona nonprofit organizations (detailed descriptions attached) Tuesday, March 23. Grant recipients arrived at the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center, 3131 South Central Avenue, at 3 p.m. for an hour-long reception with the Trust’s Trustees, staff and representatives from grantee organizations.
For the second year, the Trust has extended its Emergency Funding Initiative, leading a community collaboration of philanthropic organizations to fund Emergency Housing and Food programs with a $400,000 grant.
“The Pulliam Trust is again joining forces and dollars with Arizona philanthropic organizations to help local residents survive these difficult times,” said Edmund Portnoy, Ph.D., Arizona grants programs director for the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
“These dollars will be distributed to food banks and homeless and domestic violence shelters that are the first responders in helping people deal with the difficult economy,” Portnoy added.
To date the funding collaboration has raised more than $1 million and will distribute funds in April. The funding collaboration includes: Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, Arizona Community Foundation, Bruce T. Halle Family Foundation, The Bidstrup Foundation, St. Lukes Health Initiatives, Steele Foundation, Valley of the Sun United Way, Wells Fargo Bank, Martha Jane Youngker Foundation and Whiteman Foundation.
Fifteen Maricopa County agencies will receive funds from the collaboration. Valley of the Sun United Way administers the fund.
Continuing this funding round’s emphasis on helping people in need, $324,000 in Trust grants went to organizations protecting children in crisis and providing mentoring programs for at-risk youth; healthcare for mothers, their children and homeless individuals; and services for disabled, injured and the elderly. In addition, $229,000 went to agencies providing educational programs for teen pregnancy prevention and young family parenting skills; GED and high school diploma programs for at-risk youth; and desert preservation outreach programs for kindergarten through 12th grade students.
This first round of 2010 Trust grants also provided $183,000 to build organizational capacity for nonprofit agencies providing medical services and creating collaborative programs within Arizona’s nonprofit community. Grants totaling $212,500 went to forest preservation programs in northern Arizona, programs to assist abused and abandoned animals, and wellness and spay/neuter services for companion animals.
With shrinking federal and state budgets impacting organizations providing emergency food and housing, children’s advocacy and education, as well as healthcare services, nonprofit organizations have to look elsewhere for funding, said Harriet M. Ivey, Trust president and CEO. The Trust is fulfilling Mrs. Pulliam’s lifelong lead of providing support for Valley organizations that are filling the void for people in need.
These are challenging times. Our grantees are doing an exceptional job of bringing relief to those in the greatest need, stated Trust Chairman Frank E. Russell. The Trust furthers the causes Nina Pulliam supported during her life, continuing her legacy of helping people in need, protecting animals and nature, and enriching community life in Phoenix. Since the Trust began its grantmaking in 1998, it has awarded more than $85 million to 380 Arizona nonprofit organizations, Russell added.
The Trust also announced that applications are due April 1 for the 10th cohort of the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars, a needs-based scholarship program at ASU and Maricopa Community Colleges that has brought the dream of a college education to nontraditional students since 2001. Information about how to apply is on the Trust’s web site, www.ninapulliamtrust.org.
The Trust also makes grants in Indiana and at the end of December 31, 2009, had assets of approximately $327 million.