Press Release

$1.75 million awarded to 28 Arizona nonprofit organizations

July 14, 2010

Children, Families, Elderly to Benefit
Pulliam Trust Focuses Giving on Those in Greatest Need

(Phoenix) — The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust announced $1,750,000 in grants to 28 Arizona nonprofit organizations Wednesday, July 14. Grant recipients arrived at the Heard Museum’s Steele Auditorium, 2301 N. Central Avenue, at 3 p.m. for the hour-long reception with the Trust’s Trustees, staff and representatives from grantee organizations.

Of grants awarded, $1,507,000 or 86 percent of Trust funding went to organizations helping people in need.
Budget cuts at state and federal levels have created a crisis for our social service agencies across the board. Nonprofit organizations providing housing, job and food assistance to citizens struggling during these economic times are not only realizing reductions in funding but also are facing overwhelming increased requests for assistance, said Edmund Portnoy, Ph.D., Arizona grants programs director for the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

In response to these challenging times, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has remained steadfast in its outreach to and support of organizations on the front line, providing basic human services to families and individuals in the greatest need, added Harriet M. Ivey, Trust president and CEO.

The grants we are distributing today represent the Trust’s goal of responding to alleviate immediate human needs, collaborating to leverage organizational impact and investing over the longer horizon to change lives, preserve the environments and enrich community life in the Valley, Ivey added.

In this second of three grant rounds for the Trust in 2010, $715,000 went to 11 organizations providing permanent and transitional housing support, employment assistance, elderly services, program support and healthcare. Grant recipients include: About Care, Area Agency on Aging Region One, Catholic Charities Community Services, Central Arizona Shelter Services, Duet, First United Methodist Church of Tempe, Homeward Bound, Native American Connections, Open Table, Save the Family Foundation of Arizona and Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

An additional $227,000 in grants went to My Sister My Friend, United Food Bank and Waste Not to support food distribution programs for families in need.

Arizonans for the Protection of Exploited Children and Adults, Catholic Healthcare West Foundation of the East Valley, UMOM New Day Centers, Unlimited Potential, and the Summer Youth Program Fund received $368,000 in grants to provide child care for families in crisis, children’s dental care and oral hygiene education, and support education and summer programs for youth across Maricopa County.

Channel Eight/AZ PBS, Literacy Volunteers of Maricopa County and Sun Sounds Foundation received $142,000 in grants to provide literacy programs and reading services for the visually impaired. In addition, International Rescue Committee received $55,000 to help strengthen grass roots refugee organizations around the Valley. Grants totaling $201,000 went to Arizona Wilderness Coalition, Desert Foothills Land Trust, National Wildlife Federation and Sky Island Alliance for environmental protection and education programs. Healing Hearts Animal Rescue and Refuge received a $42,000 grant to provide affordable wellness and spay/neuter services for companion animals living with families in low-income areas.

These are extraordinary times. And, our grantees are doing an exceptional job of bringing relief to those in the greatest need, furthering Nina Pulliam’s legacy in her hometown through their daily work and ongoing commitments to their life-changing missions, stated Trust Chairman Frank E. Russell.

Russell added that Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars, the Trust’s signature scholarship program at Arizona State University (ASU) and Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC), continues to bring the dream of a college education to student populations traditional scholarship programs overlook. The Trust also welcomed its 10th cohort of eight Nina Scholars at MCC and six Nina Scholars at ASU this week. They will begin classes in August. There are 79 new and returning Nina Scholars enrolled for the fall semester at both colleges.

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 metropolitan Phoenix. Since the Trust began its grantmaking in 1998, it has awarded more than $87.3 million to 390 Arizona nonprofit organizations, said Trustee Chairman Frank E. Russell.

The Trust also makes grants in Indiana and as of May 31, 2010, had assets of approximately $318 million. Visit www.ninapulliamtrust.org for more information about the Trust and its programs.