PACE Members Continue Comprehensive Response to COVID-19 Crisis
Since COVID-19 hit communities across the United States, we have been keeping you updated on the innovative ways PACE members and funders are infusing resources with creativity, leading philanthropy’s response, and advancing the conversation of its impact on our democracy.
In our ongoing efforts to share how our members are responding, here are some additional announcements of our members’ commitments to COVID-19 response efforts:
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced a $48 million increase in grantmaking over the next five years to address critical system failures that underlie both the COVID-19 pandemic and the enduring racial justice crisis. Among the priorities for the new funding are work to advance racial justice and strengthen U.S. democracy, including through election protection and voter participation. This is in addition to the $700,000 pledged to the NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund supporting healthcare and food insecurity nonprofits, and $500,000 to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to support the World Health Organization (WHO).
This year, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum will honor the frontline heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic with a special John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. The Award is given to recognize displays of courage similar to those President Kennedy originally described in his book of the same name. The Award Committee is asking for nominations of people who are risking their own health to help heal the sick, protect the most vulnerable, and provide critical support services to citizens across the country. The Committee will choose several of the nominations to represent the courage of all of those on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis at the Profile in Courage Award ceremony, which will be held when it is safe to gather in person.
The Raymond John Wean Foundation is collaborating with two other regional foundations to help support organizations working toward Northeast Ohio’s recovery. The three foundations created the COVID-19 Crisis Relief and Stabilization Application, which allows organizations to simultaneously submit the same proposal to all three organizations, thereby streamlining the application process for nonprofits. Focused almost solely on crisis relief efforts over the past few months, the three foundations have collectively invested more than $877,000 through 64 grants since mid-March. Recently, foundation leaders have recognized a need for greater investment in their service area’s resurgence efforts and they have started a new phase of funding they hope will help sustain local nonprofits while ensuring the community begins rebuilding.
The McKnight Foundation’s board awarded $2.7 million in new COVID-19 response grants in their second-quarter grantmaking, which acknowledged the two pandemics their grantees are facing — coronavirus and systemic racism — and their disproportionate impacts on Black and Indigenous populations in Minnesota. Among those grants were efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the integrity of the 2020 election. As a place-based foundation, McKnight has made grants across its program areas (including arts, climate and energy, and equitable communities) in order to support those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
The Kresge Foundation announced a third round of COVID-related grantmaking commitments totaling nearly $2.4 million. In total, Kresge has granted close to $9.2 million to equip national and local nonprofit and government organizations that are providing vital services and support to communities hardest hit by the pandemic. This round of new grants provides Kresge funding to nonprofit organizations addressing a wide range of issues including civic engagement, food security, education, and workforce development
Several foundations, including PACE members Ford Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have announced that they will issue over $1 billion in social bonds in order to finance its efforts to strengthen and stabilize nonprofits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ford Foundation plans to distribute newly raised money over the next two years, effectively increasing the percentage of its endowment that it pays out annually to almost 10 percent. The Ford Foundation also helped establish a $5 million fund focused on the global economy. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which usually distributes about $300 million a year, is pledging to increase payouts by a total of up to $300 million over the next two years.
