Raytheon Technologies, Open Society Foundations Each Commit $500 Million Grants for Education

Here are notable new grant awards compiled by the Chronicle:

Open Society Foundations

$500 million challenge grant to Bard College to generate support for its endowment campaign. The liberal-arts college has raised $250 million to date, and it intends to raise another $250 million over the next five years to receive the full match and create a $1 billion endowment.

Raytheon Technologies

$500 million commitment to Connect Up, its new 10-year corporate responsibility program to back education in science, technology, engineering, and math; expand learning opportunities and transition support for military veterans and their families; and bolster community development through its aid to food banks and mentoring organizations.

John Deere Foundation

$200 million over 10 years in grants to nonprofit groups in the communities where its employees live and work. Of the total, $100 million will support food banks, education groups, local affiliates of United Way and Habitat for Humanity, and other organizations that improve the quality of life for families and youths who live in the areas where the agricultural-equipment company does business. Another $50 million will go to nonprofit organizations that serve small farmers around the world, including One Acre Fund and Pyxera Global. The remaining $50 million will match its employees’ personal gifts and volunteer hours.

Lilly Endowment

$70 million to 16 colleges and universities in Indiana for collaborative projects that seek to strengthen higher education in the state. The grants range from $2.7 million to $10 million each.

Lennar Foundation

$50 million to City of Hope Orange County in Irvine, Calif., to establish the Lennar Foundation Cancer Center. The corporate foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Lennar Corporation, a home-construction company headquartered in Fontainebleau, Fla.

PepsiCo

$40 million to establish scholarships, pay for living expenses, and offer professional mentoring programs for 4,000 Black and Hispanic students who attend community colleges.

The initial recipients are Dallas College, Houston Community College, Westchester Community College, and City Colleges of Chicago. The beverage company plans to expand the program to community colleges in 16 more cities later this year.

James Irvine Foundation

$22.6 million to 14 recipients that support the education, work-force training, and careers of people in California. Among the grants was $5 million over two years to the College Futures Foundation for a partnership to increase the number of Black and Latinx students who complete their bachelor’s degrees in California.

Overdeck Family Foundation

$17.7 million to education groups that serve children from birth. The largest grant was $6 million over four years to Waterford.org to deliver Waterford Upstart, an online school-readiness program for 4-year-old children that can be completed in the summer and uses parent coaching to develop the children’s foundational academic and cognitive skills before kindergarten.

AbbVie Foundation

$10 million to the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center to enhance its scientific and educational activities. The gift will also establish a permanent endowment to sustain the cancer center.

NBA Foundation

$3 million to nine organizations to create employment opportunities, foster career advancement, and drive greater economic empowerment in Black communities. The recipients in this second round of funding are Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami; Braven; the Center for Leadership Development; City Year; CodeCrew; the Collective Blueprint; NAF; New Heights Youth; and Road to Hire.

Bank of America

$1 million to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and the Leadership Conference Education Fund for community-based programs to promote civil rights, bystander intervention, multilingual advocacy, social services, legal support, and other efforts to combat discrimination and violence against people of Asian descent.

New Grant Opportunity

New Music USA is accepting applications for grants through its New Music Organizational Development Fund to support nonprofit organizations, performance groups, dance organizations, festivals, presenters, and venues to sustain their programming of new music, artist development work, and other services during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 50 grants worth up to $20,000 each will provide general operating support to organizations that work directly with music creators and artists and connect with members of their communities. Organizations must be based in the United States or its territories. Applications are due April 22.

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

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