Foundation awards start flow of grant funding

SWEET MUSIC: Thanks to an R.I. Foundation grant, the Newport Jazz Festival will be able add a third day for the first time in years. The festival is now in its 60th year. / COURTESY NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL
SWEET MUSIC: Thanks to an R.I. Foundation grant, the Newport Jazz Festival will be able add a third day for the first time in years. The festival is now in its 60th year. / COURTESY NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL

The University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center is using a $75,000 grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to coordinate shared use of maps and data across state agencies as it helps the public prepare for the next major storm.
Along the way, that 2013 foundation funding for the Rhode Island Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan, which provides collaboration to combat flooding and erosion in the state’s most vulnerable coastal areas, has helped attract $200,000 more in funding from state, federal and other sources, said Jennifer McCann, director for the U.S. Coastal Program of the Coastal Resources Center.
In 2013, the Rhode Island Foundation awarded more than $31 million in funding, a record amount, to 1,300 nonprofits. A well-managed $733 million endowment is a big part of the reason, said Neil Steinberg, foundation president and CEO. The foundation rolls gifts into the endowment but uses only the earnings on that investment to make philanthropic awards, he said.
“What we really want to do is fund good ideas, good programs and good people, and we have flexibility to do that,” said Steinberg. “Sometimes a smaller grant that leverages national foundation funding can be more impactful than a larger grant we give by ourselves. The more we can demonstrate that philanthropy can have an impact, the more we can educate and inspire people to become donors.”
The funding for Coastal Resources Center has allowed it to hold meetings attended by the directors of various state agencies to ensure that there is improved coordination on the issue of climate change – like using the same metadata and Geographic Information System maps, and using the same 1-foot, 3-foot and 5-foot sea-level rise scenarios as baselines, McCann explained.
“We want to make sure that the decisions made on issues related to climate – whether they be health transportation or zoning – are made based on the best information available,” McCann said. “Our scientists are internationally recognized, yet their data is not getting to the people. Our job is to communicate that to the public. “There’s a commitment [to do that],” she added, “but somebody’s got to take the lead and because of the Rhode Island Foundation funding, we’ve been able to take that leadership role.”
Another example of the foundation awards’ capacity to leverage additional funding came through a $50,000 foundation grant made to the South Side Community Land Trust to use a 12,000-square-foot vacant parcel in Providence to create an urban farm with community gardens that will be used by the African Alliance, said Margaret DeVos, the trust’s executive director.
The Funder’s Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities matched that grant through its Local Sustainability Matching Fund. Then, in September, with the support of the city of Providence and the African Alliance, the trust was able to attract a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement for $85,000 a year for three years, she said.
“What that’s going to help us do is train people on how to be good growers and help people learn how to access markets and grow food for markets,” DeVos said.
The foundation’s seed money paid major dividends, she added.
“It’s supposed to work that way and it did,” she said.
The key to the foundation’s success is to balance the needs of the nonprofits – “the boots on the ground” – with the intent and generosity of the donors, Steinberg said. There are six grant-program officers knowledgeable in their sectors, and along with other foundation leaders, they make the key decisions about how to award funding, he said.
The 2014-18 strategic plan also is a guide. In its current incarnation, there are four key areas of focus: public education, primary health care, economic development and security, as well as raising the level of philanthropy. “We’re still supporting the arts and the environment, human services and affordable housing,” he added. “We just elevated these four as more strategic initiatives.”
The foundation also networks with other community foundations in other states.
“We look at what some of the large national funders are doing, whether it’s the Ford Foundation or others, but most of what we’re doing is matching up resources with needs for people in Rhode Island,” Steinberg said. “And our officers keep an eye on trends.”
Another goal of the foundation – more than ever, Steinberg said – is to accomplish multiple objectives with a single grant, objectives that cross philanthropic areas. For example, the organization furthered economic development as well as the arts when it provided $40,000 to the Newport Jazz Festival to add a third day to the festival for the first time in years. The festival is now in its 60th year, said Steinberg and Herb Chesbrough, executive director of the Newport Festivals Foundation.
The Friday 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. lineup on Aug. 1 will feature such emerging artists as Darcy James and John Zorn’s Masada Marathon, said Chesbrough. There will also be a symposium about the current status of jazz.
“The whole thing is curated very carefully and it holds together as a day that tells people the direction we think jazz is going to be going in [within] the next few years,” he said.
The extra day of festivities also will contribute to the jazz scene in years to come and attract young crowds, spurring shopping and overnight stays in Newport, Chesbrough said.
“We think we’re good for the businesses,” he said. “We’re primarily a music festival, but we like to contribute to the economy and we think an extra day will help.” •

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