Recognizing the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, five foundations have jointly agreed to commit $1.7 billion to the nonprofit sector, including higher education, the arts and humanities, and racial equity and social justice.
This financial commitment by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will be over and above the previously approved budgets by each organization’s board.
“Nonprofits across the nation have been whipsawed by the interconnected crises of a global pandemic, a national economic depression, and the effects of racial injustice,” the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation noted in a statement. “This grantmaking will help fortify the infrastructure and reimagined programming of nonprofits in education, the arts and culture.”
In a recent CAF America survey, 73% of nonprofits said they have already seen a decline in contributions.
The five foundations “are hoping that this infusion of capital will help the nonprofit recipients be more resilient and durable organizations, able to proactively work to build more sustainable and viable operating models in a post-coronavirus environment,” they said in a press statement.
