Recent Foundation Grants

December 2011

Grants were awarded from various unrestricted and field of interest funds created by generous donors.

• Business Consortium for Arts Support, $400,000 to help provide operating support to 33 arts and cultural groups that regularly perform or exhibit in South Hampton Roads.
• Chesapeake Humane Society, $60,000 from the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund to help acquire a new building to double the size of the shelter.
• Eastern Shore of Virginia Barrier Islands Center, $30,000 from the Argyle Fund to renovate the 1910 African-American Almshouse to use as gallery and education space.
• Eastern Virginia Medical School, $25,700 from Benjamin R. and Charles G. Brown funds for research into autism Spectrum Disorders and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder treatments.
• Friends of the Fred Heutte Foundation, $3,000 Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund to support the Urban Gardener Lecture Series and replenish plants in the Norfolk center’s display garden.
• Norfolk Botanical Garden, $15,000 from the Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund for the summer horticulture exhibit, Voyage of Discovery
• Norfolk SPCA, $100,000 from the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund for X-ray and other equipment for the SPCA’s animal clinic.
• Old Dominion University Foundation, $400,000 paid over five years in part from the Batten Educational Achievement Fund to provide a matching grant required to receive a $25 million federal grant. The grant will help improve math education for middle school students in public schools. Nine middle schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth will be part of a five-year study to introduce a proven math model that relies on small groups and cooperative learning.
• Slover Library Foundation, a $500,000 five-year grant to help build a new main library in downtown Norfolk. The Col. Samuel L. Slover Memorial Library will open in 2014 to replace the former Kirn Library, which opened in 1962 with help from a Foundation grant.
• Virginia Beach SPCA, $100,000 from the Alfred L. Nicholson Fund to turn a trailer into an education center and purchase veterinary and computer equipment.
• Virginia Zoological Society, $8,600 Julian Haden Gary and Margaret Savage Gary Fund to develop a horticultural education area at the zoo in Norfolk.
• WHRO, $150,000 to help add radio stations to increase the public radio station’s reach in Hampton Roads and neighboring communities.

September 2011

Grants were awarded from various unrestricted or field of interest funds created by generous donors.

• Chesapeake Service Systems, $35,544 to make equipment at its laundry safer and healthier for disabled workers in Hampton Roads.
• Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, $88,255 from the Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund to hire a family advocate for the regional child abuse center of Hampton Roads.
• Equi-Kids Therapeutic Riding Program, $35,692 to purchase equipment and saddles for the regional program that provides therapeutic horseback riding for people with disabilities.
• Habitat for Humanity of South Hampton Roads, $32,000 for new computers and a server for the organization that builds homes for low-income families.
• Jewish Family Service of Tidewater, $75,000 to help renovate and furnish new office space at the Sandler Family Campus in Virginia Beach.
• Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, a $50,000 challenge grant to help relocate the men’s emergency shelter in Virginia Beach.
• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, $40,000 for two servers to run an electronic health records system.
• Samaritan House, $181,800 to make major repairs at four of its Virginia Beach properties that shelter homeless and abused families.
• Our two giving groups awarded more than $200,000 to over 25 nonprofits helping children in Hampton Roads. Click here to see a list of grants awarded by the Community Leadership Partners and the Beach Fund.

June 2011

Grants were awarded from various unrestricted or field of interest funds created by generous donors.

• Crispus Attucks Cultural Center, $16,700 to buy computers for children and other participants to use during educational programs.
• The Hermitage Foundation, $25,000 grant to help replace the heating and cooling system in the museum.
• Piano grants, $241,722 in E.K. Sloane Fund grants to purchase pianos. Sloane funds are earmarked for piano-related grants. Recipients include the Little Theatre of Norfolk, Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts Foundation, Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphonia, Broadwater Academy, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University, Portsmouth Public Schools (for Westhaven Elementary School) and Thomas Nelson Community College.
• Scholarships,  $931,245 to 352 students to attend more than 65 different colleges in the 2011-12 academic year.
• Tidewater Community College, $137,570 to sponsor the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence, which provides ongoing courses to nonprofit professionals.
• Todd Rosenlieb Dance, $35,000 to help the dance company upgrade its lighting system.
• YMCA of South Hampton Roads, $500,000 to help build a new YMCA in the Park Place neighborhood in Norfolk.

April 2011

Grants were awarded from various unrestricted or field of interest funds created by generous donors.

• Commonwealth Catholic Charities, $15,000 to buy a minivan to transport new refugees in Hampton Roads to class and work.
• Friends of the Portsmouth Juvenile Court, $19,660 to purchase computer and other office equipment to improve its work with children and their families involved in court cases.
• Places and Programs for Children, $128,676 to upgrade the outdoor spaces at four Children’s Harbor early care and education centers in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk. New play equipment, shade structures and protective ground cover will be among the improvements.
• The Planning Council, $125,000 to outfit its new headquarters in Norfolk. The organization plans, develops and manages human services programs that benefit Hampton Roads residents.
• Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads, a $1 million, two-year grant to provide operating support as the organization pilots a statewide quality rating and improvement system for home childcare providers.
• St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children, $200,000 to help it build a 10,000-square-foot intermediate care facility for 12 adults with severe disabilities.
• Virginia Supportive Housing, $400,000 to help build Heron’s Landing, a Chesapeake apartment community for 60 formerly homeless adults. This will be the fourth permanent supportive housing community Virginia Supportive Housing has built in the region with help from foundation grants. Others are Gosnold Apartments in Norfolk, Cloverleaf Apartments in Virginia Beach and South Bay Apartments in Portsmouth.
• YWCA of South Hampton Roads, $45,000 to implement the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom School summer program at the United Church of Christ in Norfolk. The program will give 50 low-income Norfolk children free summer and after-school support to help them succeed in school.