Kresge Foundation Employs New Funding Methods in its First Quarter Grant Awards of Nearly $...( Recent grants reflect foundation's o...),Health

Recent grants reflect foundation's ongoing, multi-year expansion to better

address society's pressing issues.

TROY, Mich., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kresge Foundation's first quarter awards illuminate its evolving values-centered approach to grantmaking as well as its early exploration of new funding methods, including program-related investments, growth-capital grants and program-support grants.

In March, the Board of Trustees approved 54 awards of $42,694,500 in six fields of interest - health, the environment, arts and culture, education, human services and community development. "The expansion of Kresge's grantmaking is well on its way," says Elaine D. Rosen, chair of the board. "These first quarter grants represent significant progress in our efforts to become more flexible in our deployment of resources. In partnering with our grantees, we want to meet them at their area of greatest need."

The use of new capitalization methods signals the beginning of Kresge's expansion of its grantmaking toolbox beyond its signature facilities-capital challenge grant. "This is a time of exploration," says Rip Rapson, president of the foundation. "An expanded array of grantmaking methods permits us to view organizations holistically and to think about their capitalization needs more broadly."

Of the 54 awards approved in the first quarter, 33 were facilities-capital challenge grants to arts and culture, education, environment, health and human services organizations. Kresge has been a driving force in the building of facilities for nonprofit organizations for much of its 84-year history. In 2007, it elevated nine values to serve as the centerpiece of its grantmaking criteria. Its grantmaking decisions in this quarter and going forward pivot most centrally on how well an organization's mission, programs and proposed project advance these values.

Eight grants were made to the Detroit Program, a comprehensive, communi
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