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Winter 2009
From the Director
The
new year is only a month old, but it is already clear that 2009 will be a
year of change and uncertainty. The nation’s economy continues to
deteriorate, and in the coming months, we will see whether and how much it
will recover and what impact the recession will have on both for-profit and
nonprofit organizations.
For
those of us in philanthropy, the big question is how donors will respond to
the economic crisis. Private foundations are experiencing almost
unprecedented declines in the value of their endowments, which is already
having an impact on their ability to give.
Here
in the Office of Foundation Relations,
we are keeping an eye on how various foundations are responding. It is
interesting to see that, while some foundations need to retrench and reduce
the number of grants they will award in the coming year, others plan to
maintain or even increase their giving because the needs of their grantees
are so great at this difficult time. If you’re interested in learning more
about the impact the financial crisis is having on foundation giving, please
visit our web site, where we’ve collected some responses from foundation
representatives.
This
issue of the Foundation Relations
E-News also contains tips and information about upcoming events that we
hope will be of interest. Please let us know if there are other topics you’d
like to see covered in future issues.
Lori Williamson
Foundation News
Featured Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Within
the last six months, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has modified its funding
focus to more readily address children living in poverty. Over the years, the
Kellogg Foundation’s programming has strived to remain innovative and
responsive to the ever-changing needs of society. Today, the organization
ranks among the world’s largest private foundations. Grants are awarded in the United States, Latin America and the
Caribbean, and southern Africa. To learn more about this foundation,
including funding programs and calls for proposals, please visit our site.
<more>
Calls for Proposals
For direct links to the foundations’ calls for proposals
shown below, visit our
website.
Feldstein
Medical Foundation
--Neglected Areas of Medical Research (Deadline: February 15, 2009)
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation
--Prevention of Childhood Obesity (Deadline:
February 24, 2009)
--Healthy Eating Competition (Deadline:
February 24, 2009)
--Designing for Better Health (Deadline: April 1, 2009)
--Health
Games Research (Deadline: April 8, 2009)
--Active Living Research (Deadline: April 28, 2009)
Grant Highlights
A sampling of recent grants received by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from
private foundations.
University of Illinois Press
Awarded a Collaborative Grant from Mellon Foundation for Folklore Project
College
Of Media Receives Grant from The Marajen Stevick Foundation for Media Access Project
Two University
Library Archivists Receive Andrew W. Mellon Technology Award
Gates Foundation
Awards $100K Grant to Animal Sciences
Visit our website for more grant highlights!
<more>
Upcoming Events
Working with Private Foundations – Session Two
Proposal Writing for Private
Foundations
March 31, 2009 – 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Monsanto Room
Isaac Funk Family
Library (ACES Library)
1101 South Goodwin, Urbana,
IL
Join us as we share
knowledge on how to prepare letters of inquiry and proposals, construct budgets,
and avoid common grant-seeking pitfalls.
Seating
is limited. Register
now!
Who
should attend:
development officers, faculty, graduate students
For
our full listing of workshops, visit our site.
<more>
In the News
Foundation Giving Trends Report Now Available
The Foundation Center, long recognized as a resource
leader in the foundation philanthropy sector, has released a new report
detailing trends in foundation giving.
Readers will discover a broad range of information including which
subject areas had the greatest growth, what types of grants are awarded most
frequently as well as a reference to how foundations fare during tough
economic times. The full report is available for a fee; however, the four-page
Highlights
document is free and contains a wealth of information of interest to grantseekers. For additional information about trends,
visit the Foundation
Center’s website.
To
stay up on news regarding foundations, explore our website for recent
stories and to learn about subscription news services that will keep you
informed.
<more>
For Your Information
Learn from Your Peers!
Washington University (St. Louis, MO)
hosts a listserv specifically designed for corporate and foundation relation
officers. CFRnet is a free, on-line discussion group
focused on building partnerships between educational institutions and
corporations and foundations. More than 1,000 corporate and foundation
relations officers subscribe to CFRnet. Program
officers and other staff of private foundations and corporate giving programs
are also among its subscribers.
To learn more tips on how to make
foundation grant-seeking easier, visit our Quick Tips page at our website.
<more>
Do You Have a Question for Us?
Please check out our Frequently
Asked Questions to find answers to common queries we receive. Don’t
find the answer you’re looking for? E-mail
us and we’ll respond soon with an answer.
Tell Us What You Think
We’d
like to hear your comments regarding our e-newsletter. Just complete a
short survey to let us know how we can make Foundation Relation E-News even better!
Foundation
Relations
507
E. Green Street, Suite 426 – Champaign, IL
foundationrelations@illinois.edu
– 217-265-5322
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