ReportWire

Tag: Philanthropy

  • Houston neighbors opt for solar-powered ‘hub homes’

    HOUSTON — Doris Brown was nearly asleep when a neighbor knocked on her door, telling her to look outside. “There were no lights, nowhere,” said Brown, recalling the power outage that summer night in 2023. “I didn’t even know it.”

    Brown’s solar panel and battery system was keeping her power on. She’d prepared for a night like this. “Call everybody,” she told the neighbor.

    Soon around 15 “neighbors and neighbors’ neighbors” were inside Brown’s three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home in Northeast Houston. They charged phones, cooked, and showered before work and school. Some slept over.

    “There were people sleeping everywhere,” said Brown, 75. She was happy to be “a port in a storm,” despite one downside: “They ate all my snacks.”

    Brown’s house is a “hub home,” one of seven in a Northeast Houston pilot program meant to create emergency safe havens — not at shelters or community centers, but inside neighbors’ houses.

    The idea was a grassroots response to decades of community disinvestment and neglect that got neighbors talking about what they could do to be ready for extreme weather and power outages.

    “It’s us helping us,” said Brown.

    The project was set to reach 30 more homes, until the Environmental Protection Agency in August canceled the $7 billion Solar for All program which would have funded its expansion. Harris County, which includes Houston, is now a plaintiff in one of multiple lawsuits over the cancellation.

    People involved with the program acknowledge hub homes are unconventional — requiring trust and community cooperation and impacting fewer people than a larger resilience center.

    But they also say they’re effective in creating pockets of preparedness in communities confronting more extreme weather but lacking resources to do more.

    “It was a way to increase resilience in those neighborhoods that are often forgotten,” said Sam Silerio, Texas program director at Solar United Neighbors, one of the nonprofits involved with the pilot program which is also suing over the cuts.

    The hub homes idea started after Winter Storm Uri in 2021, when freezing temperatures crippled Texas’ power grid for five days and led to 246 storm-related deaths, according to the Texas Department of Health Services.

    Power loss contributed to many of the deaths, as people with health conditions couldn’t refrigerate medicines or run life-sustaining medical devices. Nineteen people died from carbon monoxide poisoning from improperly using generators and grills to stay warm.

    “We were like, ‘Shoot, power grid failure is a serious thing that we are not prepared for’,” said Becky Selle, co-director of disaster preparedness, organizing, and operations at West Street Recovery, a Northeast Houston nonprofit founded after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

    WSR bought some generators for residents willing to share the resource. Brown, who almost froze to death herself in Uri, stepped up.

    WSR added more supplies to the hubs, like life jackets and kayaks for flood evacuations, and held preparedness trainings for members.

    When the D.C.-based nonprofit Solar United Neighbors approached them with a private grant from the Hive Fund to add free solar panels and batteries to several houses, WSR knew exactly where to install them.

    The pilot had its challenges — some roofs had to be repaired before they could hold solar panels, and hub captains had to learn how to manage their batteries to not deplete them.

    Success also required neighborly connection that modern communities often lack.

    “You have to build that trust,” said David Espinoza, a hub home captain and West Street Recovery’s co-director of community organizing and language access. The 34-year-old went door-to-door on his block, introducing himself to sometimes wary neighbors. “I got to know my neighborhood a lot better,” he said.

    About a dozen people are signed up on Espinoza’s “roster,” but he said the hub is there for anyone in need, prioritizing older neighbors and those with children or medical conditions.

    There are other upsides, too: The solar and battery system reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and cut Espinoza’s utility bill in half.

    Espinoza, who is bilingual, said that for neighborhoods like his with mixed-status, Spanish-speaking, and medically vulnerable households, hub homes are useful even with other shelters nearby.

    “They can access me a little easier,” he said.

    Efforts to bolster local resilience have grown in recent years as extreme weather, power outages, and electricity prices overburden communities.

    Average annual power interruption hours across the U.S. have jumped in the last decade, largely due to extreme weather, according to Sarah Kotwis, senior associate at the clean energy nonprofit RMI.

    “Communities do need to be thinking more strategically about resilience,” said Kotwis.

    That preparedness begins with connections between neighbors, said Renae Hanvin, CEO and founder of Resilient Ready and an expert on “social capital,” or the “connections, trust and cooperation between people.”

    “It’s the missing link in the disaster resilience ecosystem,” said Hanvin. “At the end of the day, the first thing you need (in an emergency) to help you is a person.”

    As disasters worsen, first responders simply can’t help everyone at once, she said, so neighbors must think of themselves as “zero responders.”

    Many communities have also turned to “resilience centers,” or locally trusted institutions like community centers or churches that are outfitted with backup power, emergency supplies, and even year-round social services.

    Ideally, resilience investments aren’t an either-or decision, said Dori Wolfe, SUN senior Texas program associate. “Hub homes are one piece of the web, and there should be a resilience center at the center of each of these nodes,” she said. “We need all of it.”

    Solar United Neighbors and West Street Recovery planned to expand the program this fall as part of a $54 million grant awarded to Harris County by the EPA.

    They intended to grow the number of hub homes to 30, and add more batteries to existing ones to better run heating and air conditioning during outages. The money would have also funded a local resilience center.

    In August, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin canceled the EPA’s Solar for All program, intended to support residential solar for more than 900,000 lower-income households. Zeldin said authority for the “boondoggle” program was eliminated under Trump’s tax-and-spending bill.

    “It’s a huge letdown,” said Silerio. Both Solar United Neighbors and Harris County sued the EPA in separate lawsuits this month over the cuts, as did over a dozen state attorneys general.

    The termination “pulls the rug out from the very people the federal government should be protecting,” Harris County Interim County Administrator Jesse Dickerman said in a statement to The Associated Press.

    West Street Recovery isn’t giving up on more hub homes. The nonprofit intends to fundraise through the community and seek other grants.

    “These programs have been a big help to the community,” said Espinoza. “It’s going to be a lot harder without the funds from the federal government.”

    ————

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • ‘If there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to leap up’: Nonprofits focused on Gen Z employment get $25m Citi Foundation windfall | Fortune

    Young jobseekers, challenged by a rapidly changing labor market, are having a tough time.

    The U.S. unemployment rate for 22- to 27-year-old degree holders is the highest in a dozen years outside of the pandemic. Companies are reluctant to add staff amid so much economic uncertainty. The hiring slump is especially hitting professions such as information technology that employ more college graduates, creating nightmarish job hunts for the increasingly smaller number who do complete college. Not to mention fears that artificial intelligence will replace entry-level roles.

    So, Citi Foundation identified youth employability as the theme for its $25 million Global Innovation Challenge this year. The banking group’s philanthropic arm is donating a half million dollars to each of 50 groups worldwide that provide digital literacy skills, technical training and career guidance for low-income youth.

    “What we want to do is make sure young people are as prepared as possible to find employment in a world that’s moving really quickly,” said Ed Skyler, Citi Head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs.

    Employer feedback suggested to Citi Foundation that early career applicants lacked the technical skills necessary for roles many had long prepared to fill, highlighting the need for continued vocational training and the importance of soft skills.

    Skyler pointed to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey of more than 1,000 companies that together employ millions of people. Skills gaps were considered the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. Two-thirds of respondents reported planning to hire people with specific AI skills and 40% of them anticipated eliminating jobs AI could complete.

    Some grantees are responding by teaching people how to prompt AI chatbots to do work that can be automated. But Skyler emphasized it was equally important they fund efforts to impart qualities AI lacks such as teamwork, empathy, judgment and communication.

    “It’s not a one-size-fits-all effort where we think every young person needs to be able to code or interface with AI,” Skyler said. “What is consistent throughout the programs is we want to develop the soft skills.”

    Among the recipients is NPower, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve economic opportunity in underinvested communities by making digital careers more accessible. Most of their students are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.

    NPower Chief Innovation Officer Robert Vaughn said Citi Foundation’s grant will at least double the spaces available in a program for “green students” with no tech background and oftentimes no college degree.

    Considering the tech industry’s ever-changing requirements for skills and certifications, he said, applicants need to demonstrate wide-ranging capabilities both in cloud computing and artificial intelligence as well as project management and emotional intelligence.

    As some entry-level roles get automated and outsourced, Vaughn said companies aren’t necessarily looking for college degrees and specialized skillsets, but AI comfortability and general competency.

    “It is more now about being able to be more than just an isolated, siloed technical person,” he said. “You have to actually be a customer service person.”

    Per Scholas, a no-cost technology training nonprofit, is another one of the grantees announced Tuesday. Caitlyn Brazill, its president, said the funds will help develop careers for about 600 young adults across Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Chicago and the greater Washington, D.C area.

    To keep their classes relevant, she spends a lot of time strategizing with small businesses and huge enterprises alike. Citi Foundation’s focus on youth employability is especially important, she said, because she hears often that AI’s productivity gains have forced companies to rethink entry-level roles.

    Dwindling early career opportunities have forced workforce development nonprofits like hers to provide enough hands-on training to secure jobs that previously would have required much more experience.

    “But if there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to leap up, right?” Brazill said.

    She warned that failing to develop new career pathways could hurt the economy in the long run by blocking young people from high growth careers.

    Brookings Institution senior fellow Martha Ross said the fund was certainly right to focus on technology’s disruption of the labor market. But she said the scale of that disruption requires a response that is “too big for philanthropy” alone.

    “We did not handle previous displacements due to automation very well,” Ross said. “We left a lot of people behind. And we now have to decide if we’re going to replicate that or not.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    James Pollard, The Associated Press

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  • Citi Foundation is putting $25M toward tackling young adults’ unemployment and AI labor disruptions

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Young jobseekers, challenged by a rapidly changing labor market, are having a tough time.

    The U.S. unemployment rate for 22- to 27-year-old degree holders is the highest in a dozen years outside of the pandemic. Companies are reluctant to add staff amid so much economic uncertainty. The hiring slump is especially hitting professions such as information technology that employ more college graduates, creating nightmarish job hunts for the increasingly smaller number who do complete college. Not to mention fears that artificial intelligence will replace entry-level roles.

    So, Citi Foundation identified youth employability as the theme for its $25 million Global Innovation Challenge this year. The banking group’s philanthropic arm is donating a half million dollars to each of 50 groups worldwide that provide digital literacy skills, technical training and career guidance for low-income youth.

    “What we want to do is make sure young people are as prepared as possible to find employment in a world that’s moving really quickly,” said Ed Skyler, Citi Head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs.

    Employer feedback suggested to Citi that early career applicants lacked the technical skills necessary for roles many had long prepared to fill, highlighting the need for continued vocational training and the importance of soft skills.

    Skyler pointed to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey of more than 1,000 companies that together employ millions of people. Skills gaps were considered the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. Two-thirds of respondents reported planning to hire people with specific AI skills and 40% of them anticipated eliminating jobs AI could complete.

    Some of Citi’s grantees are responding by teaching people how to prompt AI chatbots to do work that can be automated. But Skyler emphasized it was equally important that Citi fund efforts to impart qualities AI lacks such as teamwork, empathy, judgment and communication.

    “It’s not a one-size-fits-all effort where we think every young person needs to be able to code or interface with AI,” Skyler said. “What is consistent throughout the programs is we want to develop the soft skills.”

    Among the recipients is NPower, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve economic opportunity in underinvested communities by making digital careers more accessible. Most of their students are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.

    NPower Chief Innovation Officer Robert Vaughn said Citi’s grant will at least double the spaces available in a program for “green students” with no tech background and oftentimes no college degree.

    Considering the tech industry’s ever-changing requirements for skills and certifications, he said, applicants need to demonstrate wide-ranging capabilities both in cloud computing and artificial intelligence as well as project management and emotional intelligence.

    As some entry-level roles get automated and outsourced, Vaughn said companies aren’t necessarily looking for college degrees and specialized skillsets, but AI comfortability and general competency.

    “It is more now about being able to be more than just an isolated, siloed technical person,” he said. “You have to actually be a customer service person.”

    Per Scholas, a tuition-free technology training nonprofit, is another one of the grantees announced Tuesday. Caitlyn Brazill, its president, said the funds will help develop careers for about 600 young adults across Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Chicago and the greater Washington, D.C area.

    To keep their classes relevant, she spends a lot of time strategizing with small businesses and huge enterprises alike. Citi’s focus on youth employability is especially important, she said, because she hears often that AI’s productivity gains have forced companies to rethink entry-level roles.

    Dwindling early career opportunities have forced workforce development nonprofits like hers to provide enough hands-on training to secure jobs that previously would have required much more experience.

    “But if there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to leap up, right?” Brazill said.

    She warned that failing to develop new career pathways could hurt the economy in the long run by blocking young people from high growth careers.

    Brookings Institution senior fellow Martha Ross said Citi was certainly right to focus on technology’s disruption of the labor market. But she said the scale of that disruption is “too big for philanthropy” alone.

    “We did not handle previous displacements due to automation very well,” Ross said. “We left a lot of people behind. And we now have to decide if we’re going to replicate that or not.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Source link

  • Citi Foundation putting $25M toward tackling unemployment and AI labor disruptions

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Young jobseekers, challenged by a rapidly changing labor market, are having a tough time.

    The U.S. unemployment rate for 22- to 27-year-old degree holders is the highest in a dozen years outside of the pandemic. Companies are reluctant to add staff amid so much economic uncertainty. The hiring slump is especially hitting professions such as information technology that employ more college graduates, creating nightmarish job hunts for the increasingly smaller number who do complete college. Not to mention fears that artificial intelligence will replace entry-level roles.

    So, Citi Foundation identified youth employability as the theme for its $25 million Global Innovation Challenge this year. The banking group’s philanthropic arm is donating a half million dollars to each of 50 groups worldwide that provide digital literacy skills, technical training and career guidance for low-income youth.

    “What we want to do is make sure young people are as prepared as possible to find employment in a world that’s moving really quickly,” said Ed Skyler, Citi Head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs Ed Skyler.

    Employer feedback suggested to Citi that early career applicants lacked the technical skills necessary for roles many had long prepared to fill, highlighting the need for continued vocational training and the importance of soft skills.

    Skyler pointed to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey of more than 1,000 companies that together employ millions of people. Skills gaps were considered the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. Two-thirds of respondents reported planning to hire people with specific AI skills and 40% of them anticipated eliminating jobs AI could complete.

    Some of Citi’s grantees are responding by teaching people how to prompt AI chatbots to do work that can be automated. But Skyler emphasized it was equally important that Citi fund efforts to impart qualities AI lacks such as teamwork, empathy, judgment and communication.

    “It’s not a one-size-fits-all effort where we think every young person needs to be able to code or interface with AI,” Skyler said. “What is consistent throughout the programs is we want to develop the soft skills.”

    Among the recipients is NPower, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve economic opportunity in underinvested communities by making digital careers more accessible. Most of their students are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.

    NPower Chief Innovation Officer Robert Vaughn said Citi’s grant will at least double the spaces available in a program for “green students” with no tech background and oftentimes no college degree.

    Considering the tech industry’s ever-changing requirements for skills and certifications, he said, applicants need to demonstrate wide-ranging capabilities both in cloud computing and artificial intelligence as well as project management and emotional intelligence.

    As some entry-level roles get automated and outsourced, Vaughn said companies aren’t necessarily looking for college degrees and specialized skillsets, but AI comfortability and general competency.

    “It is more now about being able to be more than just an isolated, siloed technical person,” he said. “You have to actually be a customer service person.”

    Per Scholas, a tuition-free technology training nonprofit, is another one of the grantees announced Tuesday. Caitlyn Brazill, its president, said the funds will help develop careers for about 600 young adults across Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Chicago and the greater Washington, D.C area.

    To keep their classes relevant, she spends a lot of time strategizing with small businesses and huge enterprises alike. Citi’s focus on youth employability is especially important, she said, because she hears often that AI’s productivity gains have forced companies to rethink entry-level roles.

    Dwindling early career opportunities have forced workforce development nonprofits like hers to provide enough hands-on training to secure jobs that previously would have required much more experience.

    “But if there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to leap up, right?” Brazill said.

    She warned that failing to develop new career pathways could hurt the economy in the long run by blocking young people from high growth careers.

    Brookings Institution senior fellow Martha Ross said Citi was certainly right to focus on technology’s disruption of the labor market. But she said the scale of that disruption is “too big for philanthropy” alone.

    “We did not handle previous displacements due to automation very well,” Ross said. “We left a lot of people behind. And we now have to decide if we’re going to replicate that or not.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Source link

  • Citi Foundation Is Putting $25M Toward Tackling Young Adults’ Unemployment and AI Labor Disruptions

    NEW YORK (AP) — Young jobseekers, challenged by a rapidly changing labor market, are having a tough time.

    So, Citi Foundation identified youth employability as the theme for its $25 million Global Innovation Challenge this year. The banking group’s philanthropic arm is donating a half million dollars to each of 50 groups worldwide that provide digital literacy skills, technical training and career guidance for low-income youth.

    “What we want to do is make sure young people are as prepared as possible to find employment in a world that’s moving really quickly,” said Ed Skyler, Citi Head of Enterprise Services and Public Affairs.

    Employer feedback suggested to Citi that early career applicants lacked the technical skills necessary for roles many had long prepared to fill, highlighting the need for continued vocational training and the importance of soft skills.

    Skyler pointed to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey of more than 1,000 companies that together employ millions of people. Skills gaps were considered the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. Two-thirds of respondents reported planning to hire people with specific AI skills and 40% of them anticipated eliminating jobs AI could complete.

    Some of Citi’s grantees are responding by teaching people how to prompt AI chatbots to do work that can be automated. But Skyler emphasized it was equally important that Citi fund efforts to impart qualities AI lacks such as teamwork, empathy, judgment and communication.

    “It’s not a one-size-fits-all effort where we think every young person needs to be able to code or interface with AI,” Skyler said. “What is consistent throughout the programs is we want to develop the soft skills.”

    Among the recipients is NPower, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve economic opportunity in underinvested communities by making digital careers more accessible. Most of their students are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.

    NPower Chief Innovation Officer Robert Vaughn said Citi’s grant will at least double the spaces available in a program for “green students” with no tech background and oftentimes no college degree.

    Considering the tech industry’s ever-changing requirements for skills and certifications, he said, applicants need to demonstrate wide-ranging capabilities both in cloud computing and artificial intelligence as well as project management and emotional intelligence.

    As some entry-level roles get automated and outsourced, Vaughn said companies aren’t necessarily looking for college degrees and specialized skillsets, but AI comfortability and general competency.

    “It is more now about being able to be more than just an isolated, siloed technical person,” he said. “You have to actually be a customer service person.”

    Per Scholas, a tuition-free technology training nonprofit, is another one of the grantees announced Tuesday. Caitlyn Brazill, its president, said the funds will help develop careers for about 600 young adults across Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, Chicago and the greater Washington, D.C area.

    To keep their classes relevant, she spends a lot of time strategizing with small businesses and huge enterprises alike. Citi’s focus on youth employability is especially important, she said, because she hears often that AI’s productivity gains have forced companies to rethink entry-level roles.

    Dwindling early career opportunities have forced workforce development nonprofits like hers to provide enough hands-on training to secure jobs that previously would have required much more experience.

    “But if there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to leap up, right?” Brazill said.

    She warned that failing to develop new career pathways could hurt the economy in the long run by blocking young people from high growth careers.

    Brookings Institution senior fellow Martha Ross said Citi was certainly right to focus on technology’s disruption of the labor market. But she said the scale of that disruption is “too big for philanthropy” alone.

    “We did not handle previous displacements due to automation very well,” Ross said. “We left a lot of people behind. And we now have to decide if we’re going to replicate that or not.”

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

    Associated Press

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  • 10 Major Foundations Pledge $500M to Keep A.I. Focused on Humanity

    Michele Jawando serves as president of the Omidyar Network. Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for Vox Media

    Some of the nation’s largest philanthropic players are banding together with one goal in mind: ensuring Silicon Valley isn’t the only force shaping how A.I. impacts society as the technology becomes increasingly embedded in areas like labor, education and art. The new initiative, called Humanity AI, will see ten foundations commit at least $500 million over the next five years to that mission.

    Humanity AI will be co-chaired by the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic venture established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar that has committed nearly $2 billion over the past 21 years, and the 55-year-old MacArthur Foundation, which has awarded more than $8.27 billion to some 10,000 recipients since its establishment.

    “The message I want to resonate far and wide is this: A.I. is not destiny, it is design,” said Michele Jawando, president of the Omidyar Network, in a statement. “The decisions we make now about who builds A.I., who benefits from it, and whose values shape it will determine whether it amplifies human needs or erodes them.”

    Foundations joining the coalition must commit to making grants in at least one of Humanity AI’s five priority areas: equipping workers for an A.I.-driven economy; protecting artists from theft; addressing security risks in sectors such as climate and energy; promoting democracy; and supporting thoughtful integration of A.I. in education.

    A pooled fund of grants will be managed by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which expects to begin distributing funds early next year.

    The initiative’s wide-ranging goals are reflected in its diverse roster of members. The Mellon Foundation, for instance, is known for championing the arts and humanities; the Kapor Foundation focuses on making the tech ecosystem more equitable; and the Lumina Foundation works to boost U.S. economic prosperity through education. Other founding members include the Doris Duke Foundation, Ford Foundation, Siegel Family Endowment and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

    Big Philanthropy takes on A.I.

    This isn’t the first time major U.S. foundations have teamed up to mitigate A.I.’s risks. In 2023, several of Humanity AI’s current members—including the Omidyar Network, MacArthur Foundation and Ford Foundation—launched a $200 million initiative aimed at funding A.I. projects that promote the public interest and responsible use.

    More recently, in July, a separate philanthropic coalition led by billionaires Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Charles Koch announced NextLadder Ventures, a $1 billion initiative to use emerging technologies to expand economic opportunity. That effort will prioritize providing A.I.-based tools to frontline workers and people facing job or housing instability.

    Humanity AI, meanwhile, hopes to grow its coalition in the coming months. “The stakes are too high to defer decisions to a handful of companies and leaders within them,” said John Palfrey, president of the MacArthur Foundation, in a statement. “Humanity AI seeks to shift that dynamic by resourcing technologists, researchers and advocates who are united by a shared vision of ensuring A.I. is a force for good, putting people and the planet first.”

    10 Major Foundations Pledge $500M to Keep A.I. Focused on Humanity

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • Foundations want to curb AI developers’ influence with $500M for human needs

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is design — not destiny.

    That’s the message from ten philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution. Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.

    “Every day, people learn more about the ways AI is impacting their lives, and it can often feel like this technology is happening to us rather than with us and for us,” MacArthur Foundation President John Palfrey said in a statement. “The stakes are too high to defer decisions to a handful of companies and leaders within them.”

    Artificial intelligence has been embraced as a productivity booster in fields such as software engineering or medicine. Voice-cloning technology has been used to help speech-impaired people communicate. Humanitarian groups are testing its ability to translate important documents for refugees.

    But others question whether its deployment is actually improving their quality of life. Some point out that real harms exist for children turning to AI chatbots for companionship. AI-generated deepfake videos contribute to the online spread of misinformation and disinformation. The electricity-hungry systems’ reliance on energy generated by fossil fuels contributes to climate change. And economists fear AI is taking jobs from young or entry-level workers.

    Humanity AI seeks to take back agency by supporting technology and advocates centering people and the planet. Members must make grants in at least one of five priority areas identified by the coalition: advancing democracy, strengthening education, protecting artists, enhancing work or defending personal security.

    The alliance of a broad range of philanthropies underscores the widespread concern. Its ranks include humanities supporters such as the Mellon Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; tacklers of inequality such as the Ford Foundation and Omidyar Network; equitable technology funders such as Mozilla Foundation and the Siegal Family Foundation; as well as charitable behemoths in the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

    “We can choose participation over control. The systems shaping our lives must be powered by people, open by design, and fueled by imagination,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in a statement. “And Humanity AI will support exactly that, by resourcing those taking back human agency in how tech evolves.”

    They’re not the first philanthropic coalition to emerge this year with the goal of ensuring everyday people don’t get left behind. The Gates Foundation and Ballmer Group were among the funders who announced in July that they’d spend $1 billion over 15 years to help create AI tools for public defenders, parole officers, social workers and others who help Americans in precarious situations. Other efforts seek to improve AI literacy and expand access for entrepreneurs in low-income countries.

    Humanity AI hopes to expand its coalition. Parters will begin coordinating grants this fall and pool their money next year in a fund managed by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

    Omidyar Network Michele L. Jawando emphasized that humans have the power to ensure artificial intelligence amplifies, and doesn’t erode, their needs. But she said we’re at that crossroads now.

    “The future will not be written by algorithms,” Jawando said in the release. “It will be written by people as a collective force.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • GoFundMe CEO says the economy is so bad that more of his customers are crowdfunding just to pay for their groceries | Fortune

    GoFundMe’s CEO just said the quiet part out loud: in this economy, more Americans are crowdfunding groceries to get by.

    The head of GoFundMe, Tim Cadogan, told Yahoo! Finance the economy is so challenged that more Americans are raising money to buy food—an arresting data point that captures the widening gap between household budgets and basic needs.

    In a recent interview on the Opening Bid Unfiltered podcast with Brian Sozzi, he described a notable rise in campaigns for essentials like groceries, a shift from one-off emergencies toward everyday survival.

    “Basic things you need to get through life [have] gone up significantly in the last three years in practically all our markets,” Cadogan said.

    That evolution underscores the new economic reality for many Americans: persistent inflation, higher borrowing costs, and thin financial cushions are forcing many households to triage bills, juggle debt, and seek help in new ways.

    Groceries as the new emergency

    Cadogan’s observation—that more people are asking strangers to help pay for staples—marks a sobering turn for a platform historically associated with medical bills, disaster relief, and community projects. When the cost of food stretches paychecks past the breaking point, crowdfunding morphs from altruism to a parallel safety net.

    In previous Fortune coverage of inflation’s long tail, consumers’ coping tactics have included trading down brands, shrinking baskets, delaying car repairs, and leaning on credit cards. The shift Cadogan describes suggests those tactics have run out of runway for a growing slice of the country, especially younger and lower-income households who rent, commute, and carry variable-rate debt.

    The inflation aftershock

    Even as headline inflation cools from its peak, elevated price levels remain embedded in household budgets. Fortune has tracked how cumulative inflation, not just the monthly prints, weighs on families. For instance, groceries cost more than they did two or three years ago, rents have reset higher, and child care is straining paychecks.

    Wage gains helped many workers, but unevenly and often after costs had already jumped. For families without savings buffers, a higher cost baseline is the real story. That backdrop explains why an uptick in grocery campaigns on GoFundMe isn’t a curiosity—it’s a barometer of the current economy.

    The credit crunch at the kitchen table

    Household balance sheets have been whipsawed by stubbornly high prices on necessities as well as steeper borrowing costs on credit cards and auto loans. Fortune’s reporting has highlighted rising delinquency rates among younger borrowers and the squeeze from student loan repayments resuming after a long pause. For some, the social capital of friends, community groups, and online donors now substitutes for financial capital. Crowdfunding groceries is a last-mile solution in a system where wages, benefits, and public supports haven’t fully bridged the gap.

    The Great Wealth Transfer meets a giving plateau

    Cadogan also frames this moment as an opportunity: the U.S. is entering a historic wealth transfer as baby boomers pass tens of trillions to heirs and philanthropy. Yet overall charitable giving as a share of GDP has struggled to break out sustainably above roughly 2%. A central challenge is converting private balance-sheet strength into public generosity at scale. Fortune has explored the paradox of robust asset markets—fueled by equities, real estate, and private investments—coexisting with widespread financial insecurity. The wealth transfer could amplify that divergence or narrow it, depending on whether inheritors and living donors commit to more dynamic, needs-based giving.

    Gen Z, millennials, and a new donor thesis

    The GoFundMe CEO hopes younger donors, who are often more values-driven, digitally native, and community-oriented, will push giving higher and faster.

    These cohorts already power mutual aid networks and micro-giving online; the question is whether that instinct can scale beyond one-off campaigns to sustained support for food security, housing stability, and local services.

    If employer matching, donor-advised vehicles, and purpose-built funds become easier to use—and if transparency and immediacy remain high—small-dollar giving could compound into a measurable macro effect.

    What comes next

    Many Americans remain one shock away from going into arrears. More GoFundMe campaigns for groceries fits that narrative and raises a challenge to wealth holders on the cusp of inheritance decisions.

    If the wealth transfer is the economic story of the decade, the generosity transfer might be its moral counterpart. Whether giving can rise meaningfully above its long-running share of the economy will hinge on channeling today’s empathy into tomorrow’s infrastructure, so that no one needs to pass the hat to put food on the table.

    For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

    Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

    Ashley Lutz

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  • Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance rallying $2.5M for grassroots education

    NEW YORK — Former first lady Michelle Obama is putting new force behind efforts to ensure girls overcome educational barriers in some of the world’s most economically disadvantaged areas.

    The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance pledged Saturday to rally $2.5 million for dozens of grassroots groups who advance adolescent girls’ education by covering school-related costs, challenging patriarchal practices such as child marriage, counseling survivors of sexual abuse and providing other forms of support.

    “These groups are changing the way girls see themselves in their own communities and in our world, helping create the leaders we need for the brighter future we all deserve,” Obama said in a video released Oct. 11, the International Day of the Girl. “Because when our girls succeed, we all do.”

    Nearly three-quarters of the 119 million girls out of school worldwide are of secondary school-age, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Girls Opportunity Alliance — an outgrowth of an Obama White House initiative that invested $1 billion in U.S. government programs promoting adolescent girls’ education abroad — launched in 2018 with a focus on helping that population between ages 10-19 graduate.

    But the latest announcement comes amid stark warnings from international aid groups that budget cuts will roll back recent progress. UNICEF projects that a 24% drop in wealthy countries’ global education funding will push six million girls out of school by the end of next year.

    “The need right now, I think more than ever, is crucial,” Girls Opportunity Alliance Executive Director Tiffany Drake said. “We were just in Mauritius and we heard it time and time again that organizations need funding. They need support.”

    Girls Opportunity Alliance’s early October convening in Mauritius brought together Asian and African members of its network. The great demands on local leaders doing tireless work with little resources made it, in Drake’s view, perhaps the most moving gathering they’ve hosted.

    But Jackie Bomboma, the founder of Young Strong Mothers Foundation in Tanzania, said connecting with other powerful women there left her encouraged with the knowledge that she’s not alone. A recipient of GOA’s latest grants, she said the Obama Foundation’s endorsement not only brings financial support, but increased trust from the international community and additional channels to get resources.

    Growing up without a mother and having survived teenage pregnancy, Bomboma said Obama’s example has also instilled confidence in her and the girls she serves. Her nonprofit provides psychological services, vocational training, entrepreneurship skills development and sexual health lessons to hundreds of girls at risk of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and school dropout.

    “We call ourselves ‘watoto wa Michelle Obama,’ which means ‘the children of Michelle Obama,’” she said. “So, everyone feels so proud to have such a mother who is very strong, who is very powerful and who is very loving.”

    The Girls Opportunity Alliance fund is intentionally designed to provide a range of support. Drake said anyone can apply for up to $50,000. The grant does not support general operations but instead goes toward a specific project outlined by the recipient.

    Once they’ve joined the network, community leaders have access to monthly training sessions online and in-person gatherings, where they share strategies and learn from larger nongovernmental organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children.

    Girls Opportunity Alliance funds an undisclosed amount and then uses its wide reach to help organizations raise the rest on GoFundMe pages. The campaigns are promoted publicly on its social media accounts and throughout its donor network of celebrities and corporations.

    The idea, according to Drake, was to use their “megaphone” to heap additional attention on and garner more support for organizations that often struggle to get by in more remote locations. Girls Opportunity Alliance hopes everyday individuals are inspired to join them.

    “We didn’t want to just tell people and say, ‘Google how you can help,’ Drake said. “We wanted to give them a place where they can take action.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance Pledges $2.5 Million for Grassroots Education for Girls

    NEW YORK (AP) — Former first lady Michelle Obama is putting new force behind efforts to ensure girls overcome educational barriers in some of the world’s most economically disadvantaged areas.

    The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance pledged Saturday to rally $2.5 million for dozens of grassroots groups who advance adolescent girls’ education by covering school-related costs, challenging patriarchal practices such as child marriage, counseling survivors of sexual abuse and providing other forms of support.

    “These groups are changing the way girls see themselves in their own communities and in our world, helping create the leaders we need for the brighter future we all deserve,” Obama said in a video released Oct. 11, the International Day of the Girl. “Because when our girls succeed, we all do.”

    Nearly three-quarters of the 119 million girls out of school worldwide are of secondary school-age, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Girls Opportunity Alliance — an outgrowth of an Obama White House initiative that invested $1 billion in U.S. government programs promoting adolescent girls’ education abroad — launched in 2018 with a focus on helping that population between ages 10-19 graduate.

    But the latest announcement comes amid stark warnings from international aid groups that budget cuts will roll back recent progress. UNICEF projects that a 24% drop in wealthy countries’ global education funding will push six million girls out of school by the end of next year.

    “The need right now, I think more than ever, is crucial,” Girls Opportunity Alliance Executive Director Tiffany Drake said. “We were just in Mauritius and we heard it time and time again that organizations need funding. They need support.”

    Girls Opportunity Alliance’s early October convening in Mauritius brought together Asian and African members of its network. The great demands on local leaders doing tireless work with little resources made it, in Drake’s view, perhaps the most moving gathering they’ve hosted.

    But Jackie Bomboma, the founder of Young Strong Mothers Foundation in Tanzania, said connecting with other powerful women there left her encouraged with the knowledge that she’s not alone. A recipient of GOA’s latest grants, she said the Obama Foundation’s endorsement not only brings financial support, but increased trust from the international community and additional channels to get resources.

    Growing up without a mother and having survived teenage pregnancy, Bomboma said Obama’s example has also instilled confidence in her and the girls she serves. Her nonprofit provides psychological services, vocational training, entrepreneurship skills development and sexual health lessons to hundreds of girls at risk of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and school dropout.

    “We call ourselves ‘watoto wa Michelle Obama,’ which means ‘the children of Michelle Obama,’” she said. “So, everyone feels so proud to have such a mother who is very strong, who is very powerful and who is very loving.”

    The Girls Opportunity Alliance fund is intentionally designed to provide a range of support. Drake said anyone can apply for up to $50,000. The grant does not support general operations but instead goes toward a specific project outlined by the recipient.

    Once they’ve joined the network, community leaders have access to monthly training sessions online and in-person gatherings, where they share strategies and learn from larger nongovernmental organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children.

    Girls Opportunity Alliance funds an undisclosed amount and then uses its wide reach to help organizations raise the rest on GoFundMe pages. The campaigns are promoted publicly on its social media accounts and throughout its donor network of celebrities and corporations.

    The idea, according to Drake, was to use their “megaphone” to heap additional attention on and garner more support for organizations that often struggle to get by in more remote locations. Girls Opportunity Alliance hopes everyday individuals are inspired to join them.

    “We didn’t want to just tell people and say, ‘Google how you can help,’ Drake said. “We wanted to give them a place where they can take action.”

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

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  • Harry and Meghan ask families to join fight against predatory social media policies

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle urged parents to stand against social media companies that they said prey upon children with exploitative algorithms as the “explosion of unregulated artificial intelligence” adds to their concerns that technologies’ benefits are inseparable from its dangers.

    To underscore that point, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cited research from advocacy group ParentsTogether that found researchers posing as children experienced harmful interactions every five minutes they spent with an artificial intelligence chatbot.

    “This wasn’t content created by a third party. These were the companies’ own chatbots working to advance their own depraved internal policies,” said Prince Harry at Spring Studios in Manhattan Thursday night as he and Markle were named Humanitarians of the Year by the nonprofit Project Healthy Minds. “But here’s what gives us hope: these families aren’t facing this alone.”

    To build their movement of families fighting for online safety, the couple also announced Thursday that their foundation’s Parents Network would join forces with ParentsTogether.

    Their remarks came at the annual gala for Project Healthy Minds, a Millennial- and Gen Z-driven tech nonprofit that runs a free online marketplace aiming to connect patients with the exact mental health care they seek.

    The couple has made youth mental health a cornerstone of their philanthropic work since launching the Archewell Foundation in 2020 after stepping aside as working royals. Through its network for families who have experienced online harm and support of youth-led organizations shaping responsible technology, the nonprofit works to make digital spaces safer.

    Prince Harry has previously stressed the need to hold powerful social media companies accountable. He warned last year that young people are experiencing an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation driven by negative experiences online.

    According to numerous studies, few guardrails exist to mitigate kids’ exposure to age-inappropriate content including pornography and violence on social media, where they also face cyberbullying and sexual harassment.

    The issue could also be considered personal for the couple. Markle has been open about her mental health struggles due to what she describes as the royal family’s intense pressures and tabloid attacks. Harry’s own personal life has been the subject of much tabloid reporting, including targeted phone hacking and surveillance.

    Prince Harry brought his awareness campaign to a reception Wednesday night hosted by men’s health nonprofit Movember. In a conversation with television journalist Brooke Baldwin, he emphasized that men should not feel isolated because he repeatedly hears the same struggles when he speaks with them.

    “The biggest barrier is the belief that no one will understand,” he said in comments reshared on his blog. “Loneliness convinces you you’re the only one, which is rarely true.”

    “Culture makers” such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are important voices in mental health conversations because they inspire their enormous audiences to seek care, according to Project Healthy Minds CEO Phil Schermer.

    But Schermer emphasized that the “moment of inspiration is fleeting” and it’s important for celebrities to take the extra step of partnering with trusted organizations that can actually deliver care.

    He pointed to NBC television personality Carson Daly, the gala’s host, as an example. Daly opened up about his own anxiety on the air after reading a 2018 essay by NBA champion Kevin Love about an in-game panic attack.

    Daly, a Project Healthy Minds board member, said mental health is now the most common topic that comes up when fans recognize him in public.

    “I was like, ’I want to put all my eggs in this basket’ because I see the power even when I tell my story, it unlocks so many other people telling their story,” Daly told the Associated Press. “And I think that process — that’s how the destigmatization works.”

    The money raised Thursday night will help the nonprofit build new filters that break down care options by their insurance providers and preferences for in-person or telehealth service options, according to Schermer. He compared the features to those on travel planning sites such as Expedia that allow users to choose the times, prices and airlines of their flight options.

    Schermer said that having a recognizable host in Daly also helps “make it cool to talk about your emotions.”

    “It’s not just the absence of a stigma,” Schermer said. “It’s also the presence of a sense of pride that by being vulnerable, being honest, being open, that that’s actually your greatest superpower.”

    Thursday night’s other honoree was Indianapolis Colts co-owner and chief brand officer Kalen Jackson. The NFL executive — who talks openly about dealing with anxiety — has continued the team’s staunch support for mental health after the death of her father and beloved former owner Jim Irsay.

    Project Healthy Minds recognized Jackson with its inaugural Sports Visionary of the Year Award, presented by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Jackson leads her family’s Kicking The Stigma initiative, which raises awareness about mental health disorders and tries to expand access to care across Indiana and country.

    ______

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ask families to join fight against predatory social media policies

    NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle urged parents to stand against social media companies that they said prey upon children with exploitative algorithms as the “explosion of unregulated artificial intelligence” adds to their concerns that technologies’ benefits are inseparable from its dangers.

    To underscore that point, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cited research from advocacy group ParentsTogether that found researchers posing as children experienced harmful interactions every five minutes they spent with an artificial intelligence chatbot.

    “This wasn’t content created by a third party. These were the companies’ own chatbots working to advance their own depraved internal policies,” said Prince Harry at Spring Studios in Manhattan Thursday night as he and Markle were named Humanitarians of the Year by the nonprofit Project Healthy Minds. “But here’s what gives us hope: these families aren’t facing this alone.”

    To build their movement of families fighting for online safety, the couple also announced Thursday that their foundation’s Parents Network would join forces with ParentsTogether.

    Their remarks came at the annual gala for Project Healthy Minds, a Millennial- and Gen Z-driven tech nonprofit that runs a free online marketplace aiming to connect patients with the exact mental health care they seek.

    The couple has made youth mental health a cornerstone of their philanthropic work since launching the Archewell Foundation in 2020 after stepping aside as working royals. Through its network for families who have experienced online harm and support of youth-led organizations shaping responsible technology, the nonprofit works to make digital spaces safer.

    Prince Harry has previously stressed the need to hold powerful social media companies accountable. He warned last year that young people are experiencing an “epidemic” of anxiety, depression and social isolation driven by negative experiences online.

    According to numerous studies, few guardrails exist to mitigate kids’ exposure to age-inappropriate content including pornography and violence on social media, where they also face cyberbullying and sexual harassment.

    The issue could also be considered personal for the couple. Markle has been open about her mental health struggles due to what she describes as the royal family’s intense pressures and tabloid attacks. Harry’s own personal life has been the subject of much tabloid reporting, including targeted phone hacking and surveillance.

    Prince Harry brought his awareness campaign to a reception Wednesday night hosted by men’s health nonprofit Movember. In a conversation with television journalist Brooke Baldwin, he emphasized that men should not feel isolated because he repeatedly hears the same struggles when he speaks with them.

    “The biggest barrier is the belief that no one will understand,” he said in comments reshared on his blog. “Loneliness convinces you you’re the only one, which is rarely true.”

    “Culture makers” such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are important voices in mental health conversations because they inspire their enormous audiences to seek care, according to Project Healthy Minds CEO Phil Schermer.

    But Schermer emphasized that the “moment of inspiration is fleeting” and it’s important for celebrities to take the extra step of partnering with trusted organizations that can actually deliver care.

    He pointed to NBC television personality Carson Daly, the gala’s host, as an example. Daly opened up about his own anxiety on the air after reading a 2018 essay by NBA champion Kevin Love about an in-game panic attack.

    Daly, a Project Healthy Minds board member, said mental health is now the most common topic that comes up when fans recognize him in public.

    “I was like, ’I want to put all my eggs in this basket’ because I see the power even when I tell my story, it unlocks so many other people telling their story,” Daly told the Associated Press. “And I think that process — that’s how the destigmatization works.”

    The money raised Thursday night will help the nonprofit build new filters that break down care options by their insurance providers and preferences for in-person or telehealth service options, according to Schermer. He compared the features to those on travel planning sites such as Expedia that allow users to choose the times, prices and airlines of their flight options.

    Schermer said that having a recognizable host in Daly also helps “make it cool to talk about your emotions.”

    “It’s not just the absence of a stigma,” Schermer said. “It’s also the presence of a sense of pride that by being vulnerable, being honest, being open, that that’s actually your greatest superpower.”

    Thursday night’s other honoree was Indianapolis Colts co-owner and chief brand officer Kalen Jackson. The NFL executive — who talks openly about dealing with anxiety — has continued the team’s staunch support for mental health after the death of her father and beloved former owner Jim Irsay.

    Project Healthy Minds recognized Jackson with its inaugural Sports Visionary of the Year Award, presented by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Jackson leads her family’s Kicking The Stigma initiative, which raises awareness about mental health disorders and tries to expand access to care across Indiana and country.

    ______

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • MacKenzie Scott Just Donated $42 Million to This Education Nonprofit

    Billionaire author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott is continuing her tradition of donations to educational programs, offering a $42 million grant to 10,000 Degrees, a San Rafael, California-based nonprofit that provides college scholarships to low-income students.

    The donation, which came through Scott’s Yield Giving organization, will help 10,000 Degrees in its mission of disrupting cycles of poverty.

    “A gift like this, when we think about what’s going on around us, this has put such wind into our sails and such hope that MacKenzie Scott is spreading throughout the world,” says Kim Mazzuca, CEO of 10,000 Degrees. 

    The organization was founded in 1981 and, over the course of its history, has given $113 million in scholarships to more than 80,000 students. Over the past year, 10,000 Degrees has handed out $9 million in scholarships and helped students secure $73 million worth of financial aid.

    The nonprofit does not require participating students to meet GPA or test score qualification levels. It, instead, pairs scholarship funds with college and career mentors. It boasts an 80 percent graduation rate for four-year college students.

    Mazzuca says the grant will be used in a number of ways. 10,000 Degrees is just completing a five-year strategic plan. The upcoming one is more ambitious about reaching students and plans to expand beyond the San Francisco Bay Area and Utah, where the company operates now. There are also plans to explore taking parts of its model national, working alongside other nonprofits. Some of the money will also go toward 10,000 Degrees’ endowment fund, where it can grow.

    Mazzuca got the call informing her about the grant on September 10, she says, but she had to keep it a secret from the board and the rest of the company until the money was transferred to the corporate account. (Staff learned of the grant Wednesday at noon PT.)

    The company’s chief financial officer, however, was on vacation when the funds were transferred on September 22 and couldn’t be reached. Mazzuca says she got an urgent call later that day from the CFO saying “something happened to our account.”

    MacKenzie Scott’s history of giving

    The gifts from Scott follow a number of donations she made to educational groups last month. In September, she gave $70 million to the United Negro College Fund, which offers scholarships to Black students and provides scholarship money to 37 private historically Black colleges and universities. That same month, she donated $50 million to the Native Forward Scholars Fund, which offers educational support to Native American undergraduate and graduate students.

    Scott had previously made smaller donations to both organizations in 2020.

    In 2022, she gifted the Southern Education Foundation, a 155-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing education equity and opportunity in the South, $6 million. That same year she also donated $5 million to Breakthrough Collaborative, which offers Teaching Fellowships to recruit college students to become teachers.

    Scott announced plans five years ago to donate the majority of her $33 billion fortune. That amount is tied to Amazon stock, and has since increased substantially as the company’s stock has increased about 35 percent over that time.

    Scott, who divorced Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and was part of the founding team of the company, has given roughly $19.3 billion to more than 2,450 nonprofits so far. Some of those donations have been widely announced. Others have not.

    Scott has opted to focus her philanthropic efforts on organizations that are working to address societal and community issues, including early learning, affordable housing, and gender and race equity. Included among the organizations she has made large gifts to are the Girl Scouts of the USA (which received $85 million in 2022 to help it recover from the pandemic); Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, which received $25 million that same year; and Local Initiatives Support Corp., which she gave $65 million last year to aid with community development and housing stability.

    Despite her philanthropic giving, Scott remains the world’s 49th richest person, according to Bloomberg, with a net worth of $42.1 billion. 

    Chris Morris

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  • The MacArthur Foundation’s ‘genius’ fellows: The full 2025 class list

    The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2025 class of fellows on Wednesday, a prize often called the “genius award.”

    The MacArthur fellows receive a $800,000 prize paid out over five years that they can spend however they choose. The foundation selects fellows over the course of years and consider a wide range of recommendations. Fellows do not apply for the recognition or participate in any way in their selection.

    The 2025 fellows are:

    Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, 37, Madison, Wisconsin, an atmospheric scientist whose research deepened knowledge about what drives weather patterns in the tropics.

    Matt Black, 55, Exeter, California, a photographer whose black and white images investigate poverty and inequality in the United States.

    Garrett Bradley, 39, New Orleans, a filmmaker who leverages many types of material, including archival and personal footage, to tell almost lost and intimate stories, especially about the lives of Black Americans.

    Heather Christian, 44, Beacon, New York, a composer, lyricist, playwright and vocalist who creates complex, immersive musical theater performances that interweave the sacred and mundane.

    Nabarun Dasgupta, 46, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, an epidemiologist who helped create tools to identify unregulated substances in street drugs and designed other harm reduction interventions.

    Kristina Douglass, 41, New York, an archaeologist whose research revealed new understandings of Indigenous conservation practices in places sensitive to climate variability.

    Kareem El-Badry, 31, Pasadena, California, an astrophysicist who developed new approaches to understanding existing datasets that have revealed new knowledge about how stars form and interact.

    Jeremy Frey, 46, Eddington, Maine, an artist whose mastery of Wabanaki basket weaving both carries on traditional practices and finds new possibilities in the materials and techniques.

    Hahrie Han, 50, Baltimore, a political scientist whose research illuminated what helps people participate in civic life and how to help them connect across differences to solve collective problems.

    Tonika Lewis Johnson, 45, Chicago, a photographer and activist who created participatory projects that reveal the consequences and legacy of segregation in her neighborhood of Englewood on the city’s South Side.

    Ieva Jusionyte, 41, Providence, Rhode Island, a cultural anthropologist whose diverse ethnographies investigate the ethical and practical issues that national border policies create for workers and communities who live in border regions.

    Toby Kiers, 49, Amsterdam, an evolutionary biologist whose research helped document how plants, microbes and fungi cooperate to trade the resources that each need to survive.

    Jason McLellan, 44, Austin, Texas, a structural biologist whose research into viral protein structures helped advance the understanding of viruses and helped to develop new vaccines.

    Tuan Andrew Nguyen, 49, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a multidisciplinary artist whose projects in film and sculpture draw on personal testimonies and community archives to document and heal from histories of war and displacement.

    Tommy Orange, 43, Oakland, California, a fiction writer whose books illuminated the experiences past and present of Native Americans in the Oakland area.

    Margaret Wickens Pearce, 60, Rockland, Maine, a cartographer whose maps document the relationships of Indigenous people in North America to their land and that narrate histories, incorporate knowledge and detail the ongoing dispossession of Native people.

    Sébastien Philippe, 38, Madison, Wisconsin, a nuclear security specialist whose research revealed that past nuclear testing by France and the U.S. exposed many more people to radiation than was previously documented.

    Gala Porras-Kim, 40, Los Angeles and London, an interdisciplinary artist whose exploration of museum collections challenged conventions of curation and often highlight what is lost or unknown about cultural artifacts.

    Teresa Puthussery, 46, Berkeley, California, a neurobiologist and optometrist who identified a type of cell in the retina that helps clarify how humans process visual information.

    Craig Taborn, 55, Brooklyn, New York, a musician and composer known for his improvisations and collaborations and whose performances reveal the full range of the piano’s capacity as an instrument.

    William Tarpeh, 35, Stanford, California, a chemical engineer who developed techniques to extract valuable minerals from wastewater that can be turned into fertilizers or cleaning products.

    Lauren K. Williams, 47, Cambridge, Massachusetts, a mathematician whose research is in algebraic combinatorics and also contributed to solving problems in other areas through interdisciplinary collaborations.

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • This year’s MacArthur Foundation’s ‘genius’ award winners hold a mirror up to our world

    A political scientist who studies what helps people connect across differences. A novelist whose books about Native American communities in Oakland, California, sparked a passionate following. A photographer whose black and white images investigate poverty in America.

    Hahrie Han, Tommy Orange and Matt Black are among the 22 fellows selected this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and announced Wednesday. It’s a recognition often called the “genius award,” which comes with an $800,000 prize, paid over five years that fellows can spend however they choose.

    The foundation selects fellows over the course of years, considering a vast range of recommendations, largely from their peers.

    “Each class doesn’t have a theme and we’re not creating a cohort around a certain idea,” said Marlies Carruth, director of the MacArthur Fellows program. “But I think this year, we see empathy and deep engagement with community figures prominently in this class.”

    Through different methodologies, many of the fellows “boldly and unflinchingly” reflect what they see and hear from deep engagement with their communities, she said.

    Because fellows don’t apply or participate in anyway in their selection, the award often comes as a shock and sometimes coincides with difficult moments. Nabarun Dasgupta, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, had just left a team meeting where he shared that a longtime collaborator in harm reduction work had died when he saw multiple missed calls from a Chicago number, which then called again. It was the MacArthur Foundation.

    They were awarding him the fellowship in recognition of his work, which includes helping to start a testing program for street drugs to identify unregulated substances and helping to overcome a shortage of naloxone, which reverses an opioid overdose.

    To make sense of the intense moment that mixed deep loss and recognition, Dasgupta wrote the following in a journal.

    “We are surrounded by death every day. Sometimes, you have to give yourself a pep talk to get out of bed. Other mornings, the universe yells in your ear and tells you to keep going because what we’re doing is working.”

    In an interview with The Associated Press, he added, “I feel like this couldn’t have been any clearer of a signal that the work has to go on.”

    Other fellows were contacted by the foundation through email asking to speak with them about potential projects. Tonika Lewis Johnson, a Chicago-based artist, planned to take the call in the car. The foundation representatives tried to get her to pull over before breaking the news, but she declined.

    “They were definitely worried about my safety,” she said laughing, and she did then stop driving.

    Johnson’s projects are rooted in her neighborhood of Englewood, located on Chicago’s South Side. She has photographed the same addresses in north and south Chicago, beautified residents’ homes and made predatory housing practices visible. All together, her work reveals the very specific people and places impacted by racial segregation.

    “This award is validation and recognition that my neighborhood, this little Black neighborhood in Chicago that everyone gets told to, ‘Don’t go to because it’s dangerous,’ this award means there are geniuses here,” Johnson said.

    For Ángel F. Adames Corraliza, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the award is also a recognition of the talent and grit coming from Puerto Rico, where he is from, despite the hardships his community has endured. His research has uncovered many new findings about what drives weather patterns in the tropics, which may eventually help improve forecasting in those regions.

    Adames said usually one of his classes would be ending right when the foundation would publish the new class of fellows, so he was planning to end the lecture early to come back to his office. He said he’s having trouble fathoming what it will be like.

    “I am low-key expecting that a few people are just going to show up in my office, like right at 11:02 a.m. or something like that,” he said.

    Before getting news of the award, Adames said he was anticipating having to scale down his research in the coming years as government funding for climate and weather research has been significantly cut back or changed. He said he had been questioning what was next for his career.

    The prize from MacArthur may allow him to pursue some new theoretical ideas that are harder to get funded, he said.

    “I think people do care and it does matter for the general public, regardless of what the political landscape is, which right now is fairly negative on this,” he said about climate and weather science.

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • MacKenzie Scott Donates $50M to Nonprofit Boosting Native Student Scholarships

    Angelique Albert has headed the Native Forward Scholars Fund since 2017. Courtesy Native Forward Scholars Fund

    When Angelique Albert, CEO of the Native Forward Scholars Fund, received a call from a representative of MacKenzie Scott, she initially thought her organization was about to receive a $15 million donation. In reality, the gift was $50 million for America’s largest provider of scholarships to Native students. “What do you do but cry?” Albert told Observer.

    Scott’s contribution, one of the largest-ever gifts to a Native nonprofit, marks the second time the philanthropist has supported the Native Forward Scholars Fund with an unrestricted donation. In 2020, she gave $20 million to the group, enabling it to launch an endowment fund, create six programs and strengthen its internal operations.

    This time, Albert is determined to channel the money directly to students. Native Forward has already earmarked part of the donation to award scholarships to an additional 400 students, while also considering the creation of a pooled endowment to ensure long-term support.

    “I don’t know that people really understand how transformative it is when you take a $5,000 scholarship and put it into the hands of someone who is brilliant and talented,” said Albert, who has led Native Forward since 2017.

    Alumni supported by the Albuquerque, N.M.-based nonprofit include Debra Haaland, the first Native person to serve as a U.S. cabinet secretary; Pulitzer finalist Tommy Orange; and Cynthia Chavez Lamar, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

    Founded in 1969, Native Forward offers scholarships, programming, funding and mentorship to Native students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and professional opportunities. Its impact, which includes contributing to 1,700 law degrees and 2,200 Ph.D. degrees, has aided some 22,000 scholars from more than 500 Tribes across all 50 states.

    Still, demand far outpaces supply. “We can only fund about 22 percent of the students who apply—and that’s on a typical year,” said Albert, who noted that scholarship applications have surged 35 percent in 2025. Of roughly 7,000 applicants this year, only about 1,000 have received aid.

    Albert attributed the increased need in part to a rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). “It’s critically important that we are intentional with this funding so that it can continue to give to students in the future in the most impactful way,” she said.

    The size and flexibility of Scott’s gift align with her broader trust-based approach to philanthropy, which relies on quiet research and major, unrestricted donations. With an estimated net worth of $33.1 billion—much of it tied to her Amazon shares—Scott has given away nearly $20 billion since pledging in 2019 to donate most of her fortune.

    Her giving has increasingly emphasized education. In September, she donated $70 million to UNCF, a nonprofit that supports historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), boosting endowments at more than three dozen schools across the U.S.

    “She is changing the landscape of Native higher education, not to mention all of the other fields that she’s impacting,” Albert said of the philanthropist. Given the transformative results of the 2020 gift, she is eager to see what this new one will accomplish. “It’s a much different world than it was five years ago, and I look forward to seeing what this looks like in another five years.”

    MacKenzie Scott Donates $50M to Nonprofit Boosting Native Student Scholarships

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  • Lin-Manuel Miranda Gave Millions to Puerto Rican Artists After Hurricane Maria. He’s Pledging More

    SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — As Hurricane Maria roared over Puerto Rico in September 2017, Marena Pérez and Aureo Andino hunkered down inside their ballet studio. The couple never imagined that they, their daughter and Pérez’s parents would live there for three months, sleeping on pullout couches and relying on a gas generator.

    The Category 4 hurricane flooded Pérez and Andino’s house with 4 feet of water. Unable to return home, the founders and directors of Mauro Ballet decided to open their doors to the community, teaching a free dance class each afternoon.

    “It became an oasis for dancers in Puerto Rico,” said Andino. But Mauro Ballet still struggled — the dance company didn’t make money for 18 months.

    Instead of being forgotten, artists assumed essential roles, helping the archipelago grieve from Maria’s devastation and articulating the challenges Puerto Ricans faced.

    “You can use the arts in so many ways to express your feelings, and to heal,” said Pérez.

    The Flamboyan Arts Fund has supported 110 Puerto Rican arts organizations and 900 artists. Now the Miranda family and the D.C.-based Flamboyan Foundation are committing an additional $10 million to Puerto Rican arts and culture.

    “It just gives us too much back,” said Miranda, 45. “If you have ever enjoyed the work that comes from this island and its descendants, to invest in that future is important.”

    The destruction was so vast that Marianne Ramírez Aponte, executive director and chief curator of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in San Juan, worried the cultural sector could not overcome it.

    What happened instead was “quite the opposite,” she said.

    Arts groups opened their spaces as relief hubs and activated mutual aid networks. “Cultural brigades” deployed their talents to comfort and entertain.

    “It was a horrible situation, but we were able to prove the importance of art in the social process,” said Yari Helfeld, executive director of the community theater company Y No Había Luz.

    Helfeld got requests to perform from isolated communities in Puerto Rico’s central mountains just weeks after the storm. She was surprised to be asked for theater when people still struggled to access food and water.

    “They said, ‘You’re helping heal the spirit,’” said Helfeld.

    Artists could also channel and contextualize the public frustration over the U.S. territory’s slow recovery. Maria exposed the consequences of what many Puerto Ricans still consider a colonial relationship with the U.S.

    Help from federal and local government came slowly and sometimes not at all. Federally imposed austerity measures tied to massive public debt exacerbated economic woes. Power outages disrupted daily life.

    Poetry, paintings and performances confronting these realities helped people “process intellectually, emotionally, what had happened to the country,” said Ramírez Aponte.

    Artists like Rayze Michelle Ostolaza Oquendo expressed the territory’s hopes and disappointments.

    “I have a dream, and it’s simple: to be allowed to be from here, to die on this land and whistle like the coquí, it’s not much to ask,” she wrote in her 2024 poem “Ser Puertorriqueño,” or “To Be Puerto Rican.”

    Money from the Flamboyan Arts Fund supported fellowships for Ostolaza Oquendo and other writers. It helped pay studio rent and wages, and restored a flooded wing of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.

    The funding bolstered the sector’s resilience, equipping museums and cultural centers with solar panels and batteries, emergency food and first-aid kits to continue arts programming and support communities after disasters. A sweeping effort to digitize 1,200 art pieces and artifacts across the archipelago became a lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic, when museums could continue their programming online.

    The Miranda Family Fund and the Flamboyan Foundation planned to wind down the project after granting all $22 million. Instead, they’re committing more and encouraging donors to join them.

    “Because it’s been successful, but mostly because it’s needed still, we’ve decided to continue it,” said Kristin Ehrgood, who co-founded the Flamboyan Foundation with her husband Vadim Nikitine and serves as its CEO. “Funding for arts and arts organizations continues to decline.”

    President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, all of which support Puerto Rican institutions. The Puerto Rico Humanities Council saw its 2025 general operating grant cut by over half.

    Ehrgood said the two families want the new funds to also go beyond emergency relief, amplifying Puerto Rico’s talent and even stimulating its economy.

    Miranda called Bad Bunny’s approach “brilliant.”

    There are more artists who can carry those messages, if they’re backed.

    “To support voices that speak on behalf of the island and tell the story of the island is a net plus,” said Miranda. “Puerto Rico always tell us what’s going on.”

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Progressive Nonprofits Condemn Trump’s Targeting of George Soros and His Foundations

    NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of progressive nonprofits condemned President Donald Trump’s general attacks on his political opponents and a specific report of a potential investigation into billionaire George Soros’ philanthropy, Open Society Foundations.

    “Targeting those you disagree with is a threat to the democratic values our organizations work tirelessly to defend, and is an attempt to silence those who disagree with President Trump,” the groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Oxfam America — said in a statement Monday. “It is a continuation of the attacks on law firms, universities and the media. It is an attack on our most sacred value of free speech.”

    The comments follow a report in the New York Times that the U.S. Department of Justice had directed prosecutors to consider possible charges against Open Society Foundations, echoing accusations Trump made in August that Soros and his foundations were funding violent protests.

    Soros’ office sent a letter to “friends and colleagues” on Monday, stating, “Allegations that George or OSF are in any way engaged in unlawful activity or in fomenting or promoting violence are 100% false.” The letter also asked supporters to “make your voice heard” for the values they stand for, as well as signing a petition from the People for the American Way looking to “stop the weaponization of the Justice Department.”

    In a statement Thursday, Open Society Foundations said they “unequivocally condemn terrorism and do not fund terrorism,” and that their work in the U.S. is dedicated to strengthening democracy. The foundations have not been contacted about any potential investigations or had any direct contact from the federal government, a spokesperson said.

    Later on Thursday, Trump ordered a crackdown on “left-wing terrorism,” specifically naming Soros and billionaire Reid Hoffman, who helped start PayPal and the networking site LinkedIn. Hoffman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    In response, the nonprofits said they stood in solidarity with Open Society Foundations. Soros has also been a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes in the U.S.

    The groups supporting OSF Monday include both tax-exempt charitable nonprofits, social welfare groups, which are allowed to do more political lobbying, and the Working Families Party, which supports progressive political candidates.

    Interfaith Alliance, which advocates for religious freedom and social justice, was one of the groups that signed onto condemn the targeting of the Open Society Foundations. Its president and CEO, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, said nonprofits and especially religious groups need to stand up for people and groups that the administration targets.

    “I think people on all sides of the political spectrum should be showing up right now, recognizing the danger of what this is,” he said. “Just as they showed up, for instance, around Jimmy Kimmel from very different parts of the political spectrum, recognizing the danger of the suppression of free speech. This is another example of that.”

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Home Bakers Donate Fresh Bread to Food Banks Thanks to This Seattle Nonprofit

    On a recent Saturday near Seattle, Cheryl Ewaldsen pulled three golden loaves of wheat bread out of her kitchen oven.

    The fragrant, oat-topped bread was destined not for her table, but for a local food bank, to be distributed to families increasingly struggling with hunger and the high cost of groceries.

    “I just get really excited about it knowing that it’s going to someone and they’re going to make, like, 10 sandwiches,” said Ewaldsen, 75, a retired university human resources director.

    Ewaldsen is a volunteer with Community Loaves, a Seattle-area nonprofit that started pairing home bakers with food pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic — and hasn’t stopped.

    Since 2020, the organization headed by Katherine Kehrli, the former dean of a culinary school, has donated more than 200,000 loaves of fresh bread and some 220,000 energy cookies to food banks. They come from a network of nearly 900 bakers in four states — Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho — and represent one of the largest such efforts in the country.

    “Most of our food banks do not get any kind of whole-grain sandwich bread donation,” she said. “When we ask what we could do better, they just say, ‘Bring us more.’”


    Anti-hunger experts expect to see more need

    Ewaldsen’s bread goes to the nearby Edmonds Food Bank, where the client list has swelled from 350 households to nearly 1,000 in the past three years, according to program manager Lester Almanza.

    Nationwide, more than 50 million people a year receive charitable food assistance, according to Feeding America, a hunger relief organization.

    Gauging the impact, however, could soon be more difficult after the U.S. Agriculture Department recently said it would halt an annual report on hunger in America, saying it was redundant, costly and politicized “subjective liberal fodder.” After 30 years, the 2024 report, to be released on Oct. 22, will be the last, the agency said.

    “Ending data collection will not end hunger, it will only make it a hidden crisis that is easier to ignore and more difficult to address,” Crystal FitzSimons, president of the Food Research & Action Center, an advocacy group, said in a statement.

    Almanza said federal funding for his food bank has dropped at least 10% this year, meaning that every donation helps.

    “It’s something that a lot of people rely on,” he said.


    Food bank breads are often highly processed

    That includes people like Chris Redfearn, 42, and his wife, Melanie Rodriguez-Redfearn, 43, who turned to a food bank in Everett, Washington, last spring after moving to the area to find work. They had to stretch their savings until she began a new position this month teaching history at a local college. Chris Redfearn, who has worked for decades in business, is still looking.

    “The food pantry assists with anywhere from $40 to $80 worth of savings weekly,” he said. “We’ve been able to keep ourselves afloat.”

    Finding homemade bread from Community Loaves at a food pantry was a surprise, the couple said. Often, surplus bread sent by grocery stores includes highly processed white breads or sweets donated near their expiration or sell-by dates.

    The breads come in three varieties — honey oat, whole wheat and sunflower rye — all made with whole grains and minimally processed ingredients.

    “They make it really wholesome and fibrous,” Chris Redfearn said. “It mimics most of the health-conscious breads that are out there.”


    Many food banks don’t accept donated baked goods

    The notion of donating home-baked bread came to Kehrli, 61, during the pandemic, when she was displaced from her job at the busy Seattle Culinary Academy.

    “I love to bake and just an idea sparked: Would it be possible for us to help from our home and get important valuable nutrition to our food banks?” she recalled.

    Many food pantries don’t accept or distribute donations of homemade baked goods. Feeding America warns individual bakers against the practice, saying “since food banks can’t confirm how your baked goods were made or their ingredients, they can’t be donated.”

    But health department rules vary by state, Kehrli learned. In Washington and the other three states where Community Loaves now operates, bread is one of the few foods allowed to be donated from a home kitchen through a program like theirs.

    “We wouldn’t be able to donate custard pies. We wouldn’t be able to donate lasagna,” Kehrli said. “But bread is deemed safe. Anything that is fully baked and does not require refrigeration.”

    Still, Community Loaves bakers must follow approved recipes for the bread and two types of energy cookies. They obtain flour from common sources, and bake and deliver on a shared schedule twice a month.

    The bakers buy their own supplies, donating the cost of the ingredients as well as their time. Most make a few loaves per baking session before delivering them to local “hubs,” where other volunteers collect the bread and transport it to the food banks.

    Bakers range from former professionals to beginners. A robust website with recipes and how-to videos backstops every step, Kehrli said.

    Baking the bread is satisfying on several levels, said Ewaldsen, who has donated nearly 800 loaves in less than two years. Part of it is addressing the physical need for food, but part is also addressing the spiritual hunger for connection with neighbors.

    “It’s the opportunity for me to bake something and to share something with others in the community, where they don’t necessarily need to know who I am, but they know that there’s a community that loves and cares for them,” she said.

    While such sentiments are sincere and admirable, anti-hunger experts stress that individual donations can’t take the place of adequately funded government services for struggling Americans.

    “It’s beautiful that our communities act this way,” said Gina Plata-Nino of the Food Research & Action Center. “But it is a loaf of bread. That is going to feed one person — and there are millions in line.”

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Walmart Heir Rob Walton Donates $115M to ASU to Establish Conservation School

    Rob Walton served as Walmart’s chairman for more than two decades. Photo by Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images

    Rob Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton and the former chairman of the retail giant, is donating $115 million to Arizona State University (ASU), the largest donation in the institution’s 140-year history. The funds will support a new school dedicated to conservation and offering training, educational and career opportunities. “Students bring fresh ideas, energy and innovation,” said Walton in a statement. “By getting involved now—through research, advocacy or fieldwork—they gain the skills to drive real change.”

    The donation will establish the Rob Walton School of Conservation Future within ASU’s newly renamed Rob Walton College of Global Futures. Walton’s gift will also fund the school’s chair, create three professorships in research and education, and launch a scholarship fund.

    Set to open by the end of the year, the school will provide conservation training programs for high school students, workers and executives, issue certificates for organizations and government agencies, and expand workforce opportunities in the field. Over time, it will add graduate and undergraduate degree programs.

    “Through its central mission of transforming conservation education for a thriving planetary future, this new academic entity is not just preserving ecosystems—it is developing adaptive solutions to ensure sustainable pathways for future generations,” said Peter Schlosser, vice president of ASU’s Global Futures College, in a statement.

    The Walton family’s philanthropic legacy

    Walton, 80, has an estimated net worth of $123.1 billion. He served as chairman of the Arkansas-based retailer from 1992 to 2015, during which he pursued corporate conservation strategies, including working with Conservation International on sustainability goals such as reducing waste across Walmart’s global operations.

    This isn’t Walton’s first conservation-related gift to ASU. In 2012, Walton and his wife, Melani, donated $27.5 million to advance sustainability initiatives, a figure that grew to $31.8 million by 2019. ASU later named a planetary health facility in their honor.

    Walton’s philanthropy is part of a broader family tradition. The Walton family, the wealthiest in America, channels much of its giving through the Walton Family Foundation, created by Sam Walton in the 1980s. The foundation focuses on education, environmental programs and regional development in Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta, distributing nearly $550 million in grants last year.

    His siblings, both also centibillionaires, have made major philanthropic moves as well. Jim Walton made headlines in 2019 with a $1.2 billion Walmart stock donation, the largest gift of that year. Alice Walton has given more than $1.5 billion to the arts and founded institutions such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

    Walmart Heir Rob Walton Donates $115M to ASU to Establish Conservation School

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