The George Gund Foundation

12/01/2010 in Grantmaking

Gund Foundation Makes Final Grants of 2010

CLEVELAND OH — The George Gund Foundation made grants at its November board meeting to expand the availability of locally-grown food in Greater Cleveland and encourage increased support for anti-hunger programs in Ohio.

The awards were among 93 grants totaling $8,010,630 made at the Foundation’s final meeting of 2010. Total grantmaking for the year was $23,584,339. Grants are made three times each year to a variety of education, human service, arts, environment and economic and community development organizations.

The Foundation made a $100,000 grant to the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, a public-private partnership aimed at improving access to healthy food in urban neighborhoods and stimulating the regional food economy. The coalition is a collaborative initiative led by the Ohio State University Extension, Cuyahoga County and Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Health Promotion Research.

The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks received a two-year $160,000 grant to advocate for increased government funding for hunger programs and to support the Ohio Benefit Bank, a free internet based program to help low-income individuals access support services that are essential to steady employment and providing for their families.

Grant funds also will be used to study the feasibility of creating a community flash freezing facility that would help growers extend the shelf-life of their produce at a reduced cost in return for committing a portion of the food to local food banks.

The Foundation also continued its longstanding commitment to retinal degenerative disease research with a $2 million grant to the Foundation Fighting Blindness and its work on health policy and health care reform with grants to Families USA Foundation ($50,000), the Center for Families and Children ($25,000) and the Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati ($75,000 over two years).

Other grants of interest included:

  • $110,000 to the Cleveland Festival of Art and Technology for Ingenuity 2011
  • $70,000 to the Trust for Public Land for its work in protecting land in Greater Cleveland for public use
  • $120,000 over two years to the City Club of Cleveland for events commemorating its centennial anniversary
  • $25,000 to the East Side Organizing Project for its foreclosure prevention and counseling services

The George Gund Foundation was established in 1952 by George Gund, former chairman of the Cleveland Trust Company. The Foundation funds programs that enhance our understanding of the physical and social environment in which we live and increase our ability to cope with its changing requirements. Grants are made quarterly in the areas of education, human services, economic and community development, environment and arts. Foundation commitments to date have totaled more than $562 million.

For further information contact:
Deena M. Epstein (216) 241.3114