Foundation Grants
Community Vital Signs
About Us
Charitable Matchmaker: Arkansas Community Foundation Makes Philanthropy Accessible
Foundation: Arkansas Community Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
When Mary McLeod founded the Arkansas Community Foundation in 1976, she didn't just set out to create a foundation in Little Rock.
She set out to create a statewide one that would reach all of the state's 75 counties.
"If that had been the case, the rest of the state would not have had access to community funding," CEO Heather Larkin tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Today, the ARCF is the largest grant-maker in the state, awarding more than $600 million in grants since 1976, with 29 local offices across the state.
What makes the ARCF unique is that it allows individuals, families, nonprofits, and businesses to create endowments that can be used for the public benefit, Larkin tells the Democrat-Gazette.
"It does not matter who you are," she says.
"Any Arkansan can create a fund."
The fundholders range from people who have an interest in helping pets, art, or feeding initiatives to others in the community who need funds to accomplish shared goals.
The ARCF was started with a $258,000 grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation in 1976, Larkin tells the Democrat-Gazette.
"They wanted this to be statewide because we are a fairly small, relatively poor state, which is easy to travel, and we can impact
Read the Entire Article
Selected Foundation News
A customized collection of news from foundations from around the Web.
New data from Statistics Canada signals a troubling trend in Canada's food manufacturing sector.From 2021 to 2023, just 67.7 per cent of food processing businesses introduced at least one innovation,...more
Department of Energy (DOE), the budget reflects a targeted reorientation of funding toward technologies that align with the administration's energy, industrial and national security priorities.The...more
"World Calls on China to Lead": Urgent Climate Demands Escalate Ahead of Pivotal Global Sustainability Transition Conference.China is positioned to lead global climate action with its dominance in...more
Circular construction is about rethinking how we build, renovate, and repurpose urban spaces.By extending the life of building materials from existing structures the hope is to reduce waste generated...more
Kutztown University has been awarded a state grant to support a program that is helping to combat the ongoing teacher shortage in Pennsylvania.The state Department of Education will provide $946,951...more
USF Nursing unveils SHINE Science Center to power discovery and innovation.USF Health College of Nursing is proud to announce the opening of the Sleep and Health Innovations in Neurobehavioral...more
Lucy Xiaolu Wang, assistant professor of resource economics, has been honored with the Best Young Researcher Award at the 15th annual Conference on Health IT and Analytics (CHITA) The award...more
Laura Magana, PhD, is president and CEO of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.Her talk will focus on how public health systems can proactively shape policies, environments and...more
Dimitris Bertsimas, MIT's vice provost for open learning, is the innovator behind 15.071 (The Analytics Edge) The book provides a practical introduction to the field of health care analytics.Using...more
AHA presents variety of awards recognizing leaders across the health care field.Hospitals and health systems are urged to nominate candidates as soon as possible for the AHA Next Generation Leaders...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
When it Comes to Social Enterprises, Failure is the Best Platform for Innovation
In the world of social enterprises, failure is a cringe-worthy moment nobody wants to talk about. But, social entrepreneurs can benefit from their failures.