Unrestricted Operating Support Will Help Nonprofits Weather the COVID-19 Crisis
In early April 2020, the Weingart Foundation awarded 29 grants totaling $3.5 million through our Unrestricted Operating Support (U.O.S.) program. These grants were in response to applications submitted earlier in the year. Partners aligned strongly with our Foundation’s focus on advancing racial and socioeconomic justice by providing critical direct services in communities of color and by building the power of people to change systems for the long haul.
The U.O.S. grants span our five-county Southern California service area and include support for frontline clinics like Saint John’s Well Child and Family Center and the San Fernando Community Health Clinic. The Foundation also funded key homeless service providers, such as the Weingart Center Association, and organizations working for educational equity, including Families in Schools.
In addition, we are proud to support nonprofits playing important advocacy roles, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, and Empowering Pacific Islander Communities.
These organizations have long been vital leaders. Now, they are more important than ever as communities of color respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Grantees are providing healthcare, protecting unsheltered people, and fighting so that families get the information and resources they need in these difficult times.
Going forward, we strongly believe that unrestricted funding continues to be the best way to support nonprofit organizations as they respond and adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis. Over the next 12 months, the Weingart Foundation will award up to $20 million in Unrestricted Operating Support grants to core partners.