The Rhode Island Foundation record $89 million in grants awarded in 2023

The Rhode Island Foundation awarded a record $89 million in grants to approximately 2,500 nonprofit organizations last year.

At the end of 2023, total assets stood at approximately $1.4 billion. Total fund investment return for the year was 14.2 percent. In addition, the Foundation raised $46 million in gifts.

“Our aid brought hope to Rhode Islanders who are struggling with hunger, rising housing prices, and behavioral health challenges,” said David N. Cicilline, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “We are indebted to our generous donors and the nonprofit organizations that deliver crucial assistance to Rhode Island’s diverse communities.”

About two-thirds of the grants were donor directed; only about a third of the grants could be made at the sole discretion of the Foundation. The Foundation made grants to nonprofits that work in a variety of sectors, including the arts, hunger, the environment, and housing.

In 2023, the Foundation also launched its third Equity Leadership Initiative (ELI) class. The leadership development program is designed to build a pipeline of future leaders of color for positions of influence throughout the state.

ELI is just one way the Foundation supports nonprofits that serve Rhode Island’s communities of color. Recent grants also include nearly $1.2 million to increase the number of teachers of color in urban school districts, $1.4 million to support a racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse health care workforce, and nearly $2.2 million to help dismantle the fundamental causes of systemic racism in Rhode Island.

Along with grant-making and fundraising, community leadership is central to the Foundation’s work. In 2023, the Foundation raised nearly $1 million for its Civic Leadership Fund. This annual fund enables the Foundation to go beyond traditional grant-making to meet emerging opportunities and challenges, and to engage Rhode Islanders in civic and civil dialogue.