Recent grants to Hawaii nonprofits

> The University of Hawaii Foundation received $500,000 from Monsanto Company to establish the Monsanto Research Fellows Fund at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at UH Manoa. The fund will assist graduate students pursuing a Masters or Ph.D. degree and post-doctoral researchers at the College related to the study of plant science and protection. The goal of the new fund is to enable eligible students to enhance their educational and professional development through fellowship programs, including financial support for student research and participation in national professional conferences.

> ArtPlace, a public-private collaboration of 11 private foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts and seven federal agencies, has awarded $300,000 to help Pai Foundation build a Native Hawaiian cultural center. This mixed-use arts project, focused on the Native Hawaiian community in Honolulu, is one of 34 projects that will benefit from $11.5 million in grants from ArtPlace. The center will include classroom space, space for teaching hula and music and affordable artist housing. The organization is looking at three potential sites offered through the City and County of Honolulu, the Hawaii Community Development Authority and Kamehameha Schools. ArtPlace grants are funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Robina Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and an anonymous donor. Federal partners, in addition to the NEA, are the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education and Transportation, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

> UH Hilo’s Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii recently received a $10,000 gift from Okeanos Foundation and its founder Dieter Paulmann. The gift will help Imiloa create youth development programs using traditional means of wayfinding and navigation to inspire and engage tomorrow’s explorers in modern science, technology, engineering and math. The donation will support the continued growth and advancement of Imiloa’s dynamic voyaging program for youth in grades 8-12, which focuses on wayfinding and navigation through academic and experiential activities. Students learn teamwork and gain confidence through encouragement and positive mentoring, helping to build the necessary habits that foster friendship and the healthy relationships essential for survival aboard a canoe or living within a community.

> Henry Schein Dental has donated a dental chair and equipment for a new dental clinic at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. The dental chair and mobile X-ray technology is the first of its kind for the Shriners Hospital for Children system. The dental clinic will treat children from Hawaii and the Pacific Rim, regardless of their ability to pay.

> The Hawaii Council for the Humanities received a $10,000 grant from the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation to support two HCH-conducted educational programs—Hawaii History Day and Motheread/Fatheread Hawaii. Hawaii History Day is a year-long educational program that uses an annual national theme and contest to invigorate the teaching and learning of history in public and private school classrooms throughout the state for students in grades 4 through 12. Motheread/Fatheread Hawaii is a family literacy and empowerment program featuring reading-discussion sessions aimed at encouraging parents to be reading role models for their children.

> Kapiolani Children’s Miracle Network raised $133,085 at its fifth annual Radiothon for Kids, which was held Aug. 25-26. Radiothon is an annual event that turns Kapiolani’s cafeteria into KSSK’s studio for two days to raise awareness and funds for Kapiolani Children’s Miracle Network.

> Edmund C. Olson, chairman of A-American Storage Management Co., has donated $500,000 to the Nature Conservancy for forest conservation on Hawaii island. The funds will be used to protect the native forests of South Kona and Kau, which provide a habitat for the island’s endangered forest birds.

> General Atlantic Corp. has awarded Chaminade University a $43,000 grant to support cancer research and a $7,000 grant to acquire advanced instrumentation for the physics department.

> American Savings Bank has awarded the Hawaii HomeOwnership Center a $30,000 donation. The grant will support the center’s counseling services and financial education for first-time homebuyers and its foreclosure prevention counseling program.

> The Omidyar ‘Ohana Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation awarded a $25,000 matching grant to the Natural History Association for its 2011 Kau Youth Intern Program at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The association met the fundraising threshold, benefiting from additional funding help from the National Park Service and Friends of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The Kau Youth Intern Program targets underserved youth in Kau for training and employment in the field of environmental conservation.

> Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has donated more than $122,000 in grant funding to six local community organizations: Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Kanu Hawaii, Kahikolu Ohana Hale O Waianae, North Kohala Community Resources Center and the Hawaii COPD Coalition. Grant funding supports active living, healthy eating and respiratory health initiatives in Hawaii.

> First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has given Hospice of Hilo a grant of $100,000. The grant will support the construction of a new Hospice of Hilo in-patient facility.

> Pacific Gateway Center received $50,250 from the Small Business Administration’s Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs Act. The PRIME grant requires a 50 percent match by each recipient organization. It is open to micro-entrepreneur training and technical assistance providers in all 50 states and U.S territories and has a one-year performance period.