The annual Celebration of Philanthropy highlighted the Foundation’s 75-year commitment to strengthening and improving the community and recognized outstanding examples of philanthropy through its 2019 awards. For the third straight year, the Foundation and its donors set a record for investments made into communities, granting more than $224 million to 4,018 nonprofits in 2018. More than $2.7 million was awarded through scholarship grants, a record high for the Foundation. Since 1944, $2.5 billion has been awarded to support thousands of nonprofit organizations in areas from education and the arts to social services and healthcare.

The Columbus Foundation is seeking college and graduate students with interest in the nonprofit sector, offering a 10-week, paid fellowship to build work experience and develop skills for a future nonprofit career through its Summer Fellowship Program. The program, now in its tenth year, will match eligible students with 15 Franklin County nonprofits.

Middle West Spirits has diverged from their usual production of alcohol to produce hand sanitizer for frontline responders, including EMS and shelter staff. In this unique partnership, The Columbus Foundation will purchase the first $50,000 of sanitizer to equip local EMS operations and homeless shelters.

The Columbus Foundation appointed Marchelle E. Moore, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Encova Mutual Insurance Group, and Matthew A. Scantland, Principal at Twofold Ventures, and co-founder and former CEO of CoverMyMeds, to serve on its Governing Committee in 2021.

The Columbus Foundation today announced Roshelle Pate, also known as the “Food Soldier,” as the 2021 recipient of The Spirit of Columbus Award. Pate was selected as the honoree in recognition of the work she and thousands of volunteers do to feed food insecure neighbors, especially during the hardest days of the pandemic.

The Columbus Foundation’s Governing Committee announced grants to support central Ohio arts and cultural organizations. The grants will provide funding for 54 organizations.

Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown will lead a public-private task force to forge a comprehensive solution for families facing a devastating housing crisis. The partnership will identify, improve, and create services to keep families in their homes and halt an over reliance on the emergency shelter system, which is reeling from the surge of central Ohio families turning to homeless shelters.

The Arts Innovation Fund of The Columbus Foundation has awarded a Columbus Performing Arts Prize to David Brown, founder and creative director of Harmony Project, to support a dynamic multi-disciplinary finale at its performance at the Ohio Theatre on December 1, 2015.

Jerrie Mock, the Columbus woman who in 1964 became the first women to successfully fly solo around the world, was inducted today into the Paul E. Garber First Flight Shrine in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The induction was part of the First Flight Society’s 112th Wright Brothers Anniversary of Powered Flight. Columbus Foundation President and CEO Douglas F. Kridler was the keynote speaker for the event.

The Medical Mutual of Ohio Charitable Fund is announcing grants totaling $213,882 to support six central Ohio nonprofit organizations working with youth and their families to promote physical fitness, weight management and nutrition education to reduce and prevent obesity.