Poise receives share of Gates Foundation funds for virus relief

Poise Foundation is one of three philanthropies in the state to receive a share of $ 8.5 million that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is making available nationwide to support Black communities and other minority groups during COVID- 19 pandemic recovery efforts.

Downtown- based Poise, a Black- led foundation, was awarded a $ 65,000 grant for its Critical Community Needs Fund launched in April to provide money for small nonprofits and churches that are assisting vulnerable individuals and families in the region during the pandemic.

The Gates Foundation is distributing the funds through the Momentum Fund of Washington, D. C. Momentum was created in May specifically to fund COVID- 19 relief efforts and prioritizes gifts to organizations that focus on communities of color and other marginalized or underserved groups that have experienced a disproportionate impact from the pandemic.

Poise was one of nearly 760 organizations to apply for the funds; 129 received grants.

Other grants in Pennsylvania went to the Bread & Roses Community Fund in Philadelphia and the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Allentown. Each received $ 65,000.

Poise has raised more than $ 1 million to date for its critical needs fund and has awarded 87 grants totaling $ 921,000.

The award from Momentum “demonstrates that national funders recognize the critical work of Poise Foundation,” said Mark Lewis, Poise’s president and chief executive.

“The current crises have made it clear: Black, Indigenous and people of color organizations need unrestricted grant support and they need it now.”