$123M given to Arizona nonprofits
Piper Trust contribution sets a single-day record
Phoenix’s Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust on Monday gave a record $123 million to 71 Maricopa County nonprofits still navigating the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is the largest single-day grantmaking initiative in the state’s history. Gifts ranged from $100,000 to $7.5 million and are meant to move the groups from crisis and recovery mode into long-term sustainability.
“I literally started to cry. It was just so overwhelming,” said Diana “Dede” Yazzie Devine, president and CEO of Native American Connections. The group received a $3 million grant, equal to 20% of its annual budget.
Among other things, Native American Connections operates a homeless youth shelter, builds apartments for low-income families and even provides emergency housing when summer temperatures spike. The group also provides mental health and substance abuse counseling.
“How could we have closed?” De
vine said. “We’re an organization that had to stay open through COVID.”
Recipients of Piper Trust’s “Now is the Moment” grants included social service groups like Native American Connections, arts organizations, medical research institutions, religious groups and health care providers. The trust decided to give the money to nonprofits after earning it from investments during the last 15 months.
“Our feeling was, ‘Let’s take every penny of that and put it into the community,’ “said Piper trustee Sharon Harper.
“It’s one thing to get through an immediate crisis,” she said. “These transformational grants are another level of giving. It gives (recipients) the runway to plan, to know that these organizations can be resilient and be there long term.”
The grants were awarded Monday during a series of meetings at the Piper Trust’s midtown headquarters. The trust was established 21 years ago as a legacy of Virginia Galvin Piper. Piper’s first husband, Paul Galvin, was the founder of Motorola.
Last year, Piper Trust awarded more than $37 million to community organizations, an increase from its average of about $22 million annually. Giving levels are not expected to be affected by Monday’s move, Harper said.
Suzanne Wilson, chief executive officer of the Phoenix Symphony, thought she was walking into a general meetand-greet session with Piper trustees Monday morning.
She walked out with a check for $7.5 million.
“It’s beyond incredible,” said Wilson, who just started her job in January 2020. “Seven weeks later, we were canceling all of our performances because of COVID. We had to make some heartwrenching decisions.”
During the pandemic, the symphony canceled 140 shows and furloughed staff and musicians. Its budget went from about $12 million a year to about $3 million. It survived with emergency grants, federal emergency loans and support from symphony supporters. Just last week, an abbreviated 2021-22 performance season was announced.
“This is the trust empowering nonprofits to think big and not just be in survival mode anymore. It’s unbelievable,” Wilson said.
Donna Valdes of Xico Inc. expects a portion of a $500,000 Piper grant to be used to pay off debts incurred by a preCOVID planned move to the group’s new Roosevelt Row exhibition and creator space.
Before the gift, the group’s annual operating budget for 2022 was projected to be $750,000.
“It’s the first time we’ve received a gift of this magnitude,” she said. “It will allow us to take some of these funds and invest for a little more security. We will be able to grow. There won’t be that constant, ‘We have six months or a year of sustainability, so what happens next?’ ”
The level of single-day giving is unprecedented in Arizona, said Jacky Alling of Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation.
“What is even more remarkable is not just the dollar amount of the grants but also the unrestricted and unsolicited nature of the grants,” Alling said.
“We saw the Arizona philanthropic community at large release typical restrictions and reporting requirements for nonprofit grantees during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. It is refreshing to see that the Piper Trust is carrying that trend forward in a big and bold way.”