Pittsburgh region's foundation community responds to coronavirus pandemic

Pennsylvania’s largest foundations and a group of philanthropic institutions Monday announced the creation of a $4 million Emergency Action Fund and additional pledges of up to $6 million in aligned coordinated efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

The region’s four largest foundations—the Heinz Endowments, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Hillman Family Fund and the Pittsburgh Foundation — also are organizing to shorten the grant approval process. They want to ensure rapid response grants flow quickly to organizations on the front lines of supporting those most vulnerable to the effects of curtailment of daily economic activities, school operations, transportation options, day care services and a range of government programs, said Pittsburgh Foundation spokesman Doug Root.

Funders are assessing the results of a community survey the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania conducted among 1,600 nonprofits across the region last week.

“We are in uncharted territory gauging the full societal harm that will be caused by the coronavirus that causes covid-19, and by the necessary suspension of most activities of daily life across our region to combat it. We hope that the public will donate generously to this effort,” Pittsburgh Foundation President and CEO Lisa Schroeder and United Way President and CEO Bobbi Watt Geer said in a joint statement.

They said the establishment of the fund is just the philanthropic sector’s first step in developing a recovery plan for the long term.

Watt Geer stressed that many of the partners who helped develop the Emergency Action Fund “have a regional lens,” and that aid will be distributed across Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Organizers hope to expand the donor pool.

“We were on a conference call with over 200 people from Grant Makers of Western Pennsylvania this morning and we encouraged people to get involved. We’ve invited the entire philanthropic community to participate,” she said.

The Emergency Action Fund will be held at the Pittsburgh Foundation, which has agreed to waive all credit card and management fees on individual donors.

Donations can be made online at PittsburghFoundation.org.

Root said the first phase of rapid-response grants will address:

• The economic impact of reduced and lost work due to the coronavirus outbreak;
• Immediate needs of economically vulnerable populations caused by closures and cancellations related to covid-19;
• Increased demand for medical information and support for health care;
• Communications and research support to better assess need and improve information flow for the region’s most vulnerable residents.

Meanwhile, Schroeder, Grant Oliphant, president of The Heinz Endowments; Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation; and David Roger, president, The Hillman Family Foundations, said the individual foundations will continue to make grants to respond to the coronavirus emergency in addition to those they directed to the Emergency Action Fund.

At the same time, Geer said the United Way is ramping up services at its 211 call center. The center, which serves the entire region, is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We’re there to direct people to help in times of need and we have staff trained who can answer a number of questions about CDC recommendations as well,” she said.