71 AZ nonprofits receive surprise grants from Piper Trust

Phoenix Rescue Mission, Arizona Opera, and Valleywise Health Foundation are just a few of the dozens of Arizona nonprofits that received large donations this week when the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust awarded $ 123 million. dollars in surprise grants.

The pandemic has created a high need for the services of charities. But as demand skyrocketed, nonprofits struggled to cancel fundraisers, cut volunteer hours, and slow donations. The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits estimates that state organizations lost at least $ 91 million in the first year of the pandemic.

At the same time, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust saw strong growth in its investments. In 15 months, the endowment of the trust has increased by $ 123 million. The trustees have decided to distribute everything.

“Now is the time,” they decided. Don’t wait for the future, do something right now, ”said Mary Jane Rynd, President and CEO of Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. “It’s a really bold move.

Trustees chose 71 well-known Arizona nonprofits to surprise with grants. Beneficiaries include arts organizations, medical research centers and private schools.

Black Family and Child Services, which provides behavioral health and foster care services, received $ 750,000. CEO Shawn Pearson said this represents about half of his organization’s annual budget.

“It took me a minute to regain my composure because there were tears, there were times of hyperventilation, I think we went through some extreme emotions because it was so unexpected”, said Pearson said.

Pearson said the past year and a half has brought major budgetary challenges to his organization.

“The need for our behavioral health services was probably three times greater, but our capacity was limited due to the pandemic,” said Pearson. “The gift is more important than they probably thought.”

The 71 grants ranged from $ 100,000 to $ 7.5 million depending on the size of the organization. Rynd said a few grants specified that the funding was to be used for educational programs or that the donation was to be spent in Maricopa County. But the majority of the grants were unrestricted, Rynd said.

“It was just, ‘here, do your best,’” Rynd said. “We think this is going to be big. It will help some organizations keep their doors open, it will help others to stabilize, it will help others adopt some of the innovations and new programs that have been on the list. waiting because of their financial difficulties. ”