The Doris Duke Foundation (DDF), in partnership with Native Americans in Philanthropy, the Biodiversity Funders Group, and 14 other philanthropies, has announced $102.5 million in commitments in support of the Tribal National Conservation Pledge. 

The Tribal National Conservation Pledge is part of the White House’s America the Beautiful Challenge, which aims to streamline funding for conservation efforts. The pledge supports the conservation work of Tribal nations as well as public-private partnerships between the administration, Tribes, and philanthropy. As part of its new Indigenous-led conservation initiative, DDF is providing $32 million of the total commitment. 

“We are proud to stand with Native Americans in Philanthropy and other leading foundations to support Tribal and Indigenous populations in applying centuries of knowledge, insight, and commitment toward conservation that serves communities, protects the nation’s rich biodiversity, and addresses climate change,” said DDF president and CEO Sam Gill. “Conservation led by Tribal and Indigenous communities is one the biggest opportunities to assure a more sustainable and just future for all.” 

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Michigan Women Forward (MWF), a Detroit-based community development financial institution (CDFI), has announced the launch of a $10 million fund that will finance loans to women and entrepreneurs of color who would not qualify for traditional bank loans.

The Michigan Economic Opportunity Fund is financed by contributions from Huntington National Bank ($1.5 million), Ballmer Group ($1.5 million), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) ($1 million) and $2 million from private funders. In addition, MEDC is providing a loan of approximately $1.5 million from its State Small Business Credit Initiative. The fund will support business owners in underserved communities with loans ofup to $50,000. In 2022, MWF made 88 loans totaling $2.45 million invested mainly in women-owned businesses.

Black-owned businesses are two to three times more likely to be denied credit and face higher interest rates on bank loans when compared to other borrowers, MLive reports.

“We know that systemic inequities impede access, opportunity, and outcomes in economic mobility,” said Ballmer Group Southeast Michigan executive director Kylee Mitchell Wells in a statement to MLive. “[CDFIs] play a vital role in ensuring that low-cost capital is available to more communities and individuals—such as entrepreneurs of color and women—who have been locked out of traditional capital markets.”

“The Michigan Economic Opportunity Fund will change the trajectory of a Michigan small business owner,” said MWF president Carolyn Cassin. “This funding will build a sustainable business, generate wealth for that individual and ultimately, impact the state’s economy, and create jobs in the communities in which we live.”

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The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced $660 million in funding to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to help reverse the loss of wetlands along Louisiana’s coast.

The largest single conservation investment in the history of NFWF was awarded from its Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (GEBF), which received more than $2.5 billion from BP and Transocean in settlement of federal criminal environmental charges brought by the United States related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Under the settlements, GEBF funding allocated to projects in the State of Louisiana—a total of $1.272 billion—must be used to support barrier island restoration and river diversion projects.

The commitment will support construction of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion (MBSD), the first and most significant of two planned sediment diversions in Louisiana that over 50 years are expected to build or sustain approximately 20 square miles of additional land. MBSD will improve the sustainability of other projects in the vicinity, providing sediment that will help those areas maintain their wetlands and buffering communities against storm surges. As required by the terms of the settlement documents, as the project was developed, NFWF consulted with CPRA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA.

“This award of $660 million…will help reverse the historic loss of wetlands along the Louisiana coast,” said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. “The wetlands in the vicinity of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion were among the most heavily oiled as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and we are pleased to support CPRA’s efforts to continue restoring these vital resources.”

“The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is an innovative, first-of-its-kind project that will bring unprecedented strength to Louisiana’s coastal program,” said Chip Kline, executive assistant to the governor of Louisiana for coastal activities. “The project will restore areas experiencing some of the highest rates of land loss in the world for decades to come through sustainable land building. Moving forward with this project is a monumental milestone…one that would not have been possible without NFWF. We’re grateful for their continued collaboration and support throughout project development. This award represents a significant investment in conserving Louisiana’s coast and furthers NFWF’s support of CPRA and Louisiana’s coastal program.”

(Getty Images/Jaime Tuchman)

UNCF has announced plans to partner with Deloitte Digital for a new online platform tailored to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) for community learning.

Supported by more than $10 million in funding from the Lilly Endowment and the Karsh Family, Citi, Bill & Melinda Gates, and Bank of America Charitable foundations, the HBCUv platform will provide remote education, community engagement, and career pathways to students seeking an HBCU education. The platform will include tools and technology to help students with career planning and degree program matching. In addition, it will use machine learning and big data to fuel predictive analytics on student performance and provide real-time feedback to instructors as well as serve as a social platform for students across the HBCU network to connect.

To date, UNCF has partnered with nine HBCUs—Benedict College, Claflin University, Clark Atlanta University, Dillard University, Jarvis Christian College, Johnson C. Smith University, Lane College, Shaw University, and Talladega College—to develop and pilot HBCUv. This year, more than 8,000 students enrolled at participating HBCUs will have the ability to cross-register for and take credit-bearing courses online through the platform. As the platform grows, UNCF plans to include more HBCU students and institutions. 

“This isn’t just about getting more classes online, it’s about providing a safe space for Black joy and expression, giving students an opportunity to find their ‘tribe’ of people, and inspiring students of all ages by showing them Black leaders who are part of the same HBCU legacy,” said Julian Thompson, director of strategy for UNCF’s Institute for Capacity Building. “HBCUv will do this by embedding the culture, community, and commitment to Black excellence embodied by HBCUs into a unique online experience that will form the foundation of the future of Black education.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Drazen Zigic)

Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has publicly expressed dismay over the shift of OpenAI, the maker of the artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, from a nonprofit to a hybrid “capped profit” model, Fortune reports.

When founded as a nonprofit in 2015, OpenAI received $100 million from Musk. In 2019, the company switched to a “capped profit” model and now has a private valuation of approximately $30 billion and counts Microsoft as a major investor. In a tweet last week, Musk expressed his discontent. “I’m still confused as to how a nonprofit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn’t everyone do it?”

In a tweet last month, Musk expressed similar feelings of irritation. “OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it “Open” AI), nonprofit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not what I intended at all.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Olemedia)