In 2025, a year when federal funding cuts and rising costs strained nonprofits across Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Foundation distributed $93 million in grants. Many of the grants, which were publicly announced two weeks ago, went toward supporting health care, food services and housing across the state.
Founded in 1916, the Rhode Island Foundation is the state’s only community foundation and one of the oldest of its kind in the United States. The organization manages an endowment funded by donors and distributes grants to nonprofits working across Rhode Island.
“We’re the largest funder of nonprofits in the state,” said David Cicilline ’83, president and CEO of the foundation. “Our mission really is to improve the lives of Rhode Islanders.” Cicilline also serves as a trustee on the Brown Corporation, the University’s highest governing body.
While the foundation will not be able to fully replace lost federal funding, Cicilline said it has tried to help organizations adapt as much as possible.
“It’s been a particularly stressful time for many nonprofits that are serving Rhode Islanders,” Cicilline said. “At the moment when the demand for services is increasing significantly, the federal government is reducing its resources.”
The foundation has created a special Community Partner Resilience Fund, specifically targeting organizations suffering reductions due to federal policy changes.
Progreso Latino — a community-based nonprofit primarily serving Latino communities in Central Falls, Pawtucket and Providence — was one of the more than 2,600 organizations that received grant support.
Founded in 1977 by immigrant activists and clergy, the organization oversees youth programs, workforce training, health programs and immigration assistance.
“It’s a Latino-led organization,” said Mario Bueno, executive director of Progreso Latino. “We have bilingual programming across the age spectrum.”
The R.I. Foundation helped fund Progreso Latino’s food pantry and citizenship preparation classes.
“Our citizenship preparation program was federally funded, and that funding was canceled on a national level,” Bueno said. “The funding from the foundation was very helpful in order for us to keep those classes going.”
The White House and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately respond to The Herald’s requests for comment.
Progreso Latino serves communities that government programs struggle to reach, including those where residents face language barriers or immigration challenges, Bueno said.
“Many organizations like ours depend on the (Rhode Island Foundation) in order to offer programming and innovate and find solutions in the community,” he added
Beyond distributing grants, the R.I. Foundation also provides strategic guidance and advocacy for nonprofits. Cicilline described this work as “capacity building,” which can include helping organizations strengthen leadership, develop new partnerships or identify new revenue sources.
The foundation’s grants have also helped smaller and newer organizations address rising costs driven by inflation. The Jamestown Community Food Pantry, which opened in 2019, provides free groceries and essentials to residents of Jamestown.
Although Jamestown has a “reputation as a wealthy community,” the pantry serves many elderly residents living on fixed incomes and families in subsidized housing, said Deborah Nordstrom, co-manager and president of the board of directors of the pantry.
“People’s dollars just aren’t stretching as far as they did,” Nordstrom said. While the organization’s goal is usually to give each household one week’s supply of food per month, “people are just needing to come in more than once a month” now, she said.
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The R.I. Foundation awarded the pantry a $10,000 grant this year. “We have to go out and purchase all the food that we’re giving away,” Nordstrom said. “So the funds that come from the Rhode Island Foundation are directly put back into the community.”
The foundation manages its endowment through an external firm and investment committee with the goal of providing long-term funding for community organizations. “When our donors create funds here, it’s a way to ensure that we’re not only meeting the challenges today, but that there will be support for something they care about in perpetuity,” Cicilline said.
Cicilline said the R.I. Foundation’s record year of grants was made possible by both strong investment returns and increased giving from Rhode Islanders.
“The really excellent stewardship of our endowment produced a good return,” he said. “Generous Rhode Islanders really rose to the occasion.”
