New Money for Nonprofits

Phoenix Magazine
March 2008

THINK OF ALL THOSE SMALL, Independent nonprofits that champion solutions to everyday problems in Arizona: physical and mental disabilities, programs for inner-city youth and more.

There are more than 20,000 of these organizations that often seek help from the Arizona State University Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management. A new infusion of cash will help them by helping their leading hub for training, research and support to grow.

The center will change its name to the Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation on March 7 in honor of a $5 million gift it received last fall. The gift was the largest in the history of ASU's College of Public Programs.

The money came from the Lodestar Foundation, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that opened its doors in 1999. It uses its resources to encourage philanthropy, public service and volunteerism in the community and to broker partnerships and mergers between nonprofits.

The foundation has supported nonprofit programs in Central America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In Phoenix, it operates a resource center for the homeless.

- Adam Klawonn