The expansion is an example of the IKEA Foundation’s commitment to working with smaller, local partners as well as larger humanitarian aid organisations improving the lives of children in India.

The announcement came as the Foundation published its 2014 annual review, 178 million smiles, which also revealed that last year alone it gave 104 million in grants and in-kind donations to 40 partners operating in 46 countries. During the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, IKEA Foundation made six new grants to UNICEF, amounting to 24.9 million, boosting its commitment to children.

Per Heggenes, Chief Executive Officer, IKEA Foundation said, “Completion of 15 years in India is a very important milestone for us. In India, the IKEA Foundation works with 12 partners on long term programmes that change attitudes towards child labour, provide education and healthcare and empower women so children and families can break the cycle of poverty.

Other highlights from the report show that the Foundation gave 10 million in grants for disaster and emergency relief in 2014, including its biggest-ever emergency donation of 5 million to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to fight Ebola in West Africa, had helped 1.2 million babies get much-needed specialist care through UNICEF in India by the end of 2014, supplied 6,000 IKEA toys for UNICEF’s Early Childhood Development kits, which were sent to 11 countries in 2014, including Syria, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan and donated a total of 150,000 IKEA mattresses, quilts and quilt covers to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) for Syrian refugees living in Iraq.

EH News Bureau

Apps to Use When Shopping for Health Insurance Win National Competition – Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Princeton, N.J. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has named Washington, D.C.-based Consumers’ CHECKBOOK as the winner of its first ‘Plan Choice Challenge,’ a nationwide competition facilitated by Health 2.0 to design a technology application that helps people evaluate their health insurance options.

Stride Health (San Francisco, Calif.) and Clear Health Analytics (Stamford, Conn.) took second and third place, respectively. “The response to this challenge has been overwhelming, and the creativity and talent on display in these applications confirms that developers will play a vital role in moving this market forward.”

The winning application, Consumers’ CHECKBOOK’s Plan Compare tool, enables consumers to scroll through all available plans on a single webpage and compare for each plan: 1) estimated average total yearly cost (premium plus out-of-pocket) for people of the same family size, ages, health status, and other characteristics as the user, 2) risk (the total cost in a very high health-care-usage year), 3) an overall quality rating that the user can personalize based on what quality dimensions matter most to the user; and 4) which of a list of preferred doctors the user has identified participate in the plan. “We know if they don’t get quick answers, ideally in less than five minutes, they’ll take shortcuts like choosing based on lowest premium alone or lowest deductible and end up wasting thousands of dollars.”

Stride Health secured second place with its mobile application billed as the ‘world’s first health insurance recommendation engine,’ which recommends a health plan by intelligently forecasting total annual costs based on demographics, medical conditions, prescription drugs, and financial information input by the consumer.

RWJF said the New Jersey Action Coalition will receive the grant through the Future of Nursing State Implementation Program, a $7.65 million initiative that supports action coalitions in 33 states.

SIP bolsters efforts underway in 50 states and the District of Columbia, through The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, to improve health and health care through nursing. “We are immensely proud of the work our Action Coalitions are doing to transform nursing education and practice, support nurse leadership, and diversify the nursing workforce. Matching funding for this grant was provided by New Jersey hospitals that have achieved the status of Magnet hospitals for nursing; the schools of nursing in New Jersey; the Kirby Foundation; Deans Committee of Baccalaureate Nursing Programs; and other private donations.

The Center to Champion Nursing in America an initiative of AARP, the AARP Foundation and RWJF serves as the national program office for the Future of Nursing State Implementation Program.

Casino bill would double Carroll take – Carroll Daily Times Herald

COOS BAY The South Coast Community Foundation made its first major decision though somewhat hesitantly by creating a distribution plan.

The SCCF board voted 6-1 Wednesday on a distribution and endowment strategy for the community service fees it’s proposed to receive from the Jordan Cove Energy Project. Every year thereafter until year 10, the distribution would increase by $100,000.

At that point, the board would take another look at its funding strategy and make adjustments.

Sweet was concerned that in the long run, bumping up the distributions by only $100,000 a year would not reach the ultimate goal of a near 50-50 split between distribution and investment by the 19th year of the plan.

Pettit said it was “economic insanity” to count on this money until:

Jordan Cove is approved;Jordan Cove agrees to the terms laid out in the overarching Community Enhancement Plan; andA funding formula is set in stone.

“There’s too many ways this thing can go sideways,” he said.

BOSTON, March, 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Get Konnected!, Boston’s premier urban business networking event will celebrate its 7th anniversary at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Tuesday, March 24th from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. honors individuals and corporations in both the private and public sectors whose commitment to diversity and inclusion is exemplary or whose philanthropic efforts have contributed to making Boston and/or Massachusetts better for all its citizens. This year’s 2015 anniversary theme, Boston’s Rainbow of Innovators celebrates a culturally diverse group of business and social innovators who are contributing to advancing Boston’s global reputation as an epicenter and hub for innovation, technology, education and philanthropy.

The 2015 Innovation Honorees include:
Gilad Rosenzweig, President, Smarter in the City and Raj Melville, Executive Director, Deshpande Foundation for Innovation in Social and Economic Impact; Joseph Chung, Managing Director, Redstar Ventures for Innovation in Investment; Susan Windham Bannister, President, Mass Life Science Center for Process and Service Innovation; Vanessa Kirsch, Founder & CEO, New Profit Inc and Paul Grogan, President, The Boston Foundation for Philanthropic Innovation; Carlos Arredondo, Peace Activist, Advocate for Military families and Immigrants and Boston Marathon Bombing Good Samaritan for Inspiration Innovation; and 17-year-old Toni Oloko, Founder, PracticeGigs for Emerging Teen Entrepreneur.

“We are delighted to honor this diverse group of trailblazers and pioneers who are finding unique and innovative ways to solve both business and social problems and who are contributing to making Boston and the Commonwealth a vibrant hub and epicenter for innovation,” said Colette Phillips, President and CEO of CPC Global and the founder of Get Konnected!. has been recognized by the Massachusetts State Legislature, the Boston City Council and Boston Latino TV for advancing business and career opportunities for Greater Boston’s culturally diverse communities.

Contact
Colette Phillips
617.357.5777
Email

See more news releases in Advertising Human Resource & Workforce Management Awards

For more information, visit
www.ri.foundation.org.

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