The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is closing its online-education grant program, and some college officials are concerned that the decision will leave a fast-growing sector of American higher education without a major source of support. The New York City-based foundation has funneled roughly $80-million into online-education ventures around the…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or certificate program by age 26. Foundation officials described the ambitious plan to an exclusive group of education leaders, citing 2025 as a target goal. If…

Annual reports aren't exactly beach reading, but for anyone interested in the current condition of scholarly communication, the just-published 2007 report of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation--particularly the essay on "Scholarly Publishing Initiatives" by Donald J. Waters and Joseph S. Meisel--is a page turner. The foundation's deep pockets and…

Dollar amounts of the 1988 grants, 1989 grants, and 1989 assets of 50 large foundations are presented in tabular form. The organizations are ranked according to their 1989 grant totals. (MSE)

The Charles A. Dana Foundation is trying to bring attention to innovations that improve the quality of undergraduate education and those that prevent disease and promote health. It is especially interested in ideas that can be copied on other campuses or in other communities or medical institutes. (MLW)

The 162 largest gifts and bequests of $1,000,000 or more, the institutions receiving them, the donors, and the periods of the bequests (if applicable) are listed. (MSE)

The 55 foundations making the largest grants to institutions are ranked, and data are given on their donation totals in 1983 and 1984 and their 1984 asset totals. (MSE)

This table presents 50 major philanthropic foundations, ranked according to the dollar amount of grants made in 1990. Dollar amounts of 1990 foundation assets are also supplied. (MSE)

Describes how private philanthropies are abandoning higher education, citing other priorities and a sense that colleges are not needy. (EV)

The dollar amounts of grants made by 50 large foundations in 1992, and their assets for the same period, are listed. The organizations are ranked by grant totals. (MSE)

The Kresge Foundation has undertaken an $18-million project to assist four-year, historically black colleges build successful fund-raising operations. The grants pay for consultants to analyze advancement offices and map improvements for them. The program will also match black-college advancement officers with mentors who are successful fund…

The Kellogg Foundation's assets have more than doubled in two years, making it the country's third-largest grantmaker. The rapid growth has increased both opportunities and strains within the organization but pleases colleges and universities, who carry out 85 percent of its grants. (MSE)

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and Pew Charitable Trusts have halved the number of black colleges eligible to apply for grants, which some claim creates two classes of institution, the financially strong and the financially weak. Black colleges find the targeting policy insensitive. (MSE)

The 1985 grant totals, 1986 grant totals, and 1986 assets are tabulated. (MSE)

Now in improved financial circumstances, the Ford Foundation has begun a major review of all of its grant-making and program activities in this country and around the world, an effort usually undertaken during a period of retrenchment rather than of increased resources. (MSE)