NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern Foundation — the charitable giving affiliate of Norfolk Southern Corporation — awarded grants worth nearly $2.2 million to nonprofit charitable organizations during the first half of 2008.
The grants included $721,615 in employee and retiree matching gifts in support of 334 organizations. Grants other than matching gifts went to 104 organizations throughout Norfolk Southern’s operating territory.
Excluding matching gifts, the Foundation contributed to various United Way campaigns and other health and human services nonprofits ($516,000), educational institutions ($301,800), cultural and arts groups ($525,750), and civic and community groups, including environmental organizations ($128,815). Of the $2.2 million, $756,100 (excluding matching gifts) went to charitable organizations in three primary Norfolk Southern locations — Norfolk and Roanoke, Va., and Atlanta. Among the largest recipients were United Way of Roanoke Valley, Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation (College of William and Mary), Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Nature Conservancy of Virginia, and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, as well as ACCESS Scholarship Foundation, Smart Beginnings South Hampton Roads, Virginia Opera, Virginia Arts Festival, and Virginia Zoological Society, all located in Norfolk.
The $2.2 million in first-half giving represents 44 percent of the Foundation’s 2008 budget of $5 million.
— PRNewswire-FirstCall
