The year was 1992. Civil unrest had gripped South Central Los Angeles in the wake of the Rodney King trial verdict. Employees at Nissan’s then-U.S. sales headquarters watched it unfold out their office windows just blocks from the riot’s epicenter. In the days and weeks that followed, Nissan employees resolved to do something.
Together, they created the Nissan Foundation.
In the 32 years since its founding, the Nissan Foundation has been awarding grants to nonprofits – big and small – that work to educate and inspire people to embrace diversity. More than 150 nonprofits have received grants during the Foundation’s lifetime, and more than $17 million has been awarded.
And this year, Nissan will award its most grants ever in a single grant cycle.
“The Nissan Foundation is unique in its laser-sharp focus on just one thing: embracing our diversity,” said Chandra Vassar, Nissan Foundation president. “Everything we do and every organization we support does this in some way, shape or form.”
Grantees in action
School children visit the Two Mississippi Museums, a Nissan Foundation grantee, in Jackson. Photo courtesy the Nissan Foundation.
The Foundation for Mississippi History, which operates the interconnected Museum of Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, is a four-time Nissan Foundation grantee. A centerpiece of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, Mississippi has many complicated stories of tragedy and triumph to tell, and the Two Mississippi Museums create an immersive space for sharing them.
The Nissan Foundation’s support of these museums helps ensure that each K-12 student in Mississippi has at least one chance to visit the museums before they graduate – regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
During the museum tours, students can meet Hezekiah Watkins, who was arrested over 100 times as a member of the Freedom Riders, a group of activists who participated in “Freedom Rides” in the early 1960s to protest segregated bus terminals.
“In our heads, the Freedom Riders and those pushing the movement forward feel so far away but seeing such an accomplished person give his firsthand account really made everything we had been learning feel so much more real,” wrote Jax and Max, two eighth grade students who visited the museum and heard Watkins share his story of being the youngest Freedom Rider in Jackson.
Participants in the Zekelman Holocaust Center’s teacher education program view Holocaust artifacts up close during a museum tour. Photo courtesy the Nissan Foundation.
A six-time Nissan Foundation grantee, the Zekelman Holocaust Center. in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has used its grants over the years to train teachers in Holocaust education. The center will use its 2024 grant to train English Language Arts educators in the use of memoirs for their classroom Holocaust instruction.
“Many students’ first experience with the Holocaust is through literature,” explained Ruth Bergman, the Zekelman Holocaust Center’s director of education. “A lot of teachers are nervous about teaching the Holocaust – it’s a huge subject. We help them bring the Holocaust into the classroom to give students the historical and cultural context they need to understand the literature and the history that surrounds it.”
Students explore Japanese culture through music during a Midori Foundation Celebrate! Music event. Photo courtesy the Nissan Foundation.
One of the Nissan Foundation’s newest grantees is the Midori Foundation, which provides a tuition-free music education program for underserved youth. The Foundation’s Celebrate! Music program brings live performances by diverse ensembles to New York City classrooms. With a front row seat, students experience different cultures through music.
“Through interactive live concerts and artist-led workshops, students are exposed to diverse cultures, fostering empathy and understanding,” said Luz MacManus, the Midori Foundation’s vice president, development. “This exposure promotes a sense of global citizenship and community cohesion, celebrating cultural diversity and promoting the values of acceptance and unity.”
More need than ever
Three decades after the Nissan Foundation’s first grants were awarded, the number of applicants continues to rise. In fact, the number of organizations applying for a 2024 grant tripled from 2023. Ali Tonn, Nissan Foundation executive director, thinks this has something to do with a deep need for connection.
“Coming out of the pandemic, there’s a lot of need for a sense of belonging,” Tonn said. “Many people felt unseen, unheard and isolated. We get connection from perspective sharing, which is at the heart of the work the Nissan Foundation supports. It’s not surprising, then, that so many nonprofits are coming forward to create spaces for people to be seen, be heard and be understood, and to seek the Nissan Foundation’s support in this endeavor.”
Meeting this increase in programming, the Nissan Foundation awarded its most grants ever in a single grant cycle this year. Forty-four grantee organizations will initiate or continue programs grounded in the idea that diversity fosters connection and is an enhancing factor of society.
“I’m thrilled that we’re able to further the innovative programming of 44 grantees this year,” Tonn said. “These organizations are continually coming up with ways to reach new audiences and share the benefits of living and working together in a diverse society. Our grantees do really important work, and it’s a privilege to be a part of supporting their efforts.”
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Stacy M. Brown is an NNPA Newswire Correspondent