The NBCUniversal Foundation and NBC Owned Television Stations will provide $1.2 million in grants to the top nonprofit organizations in NBC's owned station markets. The initiative, called 21st Century Solutions, "will enable nonprofits implementing new and innovative programs to compete for funding in the ten local communities served by the NBC owned stations."
"Via our partnership with the NBC Owned Television Stations, we hope 21st Century Solutions will bring awareness to, spark dialogue about and deliver needed support to pioneering programs that are solving social challenges in their local markets in new ways," said Beth Colleton, senior VP, corporate social responsibility, NBCUniversal.
Likely recipients will be nonprofits in arts and media, civic engagement, employment and education, among other categories. The markets are Chicago, Connecticut, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington.
"This is a great opportunity for us to work with local organizations that are doing innovative work," said Valari Staab, president of the NBC Owned Television Stations. "Our local stations are thrilled to be able to support initiatives that will make a real difference in their communities."
NBC says "the program aims to help communities identify opportunities for positive change and support nonprofits that are putting new ideas into action."
Applications must be received by Aug. 15 and winners will be announced this fall.
An NBC spokesman said the move was not one of Comcast/NBCU's many public interest pledges, made to the FCC to help secure approval of their joint venture. Those did include NBC stations partnering with nonprofits in O&O TV station markets for online news.
"This wasn't mandated by the deal," said Matt Glassman, spokesman for the NBC-owned TV stations. " In fact, the NBCUniversal Foundation has been giving money away for years. But we took some time to look at the program and relaunched it to focus on programs and organizations who have solid solutions."
