A small foundation set up by two brothers 40 years ago went out of business June 25 by announcing six gifts to New York City organizations, including $3 million to the New York Public Library. The library will use the funds from the Uris Brothers Foundation to establish an endowment to purchase some 12,000 children's books annually for 85 branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, the New York Times reported June 26.
The grants come at a time when the benefiting institutions—who also include the New School for Social Research, the Central Park Conservancy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Carnegie Hall—find it tougher to fund such unglamorous needs as security and children's programming, noted Barbara Byan, president of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers. She called the total Uris grant of $30 million "a lot of money for a small foundation."
Posted July 6, 1998.