"With the first round of grants for 2005 totaling $4,581,500, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust has awarded $100,599,650 to 585 nonprofit organizations," said Frank E. Russell, Trustee chairman.

"Since we began making grants in 1998, the Trust has become a great community partner and leader, furthering the causes to which Nina devoted much of her life. We as trustees are pleased to continue her legacy of helping people in need, protecting animals and nature, and enriching community life, as well as to enhance the work of so many great organizations and to touch the lives of so many individuals."

"Nina Pulliam would have been so proud of the great work of the Trust's grantee organizations," said Trustee Carol Peden Schatt. "Nina spent a lifetime helping others, and her Trust has now evolved as a great support mechanism for nonprofit groups in her beloved hometowns of Indianapolis and Phoenix. She was an Indiana native and later a resident of Arizona, and we are thrilled to see the impact of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust in those two states."

Trustee Nancy Russell explained, "Through her personal education, Nina Pulliam became a recognized leader during her lifetime in the newspaper industry and in her home states of Indiana and Arizona.

"It was also a landmark year for the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program in 2004 with the Trust's first graduating class of nine Scholars," Russell added. "Since the Nina Scholars program began in 2001, it has celebrated graduates and currently has more than 160 men and women pursuing their degrees. Nina believed in education's power to transform lives and our Nina Scholars are testament to her belief."

The first round of grants for 2005 of $4,581,500 were to 54 organizations. Fifteen organizations were first-time grant recipients, as denoted with an asterisk on the grant listing. Overall, $2,592,500 supported organizations helping people in need, $1,741,000 went to organizations protecting animals and nature, and $185,000 funded organizations enriching community life.

First Round 2005 Grantee Listing