Nissan Foundation Awards $160K to Eight California Nonprofits to Promote Cultural Diversity

Elgin Nelson

The Nissan Foundation is awarding $160K to eight California nonprofits to promote cultural diversity. This is the most the Foundation has awarded in a single grant cycle. Grant recipients are based in communities surrounding Nissan facilities, with a particular focus on Southern California.

The 2024 grantees include mobile education programs, museums, history centers, libraries, and other nonprofits promoting the many benefits that diversity brings to society. Each funded program aligns with the Nissan Foundation’s mission of building community by valuing cultural diversity.

“I am thrilled that we’re able to further the innovative programming of 44 grantees this year,” said Ali Tonn, Nissan Foundation Executive Director. “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.”

Among this year’s grantees is the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, which received $20,000 for its “Autry Education Program and the American Indian Arts Festival.” Another recipient, the Japanese American National Museum, also in Los Angeles, received $40,000 for its “Family Festivals and School Visits Program.” The San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum was granted $10,000 for its “Stories of Us Gatherings and Access for All Admissions.”

Other California-based organizations include the San Diego Museum of Art, awarded $13,400 for “Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World Community Engagement Programming”; the Fowler Museum at UCLA awarded $30,000 for “Building Community through Intergenerational Conversations about Indigenous Ecological Knowledge”; and the Museum of Us in San Diego, which received $15,000 for “A Place for all of Us in San Diego.” Additionally, the USC Asia Pacific Museum in Pasadena was granted $15,000 for “Arts Education for Youth in Southern California and Beyond.”

The Nissan Foundation has awarded approximately $17 million to more than 150 nonprofits since its founding in 1992. The Nissan Foundation was created as a direct response to the civil unrest that followed the Rodney King trial verdict.

At that time, Nissan’s then-U.S. sales headquarters was based just blocks from the riot’s epicenter. “In the 32 years since the Nissan Foundation was created, it has helped organizations—big and small—develop and grow programming designed to increase understanding and acceptance of what makes us different,” says Chandra Vasser, President of the Nissan Foundation and Nissan’s first Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer.

“It’s an honor to uplift the important work of our grantees who are bettering our world by providing safe spaces to explore our similarities while celebrating our differences.”