We have faced funding challenges since 2020, but thanks to a dedicated group of donors and new corporate sponsors, we are excited to announce that our 2026 grant application is now open. We remain committed and moving forward—to Braver Beginnings.
A newly renamed initiative of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, Brave Beginnings is dedicated to helping premature babies survive and thrive. Los Angeles, CA (August 6, 2015) – Zoe Saldana has been named the 2015 Theatrical Fundraising Spokesperson for Brave Beginnings, a newly renamed program of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation … Continued
The Will Rogers Institute and Variety, the Children’s Charity of the United States, awarded a $25,000 grant Aug. 22 to the state’s only Level IV neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Todd Vradenburg, executive director of WRI and Ron Krueger II, Variety board member and president and chief operating officer … Continued
The DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa Alabama received a $47,500 (joint grant with US Variety) to purchase a Giraffe Omnibed for their NICU. During the visit to Tuscaloosa earlier this year, we learned that our grant was the catalyst for a series of funding that came as a result of our gift. During the … Continued
The $50,000 grant supported the purchase of two high frequency oscillatory ventilators to help treat approximately 450 infants hospitalized in the NICU each year. This critical component to the NICU can reduce ventilator-associated lung injury by providing a constant distending pressure and normalizing the end expiratory lung volumes. This grant has increased significance for WRI … Continued
