Foundation Annual Reports

WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION
525 Middlefield Road, Suite 200
Menlo Park, Cal. 94025-3495
(650) 329-1070
World-Wide Web: http://www.hewlett.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was incorporated in 1966 by the industrialist William R. Hewlett, his late wife, Flora Lamson Hewlett, and their eldest son, Walter B. Hewlett.

Although the foundation awards grants nationwide, a percentage of its disbursable funds is designated for projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1997, grants totaling $51.6-million were authorized in the following program areas: population received $14.3-million; education, $7.9-million; conflict resolution, $6.3-million; the environment, $6.0-million; performing arts, $5.5-million; family and community development, $4.6-million; U.S.-Latin American relations, $3.0-million; special projects, $2.1-million; and interdisciplinary projects, $1.9-million.

Population grants are made primarily to U.S.-based organizations and emphasize support for activities in developing countries. They support projects related to three primary goals: increasing the involvement in population issues of public and private organizations, the news media, and educational institutions; improving family-planning and reproductive-health services; and evaluating and expanding the effect of educational and economic-development activities on fertility rates.

Education-related grants are made to advance U.S. higher education and to improve elementary and secondary education. Grant making in the former area focuses on projects in “pluralism and unity,” undergraduate education at research universities, liberal-arts institutions, the use of technology in scholarship, and historically black private colleges and universities.

Grant making in the latter area is generally limited to California programs, with primary emphasis on public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Allocations included $400,000 to San Francisco State University’s School of Education for the Muir Alternative Teacher Education Program.

Conflict-resolution grants are made in six categories: theory development; practitioner organizations; promotion of the field; consensus building, public participation, and policy making; international conflict resolution; and emerging issues in the field.

Environmental grants are made primarily to organizations working on issues that affect ecosystems in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. Support is also considered for work on environmental issues in the U.S. Southwest and bordering Mexican states.

The performing-arts program makes grants to professional dance, music, opera, and theater companies and to presenting organizations. Awards are also made to arts councils, arts-service organizations, and non-profit film and video organizations located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Family- and community-development grants are made for Bay Area projects in five categories: neighborhood improvement, community services, responsible fatherhood and male involvement, welfare and the transition to work, and employment development.

Participation in the foundation’s new program on U.S.-Latin American relations is by invitation only; initial support is focusing on Mexico, the U.S.-Mexico border region, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile.

Last month, David Pierpont Gardner, the foundation’s president since January 1993, announced his resignation, effective by June 30, 1999.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should first send a letter of inquiry, addressed to the president, containing a brief statement of the need for funds and enough factual information to enable staff members to determine whether or not the application falls within the foundation’s areas of interest or warrants consideration as a special project. There is no fixed minimum or maximum with respect to the size of grants made; applicants should provide a straightforward statement of their financial needs, taking into account other possible sources of support. While the foundation will consider specific projects in its areas of interest and will occasionally provide general support for organizations of special interest, it works primarily through support of organizations active in its main programs. One exception is the family- and community-development program, through which the foundation makes some small grants for specific projects that meet an immediate community need. All inquiries are reviewed first by the appropriate program officer, who may request further information and a formal proposal.

Key officials: David Pierpont Gardner, president; Marianne Pallotti, vice-president and corporate secretary; William F. Nichols, treasurer; Susan Alexander, manager of grants and information systems; Walter B. Hewlett, chairman of the Board of Directors; William R. Hewlett, chairman emeritus.

Program officers: Raymond F. Bacchetti (education), M. Melanie Beene (performing arts), Michael L. Fischer (the environment), David E. Lorey (U.S.-Latin American relations), Alvertha Bratton Penny (family and community development), J. Joseph Speidel (population), and B. Stephen Toben (conflict resolution).

W. M. KECK FOUNDATION
555 South Flower Street, Suite 3230
Los Angeles 90071
(213) 680-3833
World-Wide Web: http://www.wmkeck.org
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The foundation was endowed in 1954 by the late William Myron Keck, who founded the Superior Oil Company. Through his will, Mr. Keck also established the W. M. Keck Trust for the foundation’s exclusive benefit. The trust is being terminated and all its income and principal is being distributed to the foundation.

Grant making focuses on research and programs in the sciences, engineering, and medicine. The foundation also makes a few grants to promote innovative instruction and research at leading liberal-arts colleges nationwide. Eligible institutions in those areas are accredited four-year colleges and universities, medical schools, and major independent medical-research organizations that are located in the United States.

The foundation also makes some grants to organizations in southern California that work in arts and culture, civic and community services, health care and hospitals, and precollegiate education.

In 1997, the foundation allocated 56 grants totaling more than $108-million. Of those awards, 25 went to science and engineering programs for equipment, capital construction or renovation, special projects and research, and fellowships and training. A special $50-million grant was made to the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences in Claremont, Cal., to establish that new graduate school for bioengineering and the life sciences.

Twelve grants were made in the area of medical research, and four were made for liberal-arts programs. Fifteen grants went to southern California organizations, including an allocation to the Challengers Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles to expand a facility that houses youth educational and recreational activities.

Application procedure: The foundation has revised its “Statement of Policy and Procedures” for grant applications; detailed information on foundation policies and the application process can be found on the foundation’s World-Wide Web site or in its annual report. The foundation has a two-phase application process and awards grants twice a year, in June and December. Although formal applications are initiated through the submission of a complete letter of inquiry and supporting documentation, the foundation strongly urges interested grant seekers to contact its staff by letter or telephone in advance of such a submission. Initial contacts from a multiple-unit organization — such as a college or university — must be coordinated through a central office; most major universities have designated an official liaison with the foundation. Applicants must be tax-exempt as defined by Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, must not be private foundations as defined under Section 509(a), and must be able to provide current full, certified audited financial statements. If the institution is located in California, it must include a copy of the confirmation letter from the State of California Franchise Tax Board stating that the institution is exempt from California franchise or income tax. Both rulings must be final; an advance ruling is not sufficient. From the pool of applicants submitting letters of inquiry, the foundation will invite some to submit complete proposals. Unsolicited proposals are not accepted.

Key officials: Robert A. Day, chairman, president, and chief executive officer; Jonathan D. Jaffrey, vice-president and chief administrative officer; Roxanne Ford (medical research); Debra King (southern California); Maria Pellegrini (science, engineering, and liberal arts).

NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST
Two Park Avenue
New York 10016
(212) 686-0010
Period covered: Year ending December 31, 1997.

Purpose and areas of support: The trust was created in 1924; it makes both unrestricted and donor-advised grants, primarily for projects that assist New York City residents. It also serves the metropolitan New York area through two affiliated community funds: the Long Island Community Foundation, in Jericho, N.Y., and the Westchester Community Foundation, in White Plains, N.Y.

The trust administers more than 1,200 constituent funds established by individuals, families, and corporations. Grants are made in four program areas: children, youths, and families; community development and the environment; education, the arts, and the humanities; and health and people with special needs.

In 1997, the education, arts, and humanities program received 53 per cent of total grants awarded. New allocations emphasized arts fellowships, community-based arts groups and activities, public-school reform, parent training and involvement, and legal services.

The trust allocated 19 grants through its Fund for New Citizens to help elderly, disabled, and other legal immigrants threatened by changes in federal law to apply for citizenship.

Grants for health and special needs stressed AIDS, biomedical research, disabled children and youths, the elderly, health systems and policy, mental health and retardation, and visually impaired individuals.

Grants to benefit children, youths, and families emphasized projects related to girls and young women, hunger and homelessness, social services and welfare, substance-abuse prevention, and child and youth development.

The program in community development and the environment focused on projects in civic affairs, conservation and pollution, housing, microenterprise development, neighborhood revitalization, and tenants’ organizations.

Application procedure: Potential applicants should request a copy of the “Guidelines for Grant Applicants” brochure before applying for a grant. Separate brochures with additional infor- mation on each of the four grant-making programs are also available.

Key officials: Lorie A. Slutsky, president; Joyce M. Bove, vice-president for grants and special projects; Karen Metcalf, vice-president for financial administration; Robert V. Edgar, manager of donor services; Suzy D. Sonenberg, executive of the Long Island Community Foundation; Patricia B. Larson, executive of the Westchester Community Foundation; Anne Nally, grants administrator; William M. Evarts, chairman of the Distribution Committee.

Program officers: Patricia Jenny, director (Neighborhood Strategies Project); Len McNally, program director (health and people with special needs); Anita R. Nager, senior program officer (community development and the environment); Jane R. Stern, program director (education, arts, and the humanities); Patricia White, senior program officer (children, youths, and families).